RITA DI SANTO speaks to the exiled Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa about Two Prosecutors, his chilling study of the Stalinist purges
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Film round-up: January 5 2018
The Star's critics ALAN FRANK and MARIA DUARTE review this week's releases: Hostiles, Brad's Status, All the Money in the Word, Jupiter's Moon, and Walk with Me.
FIONA O’CONNOR is fascinated by a novel written from the perspective of a neurodivergent psychology student who falls in love
New releases from Robert Forster, Self Esteem, and Arve Henriksen
SIMON PARSONS is gripped by a psychological thriller that questions the the power of the state over vulnerable individuals
KEN COCKBURN assesses the art of Ian Hamilton Finlay for the experience of warfare it incited and represents
The bard gives us advance notice of his upcoming medieval K-pop releases
GORDON PARSONS steps warily through the pessimistic world view of an influential US conservative
Hostiles (15)
Directed by Scott Cooper
5/5
WESTERNS, a cinematic staple until the mid-1960s, have largely disappeared — shot down John Wayne-style by TV saturation and the rise of special effects-driven spectaculars.
Hostiles writer-director Scott Cooper has always wanted to make one but, he's said, “I wanted to make it on my terms and I wanted it to have real relevance to what’s happening in America today with race and culture.”
His film is set in 1892, when US army Captain Blocker, compellingly played by Christian Bale, faces danger and death as he escorts dying Cheyenne chief Yellow Hawk (Wes Studi) from New Mexico to be buried in his Montana homeland. He's joined on the way by Rosamund Pike’s traumatised massacre survivor Rosalie.
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