The Kermode Awards 2010

A perfect antidote to all the industry's mediocrity celebrating backslapping.

Her Name is Sabine

Recently Britain's Channel 4 (whose late night seasons introduced me to a lot of interesting films, both arty and trashy, when I was a teenager) has got itself a youtube channel called 4 On Demand, and it's been uploading a lot of grat thing, both newly broadcast and from the archives. Looking through their documentary channel today I spotted French actress Sandrine Bonnaire's magnificent directorial debut Her Name is Sabine. It's a documentary about the autistic sister one year Bonnaire's junior, and it is an excetpional film on two levels. First it is an intimate and moving portrait of Sabine and her life, and her relationship with Sandrine, but perhaps more important it is, without being polemical, a film that has a lot to say about how we should treat the mentally ill.

I really can't recommend this film highly enough, it's an outstanding debut behind the camera for Bonnaire. You can watch it HERE

One to Watch: 12/2/10

I've only seen Nina Hoss in three films. Two (Yella and Atomised) I disliked pretty intensely and the other (The Heart is a Dark Forest) made my Top 10 last year. I've heard mixed things about the quality of Anonyma, but even the negative reviews have fallen over themselves to praise Hoss louder than the last guy did. This doesn't surprise me. Nina Hoss is, as far as I can tell, not merely an actress, she's a changeling. I can't recommend highly enough that you take the all too rare chance to see her in a movie when Anonyma is released tomorrow.

One to Watch: 29/1

Each week from here on out I'll be picking out one new release that, if you only make one cinema trip in the next week, I think you should get out and see.

29/1/2010

I've actually already seen this (review soon) and I'd especially recommend it as one for families, but Disney's long overdue return to hand drawn animation is a near constant joy. The animation is beautiful, the script very funny and there are some soon to be classic disney characters (like Ray the Cajun firefly). A treat for kids and adults alike.

Note: The Princess and the Frog opens in London on January 29th, and around the country on February 5th.