At the Movies / September 9, 2023

A HAUNTING IN VENICE

Based on Agatha Christie's novel Hallowe'en Party, a the revamped screenplay by Michael Green pits the logical mind of famed private detective Hercule Poirot, Kenneth Branagh, against the supernatural.

We find Poirot retired in Venice leading a peaceful life in the historic and mysterious Italian city. The floating city is explored fully as a character in the movie lending its unique architecture and iconic masked characters to the style of the film. I enjoyed this a lot. Of course in the film we are in the dark side of La Dominante.

Tricked into attending a seance on Halloween night, in the palazzo of a famous opera singer, Rowena Drake played by Kelly Reilly, by a famous writer friend, Adriadne Oliver played by Tina Fey, to debunk a celebrated spiritualist, Mrs. Reynolds played by Michelle Yeoh, who is reputed to be authentic and has the capacity to speak to the dead. Rowena Drake hopes Mrs. Reynolds will channel her recently deceased daughter.

Poirot finds the subterfuge almost at once but then a greater multilayered enigma is revealed as the bodies start piling up. 

Kenneth Branagh directs this exquisite ensemble cast where the talent is just a delight to watch on top of it being fun! In the end, we don't know if ghosts are real or not.

In theatres starting this September 15, 2023.

THE RETIREMENT PLAN

Nicolas Cage stars in this action comedy by Tim Brown with some popular and familiar actors: Ashley Greene, Ron Perlman, Ernie Hudson, Joel David Moore, Lynn Whitfield, Rick Fox and Thalia Campbell who plays Ashley's 12 year old daughter. 

The synopsis of this action comedy is that Ashley ( Ashley Greene ) is caught up in the machinations of mob bosses and corrupt politicians. As she tries to escape mobsters who are after her to recuperate a stolen thumb drive, she is separated from her daughter Sarah ( Thalia Campbell ) that she has put on a plane to the Cayman Islands to reach Matt ( Nicolas Cage  ) her grandfather. Soon all the players are ensnared in a cowboy like shootout.

Although there are some rough edges in the evolving story lines, example, we never find out what happened to Ashley's husband, it is quite fun to watch. The luscious landscape of the Cayman Islands adds visual delight, Nicolas Cage is very funny, and there are a few shots that made me laugh uproariously. Just for that, it is worth watching. There is a lot of violence and fighting but no gore.

In theatres starting this September 15, 2023.

BARBER

This private investigator story is set in Dublin during the Covid pandemic. Val Barber, played by Aiden Gillen, is at the heart of this psychological drama where we get to discover the many layers of Barber's identity an personal secrets. 

The film opens when he visits his daughter at hospital. Once he approaches his apartment on his way back home, a lover approaches him. A layer of his psyche is peeled. Back at his office, he is approached by an elderly woman, Lilly Dunne played by Deirdre Donnelly, who wants him to find her missing granddaughter who she suspects has been abducted by a prominent man. From then on, a cast of unsavory characters from the past and the present threaten him, push him around, block his path as we discover both his secrets and the fate of the missing girl.

I appreciated the studied visual elements of the film, like when he catches up to his daughter in a luscious green clearing, or when we are in his marvelous apartment with large windows and beautiful art. Barber is scruffy looking throughout. This illustrates how he was treated in the past where his humanity was devalued.

The film will be available on Digital Release September 22, 2023.

LENA GHIO   

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