Merry Christmas From The Club

Our season ended on a high note with the largest audience of the season - 109 - watching 'Nobody Needs to Know', a sweet love story set on the beautiful Hebridean Island of Lewis. With your help we can keep these numbers growing; whether you have been a regular or if you haven't been for a while, do come along and see our Spring Season films...and bring your friends! 

We are still a friendly club, always pleased to see you, and our programme has some great looking films as always, from award winners such as 'Anatomy of a Fall', to future winners (is 'Poor Things' going to do as well at the Oscars as they say?); from the documentary '20 days in Mariupol' to the Spanish drama '20,000 Species of Bees'.

We start back on 7 January with 'Fallen Leaves' from the always dependable Finish director Aki Kaurismaki. We hope to see you there! Meantime, have a very merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

See you in 2024!

Nobody Has To Know - Sunday 17th December 5pm

We finish this season with an unusual love story, both in characters and place, whilst the twists and turns will keep you guessing along the way. Set in the beautiful but barren Outer Hebrides, with the lovers in their autumn years, will it all turn out for good… or will it go sour?

"This wistful, island-set melodrama has strong performances and the sly hypnotic power of a high-end meditation app." - Kevin Maher, The Times

Paris Memories - Sunday 10th December 5pm

Another Members' Choice for our penultimate film of 2023. Paris Memories (Revoir Paris) is inspired by a real experience of the Bataclan attack in Paris, Alice Winocour (who co-wrote the magnificent 'Mustang' we showed here in 2016), places Mia, by a huge mis chance, in a restaurant which is attacked by a terrorist gunman. Mia "finds herself completely broken by the experience…" - Wendy Ide, Observer. We see the whole event through Mia's eyes, crouched on the floor with just the gunmen's feet in view; the tension this creates sets the scene for the whole film, but this film is not really about the attack, who did it or why, it is about the effect on a survivor, Mia. Wendy Ide goes on to say "Three months after the event, she starts the process of piecing together her shattered memories of the attack, even as she comes to realise that some elements of her life are beyond repair".

"It’s a sensitive, careful film with real emotional intelligence, but no less gripping for swerving dramatic fireworks in favour of quieter, more observational moments." -  Philip De Semlyen, Time Out

Brother - Sunday 3rd December 5pm

In Brother we meet two brothers and their mothers are immigrants to Toronto in the 1970s. Francis has to protect his younger brother Michael, whilst teaching him to become a man in the gang community they live in. "The result is a stunning, tender and compelling story of brotherly love, family and friendship that isn't afraid to challenge outdated notions of masculinity while offering us a searing portrait of community oppression and racism. Brother is a hauntingly beautiful cinematic adaptation." Neil Baker, Cinerama Film.

“No feeling in “Brother” goes unfelt; every element of its filmmaking taps into the heart.” - Peyton Robinson, Rogerebert.com

Passages - Sunday 26th November 5pm

The outstanding Franz Rogowski stars alongside Adèle Excharopoulos and Ben Whishaw in the latest film from Ira Sachs. "A love triangle unfolds in Passages, a sexy, European drama. Most viewers…will be entranced by this wicked study of a man who uses people in his life like the actors on his set, ordering them around until he gets what he needs from them" - Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com.

“Rogowski, Whishaw and Exarchopoulos are all black-belt performers and they bring this film to vivid and sensual life." - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“A briskly-moving, turbulent, emphatically sexy, deliberately exasperating love triangle.” - Glenn Kenny, Rogerebert.com

Pretty Red Dress - Sunday 12th November 6pm

 

A later start this week to make room for The Royal Ballet's Don Quixote so join us at 6pm for PRETTY RED DRESS. A film starring an X-Factor winner (Alexandra Burke) singing Tina Turner songs may not sound like our usual type of film but this got great reviews earlier in the year.

"This is a terrific film. It's original, has heft, is magnificently performed, and it blew me away" - Deborah Ross, The Spectator.

"Unafraid to face up to complex personal issues while still maintaining its solidly mainstream appeal." Mark Kermode - Observer

"Examines its subject matter with great heart and passion." - David Jenkins, Little White Lies

Small, Slow But Steady - Sunday 5th November 5pm

Set in a near-deserted, Covid Tokyo, Small, Slow But Steady is a beautiful study of the small, slow but steady young woman Keiko who has been deaf since birth. She takes to boxing as a way to break out of her isolated world, but then has to face up to her loss of the desire to win and the closure of her gym, run by her major supporter.

"Anyone committed to the more contemplative, emotionally refined end of the current Japanese art cinema spectrum will find this against-the-grain study genuinely alluring." - Jonathan Romney, Screen International

 

Master Gardener - Sunday 29th October 5pm

 

In Master Gardener Joel Edgerton plays the gardener in Sigourney Weaver's estate, but we soon realise he has not always been a gardener.

"The less you know about Master Gardener going in, the better: tracing the trail of these characters’ secrets is part of the thrill. But it’s compelling for other reasons too." - Stephanie Zacharek. TIME Magazine

La Syndicaliste - Sunday 22nd October 5pm

La Syndicaliste is a "French drama about a blood-boiling real-life case of injustice is the story of whistleblower and rape survivor Maureen Kearney, who for four years lived with a criminal record: falsely convicted of wasting police time, accused of inventing her rape" - Cath Clarke, Guardian.

“Isabelle Huppert carries it along with a performance every bit as gripping as you’d expect.” -  Cath Clarke, Guardian

Past Lives - Sunday 15th October 5pm

Many are already claiming Past Lives to be one of the best films of the year so it's not one to miss. A love story across two decades and two continents, which might make you cry with joy or sadness...Na Young leaves Korea (and her friend Hae Sung) with her parents as a young girl, bound for Canada. She rekindles the relationship on Skype, 12 years later, now called Nora, but life gets in the way. Another 12 years go by, she is living in New York and married to Arthur when Hae Sung comes to visit...will they reconnect, or will life and Arthur win out?

"A masterclass in slow, simmering storytelling. It will stay with you, maybe even into your next life."  - Nick De Semlyen, Empire Magazine

Scrapper - Sunday 8th October 5pm

"Winner of the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize, 'Scrapper', directed by Charlotte Regan, is a delightfully hilarious film from the UK. After her mom dies, Georgie, 12, lives alone in her flat, supporting herself by stealing bikes with her friend Ali. Everything seems to be going well until a young man shows up who claims to be her estranged father, Jason. Georgie is too grown up, Jason too immature, and she's suspicious about why he has appeared after being a deadbeat dad all these years. Scrapper is just one of those sweet, funny films that takes pleasure in the wonder of youth, with really tight, honest writing that is unexpected and fun" - Josh Flanders, Chicago Reader.

Afire - Sunday 1st October 5pm

Another Members' Choice this week with AFIRE. Leon (Thomas Schubert) goes away to his friend Leon's parents' house for some peace and quiet to write his book. When they arrive, they find the house is not empty; Leon's Mum forgot to tell him that Nadja was already staying there... and the forest fire is getting closer and closer...

"Afire is an entertainment with spark and philosophical insight" - Jonathan Romney. Financial Times

The Night Of The 12th - Sunday 24th September 5pm

 

The Night Of The 12th is an edge-of-the-seat police drama for you here, with a difference; it is based on a real case...and one that was not solved. A young woman is murdered walking home one night. The police begin to investigate but can't find the killer, not because there are no suspects, but because there are so many; Clara was a party animal who liked 'bad boys'. The police are convinced it was an ex-boyfriend...but which one?

“A brutally engrossing drama.” - Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“The film never stops sending chills up your spine.” - Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture

L’immensità - Sunday 17th September 5pm

 

Sometimes life just seems too big to cope with, and L’immensità  follows a family where that is all too true. Centred on the mother, Clara (Penelope Cruz) who is cracking up trying to keep here family together; trying to ignore her husband's extra marital shenanigans and trying to understand her eldest daughter, Adriana, who - if she only knew it back in 1970 Rome where this is set - is suffering from gender dysphoria and insists on being called Andrea.

"The force of Cruz’s charisma — she’s like a cross between Sophia Loren and a solar flare — is more than enough to justify spending time with the family." - Wendy Ide, Screen International

And Then Come The Nightjars - Sunday 10th September 5pm

 

Our Autumn programme starts this Sunday 10th with And Then Comes The Nightjars which will be introduced by the director Paul Robinson (who also directed the stage version of The 39 Steps which has just finished it's run at the Theatre By The Lake). The film should have lots of local interest as a heart-warming story of friendship and survival set against the backdrop of the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak. The film started life as a stage play, written by Bea Roberts, which itself won many awards. The film has been made by the same people - director Paul Robinson, writer Bea Roberts and main actors, David Fielder and Nigel Hastings - so you can see it is a labour of love.

The film starts at 5pm but we hope you can join us from 4:30pm for free drinks and a chance to chat and get back into the Film Club vibe. 

Autumn Programme

We get our Autumn Programme off with a bang on September 10th with ‘And then Come the Nightjars’, based on the foot and mouth outbreak in 2001, which should raise a lot of local memories, especially as the Director is coming for a Q&A too. We have a couple of big stars for you - Penelope Cruz in ‘L’immensità’ and Isabelle Huppert in ‘La Syndicaliste’, not to mention Sigourney Weaver in ‘Master Gardener’ or Ben Whishaw in ‘Passages’. 

We always try to go around the world; this season is not quite as all-encompassing as some years, but we do manage Italy, France, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Spain and Canada outside the UK and USA. Talking of Germany, we were pleased you voted for ‘Afire’, as German films are a pretty rare thing for us. We have four films from the UK this year, which include ‘Scrapper’ - a classic Keswick film - and ‘Pretty Red Dress’ - with Tina Turner music a-plenty from Alexandra Burke and an interesting looking plot…‘Past Lives’ looks like a potential ‘Film Of the Season’ to me, with a cross-decades, cross-continents love story from South Korea and the USA. ‘Small, Slow but Steady’ might be the most unusual little film, about a deaf girl who takes up boxing to escape her isolation. Recommendation: Try to avoid reading reviews of ‘Master Gardener’ to get the best out of it… A rare 18-rated film, ‘Passages’ comes with great acting reviews...and it is 18 for a reason! ‘Brother’ looks good to us, which ‘unpacks Black grief in a way we haven’t seen often’, and we finish back in the UK with ‘Nobody Needs to Know’, set in the wild beauty of the Hebrides. Hopefully a film for all tastes here; we hope you enjoy all the ones you get to see

Hit The Road - Sunday 26th March 5pm

Our final film of the season is HIT THE ROAD, 'Best Film' winner at the London Film Festival and made 28 in the BFI top 50 for last year.

A family is making a tense, hot, uncomfortable road trip in a borrowed car through remote north-western Iran, heading apparently for the Turkey/Azerbaijan border. The elder son is at the wheel, a quiet young guy who says little but often seems in the grip of an intense, suppressed emotion. Pantea Panahiha is excellent as his mum, sitting in the front passenger seat, bantering drily with her husband in the back: a shambling, grumpy bear of a man with a broken leg in a plaster cast and a consistent need to smoke. Next to him is a wacky 8-year-old boy who gives a glorious performance...

 Great child acting is rare: so is great adult acting, and so is great directing of children and adults. But they all come together in this lovely, beautifully composed debut feature drenched in a subtle but urgent political meaning" – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian.

Saint Omer - Sunday 12th March 5:00 PM

A young woman attends the trial of another woman as research for her own project, but gradually comes unstuck as her own emotional chords are struck. "Documentarian Alice Diop's narrative debut 'Saint Omer' is a visually arresting courtroom set drama that explores the similarities (and distinct differences) between two young women of Senegalese descent living in France." -Marya E Gates, RogerEbert.com.

"The standard for ‘Best of 2023’ lists has already been set." - David Jenkins, Little White Lies

Holy Spider - Sunday 5th March 5pm

 

Holy Spider is a crime thriller, based on a real serial killer in the early 2000s who targeted female sex workers in Mashad, but the reason we thought we should show it is that is portrays how hard it is for women in Iran. With the recent murder of Mahsa Amini, and the resulting women-led protests, this becomes doubly relevant. This may be a hard-watch in places, but should give us a lot to discuss. It is also the Danish entry for the Oscars and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes, where Zar Amir-Ebrahimi won best actress.

Festival Review

With a choice of 25 films and the best shorts in our Osprey Competition, there was really something for everybody last weekend. Where to begin? 

I guess the highlight was having the director Hassan Nazer to introduce his film ‘Winners’, the Iranian comedy which is the UK entry for the Best International Film at the Oscars. Always good to have guests, this was a real coup for our David Miller, our programmer.

I cannot hope to review all the films, so I will start with the most successful; ‘Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom’ was the most popular film at the festival: 181 people watched it at Rheged and 129 of them gave it 5 stars! With an overall score of 94%, this moving, beautiful story from Bhutan’s most remote school as a city boy is won over to love the village was both easy to watch AND it was from Bhutan – our first from there.

‘Return to Dust’ was very different, but almost as popular (89%). A middle-aged couple in a remote village in China are forced into an arranged marriage but, surprisingly to all those around them, the marriage is successful until she falls ill and dies. Watching them making bricks out of mud and their total dependence on their donkey was truly a story from another world.

Talking of donkeys, I must mention another Oscar nominee from Poland – ‘EO’. Not quite as popular with our audiences (70%), but fascinating (to me!): we watched a donkey’s world fall apart as he wanders away from the circus, from kindness to cruelty. A definite ‘animal-rights’ movie told from the donkey’s eye-view.

Our final film was by a director we love – Hirokazu Koreeda. From Japan, his latest film ‘Broker’ was filmed in South Korea. He likes to make up ‘families’ from a group of people, in this case a woman who has deserted her baby but gone back for it, two men who are trying to find a buyer for the baby and a small orphan boy who tags along for the ride. A clever, sometimes funny, sometimes sad story links the family together and we go along as they meet potential buyers… and much more. Another big hit (80%) with the audience.

I really enjoyed ‘Joyland’ (78%) which was a film full of surprises from Pakistan. The first Pakistani film to show at Cannes Festival, which featured a family dominated by a patriarch, but breaking all traditions with a house husband who gets a job with a trans dance group and falls in love with the group’s trans leader. 

But an Eastern world festival this was not. There were films from America, Europe and UK as well, including an action-packed, petrol-head motorbike gang movie from France – ‘Rodeo’. 

A great weekend: our thanks go to all who helped! See you all next year… and this Sunday at the Alhambra for ‘Holy Spider’, the Danish Oscar hopeful. 

Vaughan Ames