I'm back to the traditional early summer entry, even though I haven't had much time to look carefully at what's coming in the next half of the year. But let's see what I've gathered...
At the beginning of June, "Another World", an anime produced last year, will be released internationally. The interesting part is that it's not Japanese, even though it's an adaptation of a Japanese novel. It's the first feature film by a new generation director from Hong Kong - in fact, the full version of a short animation on the same subject, from a few years ago. I haven't seen it, but it seems to have been quite appreciated, as have the reviews so far for this one.
Also in June we have the newest production directed by Steven Spielberg, who returns to SF with "Disclosure Day". Some critics have already commented that it would be his best film in the last 20 years. I wouldn't bet on that. David Koepp, the main screenwriter, one of the most prolific in Hollywood, has quite a few titles to his credit that left me with an impression of an average popcorn movie, if not mediocre, built on an existing commercial basis (the latest adaptations after Dan Brown, the latest "Indiana Jones", the latest version for "The Mummy", "War of the Worlds", and others). It is true that here he is together with the director on the script, and that he also had some pretty good original titles like "Panic Room" or "Stir of Echoes", but that was a long time ago...
In July we have another summer blockbuster, "The Odyssey", Nolan's already much-talked-about mega-production. I don't know what to say here either - "The Odyssey" is very promising cinematically, but I never imagined Odysseus as Matt Damon... And if I look at the rest of the cast, I wouldn't say that this is the most "interesting" casting decision.
Released last year, passing through the autumn festivals, and apparently ending its wider distribution route in July, "Stille Freundin" is probably the most visually interesting production on the current list as a possible big screen experience. I don't know much about the film, apart from the fact that it follows the life of a gingko tree through about three distinct time periods, but what caught my attention when I saw the trailer released only about two months ago was the cinematography. Sometimes the rest matters less.
To include something fitting the cliché "life beats the movie", at the end of July we have an international distribution of a French production, "L'affaire Bojarski". Probably it adds a bit of fantasy to the real story, but still, it's a lesser-known episode of a Polish refugee after WW2, and catchy enough to be worth a movie.
Also coming from France, we have a new version of the first novel by Albert Camus - "L'Étranger". It's already been screened at several festivals since last year, and got some nominations at Cesar and EFA. From what I could find about it, by August it should have reached almost all of Europe. So far, I have not been tempted by anything produced by Francois Ozon among those that I have crossed with, but here I would make an exception.
David Robert Mitchell debuted in 2010 with an obscure indie that I haven't seen. He continued in 2014 with "It Follows" (no pun intended), another indie that emerged from obscurity at NIFFF, Cannes and many other festivals, where it collected quite a few awards. In my opinion, it probably remains somewhere in the top 3 of atmospheric horror films I've ever seen, and a good example to be taught in school of how to achieve something of maximum effect from this genre with almost non-existent blood and gore. "Under the Silver Lake" followed in 2018, a bit out of the indie zone in terms of cast, which veered from intense to bizarre, being difficult to define as a genre, but decent in terms of originality. After a long break, this year we have "The End of Oak Street" announced in August. At the risk of becoming monotonous with the pessimism for the Hollywood releases above... I have doubts here too. Because this no longer seems indie at all, and cash in requires cash out...
To turn to a more optimistic area, even though I have never been a fan of stop motion, Aardman remains in the very narrow list of mainstream animation studios that made me laugh out loud at almost every big screen production (not that they have many). Even if sometimes it becomes a little too British on the humor side. But maybe with the new iteration of "Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom", announced on September, co-produced by StudioCanal, it also turns towards French. But then again... would it be that good?
We're shifting the genre to adult stuff in October with "Verity", adaptation of a popular novel. The reason for inclusion in the list: we are looking for a thriller + the trailer (guilty pleasure).
We are moving the direction again, also in October. Of this whole list, I can say that I am more confident in the announced animations than in the movies - I think it is the first time that I have three in a series of previews, and the last one, "Wildwood", is the first as expected. The team behind it is the one that also worked on "Coraline", but more notably on "Kubo and the Two Strings", probably among the most intense animations as a metaphor in the last ~15 years. It is true that the same team also has the opposite in its CV, "ParaNorman" (depite all the critical appreciation). But with the trailer below, I remain in the optimistic zone here. The number of views in two weeks says a lot.
In November, we have "Wild Horse Nine". I don't have any Martin McDonagh film that has disappointed me out of the four so far - direction + script - "In Bruges", "Seven Psychopaths", "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri", "The Banshees of Inisherin", not even the short one - "Six Shooter". So I would say this is a safe bet.
I end November, and the summer-autumn list, also with an international release from Asia, as I started it: "Godzilla Minus Zero", which I hope will reconfirm its exception from the monster movie genre, and remain in Asia as an influence in the production, as the teaser kind of makes you think... Maybe it's not just an attempt to squeeze a sequel. The previous "Godzilla Minus One" was a more than surprising move in a niche that was limited until then to cheap thrills by definition, especially under the influence of Hollywood. The return to the Japanese heritage brought a dramatic depth at the level of the Mariana Trench compared to the previous puddles in asphalt, even at the level of VFX, coordinated by the director who is also a screenwriter. Takashi Yamazaki has a rather long biography behind him, from which a long time ago I saw "Returner", cheap, but not really thin at the beginning of his career = something that seemed to say then that there was potential.
I think I haven't ticked so many titles in the preview list since the time when I was doing it in two rounds, but back then they were pretty much what I caught on Apple trailers (probably the only use of the multi-colored apple that I ever had). The same now, the reason is that I didn't really have time to search, so I left the selection more relaxed. I hope it's not too relaxed and at least two or three titles will be worth watching on the big screen.
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