By Ashley Clark
It’s an unusual week with only one major new release coming to the Ritzy Cinema: Cabin In The Woods, a horror from writer-director Drew Goddard and writer-producer Joss Whedon (of Buffy the Vampire Slayer fame). It’s a tough one to write about for two major reasons, 1) There’s a huge plot twist that, if revealed, could potentially destroy a full appreciation of the film (see The Usual Suspects, Fight Club etc) and 2) I haven’t actually seen it yet. However, what I do know is that it’s arrived with a slew of fantastic reviews, and is said to be a paradigm shifter in the horror genre. Don’t miss it. I certainly won’t. Then we can all talk about it next week, k?
There’s still a raft of recently released fare screening at the Ritzy, the pick of which is Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Turkish procedural Once Upon A Time In Anatolia. It’s a slow, intense work about a bedraggled group of officials (policemen, prosecutor, doctor, suspects) traipsing across the Anatolian steppe in search of a corpse. The film represents a cinematic temporal/sensory experience like no other in recent memory; when it finishes, you share the exhaustion of the downtrodden group of characters. It’s like being trapped in the cinema all night long, in a good way. Fans of The Wire and Gomorrah – two other works of art that explored the corrosive nature of institutions in a downbeat, measured fashion – will find much to admire here.
Also still showing are Aki Kaurismaki’s lovely Le Havre, Norwegian corporate raiding thriller Headhunters, Sean Penn as a Robert Smith-a-like rock star Nazi hunter in This Must Be The Place, a kid with a bike in The Kid With A Bike, Werner Herzog posing some tough questions in compelling Death Row doc Into The Abyss, and many more.
As usual, there’s a cracking selection of repertory fare to choose from. If you’re free on Saturday afternoon, don’t miss a rare screening of Perry Henzell’s classic 70s Jamaican drama The Harder They Come, which boasts an amazing soundtrack and a great performance from singer Jimmy Cliff as Ivan, a “country bwoy” increasingly out of his depth on the mean streets of Kingston. Other highlights include showings of A Streetcar Named Desire, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas and David Lean’s Oliver Twist.
Though we love it so, the Ritzy is not the only place to catch a film in Brixton, so before I leave you, a tip of the hat to Loughborough Junction’s intimate Whirled Cinema, which this week screens moving Norwegian drug addiction drama Oslo, 31st August, and the chillingly funny low-budget Brit flick Black Pond (featuring Chris Langham and Simon Amstell).
For films showing at the Ritzy Cinema, Brixton Oval, Book tickets here. For more info on Whirled Cinema, which operates a membership scheme, click here.
Ashley Clark runs the film blog Permanent Plastic Helmet. You can follow it on Twitter @PPlasticHelmet and/or him @_ash_clark.
