Duel (Spielberg, 1971): Prince Charles Cinema, 9pm
This is screening as part of the Prince Charles' Classics season.
Time Out review:
Spielberg's first film, superbly scripted by Richard Matheson,
made for TV but booking its own place on the big screen: an absolute
cracker about a salesman driving along the highway who gradually
realises that the huge petrol tanker playfully snapping at his heels -
apparently driverless - has more sinister designs. There are no
explanations and no motivations, except perhaps for a hint of allegory
in the script (the motorist's name is Mann) and an intriguing visual
suggestion that this is the old, old battle between the shining,
prancing, vulnerable knight and the impervious, lumbering dragon. Simply
a rivetingly murderous game of cat and mouse that keeps you on the edge
of your seat.
Tom Milne
Brilliant trailer too.
Saturday, 18 May 2013
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 154: Mon Jun 3
A Clockwork Orange (Kubrick, 1971): Vue Cinema Islington, 9pm
This film, part of the Vue Cinemas Back to Vue season, is also being screened on Wednesday 5th June. More details here. You can find all the details of the full season here.
Here is the Vue's introduction: A Clockwork Orange is one of the most controversial films ever made, the masterpiece of one of the world's greatest directors. In a time not far in the future Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang are wreaking havoc on a spree of murder and rape. When he is finally convicted he is given the choice of languishing in jail or undergoing a brutal aversion therapy that will cure him of his criminal tendencies. But how can the authorities be sure he's ready to go back onto those mean streets? A Clockwork Orange is an intelligent, challenging but highly enjoyable peek into an ultra-violent future.
Here is the trailer.
This film, part of the Vue Cinemas Back to Vue season, is also being screened on Wednesday 5th June. More details here. You can find all the details of the full season here.
Here is the Vue's introduction: A Clockwork Orange is one of the most controversial films ever made, the masterpiece of one of the world's greatest directors. In a time not far in the future Alex (Malcolm McDowell) and his gang are wreaking havoc on a spree of murder and rape. When he is finally convicted he is given the choice of languishing in jail or undergoing a brutal aversion therapy that will cure him of his criminal tendencies. But how can the authorities be sure he's ready to go back onto those mean streets? A Clockwork Orange is an intelligent, challenging but highly enjoyable peek into an ultra-violent future.
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 153: Sun Jun 2
Hors Satan (Dumont, 2011) & Beyond The Hills (Mungiu, 2012): Rio Cinema, 12.45pm
A 'Good & Evil Double-Bill' pairs two of the best recent foreign releases here.
Chicago Reader review of Hors Satan:
A nameless man appears in a small farm town on the northern French coast, spending his days wandering the fields and praying. He finds an acolyte in a sulky young woman, commits a seemingly random murder, and has violent sex with a strange woman. That’s about it for the story of this 2011 French drama, which evokes the Old Testament in its opaque simplicity, and Bruno Dumont’s commanding, atheistic style--rooted in purposely empty wide-screen vistas and the inexpressive faces of his nonactors--doesn’t offer many clues as to its meaning. As with L’Humanité (1999), Dumont wants to give epic form to the longing for spirituality in a despiritualized world. I found the movie mind-blowing, though it will likely irritate as many viewers as it impresses.
Ben Sachs
Here is the trailer.
***********************************
Chicago Reader review of Beyond The Hills:
Raised in a German orphanage, Voichita has found peace as a novice in a Romanian convent, but her austere life is roiled by a visit from her unstable friend Alina, who has graduated from the same orphanage to a series of foster homes. In many ways this long, layered drama from writer-director Cristian Mungiu seems like a companion piece to his harrowing abortion story 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007); both movies trace the uneasy relationship between a survivor and her weak, dependent pal as they try to navigate a world of patriarchal oppression. Here that oppression is embodied by the Russian Orthodox priest who threatens to expel Voichita for her friend's volatile behavior, yet Mungiu complicates this overt critique of religion by hinting that both Voichita's devotion to God and Alina's clinging attachment to Voichita are driven by childhood sexual abuse.
J.R. Jones
Here is the trailer.
A 'Good & Evil Double-Bill' pairs two of the best recent foreign releases here.
Chicago Reader review of Hors Satan:
A nameless man appears in a small farm town on the northern French coast, spending his days wandering the fields and praying. He finds an acolyte in a sulky young woman, commits a seemingly random murder, and has violent sex with a strange woman. That’s about it for the story of this 2011 French drama, which evokes the Old Testament in its opaque simplicity, and Bruno Dumont’s commanding, atheistic style--rooted in purposely empty wide-screen vistas and the inexpressive faces of his nonactors--doesn’t offer many clues as to its meaning. As with L’Humanité (1999), Dumont wants to give epic form to the longing for spirituality in a despiritualized world. I found the movie mind-blowing, though it will likely irritate as many viewers as it impresses.
Ben Sachs
Here is the trailer.
***********************************
Chicago Reader review of Beyond The Hills:
Raised in a German orphanage, Voichita has found peace as a novice in a Romanian convent, but her austere life is roiled by a visit from her unstable friend Alina, who has graduated from the same orphanage to a series of foster homes. In many ways this long, layered drama from writer-director Cristian Mungiu seems like a companion piece to his harrowing abortion story 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days (2007); both movies trace the uneasy relationship between a survivor and her weak, dependent pal as they try to navigate a world of patriarchal oppression. Here that oppression is embodied by the Russian Orthodox priest who threatens to expel Voichita for her friend's volatile behavior, yet Mungiu complicates this overt critique of religion by hinting that both Voichita's devotion to God and Alina's clinging attachment to Voichita are driven by childhood sexual abuse.
J.R. Jones
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 152: Sat Jun 1
Horse Feathers (McLeod, 1932): Barbican Cinema, 4pm
Chicago Reader review:
It's Darwin versus Huxley, but in the world of the Marx Brothers, man descends on a fireman's pole. This 1932 release was the first Marx film to take on the Depression, and the brothers manage to satirize everything from education to prostitution and bootlegging. “Whatever it is,” Groucho cries, “I'm against it”—which undoubtedly includes “college widow” Thelma Todd.
Chicago Reader review:
It's Darwin versus Huxley, but in the world of the Marx Brothers, man descends on a fireman's pole. This 1932 release was the first Marx film to take on the Depression, and the brothers manage to satirize everything from education to prostitution and bootlegging. “Whatever it is,” Groucho cries, “I'm against it”—which undoubtedly includes “college widow” Thelma Todd.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 151: Fri May 31
The Spongers (Joffe, 1978): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 6.20pm
This celebrated 1970s BBC Play for Today production is being screened as part of the Tony Garnett season. More details here.
Here is the BFI introduction to the evening: Once more proving his ability to spot talent, Garnett was responsible for providing Roland Joffé with his full-length directorial debut. Set during the 1977 Jubilee celebrations, Jim Allen’s script focuses on the plight of Pauline as she struggles to make ends meet. With a searing contemporary relevance, the film shows the human cost of decisions made by bureaucratic committees as council budgets are put under increasing pressure. Christine Hargreaves’ performance is devastating as we see the full impact of these decisions on her children. One of the most important plays of the 70s, it still speaks loudly to our conscience today.
Tony Garnett will introduce this screening and take questions afterwards.
You can get a feel for the play on YouTube here.
This celebrated 1970s BBC Play for Today production is being screened as part of the Tony Garnett season. More details here.
Here is the BFI introduction to the evening: Once more proving his ability to spot talent, Garnett was responsible for providing Roland Joffé with his full-length directorial debut. Set during the 1977 Jubilee celebrations, Jim Allen’s script focuses on the plight of Pauline as she struggles to make ends meet. With a searing contemporary relevance, the film shows the human cost of decisions made by bureaucratic committees as council budgets are put under increasing pressure. Christine Hargreaves’ performance is devastating as we see the full impact of these decisions on her children. One of the most important plays of the 70s, it still speaks loudly to our conscience today.
Tony Garnett will introduce this screening and take questions afterwards.
You can get a feel for the play on YouTube here.
Saturday, 11 May 2013
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 150: Thu May 30
Frost (Kelemen, 1997): ICA Cinema, 7pm
This screening is from the A Nos Amours film club, founded by film-makers Joanna Hogg and Adam Roberts dedicated to programming over-looked, under-exposed or especially potent cinema. More details on their website here.
Here is the introduction:
Fred Kelemen, Bela Tarr's customary cinematographer, ally and collaborator, himself made films that Susan Sontag singled out as beacons of artistic purpose and wonder. Frost, from 1997/1999, is the film that almost died at birth as producer and filmmaker fell out. A Nos Amours presents a 16mm print of the authorised director's cut.
'Time of darkness. Time of fire kindled against cold and fear. During the Holy Night, the seven year old Micha has to escape with his young mother Marianne from the violence of his drunken father... During their one week odyssey through frozen Germany, mother and son meet people to offer them shelter... Crushed by their own poverty, or dominated by their feelings of being lost, these people just hurt them deeper and they can be nothing other than stations of their continuous escape' - Fred Kelemen www.fredkelemen.com
This screening is from the A Nos Amours film club, founded by film-makers Joanna Hogg and Adam Roberts dedicated to programming over-looked, under-exposed or especially potent cinema. More details on their website here.
Here is the introduction:
Fred Kelemen, Bela Tarr's customary cinematographer, ally and collaborator, himself made films that Susan Sontag singled out as beacons of artistic purpose and wonder. Frost, from 1997/1999, is the film that almost died at birth as producer and filmmaker fell out. A Nos Amours presents a 16mm print of the authorised director's cut.
'Time of darkness. Time of fire kindled against cold and fear. During the Holy Night, the seven year old Micha has to escape with his young mother Marianne from the violence of his drunken father... During their one week odyssey through frozen Germany, mother and son meet people to offer them shelter... Crushed by their own poverty, or dominated by their feelings of being lost, these people just hurt them deeper and they can be nothing other than stations of their continuous escape' - Fred Kelemen www.fredkelemen.com
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 149: Wed May 29
Samurai Cop (Shervan, 1989): King's Cross Social Club, 2 Britannia Street, WC1, 7pm
This is the latest Duke Mitchell Film Club night. And here is their introduction:
We’ve brought you some off-beat themed evenings in the past, but what we’ve got to offer this time around could quite simply be our most obscure night yet. This time around we’ll be looking at the works of Iranian film directors working in Hollywood B-Movies!
Come and join us for simply one of the most incredible films you’ll ever watch: Samurai Cop (1989), from action master director Amir Shervan, a man who blazed a trailer of violence and destruction though LA in the late 80s.
Samurai Cop is simply one amazing scene after the other and it’s the perfect film to watch with a Duke audience. You’ll see terrible car chases, awfully staged action sequences and some simply unwatchable sex scenes, but you’ll love every second of it. Also he’s not a Samurai, he’s not even a very good cop!
Of course well also have all our special extras for the night, all with an Iranian theme: Trailer Trash, short films, a quiz, great music and more. Come and join us as the Duke does Hollywood, Iran Style!
More details at their Facebook page here.
Here is the trailer.
This is the latest Duke Mitchell Film Club night. And here is their introduction:
We’ve brought you some off-beat themed evenings in the past, but what we’ve got to offer this time around could quite simply be our most obscure night yet. This time around we’ll be looking at the works of Iranian film directors working in Hollywood B-Movies!
Come and join us for simply one of the most incredible films you’ll ever watch: Samurai Cop (1989), from action master director Amir Shervan, a man who blazed a trailer of violence and destruction though LA in the late 80s.
Samurai Cop is simply one amazing scene after the other and it’s the perfect film to watch with a Duke audience. You’ll see terrible car chases, awfully staged action sequences and some simply unwatchable sex scenes, but you’ll love every second of it. Also he’s not a Samurai, he’s not even a very good cop!
Of course well also have all our special extras for the night, all with an Iranian theme: Trailer Trash, short films, a quiz, great music and more. Come and join us as the Duke does Hollywood, Iran Style!
More details at their Facebook page here.
Here is the trailer.
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