A trio of new movies arrive in South African cinemas this Friday. They’re also joined by new Bollywood actioner Vettaiyan, as well as the return of critical and commercial hit Forrest Gump as this week’s Throwback rerelease. Plus, if you’re in Johannesburg, you can check out the European Film Festival 2024, which is running at The Zone @ Rosebank over the next two weekends.
Having just appeared in Silent Night as a voiceless revenge seeker, Joel Kinnaman now plays a Boston detective with permanent hearing loss in action thriller The Silent Hour. Our hero is paired with a deaf witness (Sandra Mae Frank) to a brutal gang murder, and together, trapped in a crumbling apartment block, they are targeted by killers who don’t want the truth to get out. Also with Mekhi Phifer and Mark Strong.
Beating the holiday entertainment rush is South African comedy drama Homecoming. Sisters Lleka (Zikhona Bali) and Asanda (Talitha Ndima) are reluctantly summoned from the city to their picturesque home village by Mam Nkomo (Thoko Ntshinga) to celebrate what could be their father, Tat Nkomo’s (Timmy Kwebulane) last Christmas. But what is supposed to be a special period of reconnection becomes complicated when family secrets tumble out.
Anime fans will no doubt be excited for My Hero Academia: You’re Next. In the aftermath of the Paranormal Liberation War, aspiring hero Izuku Midoriya and his Class 1-A friends help in tracking down the Jailbreakers. However, they run into trouble in the form of a mysterious giant fortress and a man who resembles the former “Symbol of Peace”. At least at Nu Metro cinemas, My Hero Academia: You’re Next! will be screening in Japanese with English subtitles.