Our countdown of the best films released in the UK this year continues with jailed Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s No Bears, Joanna Hogg’s double-Swinton sequel and a disturbing drama about mass killer Martin Bryant
Read the US Top 50 films of 2022More of the best culture of 2022
This list is compiled by the Guardian film team, with all films released in the UK during 2022 in contention. Check in every weekday to see our next picks, and please share your own favourite films of 2022 in the comments below.
Read the US Top 50 films of 2022More of the best culture of 2022
This list is compiled by the Guardian film team, with all films released in the UK during 2022 in contention. Check in every weekday to see our next picks, and please share your own favourite films of 2022 in the comments below.
- 12/8/2022
- The Guardian - Film News
Other new releases include ‘Nitram’ and ‘The Princess’.
With the school summer holidays already underway for some and in sight for most children, Universal is going big with the release of Minions: The Rise Of Gru.
The Minions sequel will play in 637 sites, making it Universal’s widest ever animation release in the UK-Ireland. The first Minions film debuted at the top of the UK-Ireland box office back in 2015, taking £11.6m from 573 sites, which broke the then record for the biggest ever three-day opening for an animation.
The Illumination title is the fifth film in the Despicable Me franchise. Despicable Me 3...
With the school summer holidays already underway for some and in sight for most children, Universal is going big with the release of Minions: The Rise Of Gru.
The Minions sequel will play in 637 sites, making it Universal’s widest ever animation release in the UK-Ireland. The first Minions film debuted at the top of the UK-Ireland box office back in 2015, taking £11.6m from 573 sites, which broke the then record for the biggest ever three-day opening for an animation.
The Illumination title is the fifth film in the Despicable Me franchise. Despicable Me 3...
- 7/1/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
After notable turns in No Country for Old Men and Get Out, the Texan actor was rewarded at Cannes last year for his starring role as a real-life mass shooter in Nitram – a part he was initially reluctant to take on
‘Control is a funny thing,” says Caleb Landry Jones. “It can keep you from finding something inherent that is deeper and better for the film: things inside you. Sometimes there’s a kind of control that can be very stilted and boring. I think there’s some kind of balance between knowing what needs to be done and also getting there.”
The livewire 32-year-old actor walks that tightrope in an extraordinary performance in Nitram, the new film by Snowtown director Justin Kurzel about Martin Bryant, the Tasmanian who murdered 35 people in the 1996 Port Arthur shooting. Face bulging with emotion, hyperventilating through temper tantrums, snorting with glee as he pulls...
‘Control is a funny thing,” says Caleb Landry Jones. “It can keep you from finding something inherent that is deeper and better for the film: things inside you. Sometimes there’s a kind of control that can be very stilted and boring. I think there’s some kind of balance between knowing what needs to be done and also getting there.”
The livewire 32-year-old actor walks that tightrope in an extraordinary performance in Nitram, the new film by Snowtown director Justin Kurzel about Martin Bryant, the Tasmanian who murdered 35 people in the 1996 Port Arthur shooting. Face bulging with emotion, hyperventilating through temper tantrums, snorting with glee as he pulls...
- 6/30/2022
- by Phil Hoad
- The Guardian - Film News
The heroine of Goran Stolevski’s You Won’t Be Alone is a witch, with echoes of vampire and zombie, yes, but mostly with a haunting desire for human connection in 19th century rural Macedonia.
The film’s Sundance premiere got great reviews (see Deadline’s here). It’s 94 Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh with critics as Focus Features opens Stolevski’s debut feature on 147 carefully curated screens.
You Won’t Be Alone is subtitled and its narrator, the witch Nevena, grew up alone in a cave with a limited grasp of language.
Nevena (Sara Klimoska) is freed from her cave by a hideously deformed evil spirit called the Wolf-Eatress, or Old Maid Maria (Anamaria Marinca), who grows increasingly vengeful as they wander the mountainside and...
The film’s Sundance premiere got great reviews (see Deadline’s here). It’s 94 Rotten Tomatoes Certified Fresh with critics as Focus Features opens Stolevski’s debut feature on 147 carefully curated screens.
You Won’t Be Alone is subtitled and its narrator, the witch Nevena, grew up alone in a cave with a limited grasp of language.
Nevena (Sara Klimoska) is freed from her cave by a hideously deformed evil spirit called the Wolf-Eatress, or Old Maid Maria (Anamaria Marinca), who grows increasingly vengeful as they wander the mountainside and...
- 4/1/2022
- by Jill Goldsmith
- Deadline Film + TV
Caleb Landry Jones is chainsmoking on a couch in his Los Angeles home. Behind him is a black-and-white woodcut of a contorted nude figure, carved by his girlfriend, the artist Katya Svereva. He’ll be the first to cop to the disheveled, charmingly ragged appearance we expect from this indie film’s consummate weirdo. (“There has been a lot of unmanaged hair.”) We’re on Zoom to discuss his ferocious turn in Justin Kurzel’s “Nitram,” a dramatic retelling (with ample artistic license) of the events that led up to the 1996 Port Arthur shooting in Tasmania. That killing spree took 35 lives and injured 24 more, including shooter Martin Bryant, who’s serving 35 life sentences with no possibility of parole.
But Landry Jones and Aussie director Justin Kurzel — making his first film since plumbing another piece of Australian history with “True Story of the Kelly Gang” — will never refer to Martin Bryant by name.
But Landry Jones and Aussie director Justin Kurzel — making his first film since plumbing another piece of Australian history with “True Story of the Kelly Gang” — will never refer to Martin Bryant by name.
- 4/1/2022
- by Ryan Lattanzio
- Indiewire
A Pleasure to Burn: Kurzel Explores the Making of a Murderer in Disturbing Portrait
On April 28, 1996, lone gunman Martin Bryant shot and killed 35 people and injured 23 more in Tasmania. The shooting would come to be known as the Port Arthur Massacre, the events of which caused an immediate reform in Australia’s gun laws (although it seems the resulting revisions have little effect on the distribution of firearms in the country today). Director Justin Kurzel presents a carefully constructed portrait of Bryant in Nitram, who is never named except for the backwards spelling of his first name, which is what his peers called him in school to make fun of him.…...
On April 28, 1996, lone gunman Martin Bryant shot and killed 35 people and injured 23 more in Tasmania. The shooting would come to be known as the Port Arthur Massacre, the events of which caused an immediate reform in Australia’s gun laws (although it seems the resulting revisions have little effect on the distribution of firearms in the country today). Director Justin Kurzel presents a carefully constructed portrait of Bryant in Nitram, who is never named except for the backwards spelling of his first name, which is what his peers called him in school to make fun of him.…...
- 3/29/2022
- by Nicholas Bell
- IONCINEMA.com
Everything looks different in hindsight. Towards the end of this film, the camera lingers on a young man (Caleb Landry Jones) eating a fruit cup. It’s a simple act but the lighting and pacing intersect with viewers’ foreknowledge to make it almost unbearable to watch. As each spoonful of fruit pieces is consumed, the lives of the people laughing and talking and moving around in the small seaside café and its environs creep towards their end.
Nitram won a slew of prizes at the 2021 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor. It’s still controversial in Tasmania, site of the Port Arthur massacre on which it is based. 35 people died that Sunday in 1996 as Martin Bryant toured the area, shooting into crowds and targeting individuals at random. The names here have (mostly) been changed but enough is recognisable that one.
Nitram won a slew of prizes at the 2021 Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, including Best Film, Best Director and Best Actor. It’s still controversial in Tasmania, site of the Port Arthur massacre on which it is based. 35 people died that Sunday in 1996 as Martin Bryant toured the area, shooting into crowds and targeting individuals at random. The names here have (mostly) been changed but enough is recognisable that one.
- 3/9/2022
- by Jennie Kermode
- eyeforfilm.co.uk
The Port Arthur massacre, taking place April 28th, 1996 on the island state of Tasmania, is routinely commemorated as one of the darkest days in Australia’s post-colonial history. Perpetrator Martin Bryant, a 28-year-old man with severe learning disabilities, murdered 35 people and injured another 23 in a shooting spree across leisure areas in the town; he is currently incarcerated, serving 35 life sentences with no possibility of parole.
Approaching the 25th anniversary of the tragedy—and accompanied by a degree of public backlash in Australia—director Justin Kurzel has made Nitram, a fictionalized account of Bryant’s life before the murders and attempt to forensically investigate factors that fostered the atrocity. That it isn’t an exploitative embarrassment is a relief, but the film runs into some issues for seeking cast-iron certainties about something truly inexplicable. The four main performances—from Caleb Landry Jones as Nitram, Judy Davis and Anthony Lapaglia as the parents,...
Approaching the 25th anniversary of the tragedy—and accompanied by a degree of public backlash in Australia—director Justin Kurzel has made Nitram, a fictionalized account of Bryant’s life before the murders and attempt to forensically investigate factors that fostered the atrocity. That it isn’t an exploitative embarrassment is a relief, but the film runs into some issues for seeking cast-iron certainties about something truly inexplicable. The four main performances—from Caleb Landry Jones as Nitram, Judy Davis and Anthony Lapaglia as the parents,...
- 7/22/2021
- by David Katz
- The Film Stage
A Hero Don’t let the now infamous mishap cloud Saturday night’s historic achievement: with the Palme d’Or handed out to Titane, Julia Ducournau is only the second female director to win Cannes’s top prize in the festival’s history, twenty-eight years after Jane Campion did so with The Piano. It’s a towering achievement, whose surprise was spoiled thirty minutes earlier than planned by Jury President Spike Lee, who began the awards ceremony by reading out the big winner, effectively putting the whole Moonlight vs La La Land Oscar debacle to shame. It was an astonishing finale worthy of this very unusual year, and as I type these last words—no longer in a press lounge besieged by paparazzi and fellow journalists, but from the comforts of home—I’m still genuinely baffled by it all.Running a fest in the midst of a pandemic was no small feat.
- 7/19/2021
- MUBI
Justin Kurzel’s Nitram left an indelible impression on critics following its premiere at Cannes Film Festival on Friday, with many singling out the film’s tone and performances for praise.
The pre-Port Arthur massacre portrait of perpetrator Martin Bryant – who is not named in the film – is the first Australian feature to screen in competition at the French festival since Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty in 2011. In the same year, Kurzel’s debut Snowtown, about a series of murders committed in Adelaide between 1992-1999, screened in Critic’s Week.
Like Snowtown, Nitram is also based on true events and penned by Shaun Grant. However, the reviews that followed last week’s screening drew only broad stroke comparisons between the two films while commending Kurzel for his storytelling choices.
Writing for Variety, Jessica Kiang described Nitram as “ostensibly similar” to Snowtown, but noted the former represented “a far more mature...
The pre-Port Arthur massacre portrait of perpetrator Martin Bryant – who is not named in the film – is the first Australian feature to screen in competition at the French festival since Julia Leigh’s Sleeping Beauty in 2011. In the same year, Kurzel’s debut Snowtown, about a series of murders committed in Adelaide between 1992-1999, screened in Critic’s Week.
Like Snowtown, Nitram is also based on true events and penned by Shaun Grant. However, the reviews that followed last week’s screening drew only broad stroke comparisons between the two films while commending Kurzel for his storytelling choices.
Writing for Variety, Jessica Kiang described Nitram as “ostensibly similar” to Snowtown, but noted the former represented “a far more mature...
- 7/19/2021
- by Sean Slatter
- IF.com.au
Though “Nitram” never depicts the unspoken horrific massacre that its protagonist commits, the entire film queasily pulses in the anxious anticipation of the unspeakable event. It’s not an easy film to watch, knowing what’s coming but remaining completely powerless, not unlike watching a car crash in motion and being unable to stop it.
Read More: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Preview: 25 Films To Watch
All the warning signs are there for Martin Bryant, whom the film never names directly.
Continue reading ‘Nitram’: Caleb Landry Jones Is Chilling In Justin Kurzel’s Portrait Of An Infamous Australian Mass Shooter [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
Read More: Cannes Film Festival 2021 Preview: 25 Films To Watch
All the warning signs are there for Martin Bryant, whom the film never names directly.
Continue reading ‘Nitram’: Caleb Landry Jones Is Chilling In Justin Kurzel’s Portrait Of An Infamous Australian Mass Shooter [Cannes Review] at The Playlist.
- 7/18/2021
- by Caroline Tsai
- The Playlist
Texan says film about Australian massacre is ‘respectfully made’ after taking top gong for portrayal of Martin Bryant
Nitram review – deeply disturbing drama about mass killer Martin Bryant
The man who portrayed Port Arthur mass murderer Martin Bryant has won the best actor award at the annual Cannes film festival.
The film Nitram, about the events of the massacre in Australia that killed 35 people, was accused early of possibly glorifying the killer.
Nitram review – deeply disturbing drama about mass killer Martin Bryant
The man who portrayed Port Arthur mass murderer Martin Bryant has won the best actor award at the annual Cannes film festival.
The film Nitram, about the events of the massacre in Australia that killed 35 people, was accused early of possibly glorifying the killer.
- 7/18/2021
- by Australian Associated Press
- The Guardian - Film News
With “Nitram,” which premiered in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday, Australian director Justin Kurzel set himself up with an impossible task: How do you make a film that is upfront about the media’s role in the radicalization of a mass killer without adding fuel to that same fire? How do you humanize a figure who cared so little for the humanity of others?
If the somber biographical drama — which follows the perpetrator of a 1996 Australian massacre in the lead-up to the event that claimed 35 lives and injured 23 others — never quite resolves those tensions, it also doesn’t really try, instead working them into its very fabric.
Martin Bryant is the real name of the shooter in Port Arthur, Tasmania, though you’ll never once hear it in “Nitram.” The moniker he goes by — his first name spelled backwards, if you hadn’t picked up — is something of a taunt.
If the somber biographical drama — which follows the perpetrator of a 1996 Australian massacre in the lead-up to the event that claimed 35 lives and injured 23 others — never quite resolves those tensions, it also doesn’t really try, instead working them into its very fabric.
Martin Bryant is the real name of the shooter in Port Arthur, Tasmania, though you’ll never once hear it in “Nitram.” The moniker he goes by — his first name spelled backwards, if you hadn’t picked up — is something of a taunt.
- 7/16/2021
- by Ben Croll
- The Wrap
Director Justin Kurzel shies away from depicting the Port Arthur massacre itself but outstanding performances mean it’s still a highly unsettling story
Australian director Justin Kurzel has made his most purely disturbing film since his debut Snowtown in 2011. Like that film, Nitram is based on a real-life case of murder and family dysfunction (which incidentally also applies to Kurzel’s version of Macbeth). And he has four outstanding performances from Judy Davis, Essie Davis, Anthony Lapaglia and Caleb Landry Jones.
The Port Arthur massacre in 1996 was perpetrated by a violently disturbed young man, Martin Bryant, who shot and killed 35 people at a Tasmanian tourist site with a semi-automatic rifle bought legally; he was apparently inspired by the UK’s Dunblane massacre one month earlier. The Australian government took immediate steps to limit the sales of weaponry. Kurzel and screenwriter Shaun Grant have dramatised Bryant’s own deeply disturbed home...
Australian director Justin Kurzel has made his most purely disturbing film since his debut Snowtown in 2011. Like that film, Nitram is based on a real-life case of murder and family dysfunction (which incidentally also applies to Kurzel’s version of Macbeth). And he has four outstanding performances from Judy Davis, Essie Davis, Anthony Lapaglia and Caleb Landry Jones.
The Port Arthur massacre in 1996 was perpetrated by a violently disturbed young man, Martin Bryant, who shot and killed 35 people at a Tasmanian tourist site with a semi-automatic rifle bought legally; he was apparently inspired by the UK’s Dunblane massacre one month earlier. The Australian government took immediate steps to limit the sales of weaponry. Kurzel and screenwriter Shaun Grant have dramatised Bryant’s own deeply disturbed home...
- 7/16/2021
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
The selection of the Justin Kurzel-directed film “Nitram” for main competition at the Cannes Film Festival is guaranteed to strike a raw nerve in Australia.
On one hand, “Nitram” is to be celebrated as the first Australian movie in the prestigious main section for six years. On another, putting the film on a pedestal risks re-opening wounds caused by the mass murder that it describes but does not fully own up to.
The film features a loner, played by the U.S.’s Caleb Landry Jones, and his build up to a shooting rampage.
Scripted by Shaun Grant, the film is based on the infamous Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 in Tasmania, in which where 35 people were killed and a further 23 injured. Kurzel’s retelling is understood to avoid directly depicting any murders and to avoid ever using the name of the killer.
The disguise, however, is deliberately thin. “Nitram...
On one hand, “Nitram” is to be celebrated as the first Australian movie in the prestigious main section for six years. On another, putting the film on a pedestal risks re-opening wounds caused by the mass murder that it describes but does not fully own up to.
The film features a loner, played by the U.S.’s Caleb Landry Jones, and his build up to a shooting rampage.
Scripted by Shaun Grant, the film is based on the infamous Port Arthur Massacre in 1996 in Tasmania, in which where 35 people were killed and a further 23 injured. Kurzel’s retelling is understood to avoid directly depicting any murders and to avoid ever using the name of the killer.
The disguise, however, is deliberately thin. “Nitram...
- 6/3/2021
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Caleb Landry Jones, Judy Davis, Essie Davis and Anthony Lapaglia will star in Justin Kurzel’s Nitram, a feature film for Stan about Martin Bryant, the Port Arthur gunman who murdered 35 people and injured 23 others.
The film sees Kurzel once again working with writer Shaun Grant, with whom he collaborated on True History of the Kelly Gang and debut feature Snowtown, which depicted Adelaide’s Snowtown murders between 1992 and 1999.
Good Thing Productions’ Nick Batzias and Virginia Whitwell are producing, with Madman Entertainment handling theatrical.
Now shooting in Geelong, Stan’s press release announcing Nitram did not reveal what the film was about, mentioning neither Bryant or the 1996 massacre in Tasmania – only stating the project would “study one of the darkest chapters in Australian history.”
However, The Age broke yesterday that Landry Jones will play Bryant, Judy Davis and Lapaglia his parents, and Essie Davis a woman who befriends him. The...
The film sees Kurzel once again working with writer Shaun Grant, with whom he collaborated on True History of the Kelly Gang and debut feature Snowtown, which depicted Adelaide’s Snowtown murders between 1992 and 1999.
Good Thing Productions’ Nick Batzias and Virginia Whitwell are producing, with Madman Entertainment handling theatrical.
Now shooting in Geelong, Stan’s press release announcing Nitram did not reveal what the film was about, mentioning neither Bryant or the 1996 massacre in Tasmania – only stating the project would “study one of the darkest chapters in Australian history.”
However, The Age broke yesterday that Landry Jones will play Bryant, Judy Davis and Lapaglia his parents, and Essie Davis a woman who befriends him. The...
- 11/30/2020
- by Jackie Keast
- IF.com.au
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