What are the biggest movies releasing in September 2023? being helmed by Sonal Joshi, who previously worked on the Emraan Hashmi-led Bard of Blood. It also ropes in Smit Sadh (Breathe: Into the Shadows) and Kusha Kapila (Selfiee) in the lead roles.
The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
When: September 27
Where: Netflix
Following Fantastic Mr. Fox, Wes Anderson is taking a stab at Roald Dahl once again in his latest short film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Running at just 37 minutes, it follows the titular wealthy gambler Henry (Benedict Cumberbatch), who learns about a strange guru who possesses the ability to see through thin objects without opening his eyes. What follows next is an almost spiritual journey, where he decides to master the skill through meditation and uses it to cheat and win big at casinos, before eventually losing interest in it because the thrill of winning is lost.
Besides Ralph Fiennes (The Grand Budapest Hotel) as the narrator Dahl, there are a bunch of newbies in this short film, namely Dev Patel (The Green Knight) as Dr. Chatterjee, Ben Kingsley (Gandhi) as Imdad Khan, Richard Ayoade (The Double) as Dr. Marshall, and Rupert Friend (Homeland). If it was up to Anderson, this short would’ve been released in theatres, marking his second project this year — the first being Asteroid City — though by the time he was ready to make the short, Netflix acquired the Roald Dahl Story Company. “Suddenly, in essence, there was nowhere else you could do it since they own it,” Anderson said in an interview while adding that the small runtime makes it the perfect place to show it, as well.
It is also rumoured that the filmmaker will be adapting other Dahl short stories such as ‘The Swan,’ ‘Poison,’ and ‘The Ratcatcher,’ serving as an anthology that collectively runs for roughly 100 minutes.
Dev Patel, Ben Kingsley, and Richard Ayoade in a still from The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar
Photo Credit: Netflix
The Creator
When: September 29
Where: Theatres
Bash Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s writing all you want, but we can all agree that it was a well-directed film. Sure, a chunk of it can be credited to Greig Fraser’s stunning cinematography, but it’s director Gareth Edwards’ choice of pacing that keeps its otherwise messy events pass by exhilaratingly. He’s now back in the sci-fi business with The Creator, which is set in a fictional 2070, where the human race and AI are in a neverending war after the latter dropped a nuclear bomb onto Los Angeles years prior. In it, we largely follow an ex-special forces agent Joshua (John David Washington), who is summoned to hunt down the titular Creator, the elusive architect of the AI who has created a weapon of mass destruction.
Already grieving from the mysterious disappearance of his wife Maya (Gemma Chan), Joshua and his team of soldiers make their way into enemy territory, only to learn that the world-ending weapon he was ordered to destroy is an AI in the form of a child (Madeleine Yuna Voyles). Not knowing what to do, the pair decide to team up and journey across militia checkpoints and villages under attack, to find a way to stop the weapon — presumably, while keeping the kid alive. Despite breaking scientific themes, the film often seems to touch upon religious aspects as well — specifically, the notion of going to heaven, which is impossible for Joshua because of his terrible past, and the child because she isn’t human.
The film features an ensemble cast lineup ranging from Ken Watanabe (Detective Pikachu), Allison Janney (Bombshell), Ralph Ineson (The Witch), and Sturgill Simpson (The Hunt). Funnily though, the working title for the film was True Love, which sounds like a romcom — I’m glad they changed it. It might also have been smart for Edwards to base The Creator in the year 2024, given how conflicted we are with the use of artificial intelligence these days. It’s a decision that he himself regrets, as revealed in a recent interview.
