Thursday, January 24, 2013

Elena - Sunday 27th January 5pm


Holy Motors split our audience last Sunday with nearly as many 5 star votes as 1 star ones. Perhaps there will be less scope for disagreement with Elena on Sunday. Described by Philip French as "a sharp, bitterly comic story of crystalline clarity about the moral and spiritual corruption of present-day Russia" it promises a number of strong performances.  Philip French again: "It's a gripping, resonant tale, and Nadezhda Markina is outstanding as Elena, and far more sympathetic than perhaps she should be"

Friday, January 18, 2013

Holy Motors - Sunday 20th January 5pm

This Sunday's film is definitely a  highlight of the season; whether you will love it or hate remains to be seen!

Holy Motors  has had much written about it, in many places and is hard to describe... a car trip around Paris taking the occupant from one strange encounter to the next, where the occupant changes his persona at each stop; is he just an actor going from one job to the next? Is it a dream? Or maybe an homage to film making? The director, Leos Carax has always been an enigma, bringing us 'Les amants du Pont-neuf'  and 'Pola X'  amongst others, but this film has the most critical acclaim of all; here are just a few of the critics reviews -

'Holy Motors, fuelled by pure feeling, is a dream of a movie you want to get lost in. '
'It's the coolest and strangest movie of the year, and once it gets its druglike hooks in your brain, you'll never get them out again.' 

'Despite the millions of dollars fuelling 2012's special-effects extravaganzas, I doubt I'll experience anything as exhilarating or memorable this year. '

'Holy Motors is some kind of wonderful. '

'For all its disruptive energy, Holy Motors is also a thing of sublime beauty. '


Why not come long for the ride!

Thursday, January 10, 2013

When Pigs Have Wings - Sunday 13th January 5pm

A change of continent (and style) for Sunday as we move back east to Malta, masquerading as Gaza, for When Pigs Have Wings, directed by Sylvain Estibal. There are very few reviews for the film on the web but the Hollywood Reporter summarised When Pigs Have Wings as follows:
Estibal skewers both sides in the Arab-Israeli conflict impartially, with a keen eye for absurdities and class disparities. As a former reporter from the region currently based in Uruguay, he brings an outsider's eye to the Middle East conflict. If the why-can't-we-all-just-get-along message is simplistic, the film, shot in Malta, and occasionally rough-hewn, has its heart in the right place and is worth 90 minutes of anyone's time.


Saturday, January 05, 2013

Margaret - Sunday 6th January 5pm

As usual, we start early this Sunday; we'll be there at 4.15 to offer you a glass of wine to celebrate the New Year and to swap your Christmas stories with each other. It will also give you the chance to join the club if you haven't already done so - £7 gets you a pound off all films (INCLUDING the Festival in February!) - and give you the chance to buy a Spring Season Pass if you want one - £28 gets you in to all 13 films until Easter.

Our season starts at 5.00 with 'Margaret', an unusual starter for us in that it is from the USA, and one of those films that has 'got away'. It is a thought provoking film and has an amazing performance from its lead actor - Anna Paquin. Without giving too much away, the film shows Lisa, a spoilt 17 year old, whose thoughtless action at the start has terrible consequences. We follow her trying to come to terms with these consequences, and trying to make up for them. As Peter Bradshaw said in the Guardian 'the resulting movie is stunning: provocative and brilliant, a sprawling neurotic nightmare of urban catastrophe, with something of John Cassavetes and Tom Wolfe, and rocket-fuelled by a superbly thin-skinned performance by Anna Paquin'.

You will have noticed that it is called Margaret not Lisa; you will have to see the film to find out why...