AUTUMN FILMS September - October 2007
Tuesday 18th September - Friday 12th October
Tuesday 18th September @ 2.30pm & 8pm
THE PAINTED VEIL (12a)
Director: John Curran. English and Mandarin & French with English subtitles. China/USA 2006. 125 mins
Starring: Edward Norton, Naomi Watts, Liev Schreiber, Toby Jones
A penetrating and subtle adaptation of Somerset Maugham's novel, which successfully combines a strong-limbed narrative about marital frustration with a painstaking account of the British imperial presence in China. It's 1925, and Dr Walter Fane (Norton) falls in love with and marries Kitty (Watts), the beautiful daughter of a wealthy family. The couple move to Shanghai, where he sets up a practice and she takes a lover. Walter is furious when he finds out and impulsively volunteers to work in a village stricken with a cholera epidemic. The daily trials of living in a community in crisis have a striking impact on the couple, giving them a new and deeper perspective on their relationship.
Tickets £5.00
Tuesday 21st September @ 2.30pm &08pm
THE LIVES OF OTHERS (15)
Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck. German with English subtitles. Germany 2006. 138 mins
Starring: Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Mühe, Sebastian Koch
This feature paints a dark picture of life under the Communist regime in East Germany. Set in East Berlin during the mid-'80s, the film chronicles the consequences of the Minister of Culture's decision to investigate the lives of a successful playwright and his actress wife (whose sexual favours the politician clearly lusts after). The expert in charge of spying on the artists ends up as profoundly affected by the bugging as the couple as he comes to question the ethics of his work. The Lives of Others succeeds both as a convincing historical recreation and as a compelling tale of individuals whose lives are controlled by the society they live in. This film won the Academy Award for Best Film in a Foreign Language.
Tickets £5.00
Tuesday 25th September @ 2.30pm &08pm
GOYA'S GHOSTS (15)
Director: Milos Forman. Spain 2006. 114 mins
Starring: Javier Bardem, Stellan Skarsgärd, Natalie Portman
The lives of a great artist, a corrupt monk and a beautiful woman cross paths in this drama. In 18th-century Spain, Francisco Goya (Skarsgärd) is a controversial artist whose work has earned the enmity of the Catholic church, which holds tremendous power as the Inquisition rages. Brother Lorenzo (Bardem) of the Inquisition targets Inés (Portman), Goya's favourite model, as a heretic. Under torture, Inés signs a false confession, but her father brow-beats Lorenzo into signing a confession that his mother was an ape. Lorenzo flees Spain with his reputation ruined and returns 15 years later as a follower of the Enlightenment, as the Inquisition collapses; he attempts to liberate Ines from prison, but a shocking discovery awaits him.
Tickets £5.00
Tuesday 2nd October @ 2.30pm &08pm
GROW YOUR OWN (PG)
Director: Richard Laxton. UK 2007. 97 mins
Starring: Philip Jackson, Eddie Marsan, Omid Djalili
Grow Your Own takes us through one year of growing, pruning and harvesting in the Little Eden that is Blacktree Road Allotments. Some people keep allotments because they like the taste of fresh vegetables; some go there for company; some of them are looking for love; and some go there to escape from their marriages. Finally, one of them is there for something much, much worse. A bouquet of freshly picked stories and fruity characters emerge from this issue-driven comedy, with director Laxton drawing on a number of notable performances (Marsan, Vera Drake, Miami Vice, characteristically stands out) that offer a convincing microcosm of contemporary British society.
Tickets £5.00
Tuesday 9th October @ 2.30pm &08pm
LA VIE EN ROSE (12A)
Director: Olivier Dahan. French with English subtitles. France 2007. 140 mins
Starring : Marion Cotillard, Sylvie Testud, Pascal Greggory, Emmanuelle Seigner
La Vie en Rose is elevated above many other artist biopics by Cotillard's magnetism in the role of Édith Piaf. From the slums of Paris to the limelight of New York, Piaf's life was a constant battle to sing and survive, to live and love. Piaf's magical voice, and her passionate romances and friendships with some of the greatest names of the period, made her a star the world over. But in her audacious attempt to tame her tragic destiny, the 'Little Sparrow' flew so high it was inevitable that she would burn her wings. Capturing the French icon's bravado, brilliance and self-destructive bent, Cotillard is little short of a revelation.
Tickets £5.00
Friday 12th October @ 2.30pm &08pm
Ration Days - An East Anglian Film Archive Presentation
Directors: various UK 1939-1949. 90mins
A very special screening of a selection of films from the prestigious East Anglian Film Archive with a live narration by film and sound consultant Stewart Orr. Ration Days covers the time from the outbreak of war till the end of the forties. Evacuations, Home Guard drills and raising cash for War Bonds are all covered in these contemporary films. The Women's Land Army, the Stirling bombers and the gliders for the invasion of Europe in 1945 are interposed with Food Flashes, which are very brief government information films. Post-war we meet Giles the cartoonist, watch a Norfolk prefab erected, and see some of the East Anglian rebuilding projects.
Tickets £5.00