"CREDITORS" DIRECTED BY BEN CURA (81 min)
| BLOCK P | MONDAY 1:00pm | All Monday Film Sessions Are Free
A love triangle is unraveled when a young painter is approached by an admirer who eases him into making sense of his relationship with his wife.
Creditors world-premiered at the Nordic International Film Festival in New York City on October 31, 2015. Latin Post film critic David Salazar called the film "A triumphant debut" noting of the three lead actors that "the trio delivers masterful performances", calling the flashback sequences "what a Terrence Malick film would look like in black and white", and that the film "has shown that Cura has a tremendous future as a visual storyteller, his ability to deliver a strong performance coupled with a compelling film based on the work of a famed writer is a truly remarkable feat".
Blazing Minds film critic Susanne Hodder said of the actors that "all give compelling performances, bringing their characters to life and giving them depth" and concluded her review saying that "Creditors is an intelligent thought-provoking film which questions gender roles, female sexuality and male anxieties, making for an enjoyable and compelling watch.
Screen Relish film critic Stuie Greenfield highlighted the script structure and striking visuals by saying that "Elongated scenes provide beautiful imagery and vignettes of the Spanish landscape that are interspersed with a clever and well-developed script. These long, meaningful scenes bring with them an almost arthouse styling that adds to the charisma and allure of Cura’s magnetic film." He concluded that "Creditors is a beautiful, sometimes angry and surprising film that brings with it strong performances from the entire cast as well as an unexpected yet welcome twist. Cura has produced, written and directed a piece of film that he should be very proud of, and one that demonstrates an incredible aptitude for intense, thought-provoking cinema. He is one to watch out for, as is Creditors."
Cast : Christian McKay (Me and Orson Welles; Rush; Northern Soul; The Theory of Everything), Andrea Deck (Mr. Selfridge; The Devil’s Violinist; The Counsellor), Ben Cura (Comes a bright day; Threesome; Dream On), Tom Bateman (The Tunnel; Da Vinci’s Demons; Jekyll and Hyde), Simon Callow (Four Weddings and a Funeral; Poirot) Synopsis Grant Pierce (Christian McKay) arrives from London into Madrid, Spain, hoping to be given the chance to meet his favourite painter, American Freddie Lynch (Ben Cura), who is currently staying at a private hotel in an unassuming location outside the city. As Grant steps into the main building of 'El Madroño', he troublingly finds Lynch a crippled man whom, he soon reveals, has been unable to actually paint for the better part of a year. As the two men get to know each other under the watchful eye of one of the owners of the hotel, Michael Redmane (Tom Bateman), they start to piece together the disturbing picture of Freddie's marriage to beautiful writer Chloe Fleury (Andrea Deck) which harbours secrets that will reveal much more than Freddie's recent creative emaciation and clearly defined obsession with her ex-husband. Based on August Strindberg's 1888 play, 'Creditors' is a modern re-telling of Strindberg's story of love, betrayal, revenge and psychological manipulation, which he considered to be his one true masterpiece. At times disturbingly funny and cruelly bleak, 'Creditors' deals with the most private aspects of human relationships. From questioning our concepts of marriage and fidelity, to trying to establish the role of the modern woman in a world still trapping her within the confines of old fashioned canons, the film's story stirs, moves and sometimes even angrily rebuts our very own personal definitions of each.