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Co-star Catherine Deneuve marching in a red dress and a flowery hat in front of poor locals in South East Asia in front of a temple makes up this poster for Régis Wargnier's Indochine
A beautiful Frenchwoman with an enormous rubber plantation in colonial French Indochina (Vietnam today) gets drama in her life, when she falls for a French naval officer and starts to feel her colony falling apart around her.
Indochine is written by Catherine Cohen (The Woman of My Life/La Femme de Ma Vie (1986)), Louis Gardel (Himalaya (1999)), Erik Orsenna (La Dette (2000, TV movie)) and co-writer/director Régis Wargnier (The Woman of My Life/La Femme de Ma Vie (1986)).
Catherine Deneuve (Place Vendôme (1998)) is fabulously beautiful and her acting is an enormous pleasure in the lead, paired here with an almost equally photogenic Vincent Perez (Fanfan (2003)) as the officer, who starts out with setting fire to a boat with a heroin-smuggling father and his little boy, but who later gains understanding and sympathy for the hardships of the locals, - mainly because he also falls in love with Deneuve's adopted daughter!
The impressive production is enamored with the foreign landscapes and presents beautiful costumes, hair and faces and in this the Wargnier commits the crime of beautifying the story. Indochine is at times a compelling drama, though at others it is a bit static, and the film is overlong.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: 120 mil. FRF, approximately 4.3 mil. $
Box office: Reportedly 29.6 mil. $
= Huge hit (returned 6.88 times its cost)
[Indochine was released 15 April (France) and runs 159 minutes. 14 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Deneuve was paid 2.7 mil. FRF (approximately 513k $) for her performance in the film). Shooting took place from April - August 1991 in Malaysia, Vietnam and in Paris, France. The film sold 3.1 mil. tickets in France, where it was the 6th highest attended of the year, and it made 5.6 mil. $ in North America. Wikipedia lists the impressive 29.6 mil. $ total gross, linking to JPBox-Office, but the figure is not visible on the link, although it is not unlikely. The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning for Best Foreign Language Film. It lost Best Actress (Deneuve) to Emma Thompson for Howards End. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and won 5/12 César award nominations as well as a Goya, a Golden Globe and 2 National Board of Review awards, among other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 2.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Wargnier returned with A French Woman/Une Femme Française (1995). Deneuve returned in My Favorite Season/Ma Saison Préférée (1993); Perez in Cendre d'Or (1992, short) and theatrically in Fanfan (1993). Indochine is fresh at 74 % with a 6.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A frightening, zombie-like appearance in the weather-beaten, catatonic face of a young man makes up this intense poster for Elem Klimov's Come and See
During World War II the Nazis march into Belarus to exterminate Communists. Here the big lad Flyora has his life unrooted permanently.
Come and See is written by Ales Adamovich (Synovya ukhodyat v boy(1971)) and Russian master filmmaker, co-writer/director Elem Klimov (Welcome, or Nor Trespassing/Dobro pozhalovat, ili Postoronnim vkhod vospreshchen (1964)), whose 6th feature it was. It is based on the true story of the Nazi's burning down of more than 600 villages in Belarus during the war, as well as the books Khatyn and I Am from the Fiery Village by Adamovich. The title is a quote from Chapter 6 in the Bible's Book of Revelation.
Perhaps the greatest anti-war film of all time, Come and See is a deeply transfixing experience, related with a towering authority: A voluminous, 'forgotten' chapter of horror from WWII: How the Nazis exterminated and burnt down 628 Belarusian villages.
Aleksey Kravchenko (Jacked$ (2004)) is unforgettable as Flyora; he utilizes his face muscles to deliver some of the most intense and frightening expressions of human terror and despair in cinema history. Photographed (by Aleksey Rodionov (The Party (2017))) incredibly beautifully and inventively, with camera travelings that precurse work which Emmanuel Lubezki and other fine cinematographers would later be heralded for (such as found in The Revenant (2015)).
Some of the most unpleasant sequences in cinema history are here combined with surreal images (the stork, the burnt man) and an expressive portrait of the crimes of the Nazis. The evil is unfathomable. SPOILER The scene in which the building full of people gets burned down is horrifying as few others before or after it.
Come and See, for most who dare, is a film you watch once and never forget.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: Reportedly 20.9 mil. $
= Uncertain but likely a mega-hit (projected return of 20.9 times its cost)
[Come and See premiered 9 July (Moscow Film Festival) and runs 142 minutes. It took Klimov 8 years to make it, most of them spent in pre-production since the Soviet authorities would not allow the production for years. When at last they did, all he had to change was the work title Kill Hitler. Shooting took place chronologically for 9 months in the Soviet Union. All of the portrayed events did reportedly occur. Klimov utilized hypnosis and autogenic training to shape the performance of Kravchenko, who was also put on a minimal diet. Live bullets were fired, at times just 10 centimeters from Kravchenko's head, he has alleged, and security measures were generally few and primitive. 28.9 mil. reportedly paid admission to the film, an incredible number that is impossible to verify. It was reportedly #6 at the annual USSR box office in 1986. Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. It has additionally made in excess of 1.2 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. IMDb's users have voted the film in at #91 on the site's Top 250, sitting between Singin' in the Rain (1952) and Requiem for a Dream (2000). Klimov retired from directing after the film. Kravchenko returned in Melkiy bes (1995). Come and See is certified fresh at 89 % with an 8.6/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
An celestial array of surreal elements and many stars stand ready on this poster for Terry Gilliam's The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
In London a traveling group of weirdos attempt to entertain ungrateful, rude drunks from a wagon that includes the ancient Parnassus' imaginarium.
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is written by Charles McKeown (Brazil (1985)) and American-born British master filmmaker, co-writer/co-producer/director Terry Gilliam (Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)), whose 11th feature it is.
Despite a dragging beginning, this chaotic film flows out and becomes enormously testing to watch. This is less astonishing when considering that it is a Gilliam creation that was completed with three new stars cast in the lead, since the original suddenly passed away in real life, in a script that was already bonkers. (Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale (2001)) died at age 28 from accidental prescription medication poisoning.) All involved do what they can, in ugly hair, beards and many layers of ugly costumes, often in ugly lighting, in ugly images, with many sequences also featuring ugly 'fantastical' CGI elements.
Ledger's Tony character, as a side note, is a man who is rescued from wanting to hang himself. Gilliam's messy procession is anything but uplifting.
[The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus premiered 22 May (Cannes Film Festival, out of competition) and runs 123 minutes. 12 companies and support bodies were involved in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from December 2007 - April 2008, with a month-long hiatus due to the demise of Ledger, in British Columbia and in England, including in London. Gilliam engaged friends and colleagues of Ledger, Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell to all overtake the actor's part following his tragic death, and the three decided to donate their (unknown) salaries to Ledger's daughter Matilda. The film went about 5 mil. $ over budget. Co-producer William Vince also passed away prior to release. The sensation surrounding Ledger's death meant that the film reportedly made back its budget through presales before even getting released. It opened #20 to a 415k $ first weekend in 48 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #11 and in 607 theaters, grossing 7.6 mil. $ (11.8 % of the total gross). This was the film's 3rd biggest market. The biggest two were Italy with 11.1 mil. $ (17.3 %) and Japan with 6.5 mil. $ (10.1 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars, winning none: It lost Best Costume Design to The Young Victoria and Art Direction to Avatar. It was also nominated for 2 BAFTAs, a British Independent Film award and other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 3/4 star review, translating to 3 notches over this one. The film reportedly additionally made in excess of 11.7 mil. $ on the North-American home video market alone. Gilliam returned with The Legend of Hallowdega (2010, short) and The Wholly Family (2011, short) and theatrically with The Zero Theorem (2013). This was Ledger's final film; Christopher Plummer (All the Money in the World (2017)) returned with voice performances in My Dog Tulip (2009) and 9 (2009) prior to his physical theatrical return in The Last Station (2009). The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus is fresh at 64 % with a 6.0/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
What do you think of The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus?
Gabriel Byrne returns as the troubled psychotherapist Paul Weston on this poster for season 2 of Rodrigo García's In Treatment
Psychotherapist Paul Weston, now divorced, has relocated to Brooklyn, New York, and gets sued to the tune of 20 mil. $ by the father of his former patient Alex, an Air Force pilot who committed suicide. He is contacted by his patient and lover 20 years earlier, Mia, who blames Paul for abandoning her then and her bad behavior since.
April is Paul's second patient this season, a 23 year-old student with terminal lymph cancer, who has not told any one about this and lives with an intense anger.
Oliver is an 11 year-old boy patient, whose parents are bickering over his head, divorcing but without the guts to tell their son.
Walter is a big-time CEO, who suffers from insomnia and precious little patience and is looking for a quick-fix. Paul, unable to supply this, listens to the man's anxiety about his daughter's work in Rwanda, as he suffers a panic attack and rushes out.
Paul still visits his own former mentor and current psychotherapist Gina, who is deposed for the trial and planning to support him.
Paul works on April, who is against chemotherapy. Oliver forgets his pet turtle at Paul's, after his parents have announced their divorce to him. Walter expands on past trauma and returns to Paul despite his lack of patience. Paul eventually talks April into telling her mother of her cancer. Paul's father is dying with Alzheimer's, and Paul spends much of his own sessions retro-analyzing his father as well as his own childhood and youth.
Walter steps down as CEO, self-medicates and is miserable. While Paul admits hating his life to Gina, she gets him to visit and forgive his dying father. Paul visits Walter in the hospital after a failed suicide attempt. Alex's father 'offers' Paul a terrifying dilemma: Take full responsibility for his son's death in a written letter, and the case will be dropped. April's chemo works, but she consequently struggles with turning away from death and face life.
The death suit is rejected in the final episode, and Paul ends his therapy with Gina in a response of relief.
In Treatment - season 2 is created by Rodrigo García (Bull (2016, TV-series)), based on the Israeli series Be Tipul (2005-08).
The show sets its claws deeper in its audience in the second season with some highly rewarding dramatic stories and characterizations, and the series' weak points are few and far between here: Paul's visits with Gina, where he complains about his "mess of a life" and harangues her, mostly without justification, are tough and at times hard to sit through, as two therapists being therapists with each other can be, especially as Paul's woes need to be retraced back to his mother's death, his father and his childhood in what can feel as psychological navel gazing. Gabriel Byrne (In the Cloud (2018)) is terrific, and Dianne Wiest (The Humbling (2014)) emanates intelligence as Gina, but their sessions are the show's least interesting.
In Treatment is incredibly dense and mined with tragedy and tough topics (suicide, death, abuse, self pretense, neglect, fear, betrayal etc.), and it will be too much for many. But for the right viewer the second season delivers riveting stories, deeply moving moments and breath-taking performances: John Mahoney (Dan in Real Life (2007)) is incredible and raw as Walter, not least when he attempts to fake rapid improvement for Paul following his suicide attempt, and the therapist sees through it. Walter must realize many painful things about his life in the course of the show. Alison Pill (The Same Storm (2021)) is strong as April; Hope Davis (Greenland (2020)) is a layered wreck of self insecurity as the lonely and complex Mia. Most heartbreaking in season 2 are the sessions with Oliver and his parents, who give a prime example of supremely dysfunctional parenting - and dysfunctional divorcing. The boy is severely bullied at school in the midst of the home front debacle, which both to him and us is revealed as a case of intensely egotistic parents that basically don't want him.
In Treatment - season 2 is an intense and highly emotionally and intellectually stimulating drama.
Best episodes:
8. Oliver - Week 2 - Written by Keith Bunin (Onward (2020)); directed by Ryan Fleck (Billions (2016-17))
Paul has a tough heart-to-heart with the boy, who gets bullied at school and now gets told by his parents that they are divorcing.
14. Walter - Week 3 - Written by Pat Healy (Mullitt (2000, short)); directed by Norberto Barba (Reacher (2022, VoD), TV-series))
Walter is exhausted following an unsuccessful visit to his daughter in Africa and a dire scandal involving his company. Electrical television.
29. Walter - Week 6 - Written by Warren Leight (Shelter (2017, TV movie)); directed by Paris Barclay (Monsters (2022-24))
On leave from the hospital, Walter tries to trick Paul to sign him out, but he sees through the ploy, and they arrive at a breakthrough.
[In Treatment
- season 2 debuted 5 April - 5 May (HBO) and runs 35 episodes of
an average 25 minutes each, coming to approximately 875 minutes.
Shooting took place in New York. The viewer ratings are
regrettably not public information. The season was nominated for 3 Emmys. The creators and Byrne returned for season 3 in 2010. Also in 2009, Byrne made a voice performance in Perrier's Bounty. In Treatment - season 2 is fresh at 100 % with an 8.90/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A girl wielding a huge weapon in front of a massive giant makes up this dramatic poster for Anders Walter's I Kill Giants
A small girl in a US coastal town rejects normal school life in favor of her hobby; hunting and killing in the forest along the ocean. - But does this curious interest cover over something else?
I Kill Giants is written by Joe Kelly (Monsuno (2011-12)), adapting his same-titled 2009 graphic novel co-created with Ken Nimura (Henshin (2015)), and directed by debuting Anders Walter (Helium (2013, short)).
A Monster Calls (2016) reminiscent story with an eternally supercilious, self-governing protagonist with a well-meaning, worried school councilor (Zoe Saldaña (Amsterdam (2022)) gives a dull sad-face performance), dumb brothers and a powerless bigger sister. An overly sweet new British schoolmate girl seems invented solely to get us closer to our little miss nonsense, who is given many a scene to elaborate her wacky nonsense universe. It is all gravely dull.
Humor, real suspense or dramatic development is missing in I Kill Giants. SPOILER The ending unsurprisingly shows that the fantastical elements are all self-invented in order for the girl to cope with her mother's cancer illness. She dies. The girl did not get to see her mother through her last time on earth due to her nonsense hunts in the wild. Nevertheless she thanks an imaginary giant in the film's last scene, wrapping up a story and film that is distant from actual reality and prone to hokum.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)
[I Kill Giants premiered 9 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 106 minutes. 13 companies and support bodies collaborated in the financing and production of the film. Shooting took place from September 2016 - ? in Belgium, Ireland and New York. The film was released day-and-date (online and in a few theaters) in North America with the gross numbers remaining secret (but likely being tiny). The film's reported gross comes from 7 markets, which, along with Denmark, where it sold just under 2,000 tickets, comes to 369k $. The three biggest markets were Russia with 165k $ (44.1 %), the UAE with 85k $ (23 %) and Portugal with 40k $ (10.8 %). The-Numbers.com allege that the film additionally made more than 1.7 mil. $ on domestic home video sales. Walter returned with Når Befrielsen Kommer (2023). Madison Wolfe (Keanu (2016)) returned in Trafficked (2017); Saldaña in a voice performance, a short and a music video prior to her theatrical return in Avengers: Infinity War (2018); and Imogen Poots (The Father (2020) in Age Out (2018). I Kill Giants is certified fresh at 78 % with a 6.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Lush pink and the adored stars are the selling points on this bright poster for Andrew Bergman's Isn't She Great
Jacqueline Susann has a humble dream of becoming rich and famous, and when she meets the agent Irving Mansfield they prove a magical match, since he believes just as much in her, - or more, in fact!, - than she does herself.
Isn't She Great is written by Paul Rudnick (Sister Act (1992)), based on the 1995 New Yorker profile Wasn't She Great of super-selling author Jacqueline Susann by Michael Korda (Another Life (1999)), and directed by Andrew Bergman (So Fine (1981)).
Bette Midler (Divine Madness (1980)) and Nathan Lane (Modern Family (2010-19)) are top stars and both quite funny here, - especially Lane, - although the story comes off as a bit implausible, including that Midler's sexually oriented Jacqueline here should marry the not exactly arousing Lane...
Another thing to wonder about in Isn't She Great is the couple's economy together, which seems enormous right from the get-go: In New York, no less, although both of them are rarely working and professionally failed at the outset. Isn't She Great is a film for fans of its two stars most of all.
= Box office disaster (returned 0.07 times its cost)
[Isn't She Great was released 28 January (USA) and runs 95 minutes. Shooting took place from January - April 1999 in Quebec and New York. The film opened #17 to a 1.3 mil. $ first weekend in 750 theaters in North America, its peak there, where it grossed 2.9 mil. $ (96.7 % of the total gross). It was released in 6 other markets but has only registered an unspecified 40k $ foreign gross at Box Office Mojo. Roger Ebert gave it a 1/4 star review, translating to a notch under this one. Bergman was never hired as director again but did return with a couple of more credits as a writer. Midler returned with a cameo in What Women Want (2000), in Bette (2000-01) and in an actual role in The Stepford Wives (2004); Lane in Love's Labour's Lost (2000). Isn't She Great is rotten at 24 % with a 4.10/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
A girl frightened terribly, seated in her bed, makes up this effective poster for Leigh Whannell's Insidious: Chapter 3
A father and his teenage daughter and son are recovering from their loss of their wife and mother to cancer. But the girl's attempts at contacting their lost kin in the afterlife invites a demon close to them.
Insidious: Chapter 3 is written and directed by debuting Leigh Whannell (Wolf Man (2025)), who also co-stars in his returning role as one of the demon hunters. It is the 3rd film in the Insidious franchise (2010; 2013), a prequel to the two first films.
A meticulously told story with a good performance by Stefanie Scott (Beautiful Boy (2018)) as the main character girl once again succeeds in making an Insidious movie that carves out a place of creeping fright and scary moments. Lin Shaye (Waffle Hut (2021, TV movie)) as a psychic demon hunter is again a major asset for the series.
[Insidious: Chapter 3 was released 28 May (Denmark, Slovakia) and runs 98 minutes. Shooting took place from July - August 2014 in Los Angeles, California. The film opened #3, behind fellow new release Spy and holdover hit San Andreas, to a 22.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it spent one more weekend in the top 4 (#4), grossing 52.2 mil. $ (46.2 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 6.1 mil. $ (5.4 %) and Russia with 5.8 mil. $ (5.1 %). The franchise returned with Insidious: The Last Key (2018). Whannell returned with Upgrade (2018). Dermot Mulroney (August: Osage County (2013)) returned in Extant (2015, TV-series)) and theatrically in Truth (2015); Scott in Hayley Kioko: Girls Like Girls (2015, music video) and theatrically in Jem and the Holograms (2015). Insidious: Chapter 3 is rotten at 56 % with a 5.60/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]
Anders Matthesen's profile against colored spotlights on a stage makes up this simple poster for Kasper Gaardsøe's Under Stjernerne på Himlen
Danish rock musician Tommy Seebach changes tone and conquers international dance floors in 1979 with his Eurovision hit Disco Tango. But after a decade of hits his fame fades, and the spotlight moves on. Tommy wants to reconquer the stage, but the costs of his endeavor rise.
Under Stjernerne på Himlen is written by Stefan Jaworski (Rita (2013, TV-series)) and Jannik Tai Mosholt (Anti (2016)), based on the life of Tommy Seebach, and directed by debuting Kasper Gaardsøe (DNA (2019, TV-series)). The original Danish title translates to 'under the stars on the sky'.
Opening with the Disco Tango pomp and splendor, the film soon arrives at Seebach's increasingly difficult predicament from the 1990s onward: Past his glory and relying on the bottle for support and comfort. Anders Matthesen (Toscana (2022, VoD)) shows more dramatic range and skill than he has been afforded space for in prior performances, and Neel Rønholt (Tinka og Kongespillet (2019, TV-series)) is good as his sweet, patient and forgiving wife. Their three children are central to the film, which is mostly a story of a family's coping with the father/husband's suffering from alcoholism. They also give fine performances, and the production's vivid design, costumes and hairpieces help recreate the eras depicted vividly.
Though there are light moments and some humor, the film is mostly a sentimental drama, building up to Seebach's at first triumphant return to national celebration with the lullaby written for his daughter (the film's title is named after the song), which ends in disaster, when the song flops badly at the Eurovision in Ireland, and Tommy goes off the deep end as a result. Caspar Phillipson (Maria (2024)) is very good as Seebach's songwriting partner Keld Heick.
Under Stjernerne på Himlen succeeds with a simple but effective, tender, loving portrayal of a man, his struggles and his family with plenty for others to reflect in and be moved by.
Watch a trailer for the film here
Cost: Unknown
Box office: Too early to say
= Uncertain
[Under Stjernerne på Himlen was released 20 March (Denmark) and runs 106 minutes. Shooting took place in Denmark. The cost is unreported so far, and the gross receipts are yet to be counted from the first weekend. The film is not slated to release in other markets as of yet. Gaardsøe does not have his next project announced yet. Matthesen returns in Det Andet Offer (2025). 82 IMDb users have given Under Stjernerne på Himlen a 7.8/10 rating.]
