With the premiere of a groundbreaking film this week, there’s some thought-provoking material at the movies.
Women Talking is a group of women who gather in secret to discuss their abuse at the hands of the males in their patriarchal religious society.
It’s an emotional investigation of power abuse and the repercussions of indoctrination – and it’ll probably make you upset.
There’s also a fitting publication for LGBTQ+ history month focused on Thatcher’s controversial Section 28 law.
In other news, we’ve compiled a list of the top Valentine’s Day movies, including the blockbuster classic love story Titanic.
Women Talking
Sarah Polley takes care not to portray the horrors of the violence, instead concentrating on the women’s strength and predicament. While the theme is grim and challenging, the film contains moments of optimism and even hilarity.
From producer Frances McDormand to Ben Whishaw, who portrays the sympathetic chap taking notes on the conference, the ensemble cast is uniformly terrific. What makes a man? Because he has benefited from something that these ladies have not: an education. Thought-provoking material.
Out Friday in cinemas (15)
Blue Jean
This multi-BIFA-winning debut, released in time for LGBTQ+ History Month, is genuinely set in Thatcher’s Britain.
The year is 1988, and the government’s infamous Section 28 bill instructs schools not to “promote the teaching of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship,” which pixie-haired Jean (Rosy McEwen), a secretly gay P.E. teacher at a tough Tyneside comprehensive, is well aware of.
However, when a new 15-year-old student (Lucy Halliday) is ridiculed because she is a lesbian, Jean finds the closet to be an increasingly uncomfortable haven.
McEwen (The Alienist), a rising talent, is a revelation, her translucent face portraying Jean’s every delicate inner shift. Halliday provides an excellent contrast, with a special mention of Kerrie Hayes as Jean’s sidelined girlfriend. Georgia Oakley, a British writer-director, masterfully manages the suspense; all eyes will be on what she does next.
Out Friday in cinemas (15)
Films out in time for Valentine’s Day
Titanic
As James Cameron’s $2.1 billion-grossing (and rising) romance celebrates its 25th anniversary, star-crossed lovers Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Rose (Kate Winslet) set sail once more. When your girlfriend says, ‘Draw me like one of your French girls,’ you’ll know exactly what she means.
Out Friday in cinemas (12)
Your Place or Mine
There are no advance screenings for this romcom featuring Reese Witherspoon and Ashton Kutcher as best friends who are diametrically opposed. She is a routine obsessive who lives in Los Angeles with her kid; he thrives on change in New York. When they exchange lives for a week, you can guess where this is going…
Out Friday on Netflix (12)
Somebody I Used To Know
The fourth script by Alison Brie and Dave Franco shows Brie as a busy TV producer who is plunged into a relationship dilemma after returning to her hometown and reconnecting with her first love (Jay Ellis), who is inconveniently engaged (to Kiersey Clemons).
Out Friday on Prime Video (15)
A Sunday Affair
This Nolly/Hollywood Netflix original, set in the glitzy hustle-bustle of Lagos, has two friends (Dakore Egbuson-Akande and Nse Ikpe-Etim) unintentionally fall in love with the same man, a smooth player named Sunday (Oris Erhuero). A difficult love triangle develops as a result of a health concern reveal.
Out Tuesday on Netflix (15)
