The Imitation Game Adapted by Graham Moore, from the book by Andrew Hodges Directed by Morten Tyldum UK | USA, 2014 Secrets are power. Whether it’s an indecipherable code controlling the fate of millions or one man’s closeted sexuality, secrets can topple the mightiest of empires. The Imitation Game follows Alan Turing’s race to break …
The mysterious and secretive figure of Alan Turing has undergone something of a political and cultural renaissance in the UK over the past few years. A young mathematic prodigy, Oxford graduate, and cryptographer par excellence, he was ushered into the ultra top secret Bletchley Park programme during the Second World War and tasked with the impossible: to break the German military codes through a captured sequencer which could potentially offer billions of responses to any clandestine communication. Socially incompetent and ruthlessly dedicated, Turing willingly threw himself into the arena of cerebral combat, along the way erecting much of the intellectual and theoretical infrastructure of the modern computing world. But as a closeted homosexual his treatment at the hands of the authorities in the post-war period should cause the great British bulldog to hang its head in shame, with he and his team’s contribution to the continuation of civilisation remaining cloaked for over half acentury due to the Official Secrets Act. Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown would later make an official public apology on behalf of the British government for “the appalling way he was treated,” while the Queen granted him a posthumous pardon on Christmas Eve 2013.
There is no question about the absolute elegance and cautionary observations that captures the provocative essence of the well-received 19-century costume drama Belle.
Chan-wook Park’s Stoker is a Gothic fairytale, a family drama and a beautifully twisted, pitch black coming of age story, all at once. This slow-burning psychological thriller isn’t afraid to cross into uncomfortable places, often edging close to taboo territory. Park wants his audience to twitch in their seats and the master director is able …
For many film fans, Stoker is a major event in cinema, the long-awaited arrival of Park Chan-wook on American shores. The director of Oldboy, among other genre favorites, has a cult fandom, but only for films made in his native South Korea. Even more, Stoker features a striking cast, including Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode, and …
Stoker Written by Wentworth Miller Directed by Park Chan-wook USA/UK, 2013 – By the end of 2013, three of South Korea’s most notable filmmakers will have made the trek to the US of A to make their English-language debut – first up was Kim Jee-woon’s less than stellar Schwarzenegger vehicle The Last Stand, and in a …
Stoker Directed by Chan-wook Park Written by Wentworth Miller and Erin Cressida Wilson 2013, USA South Korean director Park Chan-wook’s first cinematic foray with the English language is a gratifyingly morbid journey, albeit frustratingly simple in its conclusion. The man behind “The Vengeance Trilogy” (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, Lady Vengeance) doesn’t deliver the level of graphic gore or …
One of the most audacious studio blockbusters in modern Hollywood history, Watchmen succeeds in spite, not because of, its widely recognized pedigree. Alan Moore’s sharp, detailed writing and Dave Gibbons’ iconic illustrations helped to make it the most celebrated superhero comic of all time. Fans, many of them diehard purists to whom alterations to the …