Films in our 2008/9 Season

Autumn 2008
1 October The Counterfeiters Audience Reaction 89%
8 October Blame it on Fidel Audience Reaction 81%
15 October Happy-Go-Lucky Audience Reaction 75%
22 October Persepolis Audience Reaction 87%
29 October The Band's Visit Audience Reaction 78%
5 November Once Audience Reaction 78%
12 November The Edge of Heaven Audience Reaction 84%
19 November Seachd Audience Reaction 83%
26 November Son of Rambow Audience Reaction 79%
3 December The Guernica Children Audience Reaction 91%
10 December El Violin Audience Reaction 80%
17 December Bienvenue Chez les Ch'tis Audience Reaction 91%

Spring 2009
7 January The Orphanage Audience Reaction 72%
14 January El Bano del Papa Audience Reaction 77%
21 January The Banishment Audience Reaction 80%
28 January Ballon Rouge Flight of the Red Balloon Audience Reaction 45%
4 February Jewish Film Festival - Strangers Audience Reaction 79%
11 February The Visitor Audience Reaction 88%
18 February The Boss of It All Audience Reaction 65%
25 February The Conformist Audience Reaction 72%
4 March Silent Light Audience Reaction 66%
11 March Four Minutes Audience Reaction 91%
18 March Earth Audience Reaction 87%

Summer 2009
22 April Couscous Audience Reaction 71%
29 April Badlands Audience Reaction 79%
6 May Slumdog Millionaire Audience Reaction 90%
13 May True North Audience Reaction 82%

The full audience reaction charts for the year are available.

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

Autumn 2008

Fight for what you believe in and face certain death — or co-operate with the enemy to save your own skin...such is the dilemma at the heart of this compelling Oscar winning drama about concentration camp Jews. They are spared the gas chamber in exchange for printing fake money for the Nazis. A rival to last year's 'The Lives of Others' for best recent German film?

The director, daughter of acclaimed political film maker Costa Gavras, side-steps the cliches of 70s radicalism in her debut film by focusing through the eyes of a 9 year old girl, Anna. She takes a dim view of her parents radical chic—they decide to become communists—so when bearded activists appear in the flat she digs her conservative heels in. A coming-of-age tale that integrates political tumult into its personal concerns and one in which Nina Kervel is quite outstanding.

An unexpectedly charming film from the master of improvisation, Mike Leigh. Starring Sally Hawkins as a quirky, chirpy primary school teacher, her character, Poppy, delights in teasing her new driving instructor and living life to the full. It's very funny, worlds away from the sombre 'Vera Drake' and having much more in common with the human sympathy of 'Secrets and Lies'.

How could we not show this unusual film—an animation based on Marjane Satrapi's graphic novels of her early life in Iran. Growing up in a communist family, she is then sorely affected by the conservative, religious nature of the revolution and seeks life, love and studies abroad. A deeply personal film that touches on controversial issues.

The story of an Egyptian-police marching band stranded in a small Israeli town, this gentle comedy has a few sharp points to make about Jewish-Arab relations. Most of the laughs spring from good old-fashioned miscommunication and embarrassment. Unable to contact their embassy, the band are forced to seek shelter with the bemused locals, and must endure a long night of confusion, social gaffes and unrequited lust.

The 'audience choice' you voted for is an absolute delight. A busker and an immigrant pass an eventful week in Dublin, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their 'love' story. Heart warming stuff and the music is not bad either.

The power of co-incidence is dramatically explored from the outset as Turkish prostitute Yeter meets elderly client Ali. As we watch the unfolding of tragic events, and later the consequences for both Ali's son and Yeter's daughter, tension and the sense of unavoidable destiny grows. However, there is also a feeling of hope as characters show strangers kindness, with the comforting sense that fate will eventually bring people together.

When a young man, Angus, visits his dying Grandfather in hospital he cannot hold back his boyhood quest for the truth—the truth behind the death of his parents and the truth behind his Grandfather's ancient, incredible, fearful stories. Perhaps the most beautiful portrayal of Scotland yet on celluloid, it blends magic, realism, family drama and the finest gaelic singing you are likely to hear. The Director, Simon Miller, will be present to talk about the film and answer questions.

It seems a bit soon to get nostalgic about the 80s but this film manages it. The enthusiasm of shy, ten-year-old Will is hilarious and infectious as, recruited by school outcast Lee, he escapes the confines of a strict religious upbringing by re-enacting the macho exploits of Sly Stallone in the English countryside. That rare thing, an intelligent comedy and a film about children for adults of all ages. Enjoy.

3 /12/08
The Guernica Children plus Q and A
Steve Bowles (UK) 2008 Lang: Eng

In 1937, 4000 Basque children were evacuated to Southampton in the wake of the bombing of Guernica during Spain's bloody civil war. With no help from the government, local people organized accommodation, food and clothes for the refugees. This dramatic documentary won a Royal Television Society award but this will be the first UK showing of the up-dated version covering last year's 70th anniversary commemoration. The Director and some of the (then) children involved will be present to talk about the making of the film.

In mid 70s Mexico, while his fellow villagers hide out in the mountains preparing a revolt against military abuses, Don Plutarco rides into the occupied territory on a donkey, and gradually charms suspicious army officials with his violin playing. A man of few words but possessing a grizzled, steely nerve, Plutarco puts his life on the line in an attempt to help those he loves. Will keep you gripped to the final devastating reel.

The French film which broke all records at the box office is a charming, light comedy. A southern postal worker hoping for a transfer to the Côte d'Azur ends up in the dreaded north instead—but discovers he loves it. Will we get all the wordplay and cultural references? Who cares—we have wine and mince pies afterwards.

Spring 2009

A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, where she opens an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend. Seeing is not believing, it's the other way round, declares a medium. One of the most beautiful and moving horror movies of recent times.

The Pope's visit to South America sparks off frenzy in a small village. While most set about chorizo-making, baking, blowing up balloons etc, Beto hits on the best idea yet—a public toilet outside his house. Never mind that he has to smuggle first a door, then a toilet bowl on his bike from over the border, he's soon training up his wife and daughter to welcome the customers and dish out measured amounts of paper and to make sure no one lingers too long. Comedy and sadness mingle in a world of poverty and of Church authority.

A man moves his wife and two young children from the city to his father's old farm in the country where he expects better prospects for work. While in the country his wife reveals something that threatens to tear the family apart. In the tradition of Tarkovsky, the film is brilliantly photographed
and paced.

Juliette Binoche is a fraught single parent forced to take a Taiwanese babysitter to look after her son Simon. The young pair start to share an imaginary world and a strange red balloon follows them round Paris, even into the Musée d'Orsay. An unmissable opportunity to see this new film coupled with the original 'Le Ballon Rouge', that timeless vision of childhood wonder and delight.

Our continued involvement in the Jewish Film Festival will bring again another powerful film which deserves wider showing. This one is not on general release in the UK...

We’ve all locked eyes with an attractive stranger on the underground, but most of us haven’t accidentally picked up their bag. That’s how Palestinian Rana (Lubna Azabal whom we saw in 'Paradise Now') and Israeli Eyal (Liron Levo) meet by chance in Berlin. Eyal promised an ex-girlfriend he’d be there for the 2006 football World Cup, but finds his calls unanswered; Rana is running from something. Two orphans in a strange city, the pair swap bags and decide to look for somewhere to stay. A holiday romance ensues despite the fact he’s from a kibbutz and she’s from Ramallah.

But Rana has unfinished business back in Paris, and when Eyal follows her their innocent love affair gets a lot more complicated. Will they realise that all they really need to have in common (besides their taste in rucksacks) is each other? Set against the backdrop of the 2006 Lebanon War, Strangers is a beautifully acted,down-to-earth love story with two great leads in the free-spirited Azabal and the handsome Levo, who’s sure to inspire some swooning in the aisles.

"It's the acting and the nearly faultless script that make "Strangers" a winner. The two principal actors imbue their characters with an unlikely sense of fatalism and hope. The latter becomes contagious." John Anderson: Sundance Film Festival Review

A college professor travels to New York City to attend a conference and finds a young couple—illegal immigrants to boot—living in his apartment. However, they turn out to be perfectly charming. Walter lets them stay and gets involved in their lives... The acting is memorable—it would be a great injustice if Richard Jenkins did not get an Oscar nomination for his role as professor..

A comedy—yes, a comedy—from the erstwhile dogme master Lars Von Trier. An IT company hires an actor to pretend to be the company's president in order to sell the business. One of his employees is convinced he's gay, another thinks he has offered her his hand in marriage, while a third suffering from "rural depression" has to be restrained from thumping him whenever they meet. Things get even more complicated when the lawyer for the firm's potential new owner turns out to be his ex-wife. Witty and subversive stuff.

Jean-Louis Trintignant, desperate to fit in with the prevailing mood of fascism sweeping 1930s Italy, joins a paramilitary group. He's assigned to assassinate a subversive professor who taught him at college. Combining the execution order with his honeymoon, he takes his new wife to liberal Paris but finds himself haunted by indecision as he falls for the professor's irresistible bohemian wife. A potent mix of sex, psychology, politics, intellectual complexity and visual beauty, 'The Conformist' is one of the truly great films of the 1970s—not to be missed.

In a rural, religious community of Mennonites, a married man falls in love with another woman against the laws of God and his people. This Cannes winner packs a slow burning punch. It's a deeply considered, formally accomplished, beautiful-looking and unexpectedly gripping film from a director making a giant leap into the first rank of world cinema with his sublime visual ecstasy.

An elderly, strict piano teacher has been teaching classical piano to inmates at a prison for years. She's reluctant to take on sulky new arrival Jenny but changes her mind when she hears the girl play. However, the young prodigy has serious issues stemming from an abusive childhood, and keeps sabotaging chances for redemption. Hannah Herzsprung tears up the screen with a riveting performance. If you liked last year 'The Page Turner' then try this.

18/3/09 96 mins
Earth [PG]
Alistair Fothergill & Mark Linfield (UK) 2007 Lang: Eng

Patrick Stewart narrates a feature-length version of the documentary series "Planet Earth", following the migration paths of four animal families. A rare chance to watch it on the big screen which will bring a whole new dimension to the subject. Chosen following the fervent recommendation by one of our members.

Summer 2009

22/4/09 151 mins
Couscous [15]
Abdel Kechiche (France) 2007 Lang: Fr

Slimane is a 60-year-old man with a face incised by age and disappointment, confronted with a future in which his shipyard income and self-respect will be slowly whittled away. He opts instead for voluntary redundancy and plans to use his payoff to open a fish couscous restaurant on board a specially converted boat. Slowly but surely, he mobilises a network of extended immigrant Arab family and friends (including his ex-wife) to help realise his dream.

One of the most striking cinematic debuts of all time starts in a sleepy South Dakota town in the late 1950s, where Kit (Martin Sheen), a 25-year-old garbage collector, meets Holly (Sissy Spacek), a bored high-school student ten years his junior. Struck by Kit's resemblance to James Dean, Holly not only defies her father (Warren Oates) by starting a relationship with him, but stands by as Kit subsequently shoots her father. What ensues is a powerful and disturbing tale of young lovers on the run.

Not much introduction needed for this one - the recent multi Oscar winning success that you voted for to fill our summer gap slot. Just in case you have just returned from the Arctic.. A Mumbai teen who grew up in the slums, becomes a contestant on the Indian version of "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?". He is arrested under suspicion of cheating, and while being interrogated, events from his life history are shown which explain why he knows the answers... One recent rave on the internet movie database says, 'A stunning achievement: The best film of the year and one of the most exhilarating film-going experiences...This is Boyle's masterpiece - a stunningly original piece of film-making..'

13/5/09 96 mins
True North [15]
Steve Hudson (Ger/Ire/UK) 2007 Lang: Eng

The skipper of a Scottish trawler has worked for more than thirty-two years to buy his fishing vessel but is bankrupt and close to losing his ship to the bank. While in the port of Ostend, his son and first mate, Sean, accepts a lot of money to smuggle Chinese illegal immigrants to Scotland to keep the trawler with his father. A deeply moving morality tale.

See you again in the 2009/2010 Season!



JAP 15 May 2009