Playground
What we're watching
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Drama, UR
The original title, meaning 'a world', suggests that a school is a self-enclosed universe with its own customs and abuses - and a microcosm of the injustices outside. Nora (mesmerising newcomer Maya Vanderbeque) arrives in a new school, nervous about leaving her dad and yearning for the protection of big brother Abel (Gunter Duret). In fact, it's Abel who faces bullying - and when Nora tries to help him, his ordeal only worsens. Laura Wandel's extraordinary debut is a triumph in terms of focus and concision, with the action restricted to the school premises and the camera held exactly at Nora's child's-eye height. Arguably one of the best films ever made about childhood; without doubt, one of the most gripping, and lucidly truthful.
Up Next in What we're watching
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The Boy Who Turned Yellow
The Boy Who Turned Yellow is the splendidly eccentric final collaboration from the eminent filmmaking duo Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger. London schoolboy John Saunders turns a bright yellow after losing his pet mouse on a school trip. Is the mysterious colour change the result of an alien...
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Saint-Narcisse
The latest work from cult filmmaker Bruce LaBruce (Hustler White) follows Dominic as he tracks down and uncovers his family secrets, discovering he is not the orphan and only child he believed he was. When he finds his identical twin living in a remote monastery under the control of an abusive pr...
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Dreams That Money Can Buy
Dadaist Hans Richter attempts to bring the European avant-garde to the masses, with this story about a man who discovers he has the power to create dreams, and sets up a business selling them to others.
