Mon, March 14 – Tue, March 15
BLACK SWAN
Darren Aronofsky’s fantastical psycho-melodrama is a thrilling depiction of the hothouse world of ballet and the fevered hysterical psychic disintegration of its protagonist. Nina (Natalie Portman , Oscar for Best Actress) is caught up in the pains and pressures of her personal and professional life and is swept away in the passion aroused by Tchaikovsky’s brilliant score for Swan Lake. ‘Black Swan is visceral and real even while it’s one delirious, phantasmagoricfreakout’ (New York Times). ‘Just like the final performance by its deeply disturbed heroine, Black Swan is perfect’ (Premiere). ‘Portman’s portrait of an artist under siege is unmissable and unforgettable. So is the movie. You won’t know what hit you’ (Rolling Stone). ‘Off the dance floor, however, Black Swan is trashy and incoherent. Aronofsky, for all his gifts, is a gaudy maestro, opportunistic and insecure as an artist’ (New Yorker).
Odeon Original Sound, Piazza Strozzi, 2 – tel. 055/214068. www.odeon.intoscana.it
Monday, March 21
ANOTHER YEAR
Mike Leigh’s trademark ensemble cast, intimate family situations, seemingly improvised dialogue verging on ordinariness, and whimsical observations about life and its successes and failures are again at the core of this movie reflecting on the meaning of happiness in later life. ‘There’s a wisdom and restraint to this film and a confidence of purpose that makes it Leigh’s most mature work to date’ (Time Out). ‘Measured in pace, yet thoroughly gripping and completely accessible. The title soft-sells the picture, but it’s among the best of this or any year. And [Lesley] Manville [(Mary)] should clear some shelf space for well-deserved awards’ (Empire). ‘I know that we are meant to be drawn into the undergrowth of these ordinary lives, and the long tale is neatly split into four symbolic seasons … But do they and their fellow-Brits honestly swell the heart, or do they grate, exasperate, and finally grind us down?’ (New Yorker).
Odeon Original Sound, Piazza Strozzi, 2 – tel. 055/214068. www.odeon.intoscana.it
Tuesday, March 22
UNKNOWN
Dr Martin Harris (Liam Neeson), visiting Berlin for a biotechnology conference, awakens after a car accident and four days in a coma to discover that his wife no longer recognises him and another man appears to have stolen his identity. With assistance from an unlikely source, he embarks on a quest to find the truth and restore sanity and identity in a situation of international intrigue. Jaume Collett-Serra’s contemporary thriller obviously owes a lot to the Bourne movies and Taken, but holds its own with a complex plot and unexpected twists that sustain the tension for the duration. ‘A stylish and muscular thriller with some nifty twists and turns, a wicked sense of humor, several terrific performances and not one or even two but three of the best car chases in recent action-flick history’ (salon.com). ‘Trying to decipher all the convoluted pathways could drive you mad. Mostly, though, it is so ludicrous that it will unintentionally inspire laughter’ (USA Today).
ASTRA 2, Piazza Beccaria, tel. 055/2343666. www.cinehall.it
Wednesday, March 16, 8pm
THE HOURS
Michael Cunningham’s novel takes three women living at different times and explores the impact of suicide on their lives as filtered through Virginia Woolf’s Mrs Dalloway. The author’s meditation on death, loss, love, madness and art is expertly handled by a stellar cast in this winning adaptation. ‘The movie is about being pinned down by social conventions and familial obligations, creating structures to make them bearable and thinking of breaking free from these fetters and liberating others… The Hours is a moving, somewhat depressing film that demands and rewards attention…’ (Philip French, The Observer). ‘The twin themes of The Hours are the variety of human bonds, especially the bond of love, and the gift that the dying make to the living. The miracle is that such sombre notions fit together as surely and lightly as the dancers in a Balanchine ballet’ (David Denby, The New Yorker). ‘A grim and uninvolving film, for which Philip Glass unwittingly provides the perfect score-tuneless, oppressive, droning, painfully self-important’ (Richard Corliss, Time).
The British Institute. Lungarno Guicciardini, 9 – tel. 055/267781, www.britishinstitute.it
Wednesday, March 23, 8pm
CARRINGTON
The story of painter Dora Carrington’s relationship with Lytton Strachey and others was adapted by Christopher Hampton from Michael Holroyd’s book on Strachey. Once again, critical opinion has not been kind: ‘This devout but chiefly spiritual affair, which eventually drove Carrington into the arms of other members of the bohemian set, should have made for an intriguing, if ironic, study of exploratory eroticism at odds with conventional morals. Instead, Hampton falls into the usual “heritage movie” traps: the sex scenes are so timid they appear voyeuristic; the seasons in graceful rural England seem always to be late spring or early summer; and in general there’s a sense not of a film but of an illustrated book. The few good lines come from Strachey; though you’d hardly know he was a writer, or Carrington an artist, so little attention is paid to their work’ (Time Out).
The British Institute. Lungarno Guicciardini, 9 – tel. 055/267781, www.britishinstitute.it
