The Weekly MUBI Digest | 10th November 2018
David Farnor | On 10, Nov 2018
MUBI prepares to unleash Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria on UK cinemas next week, and is paving the way perfectly with Dario Argento’s original classic. For non-horror fans, there’s the ongoing retrospective for punk poet and musician F.J. Ossang, a string of restorations of work by Guru Dutt, and a chance to look back at the real life tragedy of F1 driver Ayrton Senna with Asif Kapadia’s gripping documentary. Alternatively, MUBI GO (which offers a free cinema ticket every week to its subscribers) is this week offering the chance to catch Steve McQueen’s Widows at participating cinemas.
What’s new, coming soon and leaving soon on the subscription service? This is your weekly MUBI Digest:
This week on MUBI
Senna – 10th November
A documentary about arguably the greatest Formula 1 driver of his generation, and undoubtedly the fastest, Brazil’s most famous racing son Ayrton Senna. Compiled of archive footage, it follows the driving superstar’s characteristically speedy rise from the go-kart circuit to his deadly crash – all directed with sensitive, nail-biting skill by Asif Kapadia.
Suspiria – 11th November
Before MUBI releases the remake in UK cinemas, revisit Dario Argento’s original candy-coloured nightmare, which follows American ballet-dancer Suzy Bannion, who arrives in Freiberg, Germany, to attend the prestigious Tans Academy – and immediately senses that something horribly evil lurks within the walls of the age-old institution.
Guru Dutt: Paper Flowers (Kaagaz Ke Phool) – 12th November
The final film in Guru Dutt’s directing career, Kaagaz Ke Phool is a sweeping romantic voyage into both the brightest and darkest corners of a love shared by two artists divided by their society and careers. A haunting cinematic premonition of Dutt’s own personal demise—a misunderstood masterwork.
Bright Young Things – 13th November
Stephen Fry’s adaptation of Evelyn Waugh’s novel Vile Bodies takes us into the lives of a young novelist, his would-be lover, and a host of young people who beautified London in the 1930s. His star-studded cast are perfectly chosen, from Emily Mortimer and Simon McBurney to James McAvoy.
F.J. Ossang: Dharma Guns – 14th November
Emerging from a coma after a water ski accident in which his girlfriend Délie was killed, Stan van der Decken is informed that he is the heir of the mysterious Professor Starkov. He then embarks on a trip to the village of Las Estrellas.
Other new releases on MUBI
F.J. Ossang: 9 Fingers
Magloire is smoking in an abandoned train station when the police show up to check IDs. He starts running until he meets a dying man from whom he inherits a fortune. Magloire is now pursued by a gang. He becomes their hostage, but accomplice too, as he doesn’t have anything to lose.
The Ides of March
Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman are on remarkable form in this cynical, gripping thriller about the theatre of politics, adapted by Beau Willimon from his own play. Read our full review.
Guru Dutt: Pyaasa
MUBI kicks off a trio of restorations of three films by the director of Indian classic cinema with 1057’s The Thirsty One. Vijay writes unpopular poems about the destitute and poor. Ridiculed by his brothers and scorned by publishers, Vijay finds encouragement in a woman, Gulabo, who helps him to try and get his poems published.
The Wanderers
Released the same year as The Warriors, Philip Kaufman’s film did not receive the same level of cult infamy yet is as imaginative in its youthful vision of New York’s underworld. Filled to the brim with the greatest hits of 50s Rock n’ Roll, The Wanderers is a wormhole to the Bronx, circa 1963.
The Dead Nation
Romanian auteur Radu Jude turns his inquisitive eye to the history of his country revealed through portraits. From seemingly innocuous photographs we find powerful traces of a historical rise in nationalism and anti-semitism.
Mike Leigh Double: Vera Drake
In 1950s London, Vera Drake goes on her way, bustling cheerily around, cleaning for the upper classes, looking after her family and friends and helping young women to end unwanted pregnancies. Her lifestyle is modest but happy until the police begin to close in.
Mike Leigh Double: Another Year
Over the course of four seasons, Another Year explores the life of a sublimely happy older married couple, Tom and Gerri, and their various friends and family members, who struggle to find the happiness that Tom and Gerri have cultivated.
MUBI Exclusive: Touch Me Not
Billed as the most controversial Berlinale Golden Bear in history, Adina Pintilie’s fearless investigation of intimacy and sexuality persuasively invites the spectator to participate in its exploratory narrative. A treatise on bodies and our perception of the Other that won’t leave you indifferent. Read our full review
Johnny Mad Dog
Immersing one deep into the inner world of a group of child soldiers in an unspecified African region, Johnny Mad Dog trades a sociological focus for a visceral, experiential approach. With style to spare, this is an undeniably powerful cinematic reckoning with human crises and global politics.
byNWR:Wild Guitar
An aspiring teen pop singer lands in L.A. to try make it big, and is swallowed up by the evils of showbiz in this low-budget musical from underground filmmaker Ray Dennis Steckler, restored by Nicolas Winding Refn’s byNWR initiative and streaming platform.
“A gorgeous new restoration from the original negative, this film had long been plagued by ghastly sound and multi-generation video copies. It can now be seen in its original carefully-shot B&W detail—L.A. architecture buffs will be thrilled by the rare views of the Sunset Strip in its heyday.” —NWR
Halloween Horrors: Village of the Damned
John Carpenter reinterprets a classic of genre in this 1995 remake. An American village is visited by some unknown life form which leaves the women of the village pregnant. Nine months later, the babies are born, and they all look normal, but it doesn’t take the “parents” long to realise that the kids are not human or humane.
Halloween Horrors: We Are What We Are
This loose reinterpretation of Mexican horror film Somos lo que hay reset to upstate New York focuses on a demented patriarch and his family to tell a tale of evil of immeasurable proportions. Overwhelming dread guides this slow churn of gothic horror and familial bonds to an unforgettable finale.
Halloween Horrors: The Babadook
Jennifer Kent’s film astutely unites the wry, modern storybook incarnation with the genre’s disturbing past. The result is one of the horror movies of recent years.
Halloween Horrors: The Curse of Frankenstein
Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing unite for this Hammer Studios interpretation of the Promethean tale of reanimation. Refocusing towards the moral failings of Frankenstein’s experiment, Curse immerses one fully in the existential failure and dread of Mary Shelley’s masterwork.
Halloween Horrors: Season of the Witch (1972)
Best known for ushering in the modern idea of zombies, the late George A. Romero applied an incisive level of social commentary in his underrated—even forgotten—non-undead films. Thus, the stellar Season of the Witch takes aim at the nuclear family and invokes witchcraft as an attractive answer.
London Film Festival: Yours in Sisterhood
More than looking for one definition of feminism, Irene Lusztig’s deceptively simple, wonderfully polyhedral doc embraces all feminisms. Building a bridge between the 70s and today’s world, this modern take on the epistolary genre is an affecting celebration of womanhood and the act of listening. Read our full review
London Film Festival: Trees Down Here
To close MUBI’s LFF series, and direct from their visionary Experimenta sidebar, is a new work by UK artist Ben Rivers. Shot on 16mm and co-produced by MUBI, it playfully captures the delicate balance not just between past design and new innovation, but also between human creation and that of nature.
MUBI Exclusive: The Apparition
After the success of Marguerite, Xavier Giannoli returns in top form for a gripping religious thriller meets Vatican exposé that sinuously delves into the mystery of faith. Vincent Lindon—in glorious Bogart mode—gives a miraculous performance as a man of reason confronting the elusiveness of truth. Read our full review
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Last chance to stream: Titles leaving MUBI soon
Buried
Available until end of: 10th November
Red Lights
Available until end of: 11th November
Gomorrah
Available until end of: 12th November
Theatre of War
Available until end of: 13th November
The Glorious Acceptance of Nicolas Chauvin
Available until end of: 14th November
Ears, Nose and Throat
Available until end of: 15th November
Three Quarters
Available until end of: 16th November
The Wolf House
Available until end of: 17th November
It Follows
Available until end of: 18th November