ZooScope

Tag: Melodrama

  • The Favourite. Dir. Yorgos Lanthimos. Fox Searchlight Pictures. 2019

    Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Favourite explores the life of Queen Anne and the competition between her servants Abigail and Sarah to become her ‘favourite’. The film uses comedy to provide an alternative depiction of the often idealised royal courts, creating an image of debauchery and cruelty instead. Whilst the film focuses on the relationship between these…

  • White God. Dir. Kornél Mundruczó. InterCom Zrt. 2014.

    White God (dir. Kornél Mundruczó, 2014) depicts the story of Hagen [Bodie and Luke], a mixed-breed dog, and his relationship with Lili [Zsófia Psotta], a young girl who is sent to live with her emotionally distant father [Sándor Zsótér].  Unwilling to pay the newly implemented ‘mongrel fee’ imposed by the Hungarian government in a desperate attempt…

  • Oldboy. Dir. Park Chan-wook. Show East & Tartan Films. 2003.

    Park Chan-wook’s 2003 film Oldboy is at its core a thriller, a revenge story of Oh Dae-su (played by Choi Min-sik) imprisoned in a room for 15 years without any knowledge of the reasons why, and who is then suddenly released back into the world and told by his captor to try to work out…

  • Wolf Children. Dir. Mamoru Hosoda. Toho. 2012.

    Wolf Children describes the maturation of two werewolf children, Yuki and Ame, and their human-being mother, Hana, with great sensitivity. The werewolf children struggle between their two identities – human and wolf. They can turn into either of them whenever they want which implies that it is their responsibility to choose which identity they will…

  • White Dog. Dir. Samuel Fuller. Paramount Pictures. 1982.

    Sam Fuller’s final Hollywood film, White Dog (1982), is based on Romain Gary’s 1970 ‘nonfiction’ novel of the same name and tells the story of aspiring actress Julie Sawyer (Kristy McNichol), who after accidentally hitting and injuring him with her car, adopts a seemingly lovable white German shepherd. The plot is complicated when, after two…

  • All The Little Animals. Dir. Jeremy Thomas. Lionsgate. 1999.

    Bobby Platt is twenty-four  with learning difficulties  due to a car accident from his childhood  which he refers to as “the most important  thing about me”. Bobby’s stepfather, “The Fat” is the archetypal bully: aggressive and unsympathetic even at the death of Bobby’s mother. After her funeral The Fat instructs Bobby to sign over the…

  • Hachi: A Dog’s Tale. Dir. Lasse Hallström. Stage 6. 2009.

    As the tale goes Akitas are one of the most loyal and loving breeds of dog in the world. You do not choose an Akita an Akita must choose you. Sent from a monastery in Japan an Akita puppy finds himself alone on a train station platform in America, when his shipping crate falls off…