One of the reasons I like September, and autumn in general, is that after a long, hot summer (ok, perhaps not in the UK) it’s again time to go to the cinema. During the summer months it doesn’t somehow seem right to step into a darkened room and spend two hours watching a large screen. But when the schools go back, and the evenings draw in, there’s nothing better than to settle into a plush seat and let moving images take you away from the impending cold and dark winter.
There are three films which I’m really looking forward to this September.
Number One is Hope Springs with my eternal favourite, Meryl Streep. It also stars Tommie Lee and Steve Carrell.
Many years of marriage have left Maeve wanting to spice things up and reconnect with her remote husband. When she discovers a famed relationship guru she persuades her skeptical husband to get on a plane for an intense week of marriage and sex therapy. A bit of a job to say the least! And if getting there wasn’t hard enough… having to shed their bedroom hang ups, learn some new moves and rediscover their youthful spark is when the real adventure begins.
Second is Barbara, a German film directed by Christian Petzold, who also wrote the screenplay. It stars Nina Hoss, Ronald Zehrfeld and Rainer Bock. Barbara is set during the paranoid times of the GDR. I love this period (even my book, The Englishman is set during the Cold War), so this film is right up my street.
Nina Hoss is Barbara, a young doctor starting a new job at a small hospital in the provinces. It transpires she has been transferred there by the government as punishment for applying for an exit visa from the GDR. Her aim is to escape to the West to join her boyfriend Jörg who has been planning her escape via the Baltic Sea. Barbara, detached and self-contained, keeps her head down and gets on with her work, despite being subjected to random home checks and intrusive body searches. However, as the weeks go by, she becomes both beguiled and confused by the attentions of her new boss, Andre. Can she trust him, or has he been assigned to keep tabs on her?
Number Three is Arbitrage, a thriller starring Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon and directed by Nicholas Jarecki. You just can’t go wrong?
A troubled hedge funder desperate to complete the sale of his trading empire makes an error that forces him to turn to an unlikely person for help.
What films are you looking forward to seeing this autumn?
I saw Hope Springs and recommend it. The trailer is misleading,as the film on the whole is really rather tender. Streep is, of course, THE master, and when the chips are down, Tommy Lee Jones, matches her depth and deftness.
I am really looking forward to seeing Barbara too – I may drag my other half to see it because we're pretty much in the same position 🙂
And anything with Tommy Lee Jones is always worth watching. Yes, even Men in Black. And the impenetrable No Country For Old Men 😀
AX