It’s the weekend again, and that means Film Focus. Here’s Mike Laidman with what’s new in local theaters.




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Let’s start this week with something a little easier to digest before getting to the real meat and potatoes.

We’ll kick things off with The Zookeeper’s Wife, and then, as you’ll likely know unless you’ve been under a rock for a while, we’ll be covering Blade Runner 2049 - a sequel to the original that until recently, many thought would never happen.

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Mike Laidman

Welcome to another edition of Film Focus. I’m Mike Laidman.

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The Zookeeper’s Wife (2017, Niki Caro)
The story of Warsaw zookeepers at the start of WWII.

The Zookeeper’s Wife is the real-life story of one working wife and mother who became a hero to hundreds during World War II. In 1939 Poland, Antonina and her husband have the Warsaw Zoo flourishing under his stewardship and her care. When their country is invaded by the Germans, the two are stunned - and forced to report to the Reich's newly appointed chief zoologist. To fight back on their own terms, Antonina and Jan covertly begin working with the Resistance - and put into action plans to save lives out of what has become the Warsaw Ghetto, with Antonina putting herself and even her children at great risk.

Based on facts and on the book by Diane Ackerman means The Zookeeper’s Wife has a strong base from which to spin its story. It stumbles here and there, however, never hitting the same impact that a film like Schindler’s List has. This incredible tale therefore never gets quite the recognition it deserves up on the silver screen.

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Blade Runner 2049 (2017, Denis Villeneuve)
A young blade runner discovers a long-buried secret.

Blade Runner is a seminal, but ultimately polarising, work of science fiction. Some love it, some learn to love it, and some never find it interesting at all. Well, get ready for a whole new look at the world, and growing mythology, of Blade Runner as we sit down to enjoy Blade Runner 2049.

Thirty years after the events of the first film, a new blade runner, LAPD Officer K, unearths a long-buried secret that has the potential to plunge what's left of society into chaos. K's discovery leads him on a quest to find Rick Deckard, a former LAPD blade runner who has been missing for 30 years.

First things first: the film is beautiful. It pays homage to the original while bringing all that a talented design team and 21st-century advancements have to offer.

As a movie, things are looking good, too. This sequel isn’t a cash-grab; Harrison Ford and Ryan Gosling are a pleasure to watch together, the themes are updated and relevant in today’s world, and a staggering new vision of the future is on tap, too.

One of the only stumbling blocks is the length, at over 2.5 hours. But if you look past that, you’ll be rewarded with one of the most compelling, and the most beautiful, film of the year.