Showmax ends 2018 on high
Showmax has been ramping up its selection of local content all year but they’ve saved the best for last: you can now stream Oscar-shortlisted drama The
Wound, directed by John Trengove, and the African Movie Academy Awards’ Best Film of 2018, Five Fingers To Marseilles, directed by Michael Matthews.
Five Fingers For Marseilles
Premise: Twenty years ago, the young “Five Fingers” fought for the rural town of Marseilles against brutal police oppression. Now, after fleeing in disgrace, Tau returns to Marseilles, seeking a peaceful pastoral life. But he finds the town under a new threat, and reluctantly fights to free it.
Why you should watch:
The Wall Street Journal suggested it could be the Western genre’s Black Panther.
Variety called it “almost too entertaining for its own good”.
Every Western should be filmed in the Eastern Cape from now on; it’s gorgeous.
As Tau, Vuyo Dabula is “terrific,” to quote The LA Times.
‘Inxeba’ | The Wound
Premise: Xolani, a lonely factory worker, joins the men of his community in the Eastern Cape mountains to initiate a group of teenage boys into manhood. When a defiant initiate from the city discovers his best-kept secret, Xolani’s entire existence begins to unravel.
Why you should watch: The Wound
is one of the most talked-about SA movies of the decade. Local cinemas cancelled screenings after death threats and protests about its depiction of the secret Xhosa initiation ritual, then the Film and Publications Board Tribunal reclassified it as porn (it’s not) after complaints from traditionalists, essentially banning it from mainstream cinemas. The classification was overturned in the North Gauteng High Court.
Nakhane as Xolani. Your favourite singer will become your new favourite actor.
As AVClub wrote, his “superb, deeply internalised performance manages to suggest wellsprings of longing concealed by a scrim of perpetual wariness”.
I-D magazine called it “the most important LGBT film you will see in 2018”.
The protest against the film laid bare the rampant homophobia that remains in parts of South Africa.
Accolades: 1. Oscar-shortlisted, 2018. 2. Winner of 28 international awards. 3. 90% critics rating, Rotten Tomatoes. 4. On The Guardian’s list of the best movies of 2018 so far.
Other SA highlights to stream on Showmax include:
The 2018 Silwerskerm short film collection, including Best Short Film - 11 Minutes and Best Director winner Die
Leeftyd van ‘n Orgidee, directed by Marì Borstlap.
Roberta Durrant’s Krotoa, which won eight international awards and earned CrystalDonna Roberts the best Safta actress for 2018 for her role as a Khoi woman who became an interpreter for Jan van Riebeeck.