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Citizen K Director: Alex Gibney Release: 13 Decem
ber Alex Gibney’s Citizen K charts the transformation of oil oligarch, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, into a fully-fledged political dissident, brave enough to be a thorn in Putin’s side. This results in a ten-year prison sentence in Siberia which makes him more clear-eyed about what matters in life. He now lives in London, exiled, and potentially, in danger – stories of Putin’s enemies being poisoned in England are commonplace. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Khodorkovsky was only too happy to welcome capitalism. With his moral compass not developed yet, Khodorkovsky avails of a newly capitalist Russia, where the law hasn’t quite caught up yet, a “wild-west period” the violent result. Though I suspect Gibney admires his subject, he manages to just about avoid this being a fawning hagiography with critical voices getting their say. What makes Khodorkovsky such an interesting figure is how contradictory he is, at once capable of cynicism and heroic idealism. One reason for Khodorkovsky’s exile is owing to Putin issuing a warrant for his arrest for the 1998 murder of Vladimir Petukhov, a Siberian smalltown mayor. While Gibney keeps the question open, it seems he leans towards believing Khodorkovsky. Khodorkovsky first became mega-rich as the proprietor of Russia’s first private bank in the Yeltsin ‘90s. Most ignominiously, he bought up state-issued vouchers supposed to give people a share in the free market, pure Gangster-Capitalism. Still, though no angel, his behaviour was endemic of how grasping the wealthy were in a newly democratic Russia. At times Gibney is a victim of his own enthusiasm, with the narrative feeling a bit overstuffed at the end, taking the story to the macrocosmic. Riveting and propulsive, Citizen K tells a the story of an individual’s redemption while also providing us with a lesson in Russian history that serves as a cautionary tale. Gibney has made many impressive documentaries, but Citizen K is one of his strangest and most distinctive. RK The Last Right Director: Aoife Crehan Talent: Colm Meaney, Niamh Algar, Michiel Huisman, Brian Cox Release: 6 December New York based Daniel Murphy (Huisman) is returning to Cork, having heard that his mother has died. Flight bound, he sits next to Padraig (Norton), an inquisitorial older man whose surname he shares with Daniel. Flying his brother’s corpse to Cork, Padraig writes Daniel down as his next of kin, a move which proves thorny when he fails to wake up from his sleep the next day. Burdened with two brothers to carry, Daniel has to wrestle burying one deceased family while trying to bring new life into his relationship with estranged relative Louis (Bottomley). What starts as a dissertation of despair quickly turns into a love letter to halcyon comedies Local Hero and Gregory’s Girl. Focusing on the friendship/relationship/derisiveness Daniel and Louis share, a liturgical journey through the Irish hills brings the uncommonly different men closer together. Louis is autistic, a clever character device that dampens the friendship more convincingly. Some ham-fisted Rain Man jokes notwithstanding, director Aoife Crehan deals with the condition with surprisingly good taste, showcasing his laudable eye for photography and an impressive memento of historical facts. Then there’s Mary Sullivan (Algar), friend to both men, the rational voice Daniel and Louis communicate to each other. Taciturn in spirit, her spirit and fury rises as she tears through the critics who question their crusade on the gladiatorial Joe Duffy show. Hilarious. Among them sits Daniel, the lowly American recognising his place in a country he abandoned and a family that counters him. Refreshingly, the film’s car journey focuses on the trio’s troubles getting to Northern Ireland, leaving the superlative Derry Girls to speak about The Troubles in Northern Ireland. And yet the scenery is worth the trouble, effortlessly upstaging the cast in all of its agrarian beauty. Seated beside a handcrafted coffin, the heroes find themselves genuinely affected by Rathlin Island’s enthralling beauty. They won’t be the only ones! EL 77