In modern-day Helsinki, two lonely souls in search of lvoe met by chance in a karaoke bar. However, their path to happiness is beset by obstacles - from lost phone numbers to mistaken addresses, alcoholism, and a charming stray dog.
Aki Kaurismkai's 2017 film The Other Side of Hope won Best Director award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival. At the same festival he also announced that it would be this last film as a director. It's fortunate that he changed his mind, because this subsequent film, Fallen Leaves, perfects much of the carefully curated melancholy, deadpan humour and poignancy for which he is renowned.
In an isolated mountain chalet near Granoble, successful but depressed novelist Sandra Boyter (Sandra Huller) decides to reschedule her interview with a female student because her husband, university lecturer Samuel Maleski (Samuel Theis), is playing loud music in the attic above, disrupting the interview.
After the student leaves the chalet, Sandra's visually impaired son, Daniel goes for a walk with his guide dog Snoop. When they return home, Daniel finds Samuel dead in the snow, a bloody wound in his head, apparently having fallen from the attic window. Did he jump? Or was he pushed?
During World War II, the tiny Scottish island of Todday runs out of whisky. When the freighter S.S. Cabinet Minister runs aground nearby during a heavy fog, the islanders are delighted to learn that its cargo consists of 50,000 cases of whisky.
When officious English commanding officer Captain Waggett (Basil Radford) demands return of the liquor, shopkeeper Joseph Macroon (Wylie Watson) and his daughters Peggy (Joan Greenwood) and Catriona (Gabrielle Blunt) spearhead an island rebellion.
Elvis chronicles the life of the American rock and roll singer and actor Elvis Presley under the management of Colonel Tom Parker.
It stars Austin Butler and Tom Hanks as Presley and Parker, respectively, with Olivia DeJonge, Helen Thomson, Richard Roxburgh, David Wenham, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Luke Bracey in supporting roles.
A serious but ebullient finish to our year’s programme.
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