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Ahead of Christopher Nolan’s biopic of ‘father of the atomic bomb’ J Robert Oppenheimer, in cinemas next week, we explore the bomb’s legacy on film, from Hiroshima Mon Amour to Dr Strangelove

Two new documentaries available to stream this week are riding the wave of anticipation for Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, out in cinemas next Friday. Lest Nolan’s Cillian Murphy-starring biopic of atomic bomb creator J Robert Oppenheimer not serve the facts diligently enough, then Oppenheimer: The Real Story (from 17 July) and To End All War: Oppenheimer and the Atomic Bomb (Now TV) are on hand to fill in any gaps. They join a long line of documentaries on the subject and its adjacent concerns; the surprise is that it’s taken this long for Oppenheimer himself to be the protagonist of a major Hollywood drama.

But the legacy of the atom bomb, from its development...

Romanian director won Golden Bear at Berlinale in 2013 for ’Child’s Pose’.

Beta Cinema is to handle international sales on Familiar, the new film from Berlinale Golden Bear-winning director Călin Peter Netzer.

Familiar stars Romanian actor Emanuel Pârvu, known for films such as Graduation, Miracle and Tales From A Golden Age, as a movie director investigating the darkest secrets intoxicating his family.

Netzer wrote the script with the film’s main actress Iulia Lumânare and produced together with Oana Iancu through Parada Film, the company behind Romanian director Netzer’s 2013 Golden Bear winner Child’s Pose and his 2017 Silver Bear winner Ana, Mon Amour.

Locarno International Film Festival

LOCARNO, Switzerland -- Yes, it's that famous whale-hunter but French director Philippe Ramos uses "Moby Dick" for only the last fifth of his film "Captain Ahab", choosing to an invent a back-story that's more Mark Twain than Herman Melville. There's much to like in the sweeping tale of how a resourceful orphan grew up to become the fearless harpoonist and seeker of the great white whale. Virgil Leclaire has terrific screen presence as the young Ahab and, being new, his tale is more engrossing than the familiar story of the fated captain.

Flawed only by some anachronistically modern songs on the soundtrack, the film's well-drawn period atmosphere and gripping tale should see it sail into rewarding boxoffice territory around the world. It screened in Competition at Locarno.

Told as a fable, the yarn follows young Ahab after his mother's death and his temporary adoption by her pious sister Rose (Mona Heftre). But then his absentee father (Jean-Francois Stevenin) takes him away to live in a log cabin in the woods where they encounter a free-spirited nymph named Louise (Hande Kodja). Ahab is as enamored of Louise as his father but she dallies with a wandering rascal named Will Adams (Bernard Blancan) and soon their idyll is ended. The boy is returned to his aunt, but before she leaves, Louise gives him a locket with her name engraved inside and that becomes his talisman.

When his aunt gets married to a dandy who likes to use his cane on the lad, Ahab runs away and has a series of huckleberry adventures before he grows up to become an obsessed sea captain.

Ramos has a good sense of what is fun in a boy's adventure and whether or not his Ahab would have turned into the man in Melville's tale is another question. Much of the appealing whimsy disappears when the stern features of Denis Lavant show up as the adult Ahab.

His love affair with the widow Anna (Dominique Blanc) is handled well and so are the seagoing trials of the Pequod with the reliable Starbuck (Jacques Bonnaffe) at the tormented captain's side. But it's the wide-eyed wonder of the young Ahab and his captivating Louise that linger when the movie is done.

CAPTAIN AHAB

Sesame Films

Credits:

Writer/director/editor: Philippe Ramos

Executive producer: Florence Borelly

Director of photography: Laurent Desmet

Production designers: Ramos, Christophe Sartori, Erika von Weissenberg

Music: Pierre-Stephane Meuge, Olivier Bombarda, Tonio Matias

Co-producer: Olivier Guerpillon

Costume designer: Marie-Laure Pinsard

Cast:

Captain Ahab: Denis Lavant

Young Ahab: Virgil Leclaire

Ahab's father: Jean-Francois Stevenin

Louise: Hande Kodja

Rose: Mona Heftre

Mulligan: Carlo Brandt

Anna: Dominique Blanc

Starbuck: Jacques Bonnaffe

Minister: Jean-Paul Bonnaire

Will Adams: Bernard Blancan

Henry: Philippe Katerine

Jim Larsson: Pierre Pellet

King of England: Jean-Christophe Bouvet

Dr. Hogganbeck: Lou Castel

Running time -- 97 minutes

No MPAA rating...