Ann Skinner Movies

Set against the backdrop of World War I, this epic love story follows Stephen Wraysford (Eddie Redmayne), an Englishman whose failed love affair with Frenchwoman Isabelle Azaire (Clémence Poésy) continues to haunt him during the war. His only respite comes in the form of friendship with Jack Firebrace (Joseph Mawle), a fellow soldier who helps Stephen endure the hardships of war and come to terms with his feelings for Isabelle. ~ Tracie Cooper, Rovi

This complex political drama zeroes in on the life of a small bourgeois family living in Stalinist Czechoslovakia. It is set in the 50's. The family is falling apart from the pressure to think along party lines, even in private. The mere mention of the West could result in prison, or worse. Little Marushka is a normal, imaginative young girl who is not easily repressed. Her ways are not appreciated by her grandparents and her mother who possesses neither trait. Marushka's mother, an aspiring actress in the local socialist-realist theater, spends most of her time cozying up to local Communist leaders. She is too busy for her daughter which leaves the girl to be raised by her uncle and her grandparents. Marushka's uncle does not fully embrace Communist thinking. He values independence and free thinking. This gets the family in terrible trouble with the ever-present authorities. ~ Sandra Brennan, Rovi

In the vernacular of Kenyan whites of the 1950s, a "kitchen toto" was a native black servant. One such "toto" is 12-year-old Mwangi (Edwin Mahinda). The son of a black clergyman who has been slain by Mau Mau for his moderate beliefs, Mwangi is taken into the household of British police-chief Bob Peck. Torn between two cultures, Mwangi finds himself in a position to rescue his white protectors from insurgent Mau Maus, who are pressing for Kenyan independence-just as the boy's father had. The "no easy answers" climax is one that can't be revealed here. Kitchen Toto was the first directorial effort of Harry Hook, a Kenyan native and British National Film and Television School grad who was just about Mwangi's age when the events depicted in this film occurred. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

Anthony Hopkins stars in The Good Father as a publishing executive whose wife Julie Walters has left him, taking their son with her. Walking around like a zombie after this blow, Hopkins is brought back to life by involving himself in the profound problems of his friend Jim Broadbent. Feeling that his misguided pro-feminist stance has caused him all his trouble, Hopkins encourages Broadbent, whose own wife is leaving him with their son in tow, to fight for custody of the child in court. Hopkins even agrees to finance Broadbent's legal fees. As Broadbent's custody battle intensifies into a bitter, all-out war, Hopkins becomes more relaxed concerning his own domestic difficulties. Allowing Broadbent to be his emotional surrogate, a becalmed Hopkins feels secure enough to try to reconcile with his ex-wife Walters. But she is aware, even if he isn't, that his problems stem not from his relationship with women, but from his resentment of his son, whose birth was the beginning of the end of his marriage. Contrary to the title and his own self-deceptions, Hopkins is not "the good father." The film was scripted by Christopher Hampton from a novel by Peter Prince. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

In this film, set in a British girls school just before the outbreak of WW II, two young girls build a beautiful friendship despite their disparate backgrounds. Their teachers disapprove of their close relationship and try to discourage it, which suggests to the viewer that they suspect a lesbian affair could evolve, but as was true to the era being portrayed, this was never verbalized. This film gently touches upon the vulnerable days of adolescence. ~ Rovi