IT'S ALL ABOUT LOVE
(Thomas Vinterberg / min / 2003 / cert )
(Fri 5th - Thurs 11th / 9.15pm/7pm / £4 / £3 / £2)

Staring Claire Danes, Sean Penn, and Joaquin Phoenix.

The Cube is proud to present the Bristol premier of Danish filmmaker Thomas Vinterberg (Festen) whose first English-language film is a deeply bizarre tale found off the beaten path.

Vinterberg's film has John (Phoenix) thinking he's going to make a quick 20 minutes stopover in New York City. While there, he wants his wife Elena (Danes) to finally sign their divorce papers, but Elena has other plans, and her minder drags him out of the airport to a "family" gathering of her manager, assistant, brother and various hangers on.

Strange? Well this is all set in the near future (2021), when a unexplaned heart illness has gripped New York, leaving bodies lying in doorways, subways, and roadsides. There's an eerie multicultural feel to this world in which national boundaries seem to have slipped a bit. This is a film that avoids a single description, with an excellent cast, playing the characters with a heightened authenticity reminiscent of classic 1950s thrillers. Vinterburg adds menace with cinematography, editing and direction that all hint at much more than we or the characters know.