December on MUBI sees the UK streaming premiere of Park Chan-Wook's
latest acclaimed thriller, Lars Von Trier's long-awaited third
dseason of his Kingdom series, a collab between
Bruno Dumont and Léa Seydoux, and more.
Decision to Leave
Arriving exclusively on MUBI on December 9th following its theatrical
release in October is Park Chan-wook's latest feature,
Decision to Leave
(2022). The film, which won Best Director at this year’s Cannes Film
Festival, was recently nominated for Best International Film at the 2022
British Independent Film Awards and the Gotham Independent Film Awards
and was picked to represent South Korea at the 2023 Academy Awards for
Best International Feature.
Decision to Leave (2022) is a seductive romantic thriller
that takes Chan-wook’s renowned stylistic flair to dizzying new heights.
When detective Hae-joon (Park Hae-il) arrives at a murder scene,
he begins to suspect the dead man’s wife Seo-rae (Tang Wei) may
know more than she initially lets on. But as he digs deeper into the
investigation, Hae-joon finds himself trapped in a web of deception and
desire, proving that the darkest mysteries lurk inside the human heart.
MUBI's retrospective Sympathy for the Devil: The Films of Park Chan-wook
concludes this month. On December 5th, MUBI presents Park’s short,
Judgement (1999), in which a young girl dies in the
deathly collapse of a shopping mall in South Korea as a result of a
recent earthquake. An announcement that all relatives of the deceased
will be financially compensated results in two families coming forward
and claiming the body of the dead girl.
The Kingdom Exodus
Following the release of newly restored never-seen-before
The Kingdom I (1994) and
The Kingdom II (1997), the long-awaited third and final
series of Lars von Trier’s The Kingdom, The Kingdom Exodus, (2022), will be arriving exclusively on MUBI, debuting a weekly
episode from November 27th.
The Kingdom Exodus (2022) returns to the 1990s ghost story
about a hospital built on top of the old bleaching ponds in Copenhagen,
where evil has taken root and medical science faces a daily struggle
with itself, where the Swedes curse the Danes, and the mysterious and
inexplicable blend together in a mixture of horror and humour.
The Kingdom Exodus (2022) sees Von Trier’s real-life
documentary style intertwined with dark wit and black comedy, while
playing with the supernatural.
France
Reality is distorted in Bruno Dumont’s Cannes competition title
France
(2021) – a critique of the modern news media industry that exploits the
infinite and unacknowledged possibility of fiction for its own ends.
France de Meurs (Léa Seydoux) is astonishing as a celebrity
journalist juggling her illustrious career with her busy family life
when her frantic, high-profile world is suddenly turned upside down
after a freak traffic accident. As she attempts to slow down and retreat
into a simple anonymous life, she is unable to avoid her violently
disrupted worlds blending around her.
In Front of Your Face
Coming exclusively to MUBI this December is Hong Sang-soo’s
subtle and poignant film,
In Front of Your Face
(2021). This beautiful, pensive feature is Hong’s second film of
2021: after years of living abroad in America, former actress Sangok is
back in Seoul, staying with her sister. Over the course of a day, it
becomes clear that there are many things she’s not revealing, and this
may be to do with her decision to meet with a film director to discuss
her return to acting.
In Front of Your Face (2021) has all the tropes of
Sang-soo’s approach to filmmaking. It is shot in real apartments,
restaurants and cafes on a relatively low-quality video camera, all of
which add a certain depth and authenticity to this delicate film. It
effortlessly captures the overwhelming sadness of lost time and is a
fascinating and beautiful watch.
Classy Trash: Two by Jack Hill
MUBI presents a special double bill of two masterpieces from
Jack Hill, the cult icon known for his cinema of exploitation,
described in his own words as “classy trash”. Arriving first on December
6th is the brilliant
Spider Baby, or The Maddest Story Ever Told (1967). The
film follows three orphaned siblings and their chauffeur Bruno, who
looks after them at their family estate. The siblings all suffer from a
genetic disorder that causes a reversal in mental age and results in a
crazed, childlike disposition. Bruno is loyal and covers up their
behaviour and crimes, but when relatives arrive at the estate, the truth
is harder to conceal.
Following this, is Switchblade Sisters (1975): Lace,
leader of the girl gang The Dagger Debs, meets her match when Maggie
moves into the neighbourhood. Mistrust turns to friendship as they end
up in Juvenile Detention together. Meanwhile, The Dagger Debs’ male
counterparts The Silver Daggers have to contend with the arrival of a
new gang.
Hello Stranger: A Wim Wenders Double Bill
MUBI's second double bill this December shines light on the
multi-award-winning German director, Wim Wenders. A major name in
the New German Cinema movement of 1970s, Wenders became an icon of the
road-movie subgenre, his films a raw and powerful visual poetry of the
open road. In The American Friend (1977), Jonathan
Zimmerman, a picture framer who suffers from a fatal disease, crosses
paths with Tom Ripley, who trafficks in forged artworks and draws him to
a shady underworld.
Winner of the Palme d’Or in 1984, Paris, Texas (1984) is a
love letter to America, but within this is a painfully emotive
exploration of grief. Travis Henderson, a mysterious, nearly mute
drifter tries to make right as he travels across the unforgiving Texas
desert to reconnect with a son he hasn’t seen in years, who is living
with his brother in Los Angeles, and then on to Houston in search of his
estranged, missing wife.
That Kind of Summer
Luminary Canadian director Denis Côté’s latest feature
This Kind of Summer (2022) is a tender and raw group
portrait of family hypersexuality and sexual healing. Premiering in
competition at this year’s Berlinale, the sun-drenched film is
beautifully captured in Super 16 with strong performances from the three
lead actresses.
Invited to a rest home to explore their sexual issues, three women spend
their days and nights trying to tame their inner demons. Under the
detached supervision of a German therapist and a considerate social
worker, the group attempts to maintain a delicate balance.
Blank Narcissus
Blank Narcissus (2022), the erotic and playful voyage in
time, is the latest short film from one of Britain’s finest contemporary
auteurs Peter Strickland. An ageing gay porn director records
commentary for the DVD release of his underground 16mm film, which he made
in 1972 and has recently been rediscovered. As the beautiful stud in the
film undergoes a series of erotic reveries, the director laments his
doomed love affair with his protagonist.
A Short Story
Originally commissioned as a pet food commercial before premiering in the
official short film selection at Cannes, director Bi Gan (Long Day's Journey Into Night) leads audiences on a cat’s surreal odyssey across empty cities and
fog-bound spaces of contemporary China in his latest work –
A Short Story (2022). The film features Bi’s signature
long-takes and tightly controlled mise-en-scène creating a captivating
fantasy with a collection of unlikely characters: a robot, a magician and
a little girl.
