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 The
2009/10 season
This
year's collection of 12 performances is made up of quality films
that have received critical acclaim mainly during 2008. As usual,
we have tried to get the pick of the bunch to produce a programme
that reflects the best of films from around the world.
We
have films from USA, France, Germany, Spain and the UK. Our criteria
for selecting the films have been quality and variety. On the whole,
we have selected films that you might not have had the chance to
see in mainstream cinemas locally.
All
films start at 7.45pm - Doors open normally at 7.15pm
PLEASE
NOTE: Due to the increased popularity of our films and to
ensure that members get a seat, guests will only be able to claim
their seat after 7.30pm. From 7.30 onwards it is first come, first
served.
Click
on the title below for more information.
Film
reviews
For
more film reviews, please go to the Links'
page and use any of the links there.
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Slumdog
Millionaire
Danny Boyle, UK, 2008, 121 mins
Winner of 8 Academy Awards, including Best Film, Slumdog Millionaire
is directed by Danny Boyle and tracks ten years in the life of 18
year-old Jamal Malik, cutting between the police questioning, the
TV studio and life in the slums of Mumbai. The film reveals - cleverly,
amusingly, bitterly, tragically - how Jamal picked up the bits of
information that enabled him to identify a movie star, a poet, the
face on a $100 bill, and ..... If you haven't seen it yet, be prepared
for an emotional rollercoaster. |
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I've
Loved You So Long (Il y a longtemps que je t'aime)
Philippe Claudel, France, 2008 (Subtitles), 115 mins
This powerful story of familial struggles and redemption follows a
shell-shocked Juliette (Scott-Thomas), who returns to live with her
younger sister Lea (Zylberstein) after being absent from the family
for 15 years. Scott-Thomas's formidable bilingual presence, her beauty,
her sensitive awareness of all the tiny absurdities and indignities
with which she is surrounded, coupled with a drolly lenient reticence
creates an intelligent, observant drama about dislocation, fragility
and the inner pain of unshakeable memories. |
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Man
on Wire
James Marsh, UK, 2008, 90 mins
Man On Wire won many prizes in 2008 and was in most critics' top
ten films of the year. This exhilarating film chronicles Philippe
Petit's 1974 high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of New York's
World Trade Centre. The title of the movie is taken from the police
report that led to the arrest of Petit, whose performance had lasted
for almost one hour. The film is crafted like a heist film, presenting
rare footage of the preparations for the event and still photographs
of the walk (with Paul McGill as the young Petit) and present-day
interviews with the participants.
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Orphanage
Juan Antonio Bayona, Spain, Mexico, 2008 (Subtitles), 120 mins
The film is set in the wild coastline of Spain, where Laura (Belén
Rueda) returns to the dilapidated orphanage where she grew up, accompanied
by her husband, Carlos (Fernando Cayo), and their seven-year-old adopted
son, Simón (Roger Princep). Her plan is to reopen the orphanage
as a facility for disabled children, but from the start things start
going haywire. There are strange noises. Simon talks to imaginary
friends, seems to be in touch with the past, and then disappears,
possibly abducted by a former teacher at the school ... but the less
you know of this film, the more you'll be surprised, shocked and,
in the end, satisfied. |
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Millions
Danny Boyle , UK/USA, 2004, 99 mins
This is our Christmas special. This subversive fable, from one of
the UK's most engaging filmmakers, sees director Danny Boyle (yes,
him again) transform a kiddie movie into a painfully accurate portrait
of British consumerism. Sweet but never sickly, it's the story of
Damian (Alex Etel), a seven-year-old schoolboy, who finds a sack of
stolen money. Prone to hilarious visions of saints, he's convinced
it's a gift from God. |
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Emma's
Bliss
Sven Taddicken, Germany, 2006 (Subtitles), 99 mins
Emma is a passionate but lonely young woman who eschews human company
in favour of her beloved pigs. Then Max, car-dealer and recent thief,
crashes into her life - quite literally. Emma takes him in and tends
his injuries. When she finds his stash of money, she sees a way of
clearing her debts and saving the farm, but then she finds herself
with a dilemma. A charmer of a movie from director Sven Taddicken,
stolen by a superb central performance by Jördis Triebel as the
eponymous Emma. |
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The
Secret Life of Bees
Gina Prince-Bythewood, USA, 2008 , 114 mins
In South Carolina in 1964, a 14-year-old white girl (Dakota Fanning)
runs away from her abusive dad and ends up in the home of three black
sisters: August (Queen Latifah), June (Alicia Keys) and May (Sophie
Okonedo), who make a tidy living as honey manufacturers. Racist violence
intrudes, but love and homilies bring peace in the end. Drawn from
a novel by Sue Monk Kidd. |
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The
Damned United
Tom Hooper , UK/USA, 2009, 90 mins
Leeds, 1974. Leeds United are champions of the Football League but
their highly successful manager, Don Revie, has just left to take
over the England team. He is unexpectedly replaced by young manager
Brian Clough, who has been an outspoken critic of Leeds United's style
of play. This is a fresh, intelligent film, terrifically involving
all the way through. Clough's story has been recreated as mainstream
entertainment with tremendous watchability and flair. |
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Revolutionary
Road
Sam Mendes, USA/UK, 2008, 119 mins
In 1955, Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) and April Wheeler (Kate Winslet)
move to Revolutionary Road in one of New York City's wealthy Connecticut
suburbs. April is dissatisfied with her life as a suburban housewife
and Frank despises his marketing job at Knox Business Machines, where
his now-deceased father worked for twenty years in a similar position.
A deeply felt, moving and genuinely tragic study of a marriage tearing
itself apart. |
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The
Boy In The Striped Pyjamas
Mark Herman , UK/USA, 2008, 94 mins
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas is an unforgettable and timeless story
seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of
the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship
with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling
and unexpected consequences. Mark Herman's view of the Holocaust it
through the children's eyes treads such a fine line that its fate
hangs in the balance until the very end. It is a kind of dark re-imagining
of The Secret Garden. |
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In
The Loop
Armando Iannucci, UK, 2008, 109 mins
Armando Iannucci's horribly brilliant comedy about the UK's government's
culture of spin and muddle uses characters first aired in the TV show
The Thick Of It. It is a satirical, cynical nightmare on the subject
of the run-up, or blunder-up, to the war in Iraq, complete with the
nastiest of PR attack dogs and the dodgiest of dossiers. It conjures
up a compelling backstairs political world of anxiety and incompetence,
bullying and humiliation. The acting is superb, and the writing is
relentlessly funny - vicious and delicious. And refreshingly, there
isn't a sympathetic character in sight. |
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Members'
Choice
Final
film followed by AGM
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Cinema at the Warehouse, Brewery Lane, Ilminster
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