Just
like every year that has come before it, there are a plethora of new
releases that are slated for release in 2016 that I am eagerly
anticipating. From last years list, I'm still waiting for Jeff
Nicols's “Midnight Special” to be released (it was pushed back to
March of this year), but Nicols has another film due in 2016 called
“Loving” that I am also eagerly anticipating. Also on the cards
for 2016 are new films from talented directors, the likes of Steven
Spielberg (“The BFG”), Denis Villeneuve (“The Story of Your
Life”), The Coen Brothers (“Hail, Caesar!”), David Michod (“War
Machine”), Tran Anh Hung (“Eternity”), Kiyoshi Kurosawa
(“Creepy”), Derek Cianfrance (“The Light Between Oceans”),
Tom Tykwer (“A Hologram From the King”), to name but a few. All
of the above I am looking forward to greatly, but the next seven
titles below are my most anticipated films of 2016.
This
is the brand new film from Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, and next
to nothing is known about the film at the moment. In fact, this
wasn't going to be a part of this list, until right at the last
second I found out that Farhadi had secretly shot this film back in
November, but that he had also submitted it to a film festival.
Farhadi is such a talent (his “A Separation” is the last film
that I gave a perfect five stars to) that any film he makes from now
on is almost guaranteed to make these lists. I'm sure if I had more
details on the film, it may have been my “most” anticipated film
of the year, but for know lets just say I am extremely excited for it
and am hoping for it now to screen at MIFF later in the year.
After
his previous film, “Only God Forgives”, turned out to be
something of a disappointment, my anticipation for the latest Nicolas
Winding Refn film has tempered just slightly. Although knowing that
this new film is a female centric horror film set in the L.A fashion
scene, just gets me all excited again. The last time Refn shot a
film in L.A it was his brilliant “Drive” so lets hope history
repeats itself here, but most of all I hope the film turns out to be
dark, disturbing and scary. “The Neon Demon” stars Elle Fanning,
Jena Malone, and Christina Hendricks which sounds like a great cast,
although the fact that Keanu Reeves has a small role in the film does
have me a little worried.
I
must admit that I hate having to justify my love for Rob Zombie's
films time and again. Sure he is not as “arty” as some and must
people react against the white trash look of his films and
characters, but personally I love the dark grittiness to all of his
films. He has a keen visual eye too and is able to always create
disturbing visuals to accompany his horror films; they never feel
like the clean, sanitized horror that dominates cinema screens these
days. I also love the fact that he casts adults in his films, rather
than teenagers. He has a great knack of finding old forgotten stars
and giving them a chance to shine again. Anyway, “31” is Rob
Zombie's latest horror film and he calls the film his darkest and
most bleak to date (which is saying something). It is about five
carnies who are kidnapped on Halloween 1976 and forced to take part
in a game called “31” which involves trying to stay alive for
twelve hours against an endless gang of maniacs intent on killing
them all. When reading the synopsis, I must admit, it does sound a
little silly but from the small number of stills that have been
released so far, it certainly looks like a Rob Zombie film which
makes me very happy indeed. The film has been in the news recently
because it was rated the dreaded NC-17, twice no less, however after
further cutting, Zombie was able to achieve the R rating he wanted,
although he stresses that the director's cut will be released on blu
ray and dvd. From this, we can gather that it certainly sounds
extreme.
This
is the latest film from South Korean filmmaking superstar, Park
Chan-Wook. This guy is a genius and any of his films would make it
onto these lists. After making his English language debut with his
previous film, “Stoker”, Park Chan-Wook has returned to Korea for
his latest which is a crime drama about a young heiress who falls in
love with a petty thief. Apparently there is also a lesbian love
angle in this film as well, and although the original novel that the
film is based on was set in Victorian London, Park has transposed the
story to take place in both Korea and Japan for his film version.
Thankfully, Park has continued his working relationship with his
regular cinematographer Chung Chung-Hoon because the two of them just
work beautifully together.
Normally
any film directed by Martin Scorsese would make the top of my
anticipated list and yes, I am greatly looking forward to “Silence”
for that reason, but the topic of the film does leave me a little
cold. The synopsis on imdb states that the film is set in the 17th
century and is about “two
Jesuit priests who face violence and persecution when they travel to
Japan to locate their mentor and propagate Christianity.” Being
someone who cares little for religion, I find religious films to
sometimes be a hard slog to get through because I find it hard to
relate. That said, I thought I was going to have similar issues with
Scorsese's previous film “The Wolf of Wall Street” and ended up
loving every minute of it, so I will definitely be entering the film
with an open mind. This film is something of a passion project for
Scorsese though, in that he has been trying to get it made for
decades, so you would think that he would bring his best to it.
A
director who I think gets little respect for just how great a
technical director he is, is Dutch filmmaker Paul Verhoeven. It
seems that due to both “Basic Instinct” and “Showgirls”, two
films he made in quick succession, that he has a reputation of only
being interested in smut and what is never taken into account is just
how well his films are put together. Not just those two films but
all of his films throughout his career. He has crafted great
entertainment that are often filled with subtext and meaning. His
most recent film “The Black Book” came out ridiculously ten years
ago now and for mine, it was his best film to date. Thus the reason
I am so looking forward to his latest film, “Elle”, which also
marks the return of Verhoeven to the erotic thriller, although if the
reports on “Elle” are true, this is more of a rape/revenge film
than anything “erotic”. Interestingly though is the fact that
this is the first film that Verhoeven has shot in the French
language. “Elle” stars Isabelle Huppert. I am so looking
forward to another Paul Verhoeven thriller!
My
most anticipated film of 2016 is none other than Pedro Almodovar's
latest film, “Julieta”. Now that he has gotten rid of the urge
to revisit his comedic past with “I'm So Excited”, Almodovar
returns to the melodramas that he excels at and is so famous for.
Like most of the films on this list, not too much is known about the
film except that it is about a woman named Julieta who, in present
time, seems in the edge of madness but thirty years prior, we are
witness to the events that lead to Julieta becoming this way in the
present. The result of some sort of silence apparently. In fact,
until recently “Silencio” was the title of the film, but
Almodovar agreed to change his title so as not to cause confusion
between Martin Scorsese's film. Personally I prefer the older title
and think it would have been fine because they were using the Spanish
variation of the word. It also appears that Almodovar is working
with a predominantly new cast, because the majority of his regulars
seem to be absent in this new film. Although one actress who used to
be a regular in the earlier films from this director is Rossy DePalma
who shows up in “Julieta”. Thankfully, the film is meant to be
released in Spain in March which pretty much guarantees that I will
end up seeing the film in 2016; in fact about an hour prior to
writing this I got to watch the first teaser trailer for “Julieta”
(without English subtitles though) and it looks very promising.
Well, that is it.
My enormous round up of the year that was 2015 is finally over.
Hopefully you enjoyed reading it and got something out of it, but how
about we go back to watching some new films now?
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