In what’s shaping up as a week of busy premieres, Wise Men’s film listings show a shift with premieres moving forward to an opening on Wednesday, including a fresh look at a living-room adaptation. This feature comes as an adaptation of a Kurosawa classic by Kazuo Ishiguro, the Nobel laureate in Literature, and producer Oliver Herman, alongside the spy-action caper Operation Fortune: The Big Hoax from Guy Ritchie.
Kurosawa’s reimagined classic, Living, adapted by Ishiguro
The film invites audiences to consider how they want to live. Williams, portrayed by Bill Nighy, is a senior government official who drains his savings after a devastating medical diagnosis and travels to the coast to contemplate his remaining days. Ishiguro, famed for The Remains of the Day, which James Ivory adapted for the screen in 1993, transposes Kurosawa’s To Live to 1950s London, weaving a contemplative drama that blends memory with a changing cityscape. [Citation: Film history records]
Action-espionage comedy from Guy Ritchie
Aubrey Square, known for The White Lotus, joins Jason Statham, Hugh Grant, and Josh Hartnett in Guy Ritchie’s latest action comedy. The director behind Snatch, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and other high-energy thrillers, crafts a story about fast-paced intrigue and offbeat humor. The film follows an MI6 agent and his team as they recruit a Hollywood star to halt the sale of dangerous new weapons technologies, controlled by billionaire Greg Simmonds. [Citation: Entertainment industry press]
Hunt. Hunt the Spy, a thriller from South Korea
Directed and co-starring Lee Jung-jae, known for his breakout role in The Squid Game and the upcoming Star Wars drama The Acolyte, this Cannes Film Festival entry is set in 1980s South Korea. The plot centers on two intelligence officers hunting a mole within their own ranks, a mission that spirals into explosions, pursuits, and deep mistrust as the hunt reveals unsettling truths. [Citation: Cannes coverage]
A new face in horror, M3GAN emerges
The Blumhouse horror project, responsible for Let Me In and The Invisible Man, introduces a robotic doll designed to be a child’s best friend and a parent’s strongest ally. Produced by Jason Blum and James Wan, M3GAN is directed by Gerard Johnstone, with a screenplay by Akela Cooper. Allison Williams leads the cast as Gemma, the roboticist who creates M3GAN and then becomes the caregiver for her orphaned niece. [Citation: Studio announcements]
Tempest and Zoe: an uplifting drama with Mélanie Laurent
Starring Mélanie Laurent and Pio Marmaï, and adapted from Chris Donner’s Tempête au haras, the film is directed by Christian Duguay. The emotional self-help drama follows a young rider and his horse, tracing a journey of resilience and growth. Following recent family-oriented hits, Zoe and the Storm centers on a young woman raised among horses who aspires to ride professionally, while navigating shared dreams and personal recovery after a serious accident. [Citation: Festival notes]
The Awakening of Mary, a hopeful French comedy
This warm, optimistic comedy marks the feature debut of actors turned filmmakers Lauriane Escaffre and Yvo Müller. After earning the César for Best Short for Pile Poil, they present a story set in a Paris arts school. Mary, played by Karin Viard, is a shy woman who, after turning fifty, rediscovers a world of possibilities and begins to steer her own life. [Citation: César Awards history]
A bicycle by Portuguese director Paulo Rocha
Paulo Rocha, a leading figure in Portuguese Novo Cinema, returns to cinema with a restored version of his work. The Loop introduces Rocha’s early milestones and his later pieces, including Los verdes años and Mudar de vida, which draw on Oliveira’s influence and explore themes of literary creation and personal reinvention. The restored presentation brings renewed attention to Rocha’s oeuvre. [Citation: Portuguese cinema chronicles]
The Generation of Evil, a Lithuanian thriller
The film premieres directly on a streaming platform on January 6. Emilis Velivis’s The Last Film of Lithuanian cinema, a political thriller, examines shifts in the region since the late 1980s. The plot follows Gintas, a police chief who starts to confront the deadly secrets his circle harbors as retirement nears, triggering a cascade of murders that threaten the status quo. [Citation: Baltic film festival notes]
A documentary about Abbey Road studios
Mary McCartney’s directorial debut, Abbey Road: If the Walls Could Sing, offers an intimate tour of the studio’s iconic albums, tracing the journeys from classical to pop, through film scores to hip-hop. The documentary, which streams on Disney+, gathers candid recollections from Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Elton John, and other legends, weaving in the stories behind Abbey Road’s legendary recordings. [Citation: Disney+ announcements]