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Malila: The Farewell Flower

This Thai romantic drama stars heart-throb Sukollawat Kanarot as Shane, a farmer who carries the baggage of a family tragedy. He meets Pich (Anuchit Sapanpong), his old lover who’s dying of a terminal disease. The two men resume an affair, before Shane decides to seek solace in monkhood as death, grief and suffering follow him like a shadow. Directed by Anucha Boonyawatana. In Thai with English subtitles.

Black Panther

The new Marvel juggernaut stars Chadwick Boseman as Black Panther, who returns to his African homeland of Wakanda to take the throne after his father dies. When his old enemy (Michael B. Jordan) reappears with malicious intent, Black Panther is drawn back into a great battle. Directed by Ryan Coogler.

Lady Bird

Irish actress Saoirse Ronan plays Lady Bird, an American teenager in Sacramento. As the confident young woman struggles to discover her place in the world, she finds friendship, love, heartache, and above all confronts her overbearing but loving mother. The film, as well as Ronan, has been nominated for the Oscars. Directed by Greta Grewig.

Fifty Shades Freed

Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan continue their comically steamy on-screen appearances in the final part of the E.L. James’ film adaptation. Now Anastasia and Christian have gotten married, and yet her stalker keeps threatening to sabotage their relationship. Taking the matter in her own hands, Anastasia goes for broke in order to save the man she loves. Directed by James Foley.

Pad Man

Following a fictionalised account of Arunachalam Muruganantham’s life, this inspiring tale tells how the incredible Indian inventor and innovator made his way from a rural welder to the international arena by bringing a revolution to feminine hygiene in India. Akshay Kumar stars as the lead who first came up with India’s low-cost sanitary napkin making machine. Directed by R. Balki. Limited release at Major Ekamai, Rama III and Pattaya.

I, Tonya

Margot Robbie plays Tonya Harding, a controversial figure skating athlete. Based on a true story, the film traces Tonya’s rise to fame and her plummet to controversy when, in 1994, her ex-husband brutally attacked her rival at the US championships which Tonya went on to win. She is implicated in the crime, and the film tells her complex life story that involves her overbearing mother and ex-husband. Robbie is nominated for an Oscar for her role, so is Allison Janney, who plays Tonya’s mother.

Sad Beauty

This Thai drama tells the story of two female friends whose relationship goes through a traumatic test when they get involved in a murder. Florence Faivre plays Yo, a supermodel who often finds herself as tabloid fodder, and Pakkawadee Pengsuwan plays Pim, her plain-looking and practical best friend. The two women are having the time of their lives when they find blood on their hands and desperately try to get out of the situation. Directed by Bongkod Bencharongkul.

Maimee Samui Sabrab Ther (Samui Song)

In this Thai crime thriller, Chermarn Boonyasak plays Viyada, a soap opera actress unhappily married to a rich foreigner (Stephane Sednaoui). Her husband follows a spiritual cult led by a charismatic leader (Vithaya Pansringam), who has a habit of luring female disciples into his bed. Sick with her marriage, Viyada finds a glimmer of hope when she meets a hitman (David Asavanond) who offers to free her from her misery. Directed by Pen-ek Ratanaruang.

The Shape Of Water

In this dark fairy tale set during the height of the Cold War, Sally Hawkins plays Elisa, a mute who works as a cleaning lady in a top-secret science centre in Baltimore. A mysterious aquatic creature is brought into the centre, and Elisa becomes his only friend. When the sadistic security chief (Michael Shannon) wants to kill the creature for fear of Soviet spies getting a hold of its biological secrets, Elisa has to rescue him. The film has been nominated for 13 Oscars. Directed by Guillermo Del Toro.

Downsizing

Matt Damon stars in this social satire about mankind’s inability to find peace and happiness. He plays Paul, a married man who decides to undergo a process called “downsizing”, which shrinks him to the size of a finger, then he joins a community of “small people” in a suburban utopia where their size minimises the need for food, money and other necessities. Then Paul starts questioning the deeper meaning of life, which sends him on another existential adventure in Norway. Directed by Alexander Payne.

Wonder Wheel

Kate Winslet, Justin Timberlake and James Belushi star in this romantic drama by writer-director Woody Allen. Winslet plays Ginny, a sensitive ex-actress stuck in an unhappy marriage with her husband. They live on Coney Island, and their precarious situation takes a turn with the arrival of Mickey (Timberlake), a handsome lifeguard.

The Last Recipe

A famous chef renowned for making wonderful meals receives a challenging and mysterious order: to satisfy a dying man’s last wish, the chef has to cook a special fish dish whose recipe belongs to another famous chef who lived in occupied Manchuria in the 1930s. Directed by Yôjirô Takita.

The Post

In this newsroom drama, Tom Hanks plays editor of The Washington Post in a critical period when the Pentagon Papers, which proved the US government had been lying about the Vietnam War to the public for over two decades, had been leaked. Meryl Streep plays the socialite publisher who has to face the toughest decision of her life: to publish or not publish the documents that may ruin her newspaper. Directed by Steven Spielberg.

The Florida Project

This acclaimed family drama is set around a cheap, gaudy motel on the outskirts of Florida near Disney World. The film follows six-year-old Moonee, a lovely mischief maker, and her mother as they struggle to make ends meet and to find slices of happiness in their lives. Willem Dafoe plays a hotel caretaker in a role that has been nominated for an Oscar. Directed by Sean Baker.

The Maze Runner: The Death Cure

The third Maze Runner film follows the same group of young survivors after an apocalypse. This time Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and friends will have to race against time to find a cure to a deadly virus ravaging Earth. Directed by Wes Ball.