What to watch in cinemas this week | June 19–25
28 Years Later and Elio
The Munich Filmfest starts next week and posts will be written. Needless to say, this in cinemas will be delayed by a few weeks. So, here are future picks: F1: The Movie; Sorry, Baby; Videoheaven; and Hot Milk.
USA and German releases
28 Years Later (Danny Boyle, UK/USA)
is the third in the ‘28 [time period] Later’ film trilogy, with Danny Boyle (director) and Alex Garland (writer) back after doing the first but not second in the series. Although not a fan of Garland, or horror films, or latter Danny Boyle, this one is an exception in that it will navigate beyond the horror elements via the Boyle/Garland matchup (previous collabs: 28 Days Later, The Beach, and Sunshine). The duo aren’t boring in their executions, even when they miss.
Plot summary: Twenty-eight years since the rage virus escaped a biological weapons laboratory, now, still in a ruthlessly enforced quarantine, some have found ways to exist amidst the infected. One such group lives on a small island connected to the mainland by a single, heavily-defended causeway. When one member departs on a mission into the dark heart of the mainland, he discovers secrets, wonders, and horrors that have mutated not only the infected but other survivors as well.
Elio (Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, and Adrian Molina; USA)
is the latest non-sequel Pixar release, which means that Disney (Pixar’s parent company) hopes it fails so that it can pump out Toy Storys and Incredibles. One could see this in the lackluster marketing campaign: have you seen a major push on Elio out there? What’s sad is that these deeply personal, one-off Pixar projects, following in the vein of Luca and Turning Red, were the first instances where the white-male Pixar leaders allowed younger, mostly non-white, non-male animators the chance to tell their stories. This one is no different: Adrian Molina (Coco) based the film on childhood vibes; then after leaving to work on the Coco sequel, Shi (Turning Red) and Sharafian (short Pixar film Burrow) finished the film based on children’s loneliness and grief. Once the headlines reveal the box office didn’t make enough to justify its existence, Disney will use that to further snuff out these great Pixar films made by younger artists and revert back to their so-called Brain Trust og members; current members is a symbolic list.
Plot summary: Elio, a space fanatic with an active imagination, finds himself on a cosmic misadventure where he must form new bonds with eccentric alien lifeforms, navigate a crisis of intergalactic proportions and somehow discover who he is truly meant to be.
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