We’ve never seen Jessie Buckley, as the Bride, so electric. She fills every scene with a strong sense of danger as her character transforms in a wild arc. Christian Bale, almost unrecognisable at first as Frankenstein’s Monster, fills the screen with an almost overwhelming mix of aggression and sadness. Annette Bening is also fabulous as Dr Euphronius, who is tasked with bringing the dead back to life.

Every scene has a purpose, and this kinetic energy powers the film forward throughout its two-hour running time. It constantly brings in so many other film references; it’s a film aficionado’s dream. The art exists in those moments, being presented as a tribute and not as outright thievery. Gyllenhaal even succeeds in delivering an ending that validates your care for the participants.

In a nod to Bonnie & Clyde, Sid and Nancy and many others, Frankenstein and The Bride embark on a crime-riddled romantic road trip for the ages. And it speaks to Maggie Gyllenhaal’s sure hand at the till and her obvious love of the cinema (past and present) that the final product feels so fresh and holds together so well with so many influences at play. This all equates to a rollicking good time.
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From Maggie Gyllenhaal (Academy Award-nominated writer/director of The Lost Daughter) and starring Academy Award nominee Jessie Buckley and Academy Award winner Christian Bale comes THE BRIDE! A bold, iconoclastic take on one of the world’s most compelling stories.

A lonely Frankenstein (Bale) travels to 1930s Chicago to ask groundbreaking scientist Dr. Euphronious (five-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening) to create a companion for him. The two revive a murdered young woman and The Bride (Buckley) is born. What ensues is beyond what either of them imagined: Murder! Possession! A wild and radical cultural movement! And outlaw lovers in a wild and combustible romance!

The film stars Buckley, Bale, Peter Sarsgaard, with Bening, Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal, and Oscar winner Penélope Cruz. Maggie Gyllenhaal directs from her own screenplay and produces alongside Oscar nominee Emma Tillinger Koskoff, Talia Kleinhendler and Osnat Handelsman Keren. The executive producers are Carla Raij, David Webb and Courtney Kivowitz.

Gyllenhaal is supported behind the camera by a team of award-winning film artisans, including director of photography Lawrence Sher, production designer Karen Murphy, editor Dylan Tichenor, music supervisor Randall Poster, composer Hildur Gudnadóttir and costume designer Sandy Powell.

Warner Bros. Pictures Presents A First Love Films / In The Current Company Production, A Maggie Gyllenhaal Film: THE BRIDE!. The film will be distributed worldwide by Warner Bros. Pictures, only in Australian cinemas March 2026.
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The film concentrates on one of the low moments of companies history, 1957. Enzo (Adam Driver) has run the company to the verge of insolvency due to excess spending on the race team. The sad death of his son Dino the year before has had dire consequences on his marriage to Laura (Penélope Cruz) as did his affair with Lina Lardi (Shailene Woodley).

Driver deaths within his team were an all too common occurrence during this timeframe and Enzo’s detachment from the fate of his drivers is only given a single line reason. This misses an important component of the man’s physiological make up and goes someway to solidifying the questions you have about the film’s direction

Driver looks the part of Il Commendatore but it’s odd seeing him without his customary flowing locks. There are so many creative choices that taken have hindered the proceedings and let us not even mention the appallingly bad CGI. There are many fascinating stories that feature the main man Ferrari at the core, it’s unfortunate they chose to concentrate on this one so tightly.
Rob Hudson
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Bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgement of another.

He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

Ferrari is directed by Michael Mann and stars Adam Driver, Penélope Cruz, Shailene Woodley, Patrick Dempsey, Jack O’Connell, Sarah Gadon and Gabriel Leone.
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Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez) is a very rich maven of the pharmaceutical industry that wants to create something to be remembered by and figures why not make a film. His complete lack of experience poses not problem. He buys the rights to a book he’s never read and hires famous director Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz).

Cuevas is a world class eccentric and she hires matinee idol Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and world class thespian Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) for the two lead roles. The two immediately clash and this conflict is played out in full humour mode. Rivero is a legend in his own mind and Torres the consummate professional.

Official Competition is unafraid to go dark places and its black humour points out the preposterous with a razor sharp edge. It mixes equal parts fun and condemnation for the excesses that money and fame can create in an industry with little restraints. It’s a wild ride worth taking.

Rob Hudson
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Humberto Suárez (José Luis Gómez) is a very rich maven of the pharmaceutical industry that wants to create something to be remembered by and figures why not make a film. His complete lack of experience poses not problem. He buys the rights to a book he’s never read and hires famous director Lola Cuevas (Penélope Cruz).

Cuevas is a world class eccentric and she hires matinee idol Félix Rivero (Antonio Banderas) and world class thespian Iván Torres (Oscar Martínez) for the two lead roles. The two immediately clash and this conflict is played out in full humour mode. Rivero is a legend in his own mind and Torres the consummate professional.

Official Competition is unafraid to go dark places and its black humour points out the preposterous with a razor sharp edge. It mixes equal parts fun and condemnation for the excesses that money and fame can create in an industry with little restraints. It’s a wild ride worth taking.
Rob Hudson

Official Competition screenings in Brisbane
PALACE JAMES ST
Friday 6, May 3:45 PM
Saturday 7, May 6:00 PM
Saturday 14, May 3:50 PM

PALACE BARRACKS
Sunday 8, May 3:15 PM
Monday 9, May 1:20 PM

The Spanish Film Festival runs in Brisbane from Thursday, April 28 to Wednesday, May 18, and will take place at the Palace James Street and Palace Barracks cinemas.

Click here for more information about the festival, or head to the official website for more information and to book your tickets!
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Continuing her long association with Almodóvar, Penélope Cruz plays Janis a world-class photographer who becomes pregnant after a night of passion with Arturo (Israel Elejalde) a forensic archaeologist. She enlists his help to appeal to the government to excavate a mass grave site this possibly contains the remains of her family members. They were victims of fascist aggressors during the Spanish Civil War.

In the maternity ward, Janis meets Ana (Milena Smit) a young woman who is also there to deliver a baby. After sharing a room their lives become intertwined in a lifelong bond. After successful births that both leave the hospital to resume their lives. There is a mystery that is attached to this that plays out in a somewhat obvious fashion but the emotional focus of the film lies elsewhere.

The film is oddly paced with slow exposition until the final reel and then accelerating rather abruptly to its conclusion. You do feel attached to the participants by film’s end. In some ways it makes the final reveal feel that much more human. Our lives are rarely linearly modulated, more a series of ups and downs. The final send-off of Parallel Mothers is its most lasting element.

Rob Hudson
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Two women, Janis and Ana, coincide in a hospital room where they are going to give birth.

Both are single and became pregnant by accident. Janis, middle-aged, doesn’t regret it and she is exultant.

The other, Ana, an adolescent, is scared, repentant and traumatised. Janis tries to encourage her while they move like sleepwalkers along the hospital corridors.

The few words they exchange in these hours will create a very close link between the two, which by chance develops and complicates, and changes their lives in a decisive way.

Starring Penélope Cruz, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Milena Smit, Israel Elejalde, Julieta Serrano, and Rossy de Palma, Pedro Almodóvar’s Parallel Mothers will be released in Australian cinemas January 27!
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To enter this great competition, just fill out the entry form below:

Parallel Mothers Competition

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Competition will be drawn January 25, winners will be notified by mail.

When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown (Oscar®-nominated actress Jessica Chastain) will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie (Diane Kruger, In the Fade), former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah (Oscar® winner Lupita Nyong’o), and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela (Oscar® winner Penélope Cruz) on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one-step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng (Bingbing Fan, X-Men: Days of Future Past), who is tracking their every move.

As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to the wealth and glamour of Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed.
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When a top-secret weapon falls into mercenary hands, wild card CIA agent Mason “Mace” Brown will need to join forces with rival badass German agent Marie, former MI6 ally and cutting-edge computer specialist Khadijah, and skilled Colombian psychologist Graciela on a lethal, breakneck mission to retrieve it, while also staying one-step ahead of a mysterious woman, Lin Mi Sheng, who is tracking their every move.

As the action rockets around the globe from the cafes of Paris to the markets of Morocco to the opulent auction houses of Shanghai, the quartet of women will forge a tenuous loyalty that could protect the world—or get them killed.

The 355 is directed by Simon Kinberg and stars Jessica Chastain, Lupita Nyong’o, Penélope Cruz, Diane Kruger, Bingbing Fan, Sebastian Stan and Edgar Ramírez.

The 355 releases in Australia, only in cinemas, on January 6, 2022.

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