Suburra, Gook, Do I Sound Gay? and more on The Icon Film Channel this June

Buzz, Film

On 1 June, The Icon Film Channel on Amazon Prime Video is launching eight new titles including Italian Mafia hit Suburra, powerful racial drama Gook Julie Delpy’s Lolo and funny, insightful documentary Do I Sound Gay?

More new titles are due to launch on the channel every month, so look out for Boulevard starring Robin Williams and hilarious documentary Misery Loves Comedy featuring Amy Schumer, Judd Apatow and James L. Brooks, among many others in July.

SUBURRA (dir. Stefan Sollima) – screener available, please request
From acclaimed director Stefano Sollima (Gomorrah, Romanzo Criminale, Sicario 2: Soldado) Suburra takes place over seven days leading up to an ‘Apocalypse’ as a crime boss, known as ‘Samurai’, is instructed by the Mafia to use his influence to help turn the waterfront of Rome into a new leisure district. As the countdown to the ‘Apocalypse’ draws to a close, secrets are quickly unravelled as dangerous and powerful gangsters become caught in the crossfire. As the city begins to crumble, all those involved must choose to sink or swim by betraying those closest to them. Inspired by the real-life Mafia Capital investigation in Italy, Suburra has since spawned a Netflix TV series, Suburra: Blood on Rome.

GOOK (Justin Chon) – screener available, please request
April 1992: South Central Los Angeles. Eli and Daniel, two Korean-American brothers, struggle to keep their late-fathers shoe store in business in the LA neighbourhood of Paramount. Two months behind on rent and indebted to various neighbourhood gangs, the job is only made better by the store’s unofficial third employee, Kamilla, a street wise 11-year-old African American girl with whom the pair have formed an unlikely friendship. Kamilla ditches school, Eli stresses over the shop, and Daniel seemingly has his head in the clouds. It’s just another typical day until the Rodney King verdict is read and riots break out. As chaos moves towards them and tensions escalate, the trio are forced to defend the store, witnessing events that will make them contemplate both the future of their own personal dreams and the true meaning of family.

DO I SOUND GAY? (feat. George Takei, Margaret Cho, Tim Gunn) – screener available, please request
Determined to confront his anxiety about ‘sounding gay’, journalist David Thorpe embarks on a hilarious and touching journey, exploring the linguistic, cultural and historical origins of the stereotype of the gay voice. Enlisting the frank and often funny perspectives of famous faces including writer David Sedaris, comedian Margaret Cho, actor George Takei and fashion guru Tim Gunn as well as family, friends, and even complete strangers, David learns that people – gay, straight and everything in between – often wish for a different voice. Drawing upon movie and television clips, acting coaches and linguists, Do I Sound Gay? uncovers the broader context of this widely-felt insecurity and illuminates the complexities at playing a highly personal and current issue.

LOLO (Julie Delpy, Dany Boon, Vincent Lacoste) – screener available, please request
Directed by and starring Julie Delpy, Lolo premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2015. The course of true love has never run smoothly for Parisian Violette (Delpy), a 40 year old workaholic whose romantic life is continually challenged by possessive teenage son, Lolo. Enjoying a long holiday in Biarritz, fashion exec Violette is surprised to find herself falling for fellow divorcee Jean-Rene (Dany Boon), a clueless but highly persistent local computer programmer. When Jean-Rene announces he’s due to move to Paris for a work opportunity, the unlikely relationship is given a chance to continue. However he must first attempt to win the trust and respect of troublesome 19 year old Lolo, a challenge that the endearingly naïve Jean-Rene is not at all prepared for. When Lolo returns to live with Violette, and his playful schemes evolve into more serious set-ups, Jean-Rene is faced with a decision; is he willing to compete with Lolo’s obsession to remain Violette’s one and only favourite?

THE TRIBES OF PALOS VERDES (Maika Monroe, Jennifer Garner, Cody Fern)
At the edge of adolescence, Medina Mason (Maika Monroe) attempts to find her place in a volatile family dynamic and a new school in the affluent beach community of Palos Verdes, California. As her parents’ marriage disintegrates, the relationship with her neurotic mother (Jennifer Garner) is tested and her beloved brother (Cody Fern) struggles with the temptation of drugs, Medina surfs to survive, finding solace in the rough comfort of the waves. Based on the best selling novel of the same name, The Tribes of Palos Verdes is a brave and intensely emotional story of one girl’s journey to discover where she truly belongs.

PORNDEMIC (feat. Ron Jeremy, Ginger Lynn, Marc Wallice and Tricia Devereaux)
The adult film industry by the mid 90s had undergone a profound cultural shift, rising to total acceptance in society’s eyes, with an exclusive network of stars making more money than they ever imagined. A family of rejects and rebels living a dream life. An endless hedonistic party culminating in their own Film Festival, the Cannes Hot D’Or. But it was a dream world that was about to come crashing down when five of the most successful female performers succumbed to the deadly new illness, AIDS. In a desperate race against time, key figures in the industry began an investigation to find the elusive Patient Zero who was eluding the testing protocols, drawing them into a spider web of betrayal, cover-up and tragedy. Featuring original and exclusive interviews from adult film performers Ron Jeremy, Ginger Lynn, Marc Wallice and Tricia Devereaux, as well as industry experts including Bill Margold, Mark Cromer and Mark Kernes, this gritty, intimate, murder-mystery expose explores a deadly outbreak that posed a threat to the industry’s very existence.

90 MINUTES (Rio Ferdinand, Anton Saunders, Leo Sua, Waleed Akhtar)
It’s no ordinary Sunday at London’s iconic Hackney Marshes, as Lea Valley Rangers prepare for the most important match in club history. Rising tensions are due to more than just the sporting drama however. Long suffering club manager, Nick, attempts to salvage his marriage whilst guiding his team to victory.Troubled teen, Jack, hopes to confront his estranged father, footballer Dave. There’s the club secretary, guilty of embezzling the end of season funds, a referee coming to terms with a parent’s illness, plus the unexpected arrival of professional team scouts. Emotions flare, secrets are laid-bared and relationships are left hanging in the balance as the match moves towards its volatile conclusion. It’s not always such a beautiful game. A unique and action-packed comedy from executive producer Rio Ferdinand, starring Anton Saunders (Luther, EastEnders), Leon Sua (Cuckoo, Street Fighter: Resurrection) and Waleed Akhtar (The Intent 2: The Come Up, Miss You Already, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen).

POINT AND SHOOT (dir. Marshall Curry)
Winner of the Best Documentary Award at the Tribeca Film Festival, Point and Shoot follows Matt Van Dyke, a timid 26-year-old with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, who left home in Baltimore in 2006 and set off on a self-described ‘crash course in manhood’.He bought a motorcycle and a video camera and began a multi-year, 35,000-mile motorcycle trip through Northern Africa and the Middle East.While traveling, he struck up an unlikely friendship with a Libyan hippie, and when revolution broke out in Libya, Matt joined his friend in the fight against dictator Muammar Gaddafi. With a gun in one hand and a camera in the other, Matt fought in – and filmed – the war until he was captured by Gaddafi forces and held in solitary confinement for six months. Two-time Academy Award nominated documentary filmmaker Marshall Curry tells this harrowing and sometimes humorous story of a young man’s search for political revolution and personal transformation.

THE NOTORIOUS MR BOUT (feat. Viktor Bout)
Viktor Bout was a Russian entrepreneur, a war profiteer, an aviation magnate, an arms smuggler and, strangest of all, an amateur filmmaker. Until three days prior to his 2008 arrest on charges of conspiring to kill Americans, Bout kept the camera running, documenting a life spent in the grey areas of international law. Dubbed the ‘merchant of death’ and portrayed by Nicolas Cage in Lord of War, Viktor Bout can justifiably be called the world’s most famous arms dealer. With unprecedented access to Bout’s home movies and DEA surveillance material gathered during the sting operation to bring him down, The Notorious Mr Bout is a portrait of a life much mythologized but little understood.

THE FIGHTER PILOT
When a young man discovers the person he always called grandfather is not the blood relative he believed, he embarks on a perilous journey delving into the past to unlock the truth about his real grandfather’s legacy. Reliving the darkest hours of World War II through the memories of fading veterans, he discovers that his real grandfather perished in a last-minute Kamikaze mission which devastated the United States Pacific Fleet in a plume of smoke and fire. Now he has no choice but to face a stark battle of his own to overcome the dark shadow cast by a merciless battle… Based on the best-selling novel, The Fighter Pilot is the global box-office sensation filled with stunning action, heart-wrenching emotion and the questions which lie at the very heart of war.