#OnTheBigScreen: Toorbos, Freaky, Honest Thief and Mrs Lowry & Son

Toorbos 

This magical realist period drama is set in the 1930s in the time of the final forest dwellers of the incredible Knysna forest. It tells the story of Karoliena (Elani Dekker), a young, free-spirited forest child who is born into poverty and raised in similar circumstances. She’s the only daughter of an unsympathetic and hateful mother (Ira Blanckenberg). Her loving father dies when Karoliena is seven years old, after which she ‘adopts’ the forest as her only guardian.

The magic of 'Toorbos' - Q&A with writer-director René van Rooyen

Daniel Dercksen  12 Nov 2020

She becomes a smart and beautiful young woman who quickly attracts the attention of Johannes (Stiaan Smith), a successful businessman from town who promises to take her away from her impoverished existence. Enchanted by him and the prospects of his life, she agrees to go to Knysna where she’s trained to become a respected lady. But the town and forest are in stark contrast with each other.

The forest is magical, mythical and spiritual. The town is centred around a selfish desire for money. When Karoliena realises that she has exchanged her precious freedom for a cage, it’s too late and she’s petrified. Karoliena is trapped between her love for the forest and the man she’s married to, while she tries to overcome the obstacles on her journey to decide where her place in the world really is.

Freaky

Audiences have seen an array of body-swap films, but most of those films have been straight comedies. Freaky takes the body-swap movie format and turns it on its head with a teenage girl switching bodies with a relentless serial killer.

Seventeen-year-old Millie Kessler (Kathryn Newton) spends her days trying to survive high school and the cruel actions of the popular crowd. But when she becomes the latest target of the Butcher (Vince Vaughn), the town's infamous serial killer, her senior year becomes the least of her worries. When the Butcher's mystical dagger causes him and Millie to magically switch bodies, the frightened teen learns she has just 24 hours to get her identity back before she looks like a middle-aged maniac forever.

From producer Jason Blum (Halloween, The Invisible Man) and the deliciously debased mind of writer-director Christopher Landon (Happy Death Day, the Paranormal Activity franchise) and a screenplay by Landon and Michael Kennedy (Fox’s Bordertown), comes a pitch-black horror-comedy about a slasher, a senior and the brutal truth about high school.

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Honest Thief

A bank robber (Liam Neeson) tries to turn himself in because he’s falling in love and wants to live an honest life. Hoping to cut a deal, he agrees to return all the money he stole in exchange for a reduced sentence. But when two corrupt FBI agents set him up for murder, he must now go on the run to clear his name and bring them to justice.

This crime thriller film directed by Mark Williams from a screenplay by Steve Allrich and Mark Williams.

Mrs Lowry & Son

This biographical drama is set in Pendlebury Greater Manchester, chronicling the life of the renowned British artist LS Lowry. It explores the relationship between Lowry (Timothy Spall) and his mother Elizabeth (Vanessa Redgrave), who was bed-ridden and bitter and had reservations over her son’s career in painting. She actively tries to dissuade her bachelor son from pursuing his artistic ambitions, whilst never failing to voice her opinion at her disappointment in him.

It is directed by Adrian Noble from a screenplay written by Martyn Hesford who also wrote the original play.

Read more about the latest and upcoming film releases.