KERATIN DAY
Other movies
THE SECRET AGENT
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Fasten your seatbelts: Brazil is in the throes of a military dictatorship and left-leaning academic Marcelo (Wagner Moura) is on the run and headed to Recife with his young son. Once there, he has to get his papers — and best the rogue’s gallery of characters and scenarios strewn in his path by director Kleber Mendonça Filho. Set in 1977, The Secret Agent is full of surprises, cycling between B movie set pieces, some pointed satire and duelling timelines and perspectives. It is a sharp political drama that delivers an entertaining and suspenseful ride, which won best actor and best director at Cannes this year for Moura and Filho respectively. It is also Brazil’s submission to the US Academy Awards.
SEVEN SUMMITS
Director: Amir El-Shenawy
Saudi adventurer Badr Al-Shibani embarks on a quest: to climb the highest peak on each of the world's seven continents. Seven Summits documents his journey, which is as much a test of survival as it is a personal voyage of self-discovery. From the most remote and toughest peaks to his ultimate challenge on Mount Everest, Al-Shibani's story is a powerful exploration of human resilience, the search for identity and the firm drive to push past both physical and internal limits.
BLACK RABBIT, WHITE RABBIT
Director: Shahram Mokri
Iranian filmmaker Shahram Mokri develops multiple plot strands this engrossing, multilayered, playful and skilled drama centering around Sarah, the victim of a suspicious car crash who is swaddled in bandages and at odds with her controlling husband. What turns out to be a film-within-a-film-within-a-film zooms out to include the remake of a classic Iranian movie in Tajikistan, an armourer worried about a prop gun and an actress looking for her big break. Of course their fates collide through multiple fluid, bravura circular takes, often covering the same time frame, bold touches of magical realism — or are they sight gags? — and an eternal mystery. This spinning story is Tajikistan’s Oscar entry for this year.