The second week of 2015 brings a variety of old and new films to the big screen. Whether you’re looking to broaden your cultural horizons with a unique look at Vermeer’s greatest masterpiece or simply to indulge in the romantic adaptation of Vera Brittain’s Testament of Youth, you’re bound to find something to help shift those January blues.
Who is the girl? And why was she painted? Girl With a Pearl Earring brought to you by Art Alliance is a documentary attempting to answer the mystifying questions behind some of the world’s most treasured masterpieces.
American Sniper is adapted from Chris Kyle’s biographical novel which describes his years of service as a Navy SEAL sniper. Directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller, this unique war-drama depicts not only Kyle’s trials whilst on tour but his conflicted feelings of duty on returning home to his wife and children.
Originally released in 1933, Duck Soup is a musical-comedy starring notorious early film stars The Marx Brothers, Margaret Dumont and Louis Calhern. Rugus T. Firefly, dictator of the bankrupt Freedonia, declares war on Sylvania in the hope of winning the heart of the wealthy Mrs. Teasdale.
Paper Souls, a feel good romantic comedy set in Christmas-time Paris. A depressed funeral-speechwriter gains a new perspective on life when commissioned to write an unusual speech for the eight-year-old son of a rather attractive widower.
Point and Shoot is a documentary filmed by Matthew Vandyke as he leaves behind his life in Baltimore in order to aid rebels fighting against Colonel Gaddafi in Libya. The film follows Matthew as he joins the fight for political freedom on what he describes as a crash course in manhood, leading to him spending time in a Libyan prison and being a part of the Arab spring. It gives a first hand look at the struggle for freedom under the rule of dictator Gaddafi.
Testament of Youth follows the young Vera as she postpones her studies at Oxford University to serve as a Voluntary Aid Nurse in the First World War. The story centres on the lost generation at the height of the Great War on a small scale, following the relationship between Vera and Roland Leighton (played by Game of Thrones‘ Kit Harrington) and the heartbreaks forced upon them by the war.
Whiplash centres on a first-year music student, Andrew, at one of the best music schools in the country. With an elite music school comes a forceful teacher, Terence Fletcher. Fletcher pushes his students to their utmost limit to access the talent that they have, and Andrew is forced to prioritise music above all other aspects of his life.
Wild follows Cheryl Strayed as she sets out alone on the Pacific Crest Trail, after the death of her mother, her divorce, and her subsequent descent into drug abuse and dark habits. In a bid to get her life back on track, Cheryl – with no previous experience with the outdoors – sets out on a heart-warming journey of self-discovery and rehabilitation.
