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maltatoday, SUNDAY, 31 AUGUST 2014 THIS WEEK 34 Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Planes: Fire & Rescue (U) 10:00, 12:10 Guardians of the Galaxy 3D (12A) 10:00, 13:00, 15:45, 18:35, 21:15 Hercules (12A) 16:15, 18:30, 20:50 Step Up 5 All In (PG) 13:30, 16:10, 18:45, 21:15 Into the Storm (12A) 10:00, 12:15, 14:30, 16:45, 19:00, 21:15 The Inbetweeners 2 (15) 10:00, 14:00, 16:20, 18:50, 21:10 The Expendables 3 (12A) 13:00, 15:45, 18:35, 21:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Step Up 5: All In (PG) 14:00, 18:50, 23:40 How to Train Your Dragon 2 (U) 14:05, 16:20, 18:35, 20:45, 23:00 22 Jump Street (15) 14:05, 16:25, 18:45, 21:00, 23:20 Planes: Fire & Rescue (U) 14:15, 16:20, 18:30, 20:50, 22:45 Maleficent (PG) 14:15, 16:30, 18:35, 20:45, 22:55 Begin Again (12A) 14:15. 16:25, 18:40, 20:55, 23:10 Hercules (12A) 14:20, 16:30, 18:45, 20:55, 23:05 The Inbetweeners 2 (15) 14:20, 16:30, 18:50, 21:10, 23:30 Into the Storm (12A) 14:20, 16:25, 18:45, 21:15, 23:25 Guardians of the Galaxy (12A) 14:30, 18:20, 21:10, 23:45 Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (12A) 14:30, 18:10, 20:50, 23:30 The Quiet Roar (15) 14:30, 16:20, 18:50, 21:05, 23:15 The Expendables 3 (12A) 14:30, 18:20, 21:05, 23:45 Step Up 5: All In 3D (PG) 16:25, 21:15 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Planes: Fire and Rescue (U) 10:15, 15:30 Planes: Fire and Rescue 3D (U) 13:35, 17:45 Guardians of the Galaxy 3D (12A) 13:30, 18:30 Guardians of the Galaxy (12A) 10:45, 16:00. 21:00 Mrs. Brown's Boys D'movie (12A) 20:55 The Expendables 3 (PG) 10:55, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:10 Into The Storm (12A) 10:50, 13:45, 15:45, 18:00, 20:45 STORYTELLING is a tricky lit- tle thing, when you get down to it. Just because most of us spend a large chunk of our lives consum- ing stories – in whatever shape or form: be they weighty literary novels or drunken tall tales at the pub – doesn't mean we're instinc- tively aware of the nuts-and-bolts it takes to prop them up and hold them together. In fact, it's probably a testament to the sneaky skills of the best storytellers that we don't quite know how most of them do it: a magician who reveals his tricks is not much of a magician at all, and writers and artists have to be magicians in that sense too – they have to succeed in transporting you from mundane reality by a creative sleight-of-hand. The Quiet Roar is a film that both plays into the rules of tra- ditional storytelling while com- menting on them at the same time. Marianne (Evabritt Strandberg) is a 68-year-old woman diagnosed with a terminal disease. She seeks therapy at a clinic where she is treated with psilocybin (LSD) and meditation by a counsellor, Eva (Hanna Schygulla). Through this she is transferred to her subcon- scious, where she meets and con- fronts her 25-year-old self (Joni Franceen) and her former – and now estranged – husband (Jörgen Svensson), all against the breath- taking backdrop of a Norwegian mountainside, where the fam- ily had taken a (psychologically) fateful holiday. While it's a delicate and often poignant ref lection on the 'life not lived', the structure of this Swedish-Norwegian co-produc- tion is devoid any real urgency, essentially cheating us out of a story by presenting a leisurely un- spooling character study instead. Though the extended trip down memory lane structure – coupled with the gorgeously photographed cinematography that reels us in – evokes Terrence Malick 's Tree of Life (2012), no film in recent memory has been so obstinately about a character's inner land- scape. That director and co-writer Henrik Hellström commits to his idea wholeheartedly is admirable; but there are key storytelling gaps that this approach can't quite make up for. It's something of a paradox that a film entirely dedicated to a protagonist looking back at the key moments of their life is dis- appointingly devoid of any real character development. For all that the film is essen- tially a dramatised psychoanaly- sis session for Marianne, both the protagonist and her husband (whose name is never mentioned) are presented more as stock char- acters than as full-f ledged indi- viduals. That this doesn't cripple the film, nor render it mind-numb- ingly boring, is to Hellström's credit. Instead of psychological gobbledygook, what we get is an honest and simple film. By play- ing Ghost of Christmas Past over her own life, Marianne is regaled with that rarest of things: a sec- ond chance, even if it's "all in her head". There's something both heartening and melancholy about the way she's allowed to make amends with her husband – and herself – in the abstract: you know the process is giving her some peace of mind, but you're also left wondering why she didn't act on them the first time around. The reason, of course, is the fact that she's simply a f lawed human being like all of us. But Hellström is also yet another in a line of filmmakers to drain Scandina- vian emotional frigidity for sub- dued drama. If anything, the film's key mes- sage appears to be: "Better out than in". Translated titles often come across as amusingly misguided, but 'The Quiet Roar' more than adequately puts across the emo- tional texture of Hellström's film. Its pacing may be slack and its conceit somewhat facile from a storytelling point of view, but it does reward its viewer's patience with on-point observations about life, along with some beautifully curated imagery to soak in. Though there's something to be said about how 'cinematic tour- ism' appears to be a selling point of many internationally peddled non-English-language films. It's almost as if beautiful landscapes are a basic requirement if you want to get your film exported. The Quiet Roar will be showing at Eden Cinemas until September 2. FILM IN CINEMAS TODAY By Teodor Reljic Hear me roar (if you can) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ LION'S ROAR ★ ★ ★ ★ GROWL OF THE GODS ★ ★ ★ WAR CHANT ★ ★ ALL BARK, NO BITE ★ SQUEAL With a little help from health-resort-sanctioned drugs, Marianne (Evabritt Strandberg) visits her 25-year-old self (Joni Franceen, pictured) to get some closure after she gets diagnosed with a terminal illness THE QUIET ROAR (12) ★ ★ ★ YOUR FIRST CLICK OF THE DAY www.maltatoday.com.mt