It’s a relatively quiet week at the movies, with only two new feature film releases in South Africa.
Alternatively, you can watch the original 1976 Carrie, starring Sissy Spacek; hit up the last few days of the European Film Festival at The Zone @ Rosebank; or check out a recording of The Royal Ballet – Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. You can also book your seats now for two special screenings (on 23 and 27 October) of Whitney Houston – The Concert for a New South Africa, a 30-years later revisit of the star’s Durban performance to celebrate the end of Apartheid. Get your Nu Metro tickets here, and Ster Kinekor here.
October is a strange period of spooky entertainment alongside the first festive season fare. So we have inspiring drama White Bird. The next chapter in the “choose kind” movement sparked by book, and film adaptation, Wonder, White Bird centres on high schooler Julian (Bryce Gheisar), who is expelled for his treatment of Auggie Pullman. To transform his life, Julian’s grandmother (Helen Mirren) finally reveals her own story of courage – how during her youth in Nazi-occupied France, a boy and his mother (Gillian Anderson) sheltered her from mortal danger. Finding Neverland’s Marc Forster is in the director’s chair.
Surprise 2022 horror hit Smile gets a follow-up in the form of Smile 2, and in true sequel fashion, the stakes are upped as the entity that feeds off trauma and fear attaches itself to a new victim: global pop sensation Skye Riley (Naomi Scott). Having just witnessed the suicide of a friend, Skye nonetheless must kick off her world tour. But when she starts experiencing increasingly terrifying and inexplicable events, our heroine starts questioning whether it’s the psychological pressure of celebrity, dark events from her past, something supernatural… or maybe all three.