Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/697149
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 26 JUNE 2016 38 This Week IN CINEMAS TODAY Embassy Cinemas Valletta Tel. 21 227436, 21 245818 Independence Day (12A) 10:20, 13:30, 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2: Out Of The Shadows (12A) 10:35, 13:40, 16:05, 18:35, 21:00 Alice Through The Looking Glass (PG) 16:00, 18:30, 21:00 Me Before You (12A) 10:30, 13:45, 16:15, 18:40, 21:10 Angry Birds (U) 10:25, 14:00, 16:15, 18:30 X-Men: Apocalypse (12A) 20:50 Warcraft (12A) 10:30, 14:15, 18:00, 20:50 Valletta Living History (U) 10:00, 10:45, 11:30, 12:15, 13:00, 13:45, 14:30, 15:15 Eden Cinemas St Julian's Tel. 23 710400 Love & Friendship (U) 14:00, 18:40 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows (12A) 14:00, 16:15, 18:40, 21:00 Sing Street (12A) 14:05, 16:25, 18:40, 20:55, 23:15 The Jungle Book (PG) 14:05, 20:55 Top Cat Begins (U) 14:10, 16:15, 18:20 Angry Birds (U) 14:10, 18:35,20:50 The Boss (15) 14:15, 16:30, 18:45, 21:15 Money Monster (15) 14:15, 16:25, 18:45, 21:05 X-Men: Apocalypse (12A) 14:20, 18:10, 21:10, 23:00 Race (PG) 14:30, 18:00, 20:45, 23:25 Alice Through the Looking Glass (PG) 14:30, 18:15, 20:50 Independence Day: Resurgence (12A) 14:30, 18:30, 21:15, 23:25 Warcraft (12A) 14:30, 18:00, 21:00, 23:15 Tale of Tales (15) 16:00, 20:45 Angry Birds (U) 16:25 Diving into the Unknown (12A) 16:30, 18:30 Bad Neighbours 2 (15) 20:45, 22:55 Empire Cinemas Bugibba Tel. 21 581787, 21 581909 Me Before You (12A) 10:45, 13:35, 16:05, 18;30, 20:50 Race (PG) 10:50, 14:00, 18:00, 20:50 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of Shadows (12A) 11:05, 13:45, 16:10, 18:35, 21:00 Independence Day: Resurgence (12A) 10:45, 13:20, 15:55, 18:30, 21:05 Angry Birds (U) 10:55, 13:45, 16:00, 18:15, 20:30 Warcraft (12A) 10:40, 13:20, 15:55, 18:30, 21:05 The Boss (15) 11:00, 13:50, 16:15, 18:30, 20:45 ONE of the highlights of last year's edition of the Cannes Film Festival has finally made it to our shores, and although its di- visive critical reception could be somewhat justified, it remains a rich and beautiful fantasia that is bound to reward repeat view- ings. Matteo Garrone, who became one of the most celebrated con- temporary Italian film directors after the release of the ground- breaking Gomorrah – adapted in turn from the mafia-expose novel by Roberto Saviano – re- turns with something that's ap- parently, completely different. Abandoning the gritty docu- mentary style of his blistering debut, he turns his lens to the Baroque Neapolitan folk tales of Giambattista Basile – whose work was acknowledged as an influence even by the Brothers Grimm – and cherry-picks three of their number, combining them in a way that the end result ends up looking more like an an- thology film than a conventional feature. Picking three stories from Ba- sile's Pentamerone – 'The Flea', 'The Flayed Woman' and 'The Queen' (the latter starring Salma Hayek and John C. Reilly) – Gar- rone weaves a sumptuous tapes- try that's deeper, richer and wild- er than anything the sanitized Disney versions of fairy tales could possibly come up with. Getting certain films months later than (most of) the rest of the civilized world is largely an- noying – especially for local cinephiles who can't seem to catch a break unless it's the Val- letta Film Festival period. But it does have one subtle advantage: being able to gauge the critical consensus of the film in ques- tion. And Garrone's film had the dubious honour of being a high-profile work by a celebrat- ed director on the rise: a fact that raises expectations to a ridicu- lous degree. And now that the dust has set- tled and the critical consensus deemed 'mixed' – a sign of an in- teresting experience, if nothing else – we can perhaps sit back and take in Garrone's gory, sexy and surreal mash-up in a more sober mood. The most common reservation appears to come down to the fact that the three chosen stories woven into the overall narrative aren't all that well connected, and that the pace of the entire thing is somewhat lingering and slow. More than anything else, what this shows is a lack of expe- rience and understanding of tra- ditional fairy tale narratives: not just those of Basile, but of any of the other anthologies in the Eu- ropean tradition. Instead of stretching or shoe- horning the stories into the conventional three-act, ninety- minute Hollywood-friendly structure, Garrone succeeds in approximating the experience of reading such stories. Like other classical works of literature who tap into the same primordial storytelling mode as fairy tales – Boccaccio's Decameron, Chau- cer's The Canterbury Tales and the Thousand and One Nights – these are stories that are only loosely interconnected, provid- ing a rich fount of themes and cultural preoccupations. Along with his clutch of co- writers – completed by Edoardo Albinati, Ugo Chiti and Massimo Gaudioso – Garrone shows him- self to be keenly aware of what makes the stories truly relevant and enduring. Shrewdly picking the stories that focus on the ex- perience of women in particular, parenthood also emerges as a significant theme in two of them, so accusations that the film's structure is 'random' don't re- ally hold water. That's not to say the stories are adapted verbatim, but the changes are implemented in the same spirit as the various translations of stories, folk tales and the enduring tales of the oral tradition have been altered across the ages – with spontane- ous alternations, as if by natural progression. And my god, is it stunning to look at. Cinematographer Pe- ter Suschitzky deserves all the awards. All of them. Rich tapestry of story ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ TALE OF TALES ★ ★ ★ ★ TALE TO REMEMBER ★ ★ ★ WILD TALES ★ ★ CHASING TAIL ★ TAIL-END FILM By Teodor Reljic TALE OF TALES (15) ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Babe in the woods: Stacy Martin lucks out after a spot of misfortune in this topsy-turvy fairy tale adaptation Eat up: Salma Hayek plays a queen driven to extreme dietary choices by circumstance