Search Results

Season 2007/08

18 films shown in 2007/08, ordered by overall ratings.

Das Leben der Anderen [The Lives of Others]

08 Nov 2007 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Germany - 2006 - Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck - 138 mins

Summary: In pre-glasnost East Berlin, a loyal Stasi officer is selected to spy on a successful playwright and his wife who is the object of the Minister of Culture’s lust. But as he is gradually drawn into their lives, he comes to question the ethics of his work. Superb acting and film noir camera work create an atmosphere of doubt, suspicion and fear.

Ratings: A: 88 | B: 29 | C: 3 | D: 2 | E: 0 | Overall: 91.6

Little Miss Sunshine

17 Jan 2008 - 8pm - Plaza

USA - 2006 - Jonathan Dayton, Valerie Faris - 102 mins

Summary: This Oscar-nominated film follows three generations of a classically dysfunctional family as they travel from New Mexico to a beauty pageant in California. Along the way they face endless problems, but the awareness of the tragic is undercut with a bracing and healing humour which results in a refreshingly funny film

Ratings: A: 83 | B: 31 | C: 5 | D: 0 | E: 0 | Overall: 91.4

After the Wedding

22 Nov 2007 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Denmark - 2006 - Suzanne Bier - 124 mins

Summary: A Danish businessman offers a charity worker a large donation to fund his struggling orphanage in India, on condition that he takes part in his daughter’s wedding. The event leads to unexpected revelations, the ramifications of which raise heart-breaking dilemmas in this intense and beautifully acted melodrama

Ratings: A: 71 | B: 37 | C: 4 | D: 3 | E: 0 | Overall: 88.3

The Painted Veil

06 Sep 2007 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

UK/USA - 2006 - John Curran - 125 mins

Summary: The season opens with a powerful melodrama based on a novel by Somerset Maugham. In this captivating love story set against the beautiful backdrop of 1920’s China a young English couple face a crumbling marriage amid the hardships of a cholera epidemic.

Ratings: A: 67 | B: 46 | C: 9 | D: 0 | E: 1 | Overall: 86.2

Zwartboek [Black Book]

10 Jan 2008 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Holland - 2006 - Paul Verhoeven - 145 mins

Summary: Based on true events, this gripping drama of subterfuge and deceit is set at the end of World War Two. A young independent Jewish woman takes on a new identity to infiltrate the ranks of senior German officers and discover who has betrayed her family .But all is not as it seems…

Ratings: A: 75 | B: 35 | C: 11 | D: 3 | E: 4 | Overall: 84.0

Away from Her

14 Feb 2008 - 8pm - Plaza

Canada - 2006 - Sarah Polley - 109 mins

Summary: Based on a short story by Alice Munro, Away From Her is a beautifully moving love story that deals with the effects of Alzheimer’s on a long-lasting marriage. Julie Christie stars in this deeply impressive and intelligent film as the wife who forgets her husband and transfers her affections to a fellow patient in her nursing home.

Ratings: A: 51 | B: 58 | C: 9 | D: 0 | E: 0 | Overall: 83.9

Volver

11 Oct 2007 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Spain - 2006 - Pedro Almodovar - 121 mins

Summary: In Almodóvar’s entertaining fantasy Volver (“coming back”), a mother returns to her home town after her death as a ghost whose unfinished business includes some dark truths about her past. The film, which explores how three generations of women deal with death, is full of mystery and suspense as well as memorable jokes and images

Ratings: A: 55 | B: 48 | C: 16 | D: 1 | E: 0 | Overall: 82.7

Babel

13 Sep 2007 - 8pm - Plaza

USA/Mexico - 2006 - Alexandro Gonzalez-Inarritu - 143 mins

Summary: From the director of Amores Perros and 21 Grams, this Oscar-nominated film is a sweepingly ambitious epic which explores the consequences of miscommunication and emotional tension, as a tragic accident in Morocco sparks off a chain of events for four families in different countries across the world.

Ratings: A: 54 | B: 39 | C: 10 | D: 4 | E: 1 | Overall: 82.6

This is England

18 Oct 2007 - 8pm - Plaza

UK - 2006 - Shane Meadows - 103 mins

Summary: 12-year old Shaun, a loner in a grim coastal town in 1983, is adopted by an unexpectedly friendly group of skinheads. Things turn nasty when an older racist skinhead returns from prison and shatters the group’s easy unity.The mood of the time and the complexities of masculinity, violence and race are sensitively captured

Ratings: A: 40 | B: 38 | C: 8 | D: 2 | E: 2 | Overall: 81.1

La Tourneuse de Plages [ The Page Turner]

07 Feb 2008 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

France - 2006 - Denis Dercourt - 85 mins

Summary: A gifted 10-year old pianist fails her Conservatory entrance exam. Years later she exacts a chilling revenge on the examiner – a concert pianist - whose thoughtless behaviour thwarted her ambitions. A slow under-stated build-up, taut construction and a claustrophobic atmosphere make for a tense psychological drama.

Ratings: A: 45 | B: 61 | C: 13 | D: 3 | E: 0 | Overall: 80.3

Jindabyne

15 Nov 2007 - 8pm - Plaza

Australia - 2006 - Ray Lawrence - 123 mins

Summary: Four Australians on a week-end fishing trip find the body of a murdered aboriginal girl in the river. Their decision to delay reporting their find until the trip is over has dire consequences for a community and a marriage. The film, which explores moral shades of grey, is as beautifully shot and deeply haunting as Picnic at Hanging Rock.

Ratings: A: 41 | B: 68 | C: 20 | D: 1 | E: 0 | Overall: 78.7

Indigenes [Days of Glory ]

04 Oct 2007 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

France/Algeria - 2006 - Rachid Bouchareb - 124 mins

Summary: Four young Algerians enlist in the French army in 1943 to help liberate the Motherland, only to face racism and injustice which continues after the war. This secret history is both an exciting war film and a moving indictment of imperialist exploitation. The lead actors collectively won the Cannes Best Actor award

Ratings: A: 43 | B: 46 | C: 15 | D: 4 | E: 2 | Overall: 78.2

The Prestige

06 Mar 2008 - 8pm - Plaza

UK/USA - 2006 - Christopher Nolan - 130 mins

Summary: Set in 1890’s London, this slick and gripping film follows the intense rivalry of two magicians and their lifelong obsessive efforts to outwit each other by developing the ultimate magic trick. The world of stage illusion is beautifully created and we are mysteriously led to a series of unexpected revelations.

Ratings: A: 39 | B: 45 | C: 25 | D: 1 | E: 0 | Overall: 77.7

Pan's Labyrinth

24 Jan 2008 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Spain - 2006 - Guillermo del Toro - 120 mins

Summary: The bookish young stepdaughter of a sadistic army officer escapes from the horrors of fascist Spain into an eerie but captivating fantasy world. This magical and moving morality play presents the struggle between good and evil through a gothic fairy tale of brilliant and inventive images

Ratings: A: 35 | B: 26 | C: 12 | D: 2 | E: 7 | Overall: 74.4

Smiles of a Summer Night

20 Mar 2008 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Sweden - 1955 - Ingmar Bergman - 108 mins

Summary: To celebrate the Society’s 50th birthday, we are reviving a classic shown in the first season. Smiles of a Summer Night pre-dates the introspective and desperate films for which Bergman is better known. But this vicious comedy of manners is nevertheless black, cynical, amoral - and a lot of fun.

Ratings: A: 20 | B: 32 | C: 27 | D: 8 | E: 2 | Overall: 66.9

The Blossoming of Maximo Oliveros

28 Feb 2008 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Phillippines - 2005 - Auraeus Solito - 100 mins

Summary: Superbly directed and acted, this film, set in the slums of Manila, is a bittersweet comedy about a young boy with a penchant for dressing up and a clear sense of his own gay identity. Coming from a family of criminals, problems arise when he falls in love with an idealistic young policeman.

Ratings: A: 17 | B: 31 | C: 31 | D: 6 | E: 1 | Overall: 66.6

Lost Embrace

27 Sep 2007 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Argentina/France/Italy/Spain - 2003 - Daniel Burman - 100 mins

Summary: In a Buenos Aires shopping arcade peopled with eccentrics of all nationalities, a lingerie salesman dreams of going to Europe to discover his Polish roots, until his mysterious father, supposedly a war hero, returns from Israel. This idiosyncratic comedy is by turns satirical, touching and hilarious.

Ratings: A: 8 | B: 25 | C: 52 | D: 16 | E: 3 | Overall: 54.6

Aaltra

06 Dec 2007 - 7pm - Corn Exchange

Belgium - 2004 - Gustave de Kerven, Benoit Delepine - 92 mins

Summary: Despite their mutual loathing, two deeply selfish and cantankerous neighbours, wheelchair-bound after a tractor accident, embark on an epic journey across Europe to claim compensation. Bizarre situations, hilarious sight-gags and amusing cameos produce a darkly comic and irreverent road movie.