A film about... an escaped hen! Don't be put off - there is a lot more to this than meets her eye...through which the whole film is seen. As she escapes from one place to the next she "quizzically observes a world where humans treat each other like, well, animals" - Leslie Felperin, Guardian.
“An understated, remarkably moving portrayal of the hen's emotional existence.” - Miriam Balanescu, Empire
La Grazia is the latest from the great Italian director Paolo Sorrentino once again has Toni Servillo in the starring role, this time as Mariano De Santis, an imaginary Italian president in the last months of his office.
“La Grazia is a marvel. Slow, grave and perfectly realised, it's by far Sorrentino's best film for years.” - David Sexton, New Statesman
Our member's picked Pedro Almodóvar's Bitter Christmas for this season of films and as one of our favourite directors we were delighted to be able to bring it to Keswick.
"With its moving musical interludes, comic patter and outrageously chic production design, Bitter Christmas is another dazzling, late-period jewel." - David Jenkins, Little White Lies
Orphan was the Hungarian entry to the last Oscars. Andor is fighting back against the Soviet Occupation as best he can as a young teenager, helping his friend Sari hide her activist brother from the Soviet police, all the while idealising his missing father, last seen in the concentration camps.
"Director László Nemes ('Son of Saul') crafts an indelible portrait of 1950s Hungary, still reeling from Nazi terrors, antisemitism bubbling away. Newcomer Barabas is a magnetic presence as Andor, a child permanently angry at the world" - James Mottram, Radio Times.
Cactus Pears takes a gentle look at the problems faced when a 30 year-old, gay Indian man has to return to his village for his father's funeral. Facing the villagers questions on why he has not married, he finds some solace when an old crush of his from his youth comes on the scene.
"A luminous work, brimming with grace and delicacy" - Srikanth Srinivasan, Sight and Sound
Another Film Season ends after another great Film Festival. We hope you enjoyed the films; it was certainly a good season wasn't it?! One of the strongest we have had for some time, with several Oscar nominations, two of which were up for Best Film. You obviously appreciated them, with our best audiences since the pandemic, and some pretty high scoring ones too. 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' came out on top for the club...and even rated higher than any other Festival film. A great film with an horrific outcome, leaving us all in silence when it ended...
The Film Festival too was a success once again, with a new team in charge under the guidance of Festival Director Julia Vickers - We are sure you would join us in thanking Julia and all of them. The amazing 'Put Your Soul on Your Hand and Walk' came out on top with 90.91% rating; if you want to see all the scores take a look at the festival website .
So that's it for this season. Thank you for your support this year; without you there would be no Film Club! We hope you all have a great summer and will join us again for more world films in September. Watch this space for news as we start to think about films for next season.
Out season of films comes to and end this Sunday but don't worry there's still more than 30 films to choose from at Keswick Film Festival next week. NOUVELLE VAGUE takes us to Paris, 1959 where Jean-Luc Godard is angry because all his buddies from the magazine 'Cahiers du Cinéma' they work for seem to have given up criticising films in favour of making them. "The best way to criticize a film is to make one" he quips to a friend. So, he turns round, bullies a producer Georges de Beauregard into backing a low-budget movie, hires a few unknowns and sets out to make the film that will change film history forever - 'A Bout de Souffle (Breathless)'.
Ever wondered what Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, Jean-Paul Belmondo or Jean Seberg were really like? Come along to 'Nouvelle Vague' and see for yourself.
"Film history is rarely this charming." - Ian Freer, Empire
"With humour blacker than black bean noodles, the film is a masterful work of cinema which might well be Chan-wook’s masterpiece. And given this is the man who directed The Handmaiden that’s saying a lot." - John Bleasdale, Time Out
"As cinema, 'The Voice of Hind Rajab' is formally extraordinary, superbly acted, beautifully shot, and shaped and edited with rare urgency" - Leila Latif, Little White Lies.
Another Cannes prize winner for you, the Grand Prize went to Sentimental Value and the film also has 8 BAFTA and 9 Oscar nominations. The BAFTA Awards are taking place the same evening as our screening so you'll be able to find out what it won after the film.
It's a movie that sneaks up on you like great fiction, blending theme and character in a way that allows it to live in your mind after you see it, rolling around what it means to both the people in it and your own life" - Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com.
Tickets are now available to book via the Alhambra website for our Spring Programme starting on January 4th. Once again it looks like an exciting mix. Full of stars - from Daniel Day-Lewis and Sean Bean, through Brenda Blethyn, Andrea Riseborough and Brendan Fraser to Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson plus many others, brought to us by great directors such as Lynne Ramsay, Park Chan-wook and Jafar Panahi. And, of course, we have the 26th Keswick Film Festival, our finishing weekend this year, with it's usual amazing array of great films.
"Djukic’s feature debut echoes the sensitivities of Céline Sciamma’s early coming-of-age stories but with a bold, cinematic bent." - Tara Brady, Irish Times
"Matthias Glasner’s Dying might sound like an ordeal, but this rich, novelistic and mordantly funny Berlin film festival prize winner wears its themes and running time lightly.” - Wendy Ide, Observer
It seems very appropriate that the weather is so lovely at the moment; we can all go outside and enjoy it while there are no club movies to see! We hope you have enjoyed the year; we feel that it was a good one with some great films, and certainly a fantastic 25th Film Festival last month.
Many of the films went on to win BAFTAs or even Oscars and many more appeared in the BFI's best films of the year list. It is also a good sign that so many club-type films are now winning awards worldwide.
Thanks to everyone who has helped keep the show running over the year, whether you were on the committee, running front of house, running the Festival or helping on it. An especial thanks to Ian Payne for directing all the great festivals we have had in his time and to Julia Vickers for stepping forward to run the next ones! A special thanks should go the Rennie family for all their years giving the club a home, and to Jonathan and Graham for taking on the responsibility for our future. Thanks all!
So that is it from us. The emails will be back in mid summer with a list of films for next season for members to choose from, and the Sunday night shows will start again in September. If you are looking for something to see meantime, keep your eye on the Alhambra website - they will keep showing films for you every week.
Have a great summer, everyone!
“Starts out as an odd couple story but evolves into something more complex and satisfying: a film about tradition, gender roles and family tensions.” - Wendy Ide, Observer
"Writer-director Francois Ozon creates a wonderfully engaging vibe that mixes in little jolts of realism amid the generally breezy, gleefully camp thrills." - Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
The Universal Theory is set in 1962 where we join Johannes, a student, off to a conference in Switzerland with his amazingly grumpy tutor Dr Julius Strahten. They are joined by Professor Henry Blomberg, who helped the Nazis in the war.
Before you think this is a German scientific documentary, Jessica Kiang's review in Variety is entitled "A sumptuous homage to Hitchcock packaged as a Metaphysical Noir"; all is not what it seems!
"It is entirely its own exotically original thing. Catch it while it is on the big screen, where its widescreen brilliance truly flourishes." - Jonathan Romney, Financial Times (£)
This thriller-cum-political drama takes place in the Green Border - the space between Belarus and Poland where hopeful refugees wait the next stage of their journey into Europe…
"'Green Border' strikes me as the best and most important film to be released in the U.S. so far this year." - Godfrey Cheshire, RogerEbert.com