Once again, the Wellington Film Society committee awaits in eager anticipation for the start of NZIFF 2019. Ascending to the top spot of our ‘must see’ films list is French auteur Clair Denis’ unhinged space thriller, High Life. The rest of our top 10 traverses retro classics, a sensual period drama, contemporary world, the unconventional and Ain’t No Way we were going to leave out the grand dame of soul in Amazing Grace.
A chance to immerse in Tarkovsky’s transcendent epic, Andrei Rublev, on the Embassy big screen is too good to be missed. At the other end of the spectrum, the socially conscious but demented Brazillian Western, Bacurau is sure to horrify and delight in equal measure. We will bid adieu to the late great Agnès Varda with her self-reflective final feature, Varda by Agnès, encapsulating a career of vibrancy and invention. A documentary on an influential and opinionated film critic, What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael, is like catnip to a cinephile.
A diabolical tale of a dress possessed, the horror comedy, In Fabric, has many on the committee salivating. And did someone say, Long Day’s Journey Into Night? You had us at 59 minute 3D tracking shot.
We can’t wait.
