Monthly pick of foreign language films - April 2021
Here are our monthly pick of the foreign language films being released in Britain and Ireland during April 2021.
Friday 2nd April 2021
Minari (12) Korean
A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
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A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
Watch Trailer
The Night (15) Persian
An Iranian couple living in the US become trapped inside a hotel when insidious events force them to face the secrets that have come between them, in a night that never ends.
An Iranian couple living in the US become trapped inside a hotel when insidious events force them to face the secrets that have come between them, in a night that never ends.
Undine (12A) German
Undine works as a historian lecturing on Berlin's urban development. But when the man she loves leaves her, the ancient myth catches up with her. Undine has to kill the man who betrays her and return to the water.
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Undine works as a historian lecturing on Berlin's urban development. But when the man she loves leaves her, the ancient myth catches up with her. Undine has to kill the man who betrays her and return to the water.
Watch Trailer
Zana (15) Albanian
In Kosovo, it is said that every mountain has its own Zana bathing in freshwater streams. These mystical creatures can heal, bestow bountiful gifts, and act as guardians to children who dare enter the woods. In a Kosovar village amid this shadowy world, Lume (Adriana Matoshi), an Albanian woman, lives with her husband Ilir (Astrit Kabashi) and mother-in-law Remzije (Fatmire Sahiti). Having lost her only child a decade earlier in the war, Lume is haunted by night terrors and unable to conceive. Desperate to fill a void, her family pressures her to seek magical healers to treat her infertility. When Lume resists, Remzije brings an eager, younger prospective wife to the home. Under threat of being replaced, Lume abandons modern medicine and agrees to explore traditional practices. But old traumas slowly rise to torment Lume. When Remzije catches her sleepwalking to a feared witch doctor, extreme measures are taken to protect the pending fetus from evil.
In Kosovo, it is said that every mountain has its own Zana bathing in freshwater streams. These mystical creatures can heal, bestow bountiful gifts, and act as guardians to children who dare enter the woods. In a Kosovar village amid this shadowy world, Lume (Adriana Matoshi), an Albanian woman, lives with her husband Ilir (Astrit Kabashi) and mother-in-law Remzije (Fatmire Sahiti). Having lost her only child a decade earlier in the war, Lume is haunted by night terrors and unable to conceive. Desperate to fill a void, her family pressures her to seek magical healers to treat her infertility. When Lume resists, Remzije brings an eager, younger prospective wife to the home. Under threat of being replaced, Lume abandons modern medicine and agrees to explore traditional practices. But old traumas slowly rise to torment Lume. When Remzije catches her sleepwalking to a feared witch doctor, extreme measures are taken to protect the pending fetus from evil.
Wednesday 7th April 2021
Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another) Spanish
With an elephant's tusk as the protagonist, Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another meditates on the endless tactility of conservation.
With an elephant's tusk as the protagonist, Those That, at a Distance, Resemble Another meditates on the endless tactility of conservation.
Monday 12th April 2021
A Common Crime (12) Spanish
Cecilia is an academic teacher who lives alone with her son Juan, somewhere in Buenos Aires. One stormy night she wakes up scared by the knocks she hears at the door. She sees that it is Kevin, son of Nebe, the woman who helps her around the house. Cecilia, terrified, does not open, and hides in the dark, while she listens outside to the sirens of patrol vehicles. The next day, she learns from the news that the neighborhood where Nebe and Kevin live has mobilized to search for the young man. Neighbors accuse the Gendarmerie of being responsible for his disappearance, until he finally appears drowned in a river. The guilt that Cecilia feels and her inability to confess that the young man was knocking on the door of her house that night becomes too much for her. Kevin's "ghost" starts haunting her and following her all around.
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Cecilia is an academic teacher who lives alone with her son Juan, somewhere in Buenos Aires. One stormy night she wakes up scared by the knocks she hears at the door. She sees that it is Kevin, son of Nebe, the woman who helps her around the house. Cecilia, terrified, does not open, and hides in the dark, while she listens outside to the sirens of patrol vehicles. The next day, she learns from the news that the neighborhood where Nebe and Kevin live has mobilized to search for the young man. Neighbors accuse the Gendarmerie of being responsible for his disappearance, until he finally appears drowned in a river. The guilt that Cecilia feels and her inability to confess that the young man was knocking on the door of her house that night becomes too much for her. Kevin's "ghost" starts haunting her and following her all around.
Watch Trailer
Thursday 15th April 2021
Valley of Souls) Spanish
A man returns to his home in the Colombian countryside after a long fishing night and discovers that paramilitary forces have killed his two sons and thrown their bodies into the river.
A man returns to his home in the Colombian countryside after a long fishing night and discovers that paramilitary forces have killed his two sons and thrown their bodies into the river.
Friday 16th April 2021
True Mothers) Japanese
It is not strange or unusual for a couple to want to procreate and have a child. However, things are not proceeding smoothly for this husband and wife. Despite steadily trying to get the wife pregnant the couple yield to reality and, exhorted by a professional association, the couple proceed to adopt a boy. The couple are happily adapting to their adopted son, but a woman shows up soon enough emphasizing she is the boy's biological mother. The two mothers are about to face off.
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It is not strange or unusual for a couple to want to procreate and have a child. However, things are not proceeding smoothly for this husband and wife. Despite steadily trying to get the wife pregnant the couple yield to reality and, exhorted by a professional association, the couple proceed to adopt a boy. The couple are happily adapting to their adopted son, but a woman shows up soon enough emphasizing she is the boy's biological mother. The two mothers are about to face off.
Watch Trailer
Tuesday 20th April 2021
Red Moon Tide) Spanish
Time seems to stand still in a village in the Galician coast. Everybody there is paralysed although we can still hear their voices: they talk about ghosts, about witches, about monsters. Three women show up, they are trying to find Rubio, a sailor that has recently disappeared in the sea.
Time seems to stand still in a village in the Galician coast. Everybody there is paralysed although we can still hear their voices: they talk about ghosts, about witches, about monsters. Three women show up, they are trying to find Rubio, a sailor that has recently disappeared in the sea.
Friday 23rd April 2021
Homeward (Evge )) Crimean Tatar
Having lost the elder son on the war, Mustafa has to transfer his dead body to the homeland - Crimea. During this long and challenging trip, Mustafa tries to solve the innumerable problems and to find a common language with his younger son. On the way back home, the youngster becomes a man, finds his inner core and understands who he is. At the same time, the father learns to admit his mistakes and apologize for them. Having lost the one they both loved, the father and the son grow genuinely close to each other.
Watch Trailer
Having lost the elder son on the war, Mustafa has to transfer his dead body to the homeland - Crimea. During this long and challenging trip, Mustafa tries to solve the innumerable problems and to find a common language with his younger son. On the way back home, the youngster becomes a man, finds his inner core and understands who he is. At the same time, the father learns to admit his mistakes and apologize for them. Having lost the one they both loved, the father and the son grow genuinely close to each other.
Watch Trailer
Spring Blossom (PG) French
Suzanne (Lindon) is bored. She feels out of touch with her friends and classmates. Such ennui falls away when she encounters thirtysomething actor Raphaël. He's appearing at a theatre on her route between school and home, and their regular encounters see them finding common ground in each other. If the set-up sounds familiar, Lindon spices her film with more than enough surprises. In particular, a trio of musical numbers echo the everyday life song-and-dance routines of Jacques Demy's beloved The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. And just as remarkable is the fact that Lindon wrote, directed and starred in this film when she was 20. It promises much from this new filmmaker, but taken on its own terms it is a refreshing delight.
Watch Trailer
Suzanne (Lindon) is bored. She feels out of touch with her friends and classmates. Such ennui falls away when she encounters thirtysomething actor Raphaël. He's appearing at a theatre on her route between school and home, and their regular encounters see them finding common ground in each other. If the set-up sounds familiar, Lindon spices her film with more than enough surprises. In particular, a trio of musical numbers echo the everyday life song-and-dance routines of Jacques Demy's beloved The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. And just as remarkable is the fact that Lindon wrote, directed and starred in this film when she was 20. It promises much from this new filmmaker, but taken on its own terms it is a refreshing delight.
Watch Trailer
Tuesday 27th April 2021
Labyrinth of Cinema) Japanese
The story centers on a group of young people who travel back in time when they are in a movie theater just before closing time. They witness deaths during the closing days of Japan's feudal times and on the battlefront in China before they are sent to Hiroshima just before the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of the city.
The story centers on a group of young people who travel back in time when they are in a movie theater just before closing time. They witness deaths during the closing days of Japan's feudal times and on the battlefront in China before they are sent to Hiroshima just before the Aug. 6, 1945, atomic bombing of the city.