"Glaciers might be melting, the polar caps might be crumbling, but not even the passage of half a century has taken the frozen edge off this brilliantly icy film." - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
Class warfare as refracted through the prism of psychosexual drama. Stylishly shot, beautifully scripted (by Harold Pinter), with a trio of truly mesmerising performances at his heart from Dirk Bogarde, Sarah Miles and James Fox, The Servant is a witty and unsettling dissection of the long-harboured resentments that seethed just below the surface of British society.
Tuesday 26 November 2013 @ 8pm The Lord Palmerston
"More relevant than ever in the age of reality television and CCTV".- Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
On its release in 1960 the critical mauling that greeted Michael Powell's tale of a voyeuristic serial killer effectively ended the career of one of British cinema's true greats. Now, thanks to champions such as Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, it's rightly regarded as a masterpiece.
“A notably well-executed, very funny and very well-acted movie: a quirky, sardonic take on '50s faddishness, fame, power, friendship, character and ethics”. - Geoff Andrews, Time Out
It’s A Wonderful Life may have been the obvious choice for our Christmas film; instead we give you the Coen brothers’ loving parody of a Capra-esque feel-good festive flick, complete with New York in the snow and an angel.
A throwback to the fast-talking comedies of the 1940s and bursting with wonderful production design the film follows the unlikely adventures of Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins), a college graduate who secures a job in the postroom at Hudsucker Industries just as its chairman is jumping 50 floors to his death.
The chairman's scheming aide, Mussburger (Paul Newman, blues still a-twinklin'), decides to hire Norville as chairman, presuming he is a dunce whose new position will frighten the stockholders into selling all their stock cheaply, thus allowing him to consolidate his hold on the company.
Jennifer Jason Leigh channels Katherine Hepburn as cynical undercover reporter who Norville falls for at the office Christmas party.
The plot hinges on Robbins’ character producing the smash hit toy of the season, and in the end isn’t that who Christmas is for? You know, for kids?
"Leo Tolstoy wrote that 'every unhappy family is unhappy in its own fashion,' but not even he could have invented the Friedmans." - Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune
The Friedmans are a respectable, middle-class Long Island family, seemingly addicted to recording their daily lives – first on super-8, then on video. But their world crumbles when the father, a popular teacher, is accused, along with the youngest of his three sons, of molesting schoolchildren.
Unbelievably, the arrest, trial and its horrifying aftermath are all chronicled in the family’s own home movies, revealing a tangle of contradictions and their comfortable world slowly disintegrates around them.
Andrew Jarecki's Oscar-nominated documentary is thought-provoking, shocking and unforgettably compelling.
"It's a cornerstone of the French New Wave, and one of the greatest movies about childhood, from anywhere, ever." - Anthony Quinn, Independent
FrancoisTruffaut's autopbiographical New Wave classic is a touching story of a misunderstood young adolescent who left without attention, delves into a life of petty crime.
"The film that launched a thousand careers... funny, perceptive, pepped up by a great soundtrack." - Geoff Andrew, Time Out
One of the most influential of all teen films, American Graffiti is a funny, nostalgic, and bittersweet look at a group of recent high school grads' last days of innocence.
The young cast includes Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss and a pre-Han Solo Harrison Ford.
“By the time Tom Waits growls his lovely closing waltz over the credits, Jarmusch has shown us moments most filmmakers don't even notice.” - Geoff Andrews, Time Out
Five different taxi journeys that take place at precisely the same time in five different cities around the world reveal a mixture of humorous and moving stories. The films nods towards directors including Spike Lee, John Casavetes and Aki Kaurismaki - all scored to magnificent Tom Waits soundtrack.
Taking place in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Rome and Helinski, the film features an international cast including Winona Ryder, Gena Rowlands, Beatrice Dalle, Roberto Benigni, Matti Pellonpää and Isaach De Bankolé.
A typically idiosyncratic film by Jim Jarmusch, one of indie America's most distinctive directors.
If you want to read what an impact the film had on Nigel when he first saw it, read his Open Letter to Winona Ryder.
"Having the Touch of Evil envisioned by our most creative filmmaker, is a wondrous gift no movie lover should miss." - Chicago Tribune
Our contribution to the UK-wide Scalarama festival is one the great cult classics.
If Citizen Kane can be seen as a perfect representation of Orson Welles’ (considerable) ego, Touch of Evil is where he let his (equally considerable) id run riot. The result is a film that, while not as perfect as Kane, is darker, funnier and – arguably – more entertaining. A brilliantly warped piece of Wellesian noir populated by a cast of grotesques that was clearly an influence on David Lynch, the Coen Brothers et al.
Set in a Mexican border town, Charlton Heston and Welles go head-to-head as a pair of sweaty lawmen. In addition to Janet Leigh as Heston’s new wife, the film features memorable cameos by Marlene Dietrich and Zsa Zsa Gabor.
Encompassing police corruption, organised crime, racial tension, recreational drugs, prostitution, sexual perversion, a truly terrible wig, an opening shot that has justifiably gone down in cinematic history and a great score by Henry Mancini, Touch of Evil is an unforgettable, flawed masterpiece.
“As French crime thrillers go, this is about as good as it gets. It's also an important film historically, and to top it off, the jazz score, by Miles Davis, is famous in its own right.” - San Francisco Chronicle
Paris at night, Jeanne Moreau, and criminal misadventure - all to a beautiful Miles Davis score - Louis Malle’s debut feature is an unforgettable slice of 1950s French cool.
"Five Easy Pieces, a brilliant gem of American psychological realism (where are these movies today?), is Nicholson's arrival to the A-list." - Time Out New York
Screening in tribute to Karen Black who died earlier this month, Five Easy Pieces is one of the essential films of the 1970s New Hollywood. A classic of the 'Easy Riders, Raging Bulls' era.
Jack Nicholson plays an upper-class drop-out who's rejected a promising career as a concert pianist for work on oil rigs and an itinerent life of dive bars, motels and diners.
When he learns that his father isn't well he takes his waitress girlfriend (Black) to the family home in Washington. Cue a culture-clash confrontation.
“Bridges has a special gift for these evocations of a world seen in a bell jar.” - Pauline Kael
1913, and while Europe trembles on the brink of war, Sir Randolph Nettleby (James Mason in his last film role before his death) gathers together a group of European aristocrats for a weekend of huntin’ and shootin’. A fascinating look at a world of blissfully privileged ignorance that was about to be swept away for ever.
"One of the most entertaining, best executed, original road pictures ever." - Variety
This is the one film that we both had on our lists of films we wished you'd voted for in the last 12 months. By unhappy coincidence, Dennis Farina, who plays the mob boss in the film, died on 22 July, so we'll now be showing the film in tribute as an additional screening.
Midnight Run is a brilliantly throwaway comedy-thriller that fairly zips along, yet still packs a real emotional punch when the final credits roll.
Charles Grodin’s mild-mannered lawyer almost steals the film from Robert De Niro’s uptight bounty-hunter (a role that is just the right side of self-parody and undoubtedly De Niro’s finest comedic performance). Also, great support from Yaphet Kotto, Joe Pantoliano, and the recently deceased Dennis Farina – who puts in a genuinely chilling performance as a mob boss with a criminal taste in comfortable knitwear. Put simply: more people should see this film.
“This masterpiece still packs a wallop, though nothing in it is as simple as it may first appear.” - Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Early Kubrick – and one of his best (which is saying something.) Kirk Douglas stars as the commanding officer of a unit of soldiers during this First World War who are court martialed and tried for cowardice after they refuse orders and retreat from a suicidal attack. As haunting as it is thought-provoking.
“Ray wrings plenty of sweat from the Hitchcockian premise, and Bogart outdoes himself as a man mid-breakdown.” - Empire
A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. But she begins to have doubts...
Directed by Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause) and starring Humphrey Bogart in one of his finest roles alongside Gloria Grahame, this is a classic film noir of suspicion, doubt and dames.
"Stands up extraordinarily well: mostly because of two outstanding central performances, Gary Oldman as the talented, blase Orton, and Alfred Molina as his thwarted, Hancock-esque murderer Kenneth Halliwell." Andrew Pulver, Guardian
"Taut, clever, and fronted with two excellent performances, this is a clever choice for Jackson's first step into mainstream filmmaking." - Empire
A breakthrough film for both Kate Winslet and Peter Jackson, Heavenly Creatures is based on a true story set in 1950s New Zealand.
Winslet and Melkanie Lynskey play two school friends who have an intense fantasy life; their parents, concerned the fantasy is too intense, separate them, and the girls take revenge.
The film was created by the same production team that later made The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Watch the trailer >>
Why Did We Pick It?
Following Brigadoon, another film where the characters are transported in some way to a magical world.
As a modest tribute we are showing his best-loved film Jason and the Argonauts as an additional screening.
The mythical tale of Jason's quest for Golden Fleece is well known but the film version is elevated to greatness by Ray Harryhausen's special effects. These include the giant Talos, two-headed Hydra and most memorably an small army of skeletons.
If you've seen the film before this is a chance for a nostalgic re-viewing. If you're new to film, prepare to be charmed and amazed by some ground-breaking special effects.
“Demonstrates Forsyth's uncanny ability for making an audience sense that something magical is going on, even if that something isn't easily explained”. - Janet Maslin, New York Times
An American oil tycoon (Burt Lancaster) decides to buy up a Scottish beach in order to build a refinery - to a decidedly mixed response from the inhabitants.
In addition to Lanacster you'll also spot many familar faces in the cast including Peter Capaldi, Fulton Mackay, John Gordon Sinclair, Jenny Seagrove and Denis Lawson.
Filmed in a variety of beautiful Scottish locations and featuring a memorable score by Mark Knopfler, Local Hero is an utterly charming, and surprising, fish-out-of-water story.
“Though its plot contains much that's new, The Long Good Friday is a swift, sharp-edged gangster story in a classic mold.” - New York Times
London gangster Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins) refuses to let anything as inconvenient as seeing his organisation decimated by a series of brutal murders interfere with his dreams of making a big time deal with American Mafia. Helen Mirren also stars as a distinctly British femme fatale.
"A movie that combines lurid melodrama with vast improbabilities, sexy soap opera with heartfelt romance, and cheerful satire with heedless raunch." - Roger Ebert
An additional screening in tribute to Spanish director Bigas Luna who died on on 6 April.
In a small town in Spain's arid Monegros region, young underwear factory executive Jose Luis (Jordi Molla) falls in love with the beautiful Silvia (Penelope Cruz), a worker on the shop floor.
When Silvia becomes pregnant, Jose Luis wants to marry her, but his mother Conchita (Stefania Sandrelli), the factory owner, is appalled by the thought of her son marrying a working-class girl, especially one who is the daughter of a prostitute, Carmen (Anna Galiena).
So Conchita hatches a scheme to woo Silvia away from her son by hiring handsome model Raul (Javier Bardem) to seduce the girl. A ham factory employee with aspirations to become a bullfighter, Raul's charms work their magic on both Silvia and Conchita, much to the dismay of Jose Luis, who seeks comfort in the arms of his sometime lover, Carmen.
