Films in our 2007/8 Season

For our last presentation jump here. We've also added the audience reaction statistics chart ordered by film popularity for the films we've shown.

You can still see our previous year's programme with the audience reaction statistics.

Autumn 2007

The title comes from one of Edith Piaf’s greatest songs and Marion Cotillard’s performance as the ‘Little Sparrow’ is astonishingly powerful - a worthy tribute to a woman who’s unique voice enshrined strength, passion and fragility. Tragedy lurked not just in her many love affairs but also in illness and addiction. A must for all francofile.

If you thought that ‘Lantana’ was the highpoint of modern Australian cinema, prepare to be amazed by the same director’s latest complex drama. Gabriel Byrne is on a fishing expedition with friends when a girl’s body is found in the water. The decision to delay reporting the death until the trip is completed leads to tensions within the town, the aboriginal community and with Byrne’s wife played by Laura Linney. Haunting, not to say unforgettable.

In Nazi occupied Holland, a Jewish singer working for the Dutch resistance infiltrates regional Gestapo HQ. On a mission to avenge her family’s murder, she becomes involved with, then actually falls for, a sympathetic SS officer. Expect a barnstorming thriller that does not stick to the usual rules and conventions.

We go out of our way to show a good comedy since there are so few – so here is the funniest and smartest one of recent years. If you have not seen this Simpson-esque dysfunctional family en route to the Little Miss Sunshine contest, then prepare for a treat. If you have, then come and laugh again.

An aid worker is uprooted from India to fund raise back home and in the process has to confront his past. Skeletons come tumbling out of the closet in this riveting, Oscar nominated drama about the stresses and strains of family life.

Edward Norton and Naomi Watts breathe life into this satisfying slow burning romance from the pen of Somerset Maugham. Bored with London life, Kitty marries uptight scientist Walter and escapes to Shanghai where she plays away with a fellow ex-pat. As punishment, Walter hauls her to an isolated village ravaged by disease…

Adrian Wootton of Film London was ill last year when we had scheduled his talk so we are pleased that we will not miss out on this special event after all. Adrian’s expert knowledge will be brought to bear on Chandler’s life and work, his screenwriting in Hollywood and will be accompanied by lots of film and TV excerpts.

A stellar cast (Kristin Scott-Thomas, Jean Rochefort, Andre Dussollier) grace this brilliant chase movie come thriller. One man’s past is reopened after he receives an anonymous e-mail suggesting his wife, murdered 8 years ago, might still be alive. Expect relentless suspense and thrills both cerebral and visceral that has been packing them in to French cinemas.

At last, the final film in the earth/fire trilogy that we have long been waiting for gets a release in the UK. Filmed in secret in Sri Lanka after the original set was burnt down, this controversial film is set in the 40s against the background of independence struggles. A group of widows forced into poverty in the holy city of Varanasi struggle to escape and fall in love. Sumptuously shot, its outrage is tempered by its sheer humanity.

5/12/07 85 mins
Kekexili Mountain Patrol [15] Audience Reaction 85%
Chuan Lu (China) 2006 Lang: Mandarin

A Beijing journalist is determined to uncover the real story behind the disappearance of patrol volunteers and the killing of rare Tibetan antelopes by poachers. He heads out into the wilderness and gets personally involved in the struggle alongside the driven, morally flawed patrol leader. The most exciting Chinese film for years..

Daily life in Mali is the backdrop for a courtyard trial of the 1st world establishment accused of raping Africa of its resources. Touches of satire lighten the serious intent and this is a stirring corrective to western reporting of these issues – brilliant and not to be ignored.

Entertainment in spades for Christmas. This swansong broadcast of Garrison Keillor’s long running radio show is also Altman’s last film. Kevin Kline’s Chandler-esque narrator sits alongside country sisters Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin, while smutty singing cowboys deliver the best (and worst) laughs.

Spring 2008

Your audience suggestion vote winner is a scary fairytale and a moving civil war drama combined. In the real world and the fantasy underworld, our heroine Ofelia must battle against nightmarish evils to survive. A compelling and visionary project.

Not for Julie Christie, one of our greatest living actresses, the easy blockbuster option as she returns to the big screen. Based on an Alice Munro short story, this moving love story concerns Fiona’s (Christie) 50 year marriage to Grant. As she starts to lose her memory due to Alzheimer’s disease, Grant’s devotion is put to the ultimate test.

A story of forbidden love generates narrative offshoots that move backwards and forwards across time – to depict what it means to reach maturity. The film offers an authentic and tantalising glimpse of Aborigine culture against a magnificent landscape.

Branagh's fifth adaptation of Shakespeare promises to be as lively as the rest. Set in 19th century Japan, Rosalind and Orlando's courtship is played out against a backdrop of political rivalry and exile. Brian Blessed, Kevin Kline, Alfred Molina and Adrian Lester join in the fun.

6/2/08 103mins
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation Audience Reaction 84%
Cao Hamburger (Brazil) 2006 Lang: Portuguese/Yiddish

Our continued involvement in the Jewish Film Festival brings again another powerful film which deserves wider showing. When twelve-year-old Mauro’s parents need to go on the run because of their involvement in resisting the repressive 1970s Brazilian government, they drop him off at the home of his orthodox Jewish grandfather in Sao Paolo. The neighbourhood and its denizens are mostly a mystery to the lovable boy, whose own lack of Jewish upbringing is much commented upon by his grandfather’s taciturn neighbour Shlomo, who takes him in. Thus begins a strange number of months, filled with Mauro’s awakening political consciousness and immersion in the Jewish culture of Sao Paolo’s Bom Retiro district.

Set in a Sarajevo suburb, Esma's Secret is rooted in the loving yet volatile relationship between cash-strapped nightclub waitress Esma and her tomboy 12-year-old Sara, whose need for her soldier dad's death certificate leads to the titular secret being spilled. A convincing portrait of how people strive to get on with their lives in the wake of terrible conflict.

An overwhelmingly moving account of the role of North African recruits in the French Second World War campaign – which culminates in a stunning last stand in an Alsace village. A war movie for those who think they do not like war movies. Recommended!

A hugely influential film from the surrealist Bunuel, foreshadowing the likes of "A Clockwork Orange", its matter-of-fact brilliance continues to astonish. Once described as the "original Third World horror movie", it's a powerfully unsentimental and morally ambiguous portrait of juvenile delinquents in Mexico City.

How could we not show this Oscar winner and most successful foreign film of recent years? An upbeat ending is part of its appeal as we see the effects of surveillance on both a playwright and his wife and the surveillance expect working for the Stasi. A compelling and powerful picture of individuals at the mercy of the state.

Ok so it's long but the life of a remote French Carthusian monastery is utterly mesmerising. Living alone in his cell like the other brothers, the director captures the serenity, rhythms and rituals of daily life - not to mention the fun of sledging in the snow.

Summer 2008

9/4/08
Atonement [15] Audience Reaction 82%
Joe Wright (UK) 2007 Lang: Eng

Keira Knightley stars as Cecilia in a scintillating adaptation of one of Ian McEwan's best novels. On a hot summer's day in 1935, 13 year old Briony sees her sister strip off her clothes and plunge into the fountain, watched by the recently graduated Robbie, a former childhood friend. By the end of the day their lives are changed forever and Briony's action resonates from the Dunkirk evacuation to the modern day.

Melanie, an eerily self-possessed young woman, insinuates herself into the household of a married concert pianist, who herself is oblivious to the real reasons for her new employee's scrupulous attentiveness. Accompanied by a menacing classical score, The Page Turner reminds me of a Claude Chabrol thriller.

The Kite Runner is a down to earth story of good versus evil. Basic themes of loyalty and integrity resonate set against the shifting political landscape of Afghanistan which serves as backdrop. And whilst some of the vivid detail in Khalid Hosseini's best-selling novel does get lost in translation, director Marc Forster hits all the emotional high notes.

Life is good before the Soviet invasion in 1979, especially for the young Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) whose father (Homayoun Ershadi) is a wealthy merchant. Amir doesn't have many friends though, except for the servant's son Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) - a minority Sh'ia Muslim. Hassan proves a faithful ally when they're accosted by racist bullies, but in a later incident of shocking violence, Amir fails to stand by his friend. The episode haunts him for years, even after emigrating to America. It's only when the Taliban seizes power in Kabul that Amir - older and a touch wiser (Khalid Abdalla) - dares to return and lay the ghost to rest...

30/4/08 107 mins
Withnail and I [15] Audience Reaction 72%
Bruce Robinson (UK) 1987 Lang:Eng

A word of mouth hit that has become a cult classic. Richard E Grant as Withnail thinks of himself as a blue-blooded aristocrat fallen on hard times, a man who ought to be wealthy, but is actually a pauper living in a rundown London flat with a pile of stagnant washing-up. The acerbic wit of the writing plus the marvellous character acting make for hilariously funny entertainment.

Jackie is a CCTV operator monitoring Glasgow’s tower blocks, dull viewing until she recognises Clyde, an ex-con from her past. Expect plenty of surprises, sexual tension and raw realism in this universally praised Scottish nod to the Danish dogme tradition.

Film Diary

Autumn 2007
3/10/07 La Vie en Rose
10/10/07 Jindabyne
17/10/07 Black Book
24/10/07 Little Miss Sunshine
31/10/07 After the Wedding
7/11/07 The Painted Veil
14/11/07 Raymond Chandler on Film
21/11/07 Tell No One
28/11/07 Water
5/12/07 Kekexili Mountain Patrol
12/12/07 Bamako
19/12/07 A Prairie Home Companion

Spring 2008
9/1/08 Pan's Labyrinth
16/1/08 Away From Her
23/1/08 Ten Canoes
30/1/08 As You Like It
6/2/08 The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
13/2/08 Esma's Secret
20/2/08 Indigenes
27/2/08 Los Olvidados
5/3/08 The Lives of Others
12/3/08 Into Great Silence

Summer 2008
9/4/08 Atonement
16/4/08 The Page Turner
23/4/08 The Kite Runner
30/4/08 Withnail and I
7/5/08 Red Road

See you again in the 2008/9 Season!



JAP 11 May 2008