John Lui Film Correspondent recommends

Film Picks: Lady Bird, Films Of Francois Ozon, and more

LADY BIRD (M18)
LADY BIRD (M18)
FILMS OF FRANCOIS OZON
FILMS OF FRANCOIS OZON
Super Dark Times
Super Dark Times
LOVING VINCENT (M18)
LOVING VINCENT (M18)

LADY BIRD (M18)

96 minutes/4 stars

There have been other good coming-of-age stories with girl protagonists - The Edge Of Seventeen (2016) and The Diary Of A Teenage Girl (2015) come to mind - but what sets this one apart is the compellingly drawn mother-daughter relationship.

Christine "Lady Bird" McPherson (Saoirse Ronan, left) is a high-schooler who dreams of leaving home for college to escape her controlling mother, Marion (Laurie Metcalf, right), and what she considers the cultural desert of Sacramento, California. In the meantime, she and best friend Julie (Beanie Feldstein) have to learn about femininity, boys and sex, the meaning of friendship and living with parents who are flawed human beings.


FILMS OF FRANCOIS OZON

This celebration of films by the acclaimed French film-maker kicks off with the erotic thriller, The New Girlfriend (2014, R21, 108 minutes), based on a short story by English writer Ruth Rendell.

Claire (Anais Demoustier) is a woman whose ideas of gender and sexuality are changed after she discovers that the husband of her late best friend lived a double life.

WHERE: The Projector, Level 5 Golden Mile Tower, 6001 Beach Road MRT: Nicoll Highway WHEN: From March 1, various times ADMISSION: $13.50 INFO: theprojector.sg


SINGAPORE CULT AND UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL (SCUFF) 2018

Super Dark Times (2017, R21, 100 minutes) is a coming-of-age story touched by psychological terror. Two American teens, Zach and Josh (Owen Campbell and Charlie Tahan), are best friends until one summer, when a lark in the woods goes very badly wrong.

It is one of the four films screening at this year's edition of the Scuff festival, which celebrates the horror, thriller and exploitation genres.

WHERE: The Gallery, Level 5 *Scape, 2 Orchard Link MRT: Orchard WHEN: Today to Sunday, various times ADMISSION: $13 INFO: scumcinema.com/events/scuff-2018


LOVING VINCENT (M18)

95 minutes/3.5 stars

This is a movie based on a gimmick, but what a gimmick it is. Over 100 artists from 20 countries were recruited to paint, in the style of the film's subject, each of the 65,000 frames that make up this 95-minute movie. Its ambition has earned it an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature.

A year after the death by suicide of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh (Robert Gulaczyk), postman Joseph Roulin (Chris O'Dowd) still has a letter from the artist he has been unable to deliver.

He sends his son Armand (Douglas Booth) across France to speak to those who might have known the doomed artist.

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on February 23, 2018, with the headline Film Picks: Lady Bird, Films Of Francois Ozon, and more. Subscribe