NIGHTBITCH
Fri 6 Dec
After wowing with Can You Ever Forgive Me? and A Beautiful Day In The Neighbourhood, Marielle Heller returns with a leftfield and darkly comic examination of parenting. Adapted from the 2019 novel by Rachel Yoder, we meet a woman who has paused her career as a promising artist to become a stay-at-home mother.
This new life of domesticity abruptly turns surreal, as she starts identifying with canine behaviour – increasingly driven by feral instincts and fiercely protecting her child. Starring Amy Adams, Scoot McNairy, Arleigh Patrick Snowden, Emmett James Snowden, Zoë Chao and Mary Holland, this fil starts to blur the boundaries between reality and fantasy, to the point where they may become one.
NICKEL BOYS
Fri 13 Dec
Elwood Curtis’s college dream shatters alongside a two-lane Florida highway. Bearing the brunt of an innocent misstep, he’s sentenced to the netherworld of Nickel Academy, a brutal reformatory sunk deep in the ‘Jim Crow South’. He encounters another ward, the seen-it-all Turner. The two Black teens strike up an alliance: Turner dispensing fundamental tips for survival, Elwood, clinging to his optimistic worldview.
Ethan Herisse, Brandon Wilson, Hamish Linklater, Fred Hechinger, Daveed Diggs and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor star in RaMell Ross’s cinematic version of the book by Colson Whitehead. Backdropped by the burgeoning Civil Rights Movement, Elwood and Turner’s existence appear worlds away from Rev. Martin Luther King’s burnished oratory. Despite Nickel’s brutality, Elwood strives to hold onto his humanity, awakening a new vision for Turner.
QUEER
Fri 13 Dec
Unfortunately, there’s already a bit of controversy around this work – it’s banning at a recent festival prompting organisers to shut down their entire event only hours before it was due to start. Danial Craig stars as an expat trying to numb an existential pain with drink, drugs and casual sex. After meeting a younger man, played by Drew Starkey (The Hate U Give, Outer Banks), he finds himself becoming increasingly obsessed.
It’s directed by Luca Guadagnino, who broke through in 2017 with Call Me By Your Name, and released the hugely acclaimed Challengers earlier this year. Here we find him adapting William S. Burroughs’s gleefully robust (and arguably autobiographical)1985 novella of the same name.
THE LORD OF THE RINGS: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM
Fri 13 Dec
Kenji Kamiyama (Ultraman, Star Wars: Visions) brings this ambitious anime fantasy onto the big screen. Based on the universe created by J. R. R. Tolkien, it stars Brian Cox, Gaia Wise, Luke Pasqualino and Miranda Otto, it sees the best of mankind standing firm against unimaginable dark forces.
Set 183 years before the events of Peter Jackson’s epic The Lord Of The Rings trilogy, The War Of The Rohirrim tells the story of Helm Hammerhand, a legendary king of Rohan, and his family as they defend their kingdom against an army of Dunlendings. He’ll go on to become the namesake for the stronghold of Helm’s Deep, but what price will victory demand?
MUFASA: THE LION KING
Fri 20 Dec
With an all-star roster of talent, which includes Aaron Pierre, Kelvin Harrison Jr, John Kani, Tiffany Boone, Kagiso Lediga, Preston Nyman, Mads Mikkelsen, Thandiwe Newton, Lennie James, Anika Noni Rose and Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, this new instalment in the Lion King franchise blends live-action filmmaking techniques with photoreal computer-generated imagery.
Now we see the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands. Orphaned and alone, the young cub meets a sympathetic lion named Taka. A chance encounter sets in motion an expansive journey of an extraordinary group of misfits searching for their destiny – their bonds will be tested as they work together to evade a threatening and deadly foe.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3
Fri 20 Dec
Ding, ding, ding. After the Knuckles spin-off TV show this year, everyone’s favourite ring-grabbing, spiny mammal is back for his own adventure. And just must just be his most thrilling yet. Based on the cosmically successful console game, this animated feature stars the voices of Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves, Krysten Ritter, Lee Majdoub and Natasha Rothwell.
Sonic, Knuckles and Tails must reunite to thwart a powerful new adversary, Shadow. This mysterious villain possesses powers unlike anything the tenacious trio have faced before. With their own abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping the terror and protecting their planet.
A COMPLETE UNKNOWN
Weds 25 Dec
Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in New York’s West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music.
Timothée Chalamet stars and sings as Bob Dylan, alongside Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro and Boyd Holbrook, as director James Mangold dissects the electric and fascinating true story behind one of the most iconic singer-songwriters in history. As the young star forms his most intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he grows restless with the folk movement and, refusing to be defined, makes a controversial choice that culturally reverberates worldwide.
NOSFERATU
Weds 25 Dec
Just over 100 years after it kickstarted the horror genre, Nosferatu gets a 21st century makeover. Directed by Robert Eggers (The Lighthouse, The Northman), and starring Bill Skarsgard, Lily Rose Depp, Willem Dafoe and Emma Corin, this is a gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her.
Already being praised as the best horror film of the year, and tipped for major awards, packed with stunning directorial choices and masterful performances, Eggers uses the classic Dracula story as a framework to explore the pervasive nature of true evil. Along the way he pushes at the boundaries of what is acceptable in modern cinema to create something truly terrifying and thought-provoking.
