Take Me Somewhere Nice (Ena Sendijarević, 2019)
MUBI are currently showing one of my favourite films that we screened at the 2019 Inverness Film Festival. It was, in fact, the unofficial opening film of the festival - beginning an hour earlier than Motherless Brooklyn. Take Me Somewhere Nice, the debut feature from Bosnian director Ena Sendijarević, is about a Dutch-raised Bosnian woman who decides to travel back home to meet her father and gets mixed up with her cousin and his friend during a road trip through Bosnia.
Reminiscent of the early work of Jim Jarmusch (though better than anything Jarmusch has made in my opinion) it’s beautifully shot (in a 1.33 ratio) and is a colourful, stylish, off-beat film. I cannot wait to see what Ena Sendijarević decides to make next and I promise that it will be screened at Eden Court one day.
The Past (Asghar Farhadi, 2013)
Also coming to MUBI this week is The Past, which is a 2013 film from the great Iranian director Asghar Farhadi. I can’t describe the film better than Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian (probably why he does what he does and I don’t) who says The Past ‘is an elegantly patterned mosaic of detail, unexpected plot turns, suspenseful twists and revelations’.
If watching The Past gets you in the mood for some more of Farhadi’s work (and it will) then I can’t recommend three of his other films highly enough, and all are available to rent through Amazon. About Elly is the first of his films I saw, it stars the wonderful Golshifteh Farahani (who was the lead in the Inverness Film Festival 2013 Audience Award winner, My Sweet Pepper Land) in a film about a group of friends on holiday when one of them goes missing. A Separation, which was the Oscar-winner for Best Foreign Language film in 2012, is a family drama with impeccable performances and one of the finest screenplays of the decade (which was also nominated for an Oscar, very rare for a non-English speaking film). The Salesman, which we premiered at the 2016 Inverness Film Festival, is a complex film which slowly builds tension towards a powerful finale.
Love & Friendship (Whit Stillman, 2016)
If you are in the mood for something a little lighter from MUBI they are showing Whit Stillman’s hilarious Jane Austen adaptation Love & Friendship from Sunday 24th May. It is an absolute joy of a film with a great cast – all of whom are on top form. It may come from a minor Austen (her novella ‘Lady Susan’) but you won’t find a more enjoyable adaptation of her work (and yes, I am including the fabulous Clueless). It’s a perfect Sunday night film. The pea-eating sequence had me howling with laughter.
Eden Court customers can get 90 days of movies for free with MUBI. Click this link to find out more. We are also partnering with Curzon Home Cinema to offer you 15% off any ‘(NOT) In Cinemas Now’ new release. Enter the code CHCMAY when purchasing.
This blog was written by:
On Thur 30 April.
