#OnTheBigScreen: King Arthur, Bolshoi Ballet and 20th Century Women

King Arthur: Legend of the Stone

Acclaimed filmmaker, Guy Ritchie brings his dynamic style to the epic fantasy action adventure starring Charlie Hunnam in the title role.

Everyone knows the fabled Arthurian legend… or at least thinks they do. But in the hands of director, Guy Ritchie, the tale takes on a decidedly gritty, modern edge and Arthur himself, not yet king, is instead a ruffian, a thoroughly reluctant hero compelled to discover his true destiny even as he fights against the very monarchy he is meant to rule.

The film is an iconoclastic take on the classic Excalibur myth, tracing Arthur’s journey from the streets to the throne.

The young Arthur runs the back passages of Londinium with his crew, not knowing his royal lineage until he draws the sword Excalibur from the stone. Instantly confronted by the sword’s influence, Arthur is forced to decide where to become involved with his power. Throwing in with the Resistance and an enigmatic young woman named Guinevere, he must learn to master the sword, face down his demons and unite the people to defeat the tyrant Vortigern — who murdered his parents and stole his crown — and became king.

“I think the best narratives take a man on a journey that transcends his limitations and allows him to evolve from his most basic nature into someone worthy of a bigger life,” says Ritchie, who also co-wrote and produced the film. “In our version of the story, Arthur’s life starts small: an urchin in a brothel, running the streets, learning to fight and dodging the law with his mates. Then the actions of others—some with good, some with not-so-good intentions—force him to expand his vision of who he could be.”

“There are certain genres we loved as kids that we filmmakers feel can be done for a modern audience in a way that wasn’t possible back when we watched them. I hope that pulling that sword from the stone and going on a real hero’s journey with this ‘King Arthur’ can give today’s moviegoers the same pleasure we experienced in the theatre when we were lads, but in a fresh and exciting new way.”

20th Century Women

Writer-director Mike Mills (the Academy Award-winning Beginners) brings us a richly multi-layered, funny, heart-stirring celebration of the complexities of women, family, time and the connections we search for our whole lives. It is a film that keeps redefining itself as it goes along, shifting with its characters as they navigate the pivotal summer of 1979.

Set in Santa Barbara, the film follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann, in a breakout performance) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing – via Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home, and Julie (Elle Fanning), a savvy and provocative teenage neighbour

The film is equally a love letter to Mills’ mother and to the women who raised him.

Mills says: “In a sense, this is the story of the Greatest Generation meeting Generation X – my mom being born in the 20’s and me from the late 60’s. On one level, the film is a love story between a mother and son, a love story that is very deep and unique, yet may never bring them the solidity for which they both yearn. The film tries to capture those transient moments where you feel true connection with a loved one, these little moments of grace, of understanding and connection,
which are more fragile and transitory than we’re taught – but when they happen, even fleetingly, they are truly a lot.”

The Warrior’s Gate

An action-packed adventure film with martial arts derring-do, seen through the eyes of a Gen Z video gamer and set to a hip-hop breakdance beat.

Jack Bronson (Uriah Shelton) lives in a part-time virtual world. Bullied at school and on the pumptrack, he lives with his single mom, who’s struggling to meet her mortgage payments. So every chance he gets, Jack escapes into the world of computer games — via his fearless avatar, the Black Knight.

One day, Mr. Chang, the antiques dealer Jack helps out after-school, offers him a family heirloom — a mysterious Chinese chest. Little does Jack know that the beautiful box that so intrigues him is actually a “warriors’ gate,” a magical portal into the mesmerizing world of ancient China.

Cowardly Jack must learn to face his fears, conquer an unknown universe, become a skilled warrior and save both the princess and her kingdom. Only then will he be able to return home and meet the challenges of his own contemporary world.

“As a teenager, I was into judo and ninjutsu. I’ve always secretly wanted to make a martial arts movie,” admits director Matthias Hoene, who was born in Singapore, grew up in Berlin and has been directing commercials and music videos in London for more than a decade.

“What makes this story so strong is that it starts in the very relatable, modern context of middle America, with a kid we can all identify with,” director Matthias Hoene observes. “Like most of us, Jack loves escaping into the world of computer games. And his computer game suddenly becomes reality. It’s not about the joypad anymore, now it’s about real might. I think that’s a very universal story. As a teenager, that was certainly my dream. So I think it’s a great set-up. On one hand, we’re capturing the exotic nature of China and the amazing craftsmanship and actors we have here. On the other, we have access to EuropaCorp’s very cool editing, cinematography, colour correction and music facilities, and a great script by Luc Besson and Robert Kamen, of course. So all the ingredients for success are there.’’

Bypass

In the children’s ward of St Luke’s Hospital, Sam Cooper (Joel Brown) is waiting at the top of the transplant list for a new liver. His mother, Dr. Lisa Cooper, (Natalie Becker) head of cardiac surgery, feels completely helpless, unable to save her son, despite saving her patients’ lives every single day.

When a liver finally becomes available and is destroyed en route to the hospital, the alternative of sourcing an illegal organ becomes her only option. She turns her back on the system she has devoted her life to and the two secretly head off to New Day Clinic in East Africa. Once behind the derelict walls of the facility, Sam is taken and used as a pawn to force Lisa into performing a heart transplant for a wealthy American patient.

Knowing that in order to harvest a heart and perform the transplant, she will need to take the life of a young, innocent girl to get Sam back, she is faced with the devastating reality that some lives may simply be more valuable than others.

With a screenplay by Shane Vermooten and Bianca Schmitz, this local drama is directed by Vermooten, who says that the film deals with the problem of underground organ trafficking.

Writer/Producer, Diane Vermooten goes on to say: “We wanted to capture the dynamics of what goes on in a mother’s heart when the decision she makes could mean the life or death of her child. We asked so many mothers what they would do if they had the choice to save the life of their child, and most said that they would do whatever it takes.”

As Dr. Cooper in the film explains: “The things we believe when we are far removed from a situation are often challenged when we find ourselves confronted with the issue. Very often we may surprise ourselves with the decisions we make.”

A Hero of Our Time

This riveting new production from the Bolshoi Ballet company, seen for the first time in cinema, dances its way onto the Nouveau screens from Saturday, 13 May, for limited shows.

Based on the larger-than-life hero, Pechorin, the ballet has been adapted from Russian Mikhail Lermontov’s literary masterpiece in three separate stories – Bela, Taman and Princess Mary, that each recount his heart-breaking betrayals. Is Pechorin a real hero, or is he just a man like any other?

Pechorin, a young officer, embarks on a journey across the majestic mountains of the Caucasus, on a path set by his passionate encounters. Disillusioned and careless, he inflicts pain both upon himself and the women around him…

In each one of the three parts of the ballet, Pechorin is quite different. He is changed by circumstance, age, the way in which he is presented — in Bela he is seen through the eyes of another character, while in Taman and Princess Mary, he ‘speaks’ for himself, via the chapters of his diary.

In all these different guises, there can be no question of Pechorin being an integrated character. Each Pechorin has his own character, as revealed in his opening monologue or his own musical characterisation, as conveyed to the audience by a particular solo musical instrument, positioned directly on stage.

This brand-new production for the Bolshoi Ballet company, choreographed by Yuri Possokhov with music composed by Ilya Demutsky, is a tragic poetic journey on pointes.

The ballet’s director, designer and author of libretto is Kirill Serebrennikov. A Hero of Our Time is one of Serebrennikov’s favourite books. But however much one might love a book, not everyone is capable of bringing it alive in ballet. “I find it surprising no one thought of doing it before,” says Serebrennikov, “as it is a quintessentially poetical and inwardly musical work. And where there is poetry, there is ballet.”

A Hero of Our Time releases on South African screens on Saturday, 13 May for four screenings only – on 13, 17 and 18 May at 19:30, and on 14 May at 14:30 – only at Ster-Kinekor’s Nouveau theatres in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Durban and Cape Town. Bookings are now open. The running time of this ballet production is 2hrs 45mins, including two intervals.

For booking information on the Bolshoi Ballet’s A Hero of Our Time at Nouveau, visit the Cinema Nouveau website

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