The Culture Commission of the Jagiellonian University’s PhD Student Association invites you to choose which film we will watch during the next edition of the Doctoral Students’ Film Club, which will take place on Thursday March 17th. You can vote up through Sunday February 27th using the following link:
This time, you can vote for the following films:
Death on the Nile, dir. Kenneth Branaugh, United States
1) Belfast, dir. Kenneth Branaugh, United Kingdom
Belfast is a humorously told personal tale of the youth of a certain boy in the late 1960s. The film’s cast include Golden Globe nominee Caitriona Balfe (Outlander), Oscar winner Judi Dench (Shakespeare in Love), Jamie Dorman (Fifty Shades of Gray), and Ciaran Hinds (Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy), and introducing Jude Hill.
The film was written and directed by Kenneth Branagh (who won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay), whose thirty-year film career introduced us to Henry V’s campaign at Agincourt, the heavenly chambers of Thor, and the murderous intrigues aboard the Orient Express. This time, the director transports us to a more realistic and familiar setting. The film Belfast, named after the city where the director was born, is Branagh’s most personal and moving film to date.
The film’s plot is set in Belfast, Northern Ireland, in 1969, where the conflict between those striving for the unity of all Ireland (Catholics) and the supporters of Northern Ireland’s remaining in Great Britain (Protestants) is becoming increasingly intense.
Nine-year-old Buddy (Jude Hill in his debut) is a joyful boy whose Protestant family (parents, grandparents, and brother) have always lived next to their Catholic neighbors. Buddy’s playground is the alley of a working-class neighborhood, the same street where his quarrelsome, charming parents (Caitrion Balfe and Jamie Dornan), older brother Will (Lewis McAskie) and caring grandparents (Judie Dench and Ciaran Hinds) have been born and raised. After growing unrest, Buddy’s father decides to leave Belfast and look for a safer life somewhere in Sydney or Vancouver. His mother hates the notion of leaving home for a distant place where no one knows their names, while Buddy is above all interested in eating chocolate, going to the movies, dreaming of landing on the moon, and yearning for his crush at school.
The film does not present the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in detail. Rather, it is a tender story of childhood, first love, and family. Critics have called Belfast a real cinematic gem, love letter, or magical film it is impossible to not fall in love with.
2) Death on the Nile is a detective thriller inspired by Agatha Christie’s 1937 novel.
The idyllic mood of two newlyweds’ honeymoon on a luxurious riverboat is interrupted by an unpleasant event. A carefree trip to Egypt turns into a search for a murderer led by one of the participants of the cruise on the Nile, the reliable Hercule Poirot. The exotic, mysterious, and often-dangerous setting is perfect for this dark tale of obsessive love and its tragic effects. Like the river itself, the plot twists and turns in an exceptionally mysterious way, not allowing the viewer to guess the ending until the final shocking scene.
Death on the Nile is another production of the team that had previously worked on the successful adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express in 2017, which was also inspired by one of Christie’s novels. The latest adaptation of the crime novel of that great writer stars five-time Oscar nominee Kenneth Branaugh as the well-known detective Hercule Poirot. He is accompanied by such stars as Tom Bateman, Annette Bening, Russell Brand, Ali Fazal, Dawn French, Gal Gadot, Armie Hammer, Rose Leslie, Emma Mackey, Sophie Okonedo, Jennifer Saunders, and Letitia Wright. The screenplay of Death on the Nile was written by Michael Green. Meanwhile, the film’s producers are Ridley Scott, Mark Gordon, Simon Kinberg, Kenneth Branagh.
3) The Worst Person in the World, dir. Joachim Trier, Norway
Norway’s candidate for the Best International Feature Film Oscar, Joachim Trier’s The Worst Person in the World is a unique romantic comedy whose main protagonist is faced with a difficult, life-changing decision.
Julie will soon turn thirty. Filled with energy, she nonetheless is faced with numerous dilemmas. She is in a happy relationship with Aksel, a talented and successful professional cartoonist, but their visions of their future together are divergent. When Julie meets Eivind at a random party and spends the night with him, she begins to wonder if this younger, confident, and slightly crazy guy is not what she wants in life.