Cinema: The film starts of the week

This week, a particularly large number of stars cavort on screen: Sandra Bullock, Benedict Cumberbatch, Nicole Kidman and Channing Tatum provide glamour.

A cat painter, a successful author, a French satire and the harsh world of the Vikings – extraordinary stories France, Great Britain and the USA come to the cinema..

Benedict Cumberbatch plays an unusual artist

Actor Benedict Cumberbatch (“The Power of the Dog”) has just been nominated for an Oscar. Now one of his new films is coming to the cinema. “The Wondrous World of Louis Wain” tells the story of a British artist who became known for his paintings of cats. So maybe more than a century ago, his art was a precursor to what you now come across all the time on the internet – as cat content.

Director Will Sharpe uses romantic images to tell of outsiders and losses, of psychological withdrawal and of an artist’s view of the world.

The wondrous world of Louis Wain, Great Britain 2021, approx. 111 minutes, FSK from 12 years, by Will Sharpe, with Benedict Cumberbatch, Claire Foy, Andrea Riseborough, Aimee Lou Wood and Nick Cave

According to some film fans, he created a masterpiece with his psychodrama “The Lighthouse”. Now the new film by director Robert Eggers is coming to the cinema. “The Northman” is advertised as a dark revenge epic from the Viking Age – with an unusual cast. Hollywood stars Ethan Hawke, Nicole Kidman and Willem Dafoe play along – as well as new discovery Anya Taylor-Joy (“The Queen’s Gambit”), the Swede Alexander Skarsgård and the Icelandic musician Björk. In the story, a man wants to bring his father’s killer to justice.

The Northman, Great Britain/USA 2022, 137 min., FSK from 16 years, by Robert Eggers, with Alexander Skarsgård, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Claes Bang, Björk)

“The Lost City”: cinema fun with Bullock and Tatum

In “The Lost City,” Sandra Bullock plays the reclusive if fairly successful author Loretta Sage, who likes to spend her days sipping iced white wine in a hot tub. The hero of their stories is the attractive model Alan (Channing Tatum) – who has also dedicated his life to impersonating the main character Dash in real life.

While Loretta is away promoting her new book with Alan, she is kidnapped by a crooked billionaire (played by Daniel Radcliffe) who is hoping she can lead him to the “lost” city treasure from her last book. Alan comes to her aid as he wants to prove that he can be a hero in real life too. In this action comedy, the boundaries between fiction and reality are becoming increasingly blurred.

The Lost City, USA 2021, 112 min., FSK 12+, by Aaron and Adam Nee, with Channing Tatum, Sandra Bullock, Daniel Radcliffe, Brad Pitt

“In the best hands”: sharp satire from France

The artist Raphaela (Valeria Bruni Tedeschi) and the truck driver Yann (Pio Marmaï) happen to need medical help at the same time. And that while the yellow vests are paralyzing traffic in Paris with their protests. Protests are raging outside, the hospital is filling up with injured demonstrators, the staff is on their nerves and the situation threatens to escalate.

Raphaela and Yann experience everyday life in the emergency room from completely new perspectives. And as a result, they first bump into each other and then start thinking. With her satire, author and director Catherine Corsini (“The Affair”) exposes the inhumanity of a health system geared entirely to profit.

In the best hands, France 2021, 99 min., FSK from 12, director: Catherine Corsini, with Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Pio Marmaï

© dpa-infocom, dpa:220414-99-915797/8 (dpa)

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