2015 - 2016 SEASON
Click to access the voting results for each film of the season.
14 Sept 2015
BREATHLESS
"A bout de souffle" (Original title)
France 1960, 90 mins
B&W, digital, Cert (PG) - Official trailer here
Director: Jean-Luc Godard
Leading actors: Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean Seberg, Daniel Boulanger.
After he steals a car and kills the policeman who tries to apprehend him, an unbalanced, lower-league crook hooks up with an American journalist student and plans to run away to Italy. But, the police are catching up with him…A brilliant example of the French New Wave
12 Oct 2015
FORCE MAJEURE
"Turist" (Original Title)
Sweden, France, Norway 2014, 120 mins
Colour, digital, cert (15) - Official trailer here
Director: Ruben Ostlund
Leading actors: Johannes Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Vincent Wettergren, Clara Wettergren
Everything looks rosy for a Swedish family, who go on holiday to the French Alps to spend some quality time together and to enjoy the skiing. The slopes are perfect and there is lots of sunshine. However, due to one unexpected event taking place, or threatening to take place, the whole structure and dynamic of their family is drawn into question. An avalanche strikes while they are enjoying lunch in a restaurant. Everyone in the restaurant gets out as quick as possible. The family's mother's instinct is to get her children to safety and looks to her husband for help. He has also left the restaurant along with everyone else. But, the avalanche didn't actually take place and the family regroup and try and understand what happened. The father's behaviour has severely undermined his position as family leader and protector and has had a negative impact on his marriage.
9 Nov 2015
IDA
Poland, Denmark, France, UK 2013, 82 mins
B&W, digital, Cert (12A) - Official trailer here
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski
Leading actors: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska, David Ogrodnik
Anna is a young novice Catholic nun in Poland in the early 1960's who is about to take her vows. But, before she does so, her mother superior tells her to take a trip to Lodz to see her aunt Wanda, who used to be not only a Communist Party member, but also a prosecutor for the state. Wanda has some disturbing news for Anna - she is really a Jew called Ida whose parents were killed in World War 2. Both women travel to the town where her parents had a house and ask the current occupant whether they can talk to the latter's father, who knew her parents in the war, but this means another trip to another town, during which they meet a young musician who Anna becomes friendly with. Eventually, they discover the truth and it has a dramatic affect on both women….
14 Dec 2015
CYCLING WITH MOLIERE
"Alceste à bicyclette" (original title)
France 2013, 104 mins
Colour, digital, Cert (15) - Official trailer here
Director: Philippe Le Guay
Leading actors: Fabrice Luchini, Lambert Wilson, Maya Sansa
Two actors at different stages of their respective careers come together to perform in Moliere's Le Misanthrope'. Serge is a respected actor who retired some years ago and now lives by himself and has become a bit of a recluse, cycling around the locality a lot of the time. Gauthier, on the other hand, is the star of a successful soap opera and is rich and famous. He wants to put on a production of Moliere's Le Misanthrope and wants Serge to take the second lead. Serge, of course, wants the lead role himself and rehearsals take place with each alternating the lead role. They also cycle and bicker a lot and their competition with each other extends to both of them pursuing a local Italian woman.
11 Jan 2016
The Lunch Box
"Dabba" (Original title)
India, France, Germany, USA, Italy 2013, 104 mins
Colour, digital, Cert (PG) - Official trailer here
Director: Ritesh Batra
Leading actors: Irrfan Khan, Nimrat Kaur, Nawazuddin Siddiqui
The dabbawallah in Mumbai have a lot to answer for. By mixing up lunch boxes, the one prepared by Ila for her husband Rajeev is delivered to the much older Saajan, who is nearing retirement and has become reclusive since his wife died, while the lunch for Saajan is delivered to Rajeev. However, accompanying the lunch for Rajeev is a note to him from Ila. Rajeev, of course, doesn't get to read it, but Saajan does and he and Ila begin corresponding. When Ila learns that her husband is having an affair, it drives her closer to Sajaan, and they plan to meet…
8 Feb 2016
Willow and Wind
"Beed-O Baad" (Original title)
Iran Japan 2000, 81 mins
Colour, digital, Cert (PG) - Official trailer here
Director: Mohammad-Ali Talebi
Leading actors: Hadi Alipour, Amir Janfada, Majid Alipour, Mohammad Sharif Ebrahemi
In an isolated Iranian village, a young boy is told by his teacher that he will be banned from school unless he replaces a window in the school that he broke with his football. The boy manages to find a glazier to make the window, but it has to be transported to the school to be fitted - not an easy task.
14 Mar 2016
The keeper of lost causes
"Kvinden i buret" (Original title)
Denmark, Germany, Sweden 2013, 97 mins
Colour, digital, Cert (15) - Official trailer here
Director: Mikkel Norgaard
Leading actors: Nikolaj Lie Kaas, Sonja Richter, Fares Fares
Inspector Morck is out of favour because his last case resulted in serious injury to one colleague and the death of another one. He is 'demoted' to Department Q, where cold cases are investigated, to be joined by a new colleague, Assad, who is the exact opposite of the inspector in temperament and professional style. The inspector has just been divorced and feels guilty about what happened to his colleagues. His policing style is aggressive, whereas Assad is happy, outgoing and more contemplative by nature. The inspector views his new assignment as a demotion, while Assad sees his job as a promotion over what he was doing. They begin to investigate the disappearance of a low-ranking politician, which eventually leads to their suspension, However, their investigations continue…
11 Apr 2016
Effie gray
UK, Italy 2014, 108 mins
Colour, digital, Cert (12A) - Official trailer here
Director: Richard Laxton
Leading actors: Dakota Fanning, Emma Thompson, Greg Wise, Tom Sturridge, David Suchet, Julie Walters, Claudia Cardinale, James Fox, Derek Jacobi, Robbie Coltrane
Twenty-year-old Effie Gray married renowned art critic and intellectual John Ruskin in 1848 and they moved in with his parents in London. He rejects her on their wedding night and throughout their marriage. His parents seem to have rather too much influence over him and do not to approve of his marriage or make his wife feel particularly welcome. Effie, however makes a favourable impression on Lady Eastlake, who tries to help the couple. John and Effie travel to Scotland so that John can have his portrait painted by John Everett Millais, who notices the state of their relationship and becomes interested in Effie. Effie files for divorce and Ruskin counters with accusations of adultery with Millais…
9 May 2016
An autumn afternoon
"Sanma no aji" (Original title)
Japan1962, 112 mins
Colour, digital, Cert (PG) - Official trailer here
Director: Yasujiro Ozu
Leading actors: Chishu Ryu, Shima Iwashita, Keiji Sada
Director Ozu's last film. An elderly widower lives with his son and daughter in Tokyo. Although his daughter is quite happy living with her brother and father, the widower decides that it is time for his daughter to leave home and get married and he must help her achieve that…
13 Jun 2016
Trash
Brazil, UK 2014, 114 mins
Colour, digital, Cert (15) - Official trailer here
Director: Stephen Daldry
Leading actors: Rooney Mara, Martin Sheen, Wagner Moura
Amid the trash of a dump in the slums of Rio de Janeiro, three teenage boys - Raphael, Gador and Rato - come across a wallet belonging to Jose Angelo. Inside they find money and a locker key. Because the police take a great interest in the wallet, the three young scavengers soon realise that it must be of some value and decide to investigate where it came from and why the police want it back. These investigations lead the boys into conflict with the police and then on the run from the police…