After a few weeks of new movies coming to South African cinemas in pairs, this Friday we have four notables making their debut. For the record, two are recordings of iconic musical performances. You’ll find out about all of them below.
Let’s start with some star power and universal critical acclaim. Filmmaker Todd Haynes, of Carol and Far From Heaven fame, reunites with frequent collaborator Julianne Moore for May December, the tale of a married couple whose age-gap relationship buckles when an actress (Natalie Portman) arrives to do research for a film about their tabloid-dominating past.
Taylor Swift isn’t the only modern music icon to release a massive concert film. From this Friday you can catch 170-minute music documentary Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé, which explores the evolution of Beyoncé’s RENAISSANCE WORLD TOUR, which emerged as a sanctuary for freedom, and shared joy, for more than 2.7 million fans. Written and directed by Beyoncé, the concert film has received rave reviews for its combination of spectacle and surprising intimacy.
Halloween may be long past but that doesn’t mean horror films are on a hiatus. Satisfying the lust for over-the-top slasher gore is holiday-themed Thanksgiving, from Hostel and Cabin Fever’s Eli Roth. After a Black Friday riot ends in tragedy, a mysterious serial killer, known only as John Carver, comes to Plymouth, Massachusetts to enact bloody revenge on the locals. Patrick Dempsey heads up the cast as the town sheriff.
Back in December 1958, soprano Maria Callas made her Paris debut with a legendary performance at the sumptuous Paris Opéra, for one night only. Now, courtesy of Callas – Paris, 1958, contemporary opera fans and cinema audiences can experience this event as never before – meticulously restored from recently discovered original 16mm reels, with a new audio source. This has enabled the concert to screen for the first time entirely in colour and 4K Ultra HD.