Sure, April showers may bring May flowers, but for the month April, Kanopy is bringing us a great collection of powerful films with iconic performances which are all available through the Clark County Public Library and the Kanopy app. In addition to films starring award winning luminaries and box office stars, Kanopy often takes a deeper dive with their curated collections with many titles that may surprise you, from Hollywood hits to cult picks, or ones that you may not have heard of from all over the world.
Here are some of the highlights from Kanopy's collection of Starring Roles that you might consider adding to your watchlist:
Parasite, opens a new window (Bong Joon Ho, 2019)
From director, Bong Joon Ho ( The Host, opens a new window and Tokyo, opens a new window), the winner of Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Film at the Academy Awards and the winner of the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, Parasite is a darkly humorous and endlessly stylish psychological thriller of the battle between the haves and the have-nots in Seoul, South Korea. Besides having a knockout ensemble cast, which won Best Ensemble Cast in a Motion Picture (a first for a foreign language film), Parasite is twisty and turn-y and a fun watch. The entire cast is truly outstanding though Song Kang-ho and Lee Jung-eun were highlights for me, with Song Kang-ho playing the hapless father of the Kim family who is hired on as a chauffeur for the wealthy family and Lee Jung-eun as the housekeeper who becomes a pawn in the mind games that follow.
Song Kang-ho has starred in a plethora of international features and has won many awards, including The Host, opens a new window, also directed by Bong Joon Ho, and Secret Sunshine, opens a new window, both of which are on Kanopy.
A Quiet Passion , opens a new window(Terence Davies, 2016)
Probably best known for her role as Miranda Hobbes from Sex and the City, Cynthia Nixon stars in Terence Davies's biopic on the life of the reclusive poet, Emily Dickinson. In his review of the film, critic Roger Ebert wrote of Nixon's performance that he'd be 'very surprised if I see a better performance from an American actor this year," which is high praise indeed! Though she didn't win any awards that year, Nixon is fantastic at personifying rebellious and independent nature of the poet who would become of one of America's most well-regarded and original artists.
If A Quiet Passion piqued your interest about Emily Dickinson, make sure to also stream My Letter to the World: A Journey through the Life of Emily Dickinson, a documentary on the life of the poet, which is narrated by Nixon as well.
Additionally, if you're curious about other films from director Terence Davies, Kanopy has a sampling that includes The Deep Blue Sea, opens a new window, which stars Rachel Weisz and Tom Hiddleston, as well as his final film, Benediction, opens a new window, another biopic of a well-regarded poet, this time on British poet Siegfried Sassoon.
Under the Sand: Sous le sable, opens a new window (Francois Ozon, 2000)
Initially a model, Charlotte Rampling segued into acting in the mid-1960s and has starred in international films, television series, and has even recorded a few albums since then. In director François Ozon’s Under the Sand, Rampling plays Marie, an English professor, who, while vacationing with her husband Jean in the south of France, begins to mentally slip after a nap on the beach. Upon waking up, Jean is nowhere to be found. Was it foul play? Did Jean simply disappear? The film’s a quiet mystery as we follow Marie as she begins to act as if he never really disappeared and Rampling pulls it off perfectly. Under the Sand is very elliptical, very moody, and all very French.
Kanopy has a solid selection of Rampling’s work which you can find here, opens a new window, including standouts like 45 Years, opens a new window and Benedetta, opens a new window.
Possession, opens a new window (Andrzej Zulawski, 1981)
If the top image of Isabella Adjani has you intrigued, then strap in and stream Andrzej Zulawski's Possession on Kanopy tonight. Adjani is fearless in her role as a wife, who after asking her husband (a baby Sam Neill) for a divorce, begins exhibiting some rather bizarre and disturbing behavior. I don't think I've ever seen a horror film like this before. It's a relationship horror drama with doppelgangers, obsessions, monsters, and over-the-top acting - it's all there. Reportedly, director Andrzej Zulawski was going through a divorce himself when he was writing the screenplay for this one, so some of that strife no doubt made its way into the performances and on to the screen.
If you're in the mood to explore more of Isabella Adjani's filmography, you can stream Werner Herzog's version of Nosferatu the Vampyre, opens a new window or see more of her work on Kanopy here., opens a new window
Sam Neill's filmography is also well represented on Kanopy. If you'd like to see what Kanopy has to offer, you can find a selection of his films here., opens a new window
From compelling dramas to powerful documentaries and insightful series, Kanopy offers a range of films that explore the craft of acting, highlight famous performances, and celebrate the actors who bring stories to life.
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