Paul O’Rourke
NETFLIX has made a big cinematic splash in recent times, and this week we take a look at two of their upcoming releases.
‘The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind’ tells the inspiring true story of William Kamkwamba, a 13-year-old Malawi youngster who gets kicked out of school when his parents can’t afford the tuition fees.
With civil unrest and an impending famine hitting his country, William heads off to the local library and educates himself on the inner workings of turbines. Against all the odds he then decides to build a wind machine that will power a water pump to irrigate the barren land and save his village.
The film is written and directed by Chiwetel Ejiofor, who also stars as William’s father. Ejiofor of course was nominated for an Oscar with his turn in ‘12 Years a Slave’ and given that he acts, writes and directs here, after learning a new language for the role, it’s probably fair to say he’s one of the most talented people in Hollywood right now.
The film is a slow burn but the ending makes it worthwhile, and with strong acting performances especially from Elifor, and Maxwell Simba as William, the movie deserves a review score of 4 inspiring stars.
A very different offering from Netflix, but nonetheless enjoyable, arrives in the form of ‘Isn’t it Romantic’, starring Rebel Wilson as low self esteem New Yorker Natalie, who suffers an accident and wakes up as the leading lady in a romantic comedy.
It’s an interesting idea, cleverly executed, and with many laugh out loud moments. The writer, Dana Fox, was involved with other less well received projects such as ‘The Wedding Date’, ‘What Happened in Vegas’ and ‘Couples Retreat’, but seems to have hit the mark, or at least got closer to it, here.
Liam Hemsworth co-stars as heart-throb Blake and there are excellent supports from both Adam Devine and Brandon Scott Jones as Natalie’s gay best friend. This is a film that certainly doesn’t take itself or the genre too seriously, and we award it a review score of 3.5 light-hearted stars.
