Simultaneously one of the most pretentious and brilliant things I have ever seen. If you love Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, you will love this. If you find his music dark and too much hard work, stay away. 8/10
I wouldn’t hesitate to call Nick Cave a genius, especially not after watching 20,000 Days on Earth – and yet, the beauty of this biofictional film, co-written by Cave with directors Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard, is its humility. Most movies about musicians, particularly rockstars, suffer from what we might call The Amadeus Syndrome; in contrast, 20,000 Days is a refreshing reminder that you must let inspiration find you working – and by ‘you’ I mean anyone; if Cave himself is a genius, it's not because all his ideas are right, but because he has the right idea about all ideas: “We cannot afford to be idle. To act on a bad idea is better than to not act at all, because the worth of the idea never becomes apparent until you do it. Sometimes this idea can be the smallest thing in the world, a little flame that you hunch over and cup with your hand and pray will not be extinguished by all the storm that howls about it. If you can hold on to that flame, great things can be constructed around it that are massive and powerful and world-changing... all held up by the tiniest of ideas”. This certainly is a film about the thought as well as the deed. We see Cave and the Bad Seeds working in the studio and performing onstage, but the movie reaches farther back, to the genesis of a song and even what lies before that – the ‘pre-song,’ if you will. We learn that everything – including “every secret, sacred moment that exists between a husband and a wife” – may be “cannibalized and ground up and spat out the other side in the form of a song, inflated and distorted and monstrous.” We learn also that songs are born from chaos (“Counterpoint is the key. Putting two disparate images beside each other and seeing which way the sparks fly”), “wild and unbroken,” and it’s the songwriter’s task to grab a hold of them in this protean state and not let go until they “become domesticated … something familiar and compliant.” This is no mean feat, considering that Cave’s songs aren’t your typical ‘verse-bridge-chorus’ compositions; “Higgs Boson Blues”, featured in the film, is an outstanding example of a stream of consciousness-type song whose greatest strength is its apparent spontaneity – and indeed, if Cave wasn’t reading the lyrics off a notebook as he sings them, we might be tricked into believing he’s improvising them right there on the spot. The movie as a whole is deceivingly effortless – one of those small ideas around which something great has been constructed.
Former policeman Lenny Nero has moved into a more lucrative trade: the illegal sale of virtual reality-like recordings that allow users to experience the emotions and past experiences of others. While they typically contain tawdry incidents, Nero is shocked when he receives one showing a murder.
While waiting for her divorce papers, a repressed literature professor finds herself unexpectedly attracted by a carefree, spirited young woman named Cay.
Beyond Silence is about a family and a young girl’s coming of age story. This German film looks into the lives of the deaf and at a story about the love for music. A girl who has always had to translate speech into sign language for her deaf parents yet when her love for playing music grows strong she must decide to continue doing something she cannot share with her parents.
A woman and her daughter struggle to make their way through the aftermath of the Balkan war.
Rahul Seth is a dashing young millionaire who believes he is "western" enough to rebel against his mother and grandmother. They are not too keen about his Caucasian girlfriend Kimberly who, to make matters worse, is a pop star. Before you can say "karmic intervention," Kimberly dies in a freak accident and Rahul is devastated. Instead of allowing him to mourn in peace, Rahul's mother sees the opportunity she's been waiting for. She threatens to call off his sister's wedding unless he finds himself a "nice Indian girl." Rahul enlists the services of Sue, a fiercely independent escort whom he believes to be Hispanic, and therefore not "married" to the conventions taught to young Indian women. With a wink in her eye, Sue accepts the deal to pose as his Indian bride-to-be. She needs the money and having never been a fan of the typical Indian male, she feels her heart is safe. The charade begins....
An average, everyday metalworker and volunteer firefighter content in his marriage to his childhood sweetheart finds his emotions unexpectedly stirred when he falls for a pretty waitress from a nearby town.
This character-driven film considers the evolving sex trafficking landscape as seen by the main players: the exploited, the pimps, the johns that fuel the business, and the cops who fight to stop it.
This short documentary tells the intensely personal story of Namrata Gill – one of the many real-life inspirations for Deepa Mehta’s Heaven on Earth – in her own words. After six years, Gill courageously leaves an abusive relationship and launches a surprising new career.
A young transgender man explores his gender identity and searches for love in rural Nebraska.
A group of troubled strangers looking to escape their woes end up sharing a transformational experience on an island steeped in African-American heritage and culture.
A film on the come back of exorcism in the contemporary world. Each year a growing number of people call their sense of unease “possession.” The Church answers to this spiritual emergency nominating an increasing number of exorcist priests and organizing training courses. Father Cataldo is one of the most sought-after exorcists in Sicily and elsewhere; he is famous for his tireless fighting spirit. Every Tuesday Gloria, Enrico, Anna, and Giulia, along with many others, attend Father Cataldo’s mass for deliverance, trying to find a cure for a sense of discomfort that has no answer nor a name. Whether believers or not, how far are we prepared to go to get recognition for our own disease? What are we prepared to do to be delivered from it, here and now?