Everlasting Moments - Sunday 11th October 5pm

Philip French, whom, you've probably realised by now, is one of our most trusted critics, gives Everlasting Moments a glowing review, which will stand as our film notes. In case you don't have time to read French's review, here a few snippets:

Everlasting Moments is a true masterpiece...There are wonderful moments in this beautiful, tender,truthful film...The acting all around is of the highest order and Maria Heiskanen's magnificent performance as Maria is a portrait of human goodness and decency, utterly lacking in sentimentality, sanctimony or self-conscious martyrdom.

sleep furiously - Sunday 4th October 5pm

Coming up for your delectation this Sunday, we have sleep furiously. The title is a quotation from Noam Chomsky, who in support of his linguistic theories offered "Colourless green ideas sleep furiously" as an example of a sentence that is nonsensical even though the grammar is perfectly correct. Why director Gideon Koppel chooses it is not so clear! To convince you that you really ought to come and see this film, you should the whole of the excellent review from Sight and Sound but you probably haven't got time to do that, so here is the the beginning and the end to whet your appetite:

'As an honest and moving portrait of a year in the life of a small rural community in mid Wales, Gideon Koppel's charming and naturalistic film beats its inspiration Dylan Thomas hands down, says John Banville.'

'Now more than ever we need films such as this: grave, measured, subtly comic and beautifully wrought, free of polemic and yet offering a new way of seeing that is as old as Arcady. sleep furiously is, simply, a masterpiece.'

O'Horten - Sunday 27th September 5PM

The charming eccentricity of O'Horten might come as a relief to those who found Synecdoche, New York a little too opaque to be enjoyable. It scores well (89%) on the Rotten Tomatoes website, and as well as the two critics' tributes in the brochure, you have ViewLondon, typically upbeat, saying: 'Enjoyable Norwegian comedy-drama with gorgeous photography, a pleasingly quirky script and a great performance from Bard Owe.'

Synedoche, New York

Our next screening is Synedoche, New York, a film which has had a mixed reception, confused and pretentious for some critics and a masterpiece for others. Come along on Sunday and make up your own mind...

Last weekend the turnout for Home was 138 and the scores were: 1 - 0; 2 - 5; 3 - 26; 4 - 37; 5 - 18; (86 votes) giving an overall rating of 69.8%, you can read John's review here.

Autumn Opening

Soon, the moment you've all been waiting for! Yes, it's Sunday afternoon: wine/juice/entertainment at 4.15 and the film at 5. We hope you've all had an enjoyable summer - well, June, at least - and that you're fit and rarin' to go on the film front.

Our opening film is Home, as you doubtless know by now, and here's the beginning of Edinburgh Filmhouse's description: 'Described by director Ursula Meier as "a road movie in reverse", Home is an assured and unsettling drama in the Michael Haneke mould. Marthe (Isabelle Huppert) and Michel (Olivier Gourmet) lead a happily isolated life with their kids on the edge of an abandoned motorway. Relishing their distance from the rest of society, the clan stage makeshift hockey matches, sunbathe in deckchairs near the road, and hold picnics in their extended backyard. However, when the motorway is reopened, it's only a matter of time before their secluded idyll is disrupted...' The film has won awards on the cinematography and acting fronts (almost inevitable, with Agnès Godard and Isabelle Huppert involved) and there are some nice tributes to first-time director Ursula Meier. The Daily Telegraph critic said: 'Sometimes eerie, at other times playful and witty, it explores themes of modernity and primitivism without ever being heavy-handed. And as a portrait of a family under siege, it's as unsettling as it is sensual.'

Don't forget you can renew your membership during the week at the Alhambra or the Necessary Angel and if you can do so, it would be greatly appreciated and help keep things moving smoothly on Sunday.