UK RELEASES: Wuthering Heights, The Rum Diary, Les Enfants Du Paradis, and other UK releases

Friday 11th of November 2011 

 Wuthering Heights (15) (D) 

 

Director: Andrea Arnold

Cast: Kaya Scodelario, James Howson, Steve Evets, Nichola Burley, Solomon Glave, Shannon Beer 

WUTHERING HEIGHTS is Academy Award®-winning writer-director Andrea Arnold's third feature following the BAFTA® award winning Fish Tank and Cannes Jury Prize winning Red Road. Based on the novel by Emily Brontë and adapted for the screen by Andrea Arnold and Olivia Hetreed, WUTHERING HEIGHTS stars newcomer James Howson as Heathcliff and Kaya Scodelario (Skins) as Cathy alongside Steve Evets (Joseph), Oliver Milburn (Mr Linton), and Nicola Burley (Isabella Linton) and introducing Shannon Beer and Solomon Glave playing the young Cathy and Heathcliff. Arnold is joined by several long-time creative collaborators: Director of Photography, Robbie Ryan (BSC); Editor, Nicolas Chaudeurge; and Production Designer, Helen Scott. 

 A Yorkshire hill farmer on a visit to Liverpool finds a homeless boy on the streets. He takes him home to live as part of his family on the isolated Yorkshire moors where the boy forges an obsessive relationship with the farmer's daughter. 

 For screenings please click HERE

 Distributor: Artificial Eye Venue: UK wide 

 The Rum Diary (15) (D) 

 

Director: Bruce Robinson 

Cast: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Aaron Eckhart, Giovanni Ribisi 

Based on the debut novel by Hunter S. Thompson, “The Rum Diary” tells the increasingly unhinged story of itinerant journalist Paul Kemp (Johnny Depp). Tiring of the noise and madness of New York and the crushing conventions of late Eisenhower-era America, Kemp travels to the pristine island of Puerto Rico to write for a local newspaper, The San Juan Star, run by downtrodden editor Lotterman (Richard Jenkins). Adopting the rum-soaked life of the island, Paul soon becomes obsessed with Chenault (Amber Heard), the wildly attractive Connecticut-born fiancée of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson, a businessman involved in shady property development deals, is one of a growing number of American entrepreneurs who are determined to convert Puerto Rico into a capitalist paradise in service of the wealthy. When Kemp is recruited by Sanderson to write favorably about his latest unsavory scheme, the journalist is presented with a choice: to use his words for the corrupt businessmen’s financial benefit, or use them to take the bastards down. 

 

Distributor: Entertainment Film Distributors Venue: UK wide 

 Les Enfants Du Paradis (R/I) (PG) (D) 

 

Director: Marcel Carne 

Cast: Arietty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur 

New Restoration by Pathé 

Dir by Marcel Carné | Starring: Arletty, Jean-Louis Barrault, Pierre Brasseur, Maria Casarès, Marcel Herrand| France 1945 |190 mins | Cert tbc

 Often featuring on all-time-best lists, Carné and Prévert's portrait of the Boulevard du Crime in the early 19th century is a sublime romance, miraculously made during the Nazi Occupation. Charting the fortunes of various actors, aristocrats, aficionados and villains frequenting Paris's theatrical district – many wooing the devil-may-care Garance (Arletty) – the rich, wonderfully engrossing tale of professional and personal rivalries, murky intrigue and unrequited passion explores, to brilliantly witty effect, the crucial role played by different kinds of performance in all aspects of everyday life… but most especially in matters of the heart. Inspired by real events and colourful characters like the mime Baptiste Debureau (Jean-Louis Barrault), the star Frédérick Lemaître (Pierre Brasseur) and the playwright Pierre-François Lacenaire (Marcel Herrand), the film is not merely a masterclass in great acting but a breathtaking achievement on every front, from the superb cinematography and sets (courtesy of the great Trauner) to Carné's deft elaboration of the sheer genius of Jacques Prévert's script. All are enhanced in this glittering new digital restoration.

 For screenings please click HERE  

Distributor: bfi Distribution Venue: Key Cities 

 Tabloid (15) (D 

 

Director: Errol Morris 

Thirty years before the antics of Lindsay, Paris and Britney, Joyce McKinney made her mark as a peerless tabloid queen. In TABLOID, Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Errol Morris (THE FOG OF WAR) follows the salacious adventures of this beauty queen with an IQ of 168, whose single-minded devotion to the man of her dreams leads her on a labyrinthine crusade for love. Down a surreal rabbit hole of kidnapping, masochistic Mormons, risque photography, magic underwear, celestial sex, jail time and a cloning laboratory in South Korea, Joyce's fantastic exploits were constant headlines. 

Distributor: Dogwoof Venue: Key Cities 

 The British Guide To Showing Off (15) (D) 

Director: Jes Benstock 

Cast: Andrew Logan, Ruby Wax, Zandra Rhodes, Brian Eno 

Andrew Logan. British Artist. Living legend. And creator of the anarchic and utterly outrageous Alternative Miss World Show, a spectacular costume pageant and fancy dress party for grown ups. In The British Guide to Showing Off, director Jes Benstock takes us under Logan's glittering wing to take an joyous look at this most quirky and exotic subculture event. Loved the world over by celebrities and misfits alike, Logan has hosted the Alternative Miss World Show since 1972. Memorable highlights include artist David Hockney judging the first one, musician David Bowie not being able to get into the second, film director Derek Jarman winning the third and triumphing in a court case against the Official Miss World (with a little help from a young Tony Blair). Featuring contributions from Brian Eno, Ruby Wax, fashionista Zandra Rhodes (who designed all of Andrew's hostess costumes), Richard O'Brien, Nick Rhodes and Grayson Perry, The British Guide to Showing Off was filmed over 5 years, charting the mounting of the 2009 Show, bringing to life its history through newly discovered archive, exuberant animation, and plenty of offbeat humour from contestants old and new. 

 Raucous, liberating and sexually charged, The British Guide to Showing Off speaks to the outsider in all of us. For anyone who has ever wanted to break out. 

 Distributor: Verve Pictures Venue: Key Cities 

 Arthur Christmas (3D) (U) (D) 

 

Director: Sarah Smith, Barry Cook 

Cast: Voiced by: James McAvoy, Hugh Laurie, Jim Broadbent, Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Ashley Jensen 

The 3D, CG-animated family comedy Arthur Christmas, an Aardman production for Sony Pictures Animation, at last reveals the incredible, never-before seen answer to every child's question: 'So how does Santa deliver all those presents in one night?' The answer: Santa's exhilarating, ultra-high-tech operation hidden beneath the North Pole. But at the heart of the film is a story with the ingredients of a Christmas classic - a family in a state of comic dysfunction and an unlikely hero, Arthur, with an urgent mission that must be completed before Christmas morning dawns. 

 Distributor: Sony Pictures 

 Immortals (3D) (15) (D) 

 

Director: Tarsem Singh 

Cast: Henry Cavill, Stephen Dorff, Luke Evans, Isabel Lucas, Kellan Lutz, Joseph Morgan, Freida Pinto 

Eons after the Gods won their mythic struggle against the Titans, a new evil threatens the land. Mad with power, King Hyperion (Mickey Rourke) has declared war against humanity. Amassing a bloodthirsty army of soldiers disfigured by his own hand, Hyperion has scorched Greece in search of the legendary Epirus Bow, a weapon of unimaginable power forged in the heavens by Ares. Only he who possesses this bow can unleash the Titans, who have been imprisoned deep within the walls of Mount Tartaros since the dawn of time and thirst for revenge. In the king’s hands, the bow would rain destruction upon mankind and annihilate the Gods. But ancient law dictates the Gods must not intervene in man’s conflict. They remain powerless to stop Hyperion…until a peasant named Theseus (Henry Cavill) comes forth as their only hope.Secretly chosen by Zeus, Theseus must save his people from Hyperion and his hordes. Rallying a band of fellow outsiders—including visionary priestess Phaedra (Freida Pinto) and cunning slave Stavros (Stephen Dorff)—one hero will lead the uprising, or watch his homeland fall into ruin and his Gods vanish into legend. 

 Distributor: Universal Pictures Venue: UK wide 

 The Awakening (15) (D) 

 

Director: Nick Murphy 

Cast: Rebecca Hall, Dominic West, Imelda Staunton

 Set in post-World War I England in 1921, THE AWAKENING follows a skeptical woman (Rebecca Hall THE TOWN) who travels to a countryside boarding school to investigate rumours of an apparent haunting. Just when she thinks she has debunked the ghost theory, she has a chilling spectral encounter which defies all her rational beliefs. 

 Distributor: STUDIOCANAL Venue: UK wide 

 Trespass (15) (D) 

 

Director: Joel Schumacher 

Cast: Nicoolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Ben Mendelsohn, Cam Gigandet 

Oscar winners NICOLAS CAGE (Leaving Las Vegas) and NICOLE KIDMAN (Moulin Rouge!), and iconic director JOEL SCHUMACHER re-team for the provocative thriller Trespass. In the film, a husband and wife are taken hostage by a group of brutal perpetrators seeking a big score, but complications ensue amid the discovery of betrayal and deception. Joining Cage and Kidman in Trespass are Ben Mendelsohn (Animal Kingdom), Cam Gigandet (Twilight), Liana Liberato (Trust), Jordana Spiro (Must Love Dogs), and Dash Mihok (I Am Legend). 

Trespass is directed by Joel Schumacher, from a screenplay by Karl Gajdusek, based on an original idea. Rene Besson, Irwin Winkler, and David Winkler produced the film, with Matthew F. Leonetti Jr. serving as co-producer. Executive producers are Avi Lerner, Danny Dimbort, Trevor Short, Boaz Davidson, and John Thompson. Director of photography Andrzej Bartkowiak, A.S.C., production designer Nathan Amondson, and costume designer Judianna Makovsky led the behind-the-scenes creative team. The music is by David Buckley, and the film’s editor is Bill Pankow, A.C.E. 

Distributor: Lionsgate UK Venue: UK wide 

 Black Pond (15) (D) 

 

Director: Will Sharpe, Tom Kingsley 

Cast: Chris Langham, Simon Amstell 

An ordinary British family are accused of murder when a stranger dies at their dinner table. Out walking his dog, Tom Thompson meets a disheveled man called Blake and invites him over for tea. Blake dies in the company of the dysfunctional Thompson family. Six months later, Tim, a friend of the Thompson daughters visits off-the-wall freelance therapist Dr Eric Sacks and the story of Blake and the Thompsons finds its way to the press. The facts are bent and the details spun as the Thompsons become known to the public as ‘The Family of Killers’. Black Pond is an account of the events leading up to Blake’s death, intercut with scenes from the fateful therapy session between Tim and Sacks and talking head interviews in which the Thompsons try to justify their actions and clear the family name. 

Distributor: Black Pond Films Venue: Key Cities 

 Rockstar (PG) (D) 

Director: Imtiaz Ali 

Cast: Ranbir Kapoor 

Janardhan Jakhar lives in his own world, encompassed with music and dreams of mesmerizing the world with his voice. Midst unsuccessful auditions, and thwarted attempts in creating music, this Delhi boy imbibes a priceless piece of advice from his mentor friend – great music is borne from great pain. He who hasn’t experienced the pain of heartbreak shall not know the depth and intensity of sublime music. 

 Distributor: Eros International Venue: Key Cities 

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