As exam season begins to sneak along the horizon like the creepy lion from the Teletubbies, there is once again a whole plethora of films on offer.
If you’re in the mood to cry, then Andrew Haigh follows his critically acclaimed 2015 film 45 Years with Lean on Pete, an emotional tale of tormented teens and angst-ridden equines. If Avengers: Infinity War hasn’t satiated your need for superheroes, then the Merc with a Mouth returns in Deadpool 2.
Perhaps some subdued animation is what you’re looking for, in which case I’d recommend the Oscar-nominated film The Breadwinner – about a young girl living in Taliban-era Kabul who must provide for her family when her father is arrested. But if you’re in the need for raucous fun, Melissa McCarthy stars in Life of the Party as a newly divorced mother who decides to follow her daughter to college. But of course, there’s plenty more to look out for this month.
I Feel Pretty – 4th May
When Renee (Amy Schumer) hits her head during a SoulCycle class, she wakes up with her debilitating feelings of inadequacy (stemming from her appearance) having been replaced with copious amounts of unabashed, somewhat endearing self-esteem. Although this confidence initially changes her life for the better, things soon start to go downhill.
Since the release of I Feel Pretty’s first trailer, audiences and critics alike have been rather confused about what to think of it – should they be angry that a still-quite-conventionally-pretty woman considers herself to be so disgusting that she doesn’t deserve to be happy? Or are they meant to feel happy that the creative team intended to convey the message that in order to be beautiful and empowered, one needs to find confidence?
It’s best to go watch the movie yourself if you want an answer to that question – because, honestly, I haven’t figured it out yet. Either way, it’s a great advert for SoulCycle.
Tully – 4th May
After his 2014 film Men, Women and Children didn’t quite hit it off with critics, Jason Reitman is reteaming with his Young Adult co-workers (screenwriter Diablo Cody and star Charlize Theron) in a heart-warming tale about motherhood.
Marlo (Theron) is a struggling mother of two, with another kid on the way. The house is a mess and her life consists of warming up milk and calming down children; her husband (Mark Duplass), is apparently no help either. However, this all changes when she decides to hire a night nanny (Mackenzie Davis – star of everyone’s favourite Black Mirror episode), who – surprise, surprise – also happens to have some wise words for Marlo herself.
Mothers seem to be having a bit of a moment in entertainment – what with the recent success of Lady Bird on the big screen, BBC Two’s Bafta-nominated TV show Motherland, and even Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway. Let’s hope Reitman’s latest helps push this moment into a movement, because if the afore-mentioned examples are anything to go by, mothers are complex folk and deserve as much screen-time as they can get.
How to Talk to Girls at Parties – 11th May
The team behind this film is truly a match made in heaven, with John Robert Mitchell (book-writer and original star of Hedwig and the Angry Inch) directing an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short story of the same name.
Set in the late 1970s, during the peak of the punk age, Enn (Alex Sharpe) is a little hapless when it comes to talking to girls at parties. This becomes especially difficult when he meets Zan (Elle Fanning), an alien who has been sent to observe humans. But when her boss (Nicole Kidman) finds out that she’s being swept up in the counterculture’s ideologies, Zan must decide which side she stands with.
Forget the McConaissance; it’s all about the Kidmanaissance now. After a string of critical successes on the big and small screens – Lion, Big Little Lies, Top of the Lake – Kidman continues to subvert expectations by choosing intriguing projects. And that’s not to mention her Beguiled co-star, Fanning, who’s career in the last year alone is a wonder to watch; her work in The Neon Demon and 20th Century Women did more than enough to demonstrate her range. With both of them sharing the screen once again, this surely can’t disappoint.
Solo: A Star Wars Story – 24th May
Having acquired LucasFilm for $4 billion in 2012, Disney are really trying to get their money’s worth, releasing a new addition to the Star Wars franchise every year for the foreseeable future. Now, as fans eagerly await the conclusion of the sequel trilogy, they must patiently sit through the second of the stand-alone instalments.
We all know Han Solo (formerly played by Harrison Ford, now by Alden Ehrenreich): introduced to audiences as a smuggler in a sticky situation, he goes on to become one of the best pilots the Rebel Alliance has (or rather, had *sob*). But how did he get there? Well, apparently the journey involves Woody Harrelson, Emilia Clarke and Donald Glover (in some brilliant casting as Lando Calrissian).
Honestly, at this point, you’d be forgiven if you forgot that there was a Star Wars film coming out this month. With Disney churning out hit after hit after hit – Coco, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and now this – it can be a bit exhausting to get hyped for each film. But I’m sure we’ll all end up shelling out our pennies and pounds, if only for another glimpse at the Millennium Falcon. Besides, that score never gets old.
Sarah Quraishi
Featured image courtesy of LucasFilm via IMDb.
Image use license here.
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