Cinema

New Films
Neighbouring Sounds
O som ao redor
Fri 12 – Tue 16 April
From the moment Neighbouring Sounds’
opening credits start to roll, you’ll be aware
that this is no ordinary feature film debut.
Critic-turned-filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho
is an audacious and extraordinary new voice in
the cinema world.
Accompanied by a cacophony of city sounds,
the film opens with a montage of Brazil’s divided
society, setting the stage for this epic, energetic,
terrifying drama. The action takes place in the
middle-class suburb of Recife, where rich and
poor live and work side by side. Most of the
area’s real estate is owned by Seu Francisco
(W.J. Solha) who acts, along with his son João
(Gustavo Jahn) as a powerful, but largely benign
local ruler. When a series of burglaries start to
spook the tenants, Francisco brings in security
expert Clodoaldo (Irandhir Santos) and his gang
of henchmen to calm the situation down. As we
meet various residents, it soon becomes clear
that these tower blocks are anything but normal
and the colourful cast of characters who live in
them are as idiosyncratic as the film itself.
Utilising techniques learned from horror movies
including rumbling low-level noise and effective,
unexpected shocks, Filho’s anxiety-inducing style
is perfectly suited to Neighbouring Sounds’
desire to explore socio-political issues through a
unique cinematic vision. This film truly is like
nothing you’ve ever seen before.
Dir: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Brazil 2012 / 2h11m / Digital / 15
Portuguese with English subtitles
8 www.dca.org.uk
A Late Quartet
Fri 19 – Thu 25 April
Director Yaron Zilberman has assembled a top calibre cast to
tell this story about a group of classical musicians struggling
with the onset of middle age. Zilberman skillfully dramatises a
rarified world more often seen in documentary, set in New
York during a snowy winter.
An accomplished string quartet finds itself in jeopardy when
the eldest of its number (Christopher Walken) is diagnosed
with Parkinson’s disease. The discovery turns out to be a
catalyst for the group to question their relationships, their
hopes and their future. As roles within the group are
challenged, so too are the personal choices of the characters.
Unspoken conflicts come to the fore, the positions of first
and second violin are contested, tempers are raised and
passions (not just of the musical variety) are pursued.
The tension that exists between the musicians is well
observed and masterfully played. Philip Seymour Hoffman
and Catherine Keener, as the married couple at the heart of
the quartet, believably communicate the commitment and
temperament needed to be first class performers, while
Imogen Poots’ turn as the couple’s daughter signposts her as
an actress to look out for in future. Christopher Walken’s
honest performance in the film’s quiet crescendo is poignant
and touching.
Dir: Yaron Zilberman
USA 2012 / 1h45m / Digital / 15
Soft subtitled screening Tue 23 April, 15:45
Bring a Baby Screening Thu 25 April, 10:30