Movie of the week – Der Golem
One of the key films of the 1920s German Expressionist movement, Der Golem screens from a 35mm print at the Irish Film Institute on Wednesday evening, with musical accompaniment by Hilary Woods. Directed by and starring Paul Wegener as the titular creature of Jewish mythology, created out of clay by a Rabbi to defend the Jewish people of medieval Prague from their Christian oppressors. Don’t expect Kevin Myers in attendance!
Tomcat
The Lighthouse hosts this year’s installment of GAZE, the annual season of films exploring LGBT themes. Highlights this year include psychological thriller The Dark Mile, the Alan Cumming starring After Louie, and the grim Austrian drama Tomcat.
Land of Mine
Nominated for a Foreign Language Oscar, Land of Mine is the story of a group of young German soldiers forced to clear deadly landmines from a Danish beach. By its nature, the film is certainly tense, but it disingenuously avoids any exploration of the psyches of these young Nazis, making it difficult to swallow.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets is director Luc Besson’s adaptation of a cult French sci-fi comic book. The most expensive film ever produced outside Hollywood, it’s an overblown mess with a needlessly complicated plot and atrocious dialogue, but the money is certainly on the screen.
By Eric Hillis of themoviewaffler.com
