It’s the weekend again, and that means Film Focus. Here’s Mike Laidman with what’s new in local theaters.
There’s nothing quite like a long weekend to really set time on fire. Here we are again already, after the long Chuseok weekend, ready to take another look at what the theatres are serving up.

This is another slow week, with two smaller films opening. It’s next week, however, that’ll we’ll finally get Matt Damon’s latest, The Martian, which is already opening up overseas.

In the meantime though, we’ve got The Loft, starring a few popular actors, and typical Hollywood fare. The other, Noble, is an independent Irish film. I’ll leave you to guess which is the one to see...

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Mike Laidman

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

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Noble (2015, Stephen Bradley)
An Irish woman finds her destiny on the streets of Saigon.

Vietnam. 1989. It’s 14 years after the end of the war when Irish woman Christina Noble flies into Ho Chi Minh City. She leaves behind an extraordinary life story, but the best is yet to come. With only a few dollars, a dream, and her own hard-won courage, she is about to change everything for hundreds of thousands of poor Vietnamese people. This is the incredible true story of a fearless Irish heroine driven by her daring vision to escape the slums of Ireland and risk everything on the streets of Vietnam.

Noble lives up to its advertising, and is the movie to see if you want to see proof of the power and vision that lies within each one of us. Despite being somewhat uneven, it is passionate, smart, touching, and tragic.


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The Loft (2015, Erik Van Looy)
Five husbands share a secret loft they use for their affairs.

Karl Urban and James Marsden star in this psychological thriller, a story of five guys who conspire to secretly share a penthouse loft in the city. It is here where they can indulge in their deepest fantasies. But the fantasy becomes a nightmare when they discover the dead body of an unknown woman in the loft, and they realize one of the group must be involved. Paranoia seizes them as everyone begins to suspect one another. Friendships are tested, loyalties are questioned, and marriages crumble as the group is consumed by fear, suspicion, and murder.

Noble is everything this film is not: smart, heroic, uplifting. Here instead we have an erotic thriller populated with characters as sleazy as its storyline. Wait for this one to come out on video or stream it in the comfort of your home if you’re curious.