Into Film Clubs
Find out everything you need to know about starting an Into Film Club.
Billi is a Chinese-American, born and raised in the United States, who has just been rejected for a prestigious arts fellowship. To make matters worse, she is then told her beloved Nai-Nai (Chinese for grandmother) has been diagnosed with terminal cancer and her family are returning to China to say goodbye.
However, they do not want Nai-Nai to know she is sick and instead decide to stage an impromptu fake wedding so she can live out her final days in peace. Torn between Chinese traditional values and her western upbringing, Billi must figure out how to approach and understand this unique situation. Charming, funny and based on the director's real life experiences, this drama teaches valuable lessons about family, cross-cultural values and the difficulty of losing the ones you love.
Also out in cinemas this week
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Brad Pitt returns to stake his claim as Hollywood's leading man in this sci-fi thriller. In the near future, experienced but stoic astronaut Roy McBride is informed that a recent electrical surge from across the Universe may be linked in some way to his father, who went missing during a space expedition 30 years prior. Agreeing to assist the government in locating and sending a message to his father, who may or may not be alive, McBride begins a perilous journey across the unforgiving solar system to save the planet from destruction whilst attaining closure for his own turbulent past. Magnificently shot and dripping with atmosphere, this heady science fiction film deals with themes of family, masculinity and space exploration.
New to Order on DVD
Pokémon Detective Pikachu; Tolkien; We the Animals
New to DVD are three films that cover every age group this week, beginning with the first live-action Pokémon film starring everybody's favourite electric mouse. Part film-noir, part zany comedy, Detective Pikachu follows a young man who befriend a talkative little creature as he investigates a mystery surrounding his missing father.
Meanwhile, Tolkien is an in-depth and dramatic look into one of Britain's most revered authors, J.R.R. Tolkien, providing insights into how he came to realise touchstone literary classics like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings during his time spent as a young man at Oxford University and serving in the army during the First World War.
Lastly, We the Animals follows three brothers from a mixed-race family in upstate New York as they come of age, painting a vivid portrait of youth in a small rural community as their small acts of rebellion lead to explorations of family, sexuality and growing up.
New Film Guides to Download
Four new film guides to highlight this week with two excellent primary titles along with two more teen-focused, female-driven films perfect for the classroom. Dumbo and The Big Bad Fox both use character-driven animals as the platform to explore themes around tolerance and friendship whilst Fighting with My Family and On the Basis of Sex delve into the hard work and ingenuity of two very different but inspiring women at the forefront of their respective fields.
