With the news that screen legend Christopher Lee (aka Count Dracula/Count Dooku/Sauroman/Scaramanga and many more) recently passed, albeit aged 93, and the equally cherished national treasure John Hurt has been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, it has been a somewhat depressing week for British cinema (and don’t even start on the Game Of Thrones finale).
Perhaps then, feel-good UK/France co-production Pride is just the tonic we need. Released nine months earlier in the UK and originally screened to a warm reception at Cannes 2014, the film traces a little known chapter in British history when the miner’s strikes in the mid-80s converged with the gay rights movement. See this week’s review.
Also in cinemas is Entourage, a big screen continuation of the HBO comedy series that follows the exploits of actor Vince and his closest pals as they try to make it in Hollywood with help from Vince’s ex agent – who now happens to be studio head. The series, while occasionally fun, didn’t hold my interest, and advance word for this outing is generally poor …
Over at Cinemateket there’s a season of films by photographer Robert Frank, a close friend of Jack Kerouac who was one of the USA’s most fiercely independent experimental filmmakers. A collection of his films will be screened over the course of the weekend, and if you hurry, you can catch the Psych-Out double-bill this evening at 19:00 (Thursday 18th) – see dfi.dk/Filmhuset for details.
Cinemateket is also screening a rare laserdisc of an early Michael Mann (Heat, Manhunter) feature, The Keep (1983), which mixes war and sci-fi genre staples with hallucinatory horror, all set to a pulsating soundtrack by Tangerine Dream. If that sounds good, then you’ll love the second film, Beyond The Black Rainbow. Made in 2010, director Panos Cosmatos draws heavily from genre cinema of the late 1970s and early 80s, including Mann’s early film. If you’re a fan of Dario Argento, David Cronenberg and Stanley Kubrick, this is an audio/visual fever dream tailored-made for you – even the bonkers deus ex machina ending can’t diminish what precedes it. Enjoy.
