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In his latest film Quiet Life, director Alexandros Avranas takes on a challenging issue that few are aware of—child resignation syndrome. The movie first screened at the 2024 Venice Film Festival, where audiences were introduced to a family’s struggle against all odds.

Sergei, Natalia, and their daughters have fled their home in Russia, seeking asylum in Sweden to escape danger. There they eagerly learn the language and immerse themselves in their new community while waiting for a decision on their application. But faced with rejection, despair sets in.

Their younger daughter Katja suddenly falls ill with resignation syndrome, a condition where trauma causes children to withdraw completely into an unresponsive state. As Katja’s health declines and hopes of appealing the decision vanish, the family is thrust deeper into uncertainty.

Avranas does not shy away from depicting the bleak realities they confront—from indifferent bureaucracy to a clinic that...

Project based on novel about Russia infiltrating Swedish politics.

Sweden’s Jens Jonsson will direct The Doctrine, a political thriller series adapted from Magnus Montelius’ novel Eight Months.

Jonsson has credits including series Young Wallander and Blinded, and films Easy Money III and Sundance award-winner The King Of Ping Pong.

The novel, published in 2019, presented a then-far-fetched idea that Sweden would join NATO; given world events, the premise is now eerily contemporary.

Erik Magnusson of Anagram Sweden produces.

Backers are TV4/Cmore, Anagram, Film i Väst, Aurora Studios and Beside Productions. With investment from Finnish Impact Film Fund and support from Nordic Film&tv Fund.

The new thriller, Our Kind of Traitor, is worth the visit. Just the right amount of action, adventure, and intrigue. The dynamic cast was spot on and is sure to please.

The story starts out with Perry (Ewan McGregor) and his girlfriend Gail (Naomie Harris) in a bit of a tumultuous relationship with Perry having to try and make amends after a sorted affair he had some time back. As chance would have it, Gail storms off in a restaurant while on holiday, leaving Perry open to befriend a member of the Russian mafia, the very charismatic Dima, played by Stellan Skasgard. He is extremely boisterous, full of life, and in great need. We come to learn that Dima is in trouble and is petrified of the mafia putting a new man in charge, “The Prince” (Grigoriy Dobrygin), who is going to kill his family. Dima enlists Perry to get...

Veteran screen adapter Hossein Amini (The Two Faces of January, Drive) teams up with famed author John le Carré for yet another big screen espionage thriller joint with Our Kind of Traitor. Le Carré, who serves as executive producer, brings his typical granular approach to Government and institutional betrayal his novels are famed for. The focus is on Dima (Stellan Skarsgård), a career criminal for the Russian mob who has decided to betray his comrades when he learns that his financial know-how of the business has put him and his family in the cross-hairs of Prince (Grigoriy Dobrygin) his ruthless leader. When a chance encounter in Morocco with the unhappily married British couple Perry and Gail (Ewan McGregor and Naomie Harris) gives Dima the chance...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

Black Sea is a gripping adventure that takes audiences to the depths of human greed in a suspenseful underwater search for sunken treasure that becomes a fight for survival. Directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald (One Day in September, The Last King of Scotland) and starring two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law (The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain), the suspenseful Focus Features thriller debuts on Digital HD on April 21, 2015 and on Blu-ray Combo Pack and DVD as well as On Demand May 5, 2015 from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Black Sea centers on a rogue submarine captain (Jude Law) who, after being laid off from a salvage company, pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As the captain and his crew embark on their expedition, greed and desperation take control on board their claustrophobic vessel...

Chicago – I’m on board with Jude Law leading a film and neutral about submarine movies as a genre. My primary pre-screening interest in the quietly marketed thriller “Black Sea” was what Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald would do with this material following his hit with the hard-hitting drama “The Last King of Scotland”.

As it turns out, Jude Law as a desperate, angry and greedy skipper is not nearly as impactful as Forest Whitaker’s brutal Ugandan dictator. And “Black Sea,” which dives down to oceanic hull break point, isn’t propelled by nearly as deep of a story as the Oscar-winning Whitaker film.

Rating: 2.5/5.0

As for standing the test of time, “Black Sea” won’t. The film will not appear on favorite submarine film lists in the company of greats including “The Hunt for Red October,” “Crimson Tide,” “U-571,” “K-19: The Widow Maker,” “The Abyss” and “20,000 Leagues Under...

Scottish director Kevin Macdonald found some early success and notoriety with his first narrative feature The Last King of Scotland, which ended up earning Forest Whittaker an Oscar. Since then films such as State of Play and The Eagle haven't played so well, though his 2013 feature, How I Live Now, managed to turn some heads, even if it wasn't released on a very wide basis. Known at the beginning of his career as a documentary filmmaker, he's continued on that track here and there, most recently with Marley, but now he comes to the table with his latest fictional feature, a submarine thriller titled Black Sea starring Jude Law as a submarine captain in search of lost Nazi gold. While Black Sea has something of an Indiana Jones-sounding plotline, it's far more serious than that. To go along with the search for sunken gold off the coast of Georgia, there's...

Scottish director Kevin Macdonald found some early success and notoriety with his first narrative feature The Last King of Scotland, which ended up earning Forest Whittaker an Oscar. Since then films such as State of Play and The Eagle haven't played so well, though his 2013 feature, How I Live Now, managed to turn some heads, even if it wasn't released on a very wide basis. Known at the beginning of his career as a documentary filmmaker, he's continued on that track here and there, most recently with Marley, but now he comes to the table with his latest fictional feature, a submarine thriller titled Black Sea starring Jude Law as a submarine captain in search of lost Nazi gold. While Black Sea has something of an Indiana Jones-sounding plotline, it's far more serious than that. To go along with the search for sunken gold off the coast of Georgia, there's...

Chicago – In the latest HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 75 pairs of advance-screening movie passes up for grabs to the new thriller “Black Sea” starring Jude Law from Oscar-winning director Kevin Macdonald (“The Last King of Scotland”)!

“Black Sea,” which opens in Chicago on Jan. 30, 2015 and is rated “R,” also stars Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Jodie Whittaker, Tobias Menzies, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Michael Smiley, Karl Davies, Konstantin Khabenskiy and Daniel Ryan from director Kevin Macdonald and writer Dennis Kelly. Note: You must be 17+ to enter and win this “R”-rated Hookup.

To win your free “Black Sea” passes courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, just get interactive with our social media widget below. That’s it! This screening is on Thursday, Jan. 29, 2015 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. The more social actions you complete, the more points you score and the higher yours odds of winning! Completing these social actions only increases your...

Outside a submarine thousands of leagues under the sea lies a dark, cold death. Inside the sub lies a crew on a mission that could salvage their lives…Mining full-speed-ahead tension from a fathoms-deep treasure hunt, Black Sea is a suspenseful adventure thriller directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald.

Robinson (two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law) is a submarine captain, and the sea calls him at the expense of all else: his nearly 30 years of voyages have cost him the love of his wife Chrissy (Jodie Whittaker) and child. When the salvage company for whom he has toiled over 11 years abruptly lays him off, this working-class ex-Navy man finds himself adrift.

But after hearing the tale of a German U-boat full of WWII-era gold sitting on a bed in the Georgian depths of the Black Sea, the captain feels he can prove himself anew. He jumps at a funding...

★★★☆☆ In the wake of terrorism, governments have been left to wonder how they missed crucial signs, what preventative measures need to be taken and what can effectively stamp out the destructive actions of a few. A Most Wanted Man (2014) is set in a post-9/11 Hamburg, Germany: on high-alert after allowing plotters involved in the New York attack to work right under its nose. Adapted from John le Carré's novel of the same name, the film seeks to explore the war on terror from a new perspective and contemplates just what toll espionage takes on those who are caught in its web. Chechen Muslim Issa Karpov's (Grigoriy Dobrygin) arrival in Hamburg is an ominous one.

Hailed by critics as the best underwater thriller of 2015, Black Sea is finally in select theaters this Friday. Focus Features takes fans behind-the-scenes with star Jude Law in two new featurettes. We get an in-depth look at his character, the story behind this deep sea adventure, and a tour of the real submarine that rests at the heart of this edge-of-your-seat tale.

Directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald (How I Live Now), Black Sea centers on a rogue submarine captain (two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law) who pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.

Hold your breath and dive deep, this is going to be an exciting ride!

Heist movies are universally loved yet rarely reinvented, as they typically assemble a band of misfits who work towards a collective criminal goal involving immense riches. Most of the time you’ll see a bank being robbed, or there’s the Ocean’s gang infiltrating casinos, and we can’t forget when those Fast & Furious boys/gals stole an entire vault – but we haven’t seen that many underwater heist films.

Sure, Black Sea isn’t a straightforward smash-and-grab story, but Kevin Macdonald’s latest film is an unconventional heist movie at its core. There’s a rag-tag team, their treacherous submersible journey, and a buttload of Nazi gold hidden deep inside a sunken German U-Boat – there just happens to be a little more drama involved thanks to the creaky Russian submarine used to navigate Jordanian/Russian waters. Don’t expect a quirky seafaring adventure from this lot of gold-digging sailors,...

Stars: Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl, Nina Hoss, Homayoun Ershadi, Vicky Krieps, Mehdi Dehbi, Kostja Ullmann, Martin Wuttke, Rainer Bock | Written by Andrew Bovell | Directed by Anton Corbijn

Gunther Bachman (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) is a German espionage agent stationed in Hamburg to head up a covert anti-terrorist unit tasked infiltrating and gaining intelligence from the local Muslim community. In particular, Bachmann is interested in Dr Abdullah, a local philanthropist who has some shady financial practices. He also learns of Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a half-Chechen half-Russian illegal immigrant that was found by Russian intelligence to be linked to terrorism after extensive ‘interrogation’. As he learns more about Karpov’s reasons for being in Hamburg, Bachmann sees an opportunity to finally nail his target.

I’ve got to say, A Most Wanted Man made time pass at double speed. The combination of a...

Black Sea promises to be a claustrophobic thriller full of danger and excitement when it hits theaters later this month. A new featurette delves deep into the story behind this adventure from director Kevin Macdonald. He is joined by cast mates Jude Law, Ben Mendelsohn and Michael Smiley.

Full of suspense, Black Sea centers on a rogue submarine captain (two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law) who pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.

Jude Law starts off this sneak peek talking about the men who make up his crew. We also get to hear more about the horrors of being trapped underwater from Kevin Macdonald,...

New Riga Meetings platform welcomes projects including two projects by Finnish film-maker Aku Louhimies.

Janis Nords’ second feature Mother I Love You and Juris Kursietis’ debut Modris were the big winners at the ¨Great Christopher¨ (¨Lielais Kristaps¨) National Film Competition held during the first edition of the Riga International Film Festival (December 2-12).

Nords, who graduated in film directing from the UK’s Nfts, received the top honour of best film as well as the trophy for best feature film director and best actress (for Vita Varpina’s performance as the single mother trying to make ends meet).

On presenting the direction prize to Nords, the competition jury’s chairman, veteran film director Janis Streics, said that he saw “a bright future ahead for Latvian cinema” on the strength of the line-up for this edition of the national film awards.

Mother I Love You, which is handled internationally by New Europe Film Sales, premiered at the...

An underwater heist of Nazi loot? Awesome. Submarine movies don’t get much better than this intensely suspenseful popcorn adventure. I’m “biast” (pro): nothing

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

An underwater heist of Nazi loot. Does a submarine movie get better than this? How about some rage against the 1 percent thrown in for fun? Jude Law’s (Dom Hemingway, Rise of the Guardians) Robinson is a veteran of the British navy who’s been working in marine salvage until he gets an unceremonious boot from his job: nothing wrong with his work, just changin’ times, and don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out. He puts together a team of similarly hopeless men who’ve given their lives to the same dangerous, demanding work and have been discarded with nothing but flipping burgers as a career option.

Director: Kevin Macdonald; Screenwriter: Dennis Kelly; Starring: Jude Law, Scoot McNairy, Karl Davies, Ben Mendelsohn, Konstantin Khabensky, Grigoriy Dobrygin; Running time: 115 mins; Certificate: 15

Here's a submarine thriller that delivers on tension but doesn't get too deep, which is surprising when you consider that director Kevin Macdonald is also the man behind The Last King of Scotland and State of Play. Still, there is some meat for Jude Law to chew on as the captain of an undersea mission to recover a stash of gold and he proves himself a sturdy anchor.

Apart from an impressive Scottish accent, the actor shows some serious grit as Captain Robinson, who is laid off after years of loyal service to a salvage company. For a while it looks as though Macdonald is venturing into a socialist diatribe against big business as Robinson and his colleagues gather at the pub to fuel their anger. The...

A Most Wanted Man

Written for the screen by Andrew Bovell

Directed by Anton Corbijn

USA/UK/Germany, 2014

In Anton Corbijn’s foreign espionage thriller A Most Wanted Man, the late Philip Seymour Hoffman lends his take on an unconventional looking German intelligence agent, one without the usual dashing attributes associated with cinematic spies. Although sprinkled with cerebral-minded intrigue and conducting its atmospheric tension in methodical fashion, A Most Wanted Man feels relentlessly sluggish in its execution to live up to its labored political-coated drama. This low-energy, plodding spy showcase has its isolated highlights in sleek suspense, but fails to drive home any genuine revelations about its touchy subject matter regarding counter-intelligence suspicion and terrorist paranoia. Despite solid and committed performances, it’s a slow burn of a thriller that simply lingers without fortifying any convincing punch.

Corbijn’s intelligence operative narrative is based upon a John le Carré novel.

Sneak Peek footage from director Kevin Macdonald's 'submarine thriller' "Black Sea", starring Jude Law, Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Smiley, David Threlfall, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Kolesnikov, Sergey Puskepalis and Jodie Whitaker, opening January 23, 2015:

"...a rogue submarine captain pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure of Third Reich gold, rumored to be lost in the depths of the 'Black Sea'.

"As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival..."

Click the images to enlarge and Sneak Peek "Black Sea"...

It may well be Philip Seymour Hoffman’s ‘superb swansong’, but no amount of dressing up will disguise the spy thriller cliches and utter lack of suspense

• Most overrated films

My most depressing film experience of all time? Watching A Most Wanted Man in Screen 1 at the Odeon Cinema, on Panton Street off London’s Leicester Square – a small, cold, dingy space in which rose-scented air freshener only thinly disguised the smell from the gents next door. I remember it was Monday night – last Monday, in fact, but it calls for some distance – and there were only three other people in the room. The setting wouldn’t have seemed out of place in the film itself as another gloomy, fetid place into which its German spymaster Günther Bachmann (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) lumbers, wheezing, and lights up a fag.

Not even a second viewing could convince me that Anton Corbijn...

Universal has released the first clip for Black Sea featuring Jude Law as a rogue captain hunting for hidden Nazi gold.

The suspenseful adventure thriller is directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald (Touching the Void; The Eagle) and follows a submarine captain who pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.

This first clip sets up how a treasure from the 1940s has survived and is still salvageable more than 70 years later. We also get to see some of the claustrophobia on display as the crew mates show their first signs of turning on each other in the hopes of gathering a greater share of the treasure for themselves.

Universal Pictures has released the first clip from Kevin Macdonald's upcoming submarine thriller Black Sea. Jude Law stars as a rogue captain who puts together a misfit crew to recover lost Nazi gold from a sunken U-boat, but the claustrophobia becomes even tighter as the crewmates turn on each other in the hope of gaining a greater share of the treasure. This clip doesn't highlight the interpersonal drama between the crew as much as it explains to the audience how a treasure from the 1940s could still be salvageable. I don't really need to know the science behind preserved Nazi gold, but I don't mind the inclusion. Hit the jump to check out the Black Sea clip. The film opens January 23, 2015, and also stars Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Smiley, David Threlfall, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Kolesnikov, Sergey Puskepalis, and Jodie Whitaker. [complextv contentid="9tcmJycTqiPHXta87IJu9o-FP34JVJrb" sitename="collider" playerid="26aa5f02d93f4c05a4546f6d5ecb59b7" adsetid="67a3ff9d3a842ae818bb9de1badc5b0" width="600" height="360" keywords=""] Here’s the official synopsis for...

Jude Law is on the hunt for buried gold in Black Sea, which has just debuted a new poster.

This suspenseful adventure thriller directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald centers on a rogue submarine captain (two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law) who pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea.

As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.

Check it out as Jude Law braves the deeps to find the treasure, assured in only one thing: He can't trust anyone! Black Sea washes ashore this January!

Black Sea comes to theaters January 23rd, 2015 and stars Jude Law, Scoot McNairy, Jodie Whittaker, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Ben Mendelsohn, Michael Smiley, Karl Davies, June Smith. The film is directed by Kevin Macdonald.

A smart, classy, slow-burn thriller made up of the stuff of authentic spy work and plenty of bitter irony about modern geopolitics. I’m “biast” (pro): love Philip Seymour Hoffman (and the rest of the fab cast)

I’m “biast” (con): nothing

I have not read the source material

(what is this about? see my critic’s minifesto)

Oh. For some reason I thought this tale of weary intelligence officers was set in East Berlin in the 1970s. Maybe it was the profusion of cheap suits and the grimy colors of the trailer. Maybe it was the fact that it’s based on a John le Carré novel. (I always associate him with Cold War spies, but this book was published in 2008.) Anyway, though director Anton Corbijn’s (The American) production does feel — in a deliciously thrilling way — more like one of those slow-burn spy dramas set decades ago,...

Had a film the caliber of A Most Wanted Man been made in the late '60s or early '70s, with a name such as Jean-Pierre Melville or Alan J. Pakula, directing it would already be a part of the Criterion Collection, celebrated for the last 40 years as a classic. Whether it will stand so tall 40 years from now is a mystery, but digging into a film of this nature in the midst of today's modern cinematic age is pure joy for cinema lovers, and it's the third film in a row from director Anton Corbijn (Control, The American) deserving of such lofty praise. Adapted from John le Carre's novel of the same name by screenwriter Andrew Bovell (Edge of Darkness), A Most Wanted Man is a slow burn, spy thriller examining a post 9/11 world wherein the idea of friend or foe is a blurry, political mess and the...

Exclusive: “Russia’s Brad Pitt” to star in Alexey Uchitel’s period drama.

Danila Kozlovsky, known as Russia’s Brad Pitt, is to star in Alexey Uchitel’s historical drama-thriller Mathilde (working title) - set to be the biggest Russian production to be filmed this year.

The $30m production by Rock Films and the single purpose company Mathilda Ltd., with backing from the Russian Cinema Fund, centres on the love affair between the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II and the legendary ballerina Mathilde Kshesinskaya.

Speaking exclusively to ScreenDaily last week in St Petersburg, producer Kira Saksanganskaya explained that Kozlovsky, who was the lead in last year’s box-office hit Legend No 17 and made inroads into a Hollywood career with a part in Vampire Academy, plays a rival to Tsar Nicholas II, played by German actor Lars Eidinger (Clouds of Sils Maria)

Other Russian actors in the cast include Evgeny Mironov, Grigory Dobrygin, [link...

Focus Features has debuted the official trailer for Black Sea, the thrilling new deep water adventure starring Academy Award nominee Jude Law that promises to bring a lot of fun and excitement back to the hidden treasure genre that has been absent from the screen for quite some time.

This suspenseful thriller is directed by Academy Award winner Kevin Macdonald and centers on a rogue submarine captain (two-time Academy Award nominee Jude Law) who pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea.

As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.

Take a look at the first footage, along with three new photos featuring Jude Law in action as he happens upon a cache of gold bricks.

The first trailer for the submarine thriller Black Sea has gone online. I love submarine movies, and Kevin Macdonald's Black Sea has been on my (no pun intended) radar since production began over a year ago.  Jude Law stars as a rogue captain who puts together a misfit crew to recover lost Nazi gold from a sunken U-boat, but the claustrophobia becomes even tighter as the crewmates turn on each other in the hope of gaining a greater share of the treasure.  Judging by the trailer, this movie isn't going to upend the genre, but it could be a great addition, especially since the cast includes not only Law, but also Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, and Michael Smiley. Hit the jump to check out the Black Sea trailer.  The film opens January 23, 2015, and also stars David Threlfall, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy, Sergey Kolesnikov, Sergey Puskepalis, and Jodie Whitaker. Here's...

Kevin McDonald’s upcoming submarine actioner, Black Sea, has been coasting on the waves for some time now. If you haven’t yet heard of the movie, that’s not unlikely. The film went into production last August, and it’s been a year since we were first granted a still from the movie. Following on from the news in July revealing a release date, Universal Pictures have delivered the first trailer for their underwater adventure thriller.

Black Sea enlists Jude Law as Captain Robinson, who leads a murky treasure hunt. Sent to commandeer a half-British, half-Russian crew tasked with salvaging a lost sunken submarine full of gold, one of Hitler’s u-boats crammed with $582 million in gold, Robinson finds more in store than he bargained for.

There’s plenty to get excited about judging by this first footage. From director Kevin MacDonald (The Last King Of Scotland, How I Live Now...

"Black Sea" centers on a rogue submarine captain (Law) who, after being laid off from a salvage company, pulls together a misfit crew to go after a sunken treasure rumored to be lost in the depths of the Black Sea. As greed and desperation take control onboard their claustrophobic vessel, the increasing uncertainty of the mission causes the men to turn on each other to fight for their own survival.Law's international costars include Grigoriy Dobrygin, Konstantin Khabenskiy ("Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"), Scoot McNairy ("Argo"), Ben Mendelsohn ("The Place Beyond the Pines"), Michael Smiley ("Kill List") and David Threlfall ("Nowhere Boy"). Macdonald previously directed Channing Tatum in "The Eagle" (2011), Russell Crowe, Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Helen Mirren in "State of Play" (2009) and Forest Whitaker in "The Last King of Scotland," whose performance as Idi Amin won him an Oscar...

Kevin Macdonald’s oceanbed-set Black Sea sends Jude Law and a crew of desperate, sweaty men into the murky depths in pursuit of sunken treasure. The film lands with us this December and has a first trailer to reveal some of its treasures.A bit boy’s own adventure, a little desperate-treasure-hunt thriller, Black Sea’s storyline has shades of The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre meets Das Boot with a rogue’s gallery of double-crossers-in-waiting types. Law’s hired crew is an uneasy mix of Russian and English sailors, played by the likes of Scoot McNairy, Ben Mendelsohn, David Threlfall, Night Watch’s Konstantin Khabenskiy, A Most Wanted Man’s Grigoriy Dobrygin and Michael Smiley, each less trustworthy than the last, each thirsting for booty. No, not that kind.Leading this salty dozen is Jude Law’s captain, a man under pressure after losing his job at a salvage company.

Name and focus changes for every section, which are now all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

The ninth Rome Film Festival (Oct 16-25) has revealed a diverse line-up including the Italian premieres for potential awards contenders including David Fincher’s Gone Girl. the world premiere of Takashi Miike’s As the Gods Will and Burhan Qurbani’s We are Young, We are Strong and European premiere of Oren Moverman’s Time Out of Mind, Toronto hit Still Alice and Kahlil Gibran’s The Prophet.

This year for the first time the award-winners in each section of the programme will be decided by the audience on the basis of votes cast after the screenings.

Each section has changed name and focus for 2014 and are all competitive, resulting in the festival’s structure being “slimmer’.

Italian comedies Soap Opera and Andiamo a Quel Paese bookend the line-up.

Full line-up

Cinema D’Oggi

World premiere

• Angely...

★★★☆☆Dutch visual artist Anton Corbijn compiles an all-star cast for his much-anticipated film adaptation of John le Carré's bestselling novel A Most Wanted Man (2014). Starring the late Philip Seymour Hoffman alongside Daniel Brühl, Willem Dafoe, Nina Hoss and Rachel McAdams, Corbijn's gritty espionage thriller effortlessly translates le Carré's prose to the big screen. A Most Wanted Man opens on an individual pulling himself up from a drain shaft. The boy is Issa (Grigoriy Dobrygin), a half-Chechen, half-Russian immigrant entering Hamburg and attempting to infiltrate the city's underground Islamic community. He's come to lay clam to his father's fortune, but what could an illegal migrant want with so much money?...

Based on John La Carré's novel of the same name, A Most Wanted Man sees Anton Corbijn (The American, Control) craft a slick and engrossing espionage thriller, tackling the War on Terror with a deft and cynical touch. Hamburg is our setting, and the story kicks off when Issa Karpov (Grigory Dobrygin), a Chechen refugee sneaks into the city illegally, immediately coming to the attention of a covert anti-terror group, led by Gunther Bachman (Philip Seymour Hoffman). With Issa believed to be a dangerous terrorist, Bachman's investigates, leading him to believe the young refugee can lead him to a bigger threat. A Most Wanted Man unspools slowly, ratcheting up the tension from the opening frame. The movie is a wonderful slow burn, and the bleak atmosphere envelops you completely as the story takes its time with setting up all the characters and motivations. It plays fast and loose with your expectations,...

Director: Anton Corbijn; Screenwriter: Andrew Bovell; Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Willem Dafoe, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Daniel Brühl; Running time: 122 mins; Certificate: 15

Philip Seymour Hoffman's still has two more appearances in The Hunger Games finale Mockingjay before he's gone from our screens forever, but his last starring role is this John le Carré adaptation about a German intelligence agent tracking a Chechen illegal immigrant in the port city of Hamburg.

Hoffman's Günther Bachmann is a man operating in the shadows and, like George Smiley (played superbly by Gary Oldman in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), he can be low-key to the point of anonymity. Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) is the refugee who arrives through the city docks and into the crosshairs of Bachmann, who believes he could be a terror threat.

Of course, this being a le Carré yarn, the web of intrigue spins out far and wide,...

Michael Cusumano here to check in with my weekly review.

Anton Corbijn’s film of John le Carré's A Most Wanted Man builds to a single moment where the main character, Günther Bachmann, head of a modern day German counter-terrorism spy ring, comes face to face with a devastating realization. Corbijn fixes the camera on him and lets the moment hang there wordlessly. You can practically see the ramifications shake the character to the core of who he is and what he believed about his place in the world

To let the whole movie live or die on a single moment like that is a high risk/high reward gambit. The fact that Gunther is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman should give you a clue as to why the filmmaker was confident his lead actor could drive it home with the power it required. After Hoffman’s heartbreaking death...

A Most Wanted Man

Written for the screen by Andrew Bovell

Directed by Anton Corbijn

USA/UK/Germany, 2014

Throughout the beginning of Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, it is hard to ignore that there are only a handful of upcoming performances left from Philip Seymour Hoffman in this world. The actor’s untimely death earlier this year left a hole in the world of cinema, one that will not be filled anytime soon. Hoffman was a character actor who managed to become an A-lister, without ever losing his chameleon-like ability to channel whatever or whomever he wanted.

Günther Bachmann is more down-to-earth than other prototypical spy genre leading men, likely to flash a quick grin after a disparaging comment rather than take down an army of terrorists single-handedly. As Bachmann, Hoffman affects a German accent and an unwillingness to look anyone in the eye. Whether this gesture is...

[This is a re-post of my A Most Wanted Man review from the 2014 Sundance Film Festival. The film opens in limited release this weekend.] The spy thriller genre—like all genres—has its fair share of tropes and clichés. The best entries are ones that take the foundation of the genre and expand upon it or put a new spin on the material. Director Anton Corbijn’s latest film, A Most Wanted Man, is a solid and sharply smart entry into the spy genre that manages to explore dark characters and difficult topics while foregoing the typical action-heavy formula, sidestepping audience expectations in the process. This is not a film that takes shortcuts just to make its audience happy, and though the final results may not delve as deep into some of its themes as one would expect, A Most Wanted Man still manages to be an involving, tense, and slow-burn thriller. Read my full review after the jump. Based on the novel of the same name by Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy author John le Carre,...

The new film based on John le Carré’s novel A Most Wanted Man features the last significant Philip Seymour Hoffman performance (there are still two Hunger Games movies in the pipeline), and part of me wishes I could report that he was at low ebb, at the end of his talent as well as his tether: It would make his loss easier to bear from an artistic (if not a human) standpoint. But what’s on display here is a great actor at his absolute peak — damn it all.Hoffman plays German spymaster Gunther Bachmann — a post–Cold War, post–9/11 George Smiley figure who understands espionage more deeply than his superiors or the hovering CIA agents. The setting is Hamburg, where an escaped Turkish prisoner named Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) — the devout Muslim son of a corrupt Russian general and a Chechen woman — arrives to secure a vast inheritance...

A Most Wanted Man director Anton Corbijn on Philip Seymour Hoffman getting it right: "When we had done a take and he wasn't sure he didn't want to look at the monitor, he would just listen." Photo: Anne-Katrin Titze

Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man, with a script by Andrew Bovell, stars Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Nina Hoss (star of Christian Petzold's Barbara) and Grigoriy Dobrygin. Anton and I spoke about his supporting cast: Bernhard Schütz, terrific in Frauke Finsterwalder's Finsterworld, Martin Wuttke, Adolf Hitler in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, and Herbert Grönemeyer, who played Ian Curtis's doctor in Corbijn's debut feature Control and is the composer for The American and Anton's latest. Homayoun Ershadi, known for his work with Abbas Kiarostami rounds out the superb cast. We also discussed Wim Wenders' The American Friend and the character of Hamburg.

A Most Wanted Man Lionsgate/Roadside Attractions Reviewed for Shockya by Harvey Karten. Data-based on Rotten Tomatoes Grade: A- Director: Anton Corbijn Screenplay: Andrew Bovell, from John le Carré’s novel Cast: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright Screened at: Dolby88, NYC, 7/10/14 Opens: July 25, 2014 What is it like to be a spy? Some cynics say that it’s a game indulged by its proponents; that our spies know their spies and vice versa, and the groups, however hostile their countries to each other, simply exchange information freely, thereby keeping their jobs. Others, less cynical and more naive, think that spies are like 007, licensed to [ Read More ]

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Russian actor Sergey Puskepalis is to make his directorial debut and has cast Alexey Serebryakov, star of Cannes winner Leviathan.

Clinch is billed as a drama with tragicomic elements starring Serebryakov, who headlined Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Leviathan, winner of best screenplay at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Clinch, which is being produced by Ruben Dishdishyan’s Mars Media Entertainment, also features the actress Asya Domskaya in her first screen role.

Speaking to Ria-Novosti, Puskepalis explained that the film’s story, which he had developed for the past five years, focuses on “the clinch of relations between the ‘next’ generations and people of my age”.

“We are not very good at understanding the kids who are around 20-22 years-old. And there’s an essential difference between us – they are citizens of Russia and we are all still from the Ussr,” he added.

Puskepalis and his co-star Grigory Dobrygin shared a Silver Bear at the 2010 Berlinale for their...

A new trailer for the late Philip Seymour Hoffman's terrorism-themed film A Most Wanted Man has debuted.

The actor - who died in February - plays the leader of a German anti-terrorism unit that is tasked with the capture of a Chechen (Grigoriy Dobrygin) who has shown up in Hamburg.

Gunter Bachmann (Hoffman) is aided by his loyal crew, but the true motives of the Chechen and an attorney (Rachel McAdams) who is protecting him become increasingly unclear.

Andrew Bovell adapted the screenplay for A Most Wanted Man from a novel by acclaimed Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy author John le Carré.

Anton Corbijn directs the thriller, following his recent success in the genre with The American.

Hoffman's final screen appearances will be in the upcoming Hunger Games sequels Mockingjay - Part 1 and Part 2.

A Most Wanted Man opens on July 25 in the Us and on September 5 in the UK.

Famed photographer Anton Corbijn continues his directing career with A Most Wanted Man, his follow-up to the 2010 drama The American. Philip Seymour Hoffman stars in one of his final performances, playing the chief of a Russian spy unit who is drawn into one man's quest to retrieve his deceased father's fortune. Check out the latest footage from this intriguing thriller, which hits select theaters this July.

Hamburg, Germany: 2012. A mysterious, tortured and near-dead half-Chechen, half-Russian man on the run (Grigoriy Dobrygin) arrives in the city's Islamic community desperate for help and looking to recover his late Russian father's ill-gotten fortune. Nothing about this young man seems to add up; is he a victim or a thief or, worse still, an extremist intent on destruction? Drawn into this web of intrigue are a banker (Willem Dafoe) and a young female lawyer (Rachel McAdams) who is determined to defend the defenseless. All the while,...

After a couple of trailers have teased us with the possibility that Anton Corbijn’s Le Carré adaptation A Most Wanted Man might actually make it over to the UK, we now have a confirmed release date with the latest promo. Check it out below… A Most Wanted Man finds Philip Seymour Hoffman playing rogue German counter-terrorism expert Gunter Bachmann. He’s trying to track down half-Chechen, half-Russian immigrant Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin), who may or may not be part a militant jihadist group in post-9/11 Hamburg.Issa has access to a very private bank account containing a legacy of dubious origin and it's not long before British, German and American intelligence agencies are paying close attention. To try to find his man, Gunter kidnaps and interrogates human rights lawyer Annabel Richter (Rachel McAdams), and things just get more complicated from there.The film boasts a frankly fantastic cast that also includes Willem Dafoe,...

Director: Anton Corbijn; Screenwriter: Andrew Bovell; Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Willem Dafoe, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl; Running time: 121 mins; Certificate: Tbc

The tragic loss of Philip Seymour Hoffman resonates through Anton Corbijn's challenging but ultimately rewarding thriller. He delivers a complex and fascinating performance that overpowers the movie's flaws and propels John le Carré's tale to a formidable conclusion.

The late actor's ability to inhabit a character (rather than simply play them) is embodied in his portrayal of Hamburg-based anti-terrorist agent Gunter Bachmann, a man under intense pressure to find out whether battered and bedraggled 26-year-old immigrant Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) is a militant jihadist or an innocent victim of brutality. The stakes are very high given that Mohammed Atta used the German port city to plot his horrific 9/11 attacks.

Hoffman takes you under Gunther's sweaty, nicotine-stained skin to reveal a man governed by...

Alexander Kott’s love story [pictured] awarded the Grand Prix and the prize for best cinematography.

Alexander Kott’s Test was the big winner at this year’s Kinotavr Open Russian Film Festival at the Black Sea resort of Sochi.

The jury headed by Cannes prize-winner Andrey Zvyagintsev awarded its Grand Prix “for the realisation of the dream” and the prize for best cinematography to Kott’s love story, set against the first hydrogen bomb tests in the Kazakh Steppe at the beginning of the 50s.

In addition, Kott’s film received the Elephant Trophy from the Guild of Film Critics and Film Scholars.

Test is handled internationally by Anton Mazurov’s fledgling Russian sales company Ant!pode Sales & Distribution, which saw its other three new titles by four women directors coming away from this year’s Kinotavr with trophies and diplomas in their luggage:

Anna Melikian’s Star received the prizes for best direction and best actress...

New posters for a number of upcoming films have landed online. Briefly A Most Wanted Man – The slow-burn spy thriller from director Anton Corbijn stars Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Wright and opens July 25th. Read my review here. The Rover – The dystopian thriller from director David Michod stars Guy Pearce and Robert Pattinson and opens June 13th. V/H/S: Viral – The horror anthology sequel opens this fall. Calvary – The dark comedy stars Brendan Gleeson as a priest targeted for assassination and opens August 1st. Read Matt's review here. Life Itself – The documentary about film critic Roger Ebert opens July 4th. Read my review here. Earth to Echo – The Spielberg ripoff family-oriented sci-fi adventure opens July 2nd. Love Is Strange – The drama from director Ira Sachs stars John Lithgow and Alfred Molina as a troubled gay couple and opens August 22nd. Read Matt’s review here. Dinosaur 13 – The...

Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions have premiered the first poster for Anton Corbijn's A Most Wanted Man, which is set to hit theaters on July 25. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Willem Dafoe and Robin Wright, the film is an adaptation of the John Le Carre novel set in Hamburg, Germany. A mysterious, tortured and near-dead half-Chechen, half-Russian man on the run (Grigoriy Dobrygin) arrives in the city's Islamic community desperate for help and looking to recover his late Russian father's ill-gotten fortune. Nothing about this young man seems to add up; is he a victim or a thief or, worse still, an extremist intent on destructionc Drawn into this web of intrigue are a banker (Dafoe) and a young female lawyer (McAdams) who is determined to defend the defenseless. All the while, they are being watched by the brilliant, roguish chief of a covert German spy unit (Hoffman), who...