Wow! Been a while since my last post. Truth is that I haven’t seen many films of late. Hopefully that’ll change with the NZ Film Festival looming. Here are two films that I did see recently that are excellent:

Coraline (2009) is an excellent stop motion animated fantastical thriller along the lines of Pan’s Labyrinth … but animated and more accessible for children. Directed by Henry Selick, (A Nightmare Before Christmas, and James and the Giant Peach) this is, however, so much more than just a kids film. An adventurous girl finds another world that is a strangely idealised version of her frustrating home, but it has sinister secrets. It explores the deep recesses of the subconscious and is populated with rich characters, stunning visuals, and an intriguing narrative. I highly recommend Coraline.

Coraline

The Hunt (2013). Mads Mikkelsen plays a teacher who lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie. Mads Mikkelsen has a huge supply of screen presence but manages to keep this in check to give a superb performance in this tour de force of Danish film-making. Thomas Vinterberg delivers a captivating film.

The Hunt