Saturday 21 November 2009

Some films we have shown


Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Mel Stuart, 1971) – The original psychedelic, sugar coated confection with Gene Wilder as the king of candy.

Nine Queens (Fabien Bielinsky, 2000) – Argentinian conman thriller with more twists than a bag of pretzels and set against national economic meltdown.

The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980) – Classic chiller with Jack Nicholson losing it in a snowbound hotel while wife Shelley Duvall ratchets up the hysteria factor.

Adaptation (Spike Jonze, 2002) – Screenwriter Nicholas cage tries to adapt a book about orchids while being tormented by his less talented brother (also played by Cage).  Unclassifiable strangeness from the pen of Charlie Kaufman.

Together (Lukas Moodysson, 2000) – Warm, funny, life-affirming portrait of the shifting relationships in a Swedish commune in the mid 1970s.

The Sweet Smell of Success (Alexander McKendrick, 1957) –Searing examination of media hypocrisy and gossip column sleaze set in a noirish, neon soaked New York.  Burt Lancaster is coolly evil, Tony Curtis cynically ambitious and Elmer Bernstein provides the perfect Jazz soundtrack.

Read My Lips ( Jacques Audiard, 2001) – Classy French thriller with ex-con Vincent Cassell looking for information on a big money mob deal with the aid of Emanuelle Devos’s  lip reading  skills.

Galaxy Quest (Dean Parisot, 1999) – The stars of a cult TV Sci-fi series are beamed up to solve a real alien crisis in this comic take on trekkie culture.

My Darling Clementine (John Ford, 1946) – Pure cinematic delight from beginning to end. A perfect balance of drama, sentiment, action and romance with a matchless cast and stunning cinematography.  The story of Earp, Holliday and the OK corral ‘aint never been better told.

Touch of Evil (Orson Welles, 1958) – Welles uses all the tricks in the book to turn B-movie fodder into a classic noir masterpiece. Human fallibility and corruption are the themes emerging from the dark shadows of a seedy Tex-Mex border town.

The Last Seduction (John Dahl, 1993) – Femme fatale Linda Fiorentino gets her claws into provincial hick Peter Berg and shows just how ruthless and manipulative the gentler sex can be. 

The Edukators (Hans Weingartner, 2004)- A group of young situationist pranksters turn kidnappers and realize they have taken on more they can handle. An intelligent and witty study of friendship, idealism and political activism.


The Innocents (Jack Clayton, 1961) – Ice-cold psychological chiller with a sustained sense of unseen but pervasive malevolence.    Subtle, dream-like and utterly gripping.

The Virgin Suicides (Sofia Coppola, 1999) –  A group of boys try to piece together the doomed lives of the five sisters they once lusted after. A haunting evocation of stifling family life in 70s suburbia aided by a hypnotic soundtrack from Air.

Devil in a Blue Dress ( Carl Franklin, 1995) – Chandleresque noir told from a black perspective in 40s LA.  Denzel Washington’s private eye investigates the racism, corruption and lies behind the mayoral race with the help of psycho sidekick, Don Cheadle.

Yellow Sky ( William Wellman, 1948) – Strange, beautifully shot western based in part on The Tempest. Gregory Peck leads his gang of bankrobbers into a ghost town and is beguiled by a lone prospector’s tomboy daughter.

Insomnia (Christopher Nolan, 2002) – Al Pacino tries to keep his eyes open long enough to catch a murderer in a small Alaskan town while under investigation by internal affairs.  A gripping and tense thriller.

Carmen Jones (Otto Preminger, 1954) – Bizet goes jazz in this re-setting of the opera in the American South with an all black cast. Filmed in sumptuous technicolour with Harry Belafonte and Dorothy Dandridge as the leads.

Y Tu Mama Tambien (Alfonso Cuaron, 2001) – Coming of age meets road trip movie as two teenage boys get involved with an older woman on a journey to the perfect beach. Macho jokiness and uninhibited sex make way for deeper human emotions as the trio reach their destination.

Love is the Devil (John Maybury, 1998) – Brilliant dissection of the relationship between Bacon and his lover, small-time crook George Dyer. Set against the sleazy, bitchy, booze ridden world of bohemian Soho and brought to life through some vivid Bacon inspired imagery and an incredible central performance from Derek Jacobi.

Something Wild (Jonathan Demme, 1986) – Yuppie nightmare comedy that mixes screwball and noir into a hugely enjoyable cocktail of lunacy, booze and bondage sex. All this and a great soundtrack too.

Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1981) – Fassbinder transplants The Blue Angel to post war Germany and exposes the civic and moral corruption at the heart of the country’s economic miracle.
Lit in garish pinks and yellows the film is both politically provocative and knowingly melodramatic.