Opening This Week: Sam Raimi's SEND HELP, Ann Hui's JULY RHAPSODY, Much More

Wishing you could be in Sundance for the festival right now? Never fear; we will have reviews issuing forth from our writers this week, while no fewer than 10 movies are releasing, only in theaters, to keep you amused, amazed, and outraged.

Here's our weekly guide.

Send Help
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via 20th Century Studios. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "Send Help is a survival horror thriller about two colleagues who become stranded on a deserted island, the only survivors of a plane crash. On the island, they must overcome past grievances and work together to survive, but ultimately, it's a battle of wills and wits to make it out alive."

Look for our review later today.

July Rhapsody
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in UK movie theaters.

Official synopsis: "Brimming with unspeakable serene beauty, July Rhapsody by Hong Kong's director Ann Hui (A Simple Life) and scriptwriter Ivy Ho (Comrades Almost a Love Story) is a profound and soothing tale about how one paddles through life's chaos as many seemingly eternal inspiration sources of times, like the Yangtze river, quietly fade away. In appearance, Lam prides himself on teaching classic Chinese literature at an elite school and a family of a caring wife and two sons.

"Deep down, the man of forty tastes unfulfilled ambitions in affluent old classmates' belittlements and unsatisfied desires in seductions from a free-spirited student. The sudden return of his teenage years mentor finally wrecks this vulnerable balance. Lam must unearth the long-hidden truth about who he is and gain a new perspective on how to live the rest of his life."

Look for our review later this week.

The Love That Remains
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via Janus Films.

Official synopsis: "Anna, an artist, and Magnús, a fisherman, live with their three children and charismatic sheepdog in the quiet grandeur of the Icelandic countryside. As the fractures in their marriage come to the surface, the couple try to hold onto the afterimages of a life together and make sense of a deep and lingering devotion. Filmmaker Hlynur Pálmason (Godland) brings surprising humor and emotional weight to this gorgeous, intimate, and brilliantly expansive scenes from a marriage, amidst the majestic backdrop of the changing seasons."

Our review by Martin Kudlac: "Pálmason's latest film unfolds as a slow-burning lyrical and imaginative portrayal, guided by implicit storytelling in which images gradually supplant dialogue, reframing a family drama about divorce into something more eccentric, more attuned to the rhythms of artistic inquiry."

Islands
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via Greenwich Entertainment. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "In this twisty thriller, a tennis coach at a tropical resort finds himself at the center of a missing persons mystery. Tom (Sam Riley) teaches tennis during the day and parties at night. When an enigmatic tourist (Stacy Martin) arrives, Tom is unable to shake the feeling he has met her before. Tension and attraction grow, until her husband (Jack Farthing) disappears, and the police suspect Tom."

Our review by Daniel Eagan: "Gerster has higher ambitions than a sleazy thriller, however. He's aiming for a post-modern, deconstructed noir, the kind that lets plotting and characterizations slip away like sand through fingers. By the end of Islands, it's the viewer who's been had, not the usual suspects."

Shelter
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via Black Bear. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "On a remote coastal island, a reclusive man [Jason Statham] rescues a young girl from a deadly storm, drawing them both into danger. Forced out of isolation, he must confront his turbulent past while protecting her, sending them on a tense journey of survival and redemption."

Look for our review later this week.

Bitter Rice
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via Janus Films.

Official synopsis: "During planting season in Northern Italy's Po Valley, an earthy rice-field worker (Silvana Mangano) falls in with a small-time criminal (Vittorio Gassman) who is planning a daring heist of the crop, as well as his femme-fatale-ish girlfriend, played by the Hollywood star Doris Dowling. Both a socially conscious look at the hardships endured by underpaid field workers and a melodrama tinged with sex and violence, this early smash for producer extraordinaire Dino De Laurentiis and director Giuseppe De Santis is neorealism with a heaping dose of pulp."

Look for our review of the 4K restoration later this week.

The Moment
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via A24 Films.

Official synopsis: "A rising pop star navigates the complexities of fame and industry pressure while preparing for her arena tour debut."

Look for our review later this week.

Arco
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via Neon Releasing. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "A magical and beautifully animated journey through time, Arco is a dazzling adventure about a 10-year-old boy from a peaceful, distant future who accidentally travels back to the year 2075 and discovers a world in peril. As Arco develops a charming and touching friendship with a young girl named Iris, they band together and along with her trusted robot caretaker Mikki, set out on a quest to get Arco home, while the two children may also be the only ones who can save our planet.

"A wondrous odyssey filled with hope and optimism for our future, Arco is an enchanting fable from breakout filmmaker Ugo Bienvenu, produced by Remembers' Bienvenu and Felix de Givry, and mountainA's Natalie Portman and Sophie Mas."

Look for our review later this week.

Back to the Past
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via Well Go USA. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "
After losing everything for a crime he didn't commit, Ken vows to travel back to the Qin Dynasty and reclaim everything he lost by usurping the throne."

Look for our review later this week.

A Poet
The film opens Friday, January 30, only in movie theaters, via 1-2 Special. Visit the official site for locations and showtimes.

Official synopsis: "Middle-aged and erratic, Oscar is a failed writer who has given up on life. Unemployed and living with family, he wanders the streets of Medellín in a drunken stupor, lamenting the state of literature in his home country, where he has succumbed to the cliché of the tortured artist. However, the opportunity to mentor a young student offers a chance at redemption, if he doesn't screw it up first.

"In a performance marked by darkly comic pathos, first-time actor Ubeimar Rios stars in Simón Mesa Soto's Un Certain Regard Jury Prize-winner A Poet, a raw and riotous farce about how good deeds are often met with the universe's idea of cruel and unusually poetic punishment."

Look for our review later this week.

Opening This Week celebrates the theatrical experience.