May
Tue 1 May 7.45pm
LA GRANDE ILLUSION (U)
A new digital transfer celebrating the 75th anniversary of Jean Renoir's
sublime pacifist masterpiece, starring Jean Gabin and Erich Von Stroheim. More
than the tale of WWI prisoners of war working together in a heroic bid for
freedom, La Grande Illusion is one of the most comprehensively beautiful films
ever made about friendship and freedom, respect and responsibility.
France (subtitled), 1937, 114 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian ::
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Thu 3 May 7.45pm
THE RAVEN (15)
The macabre and lurid tales of Edgar Allan Poe are vividly brought to life in
a stylish Gothic thriller, from V for Vendetta director James McTeigue. John
Cusack stars as Poe, whose fiction is made blood chillingly real by a serial
killer, prompting Baltimore detective Emmett Fields to seek assistance. A deadly
game of cat and mouse ensues as the murders become more extreme and Poe strives
to get inside the killer's mind.
USA, 2012, 111 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Fri 4 & Sat 5 May 7.45pm
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL (12A)
The return of John Madden's comedy-drama, based on Deborah Moggach’s novel,
starring Maggie Smith, Bill Nighy, Judi Dench and Tom Wilkinson. In search of a
more exotic, and less expensive, retirement, a group of British retirees decide
to relocate to India, enticed by the newly restored Marigold Hotel. Arriving to
find that the emphasis is more on ‘faded’ than ‘grandeur’, they find
themselves at the mercy of its entrepreneurial proprietor Sonny (Dev Patel), who
attempts to convince them they are in fact in a retirement paradise.
UK, 2011, 123 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Tue 8 May 7.45pm
IN DARKNESS (15)
In Darkness is based on an incredible and harrowing true story of survival
during Nazi occupation. It is the story of Socha, a petty thief in the Polish
town of Lvov, who grudgingly offers tenuous protection to a group of Jews in the
sewers, in return for cash. Agnieszka Holland's engrossing, composed
cinematography reveals the dank claustrophobic sanctuary offered, and traces the
course of Socha's redemption, earning her a nomination for Best Foreign Language
Oscar in the process.
Poland (subtitled), 2011, 143 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Thu 10 May 7.45pm
DECOY BRIDE (12A)
A film star's plan to get married on a remote Scottish island, without
hindrance, requires a distraction to throw the paparazzi off the scent. To this
end she hires a recently heartbroken local woman, in a romantic comedy starring
Alice Eve, David Tenant, Kelly Macdonald and Dylan Moran, that leaves the groom
to be questioning his original choice.
UK, 2011, 88 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Fri 11 & Sat 12 May 7.45pm
HUNGER GAMES (12A)
Hunger Games is an exciting dystopian fantasy, set in a future North America,
whose states must provide participants for a deadly televised combat and
survival game. In an allegorical thriller, Jennifer Lawrence evokes her
character from Winter's Bone, and is superb as Katniss Everdeen, a renowned
bowswoman from the impoverished District 12, who volunteers to take her younger
sister's place in the tournament.
USA, 2012, 142 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Mon 14 May 7.45pm
THE DEVILS (18)
Ken
Russell Season
In seventeenth-century France Father Urbain Grandier (Oliver Reed) saves the city of Londun from destruction. Before long he is accused of the demonic possession of Sister Jeanne (Vanessa Redgrave) by the authorities he defied to protect the city. Restoration to its original UK 'X' certificate incarnation enhances Ken Russell's bold direction, which is complemented by Derek Jarman's superb sets and Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' dissonant score.
UK, 1971, 106 mins
Free Admission
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Tue 15 May 7.45pm
MICHAEL (18)
The disquieting tale of the final months of a sinister controlling
relationship. Michael is a quiet 40-something insurance salesman who
successfully maintains the veneer of an ordinary life, while keeping a boy
captive in his house. Please note that, while Markus Schleinzer's eerily
compelling and measured approach forgoes showing the true horrors, it clearly
reveals, by implication, what can lurk beneath the surface.
Austria (subtitled), 2011, 96 mins
Further information regarding scenes used by the BBFC to determine the film's certification, may be found at the extended classification link on the web page found here - please note that this page contains spoilers.
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Thu 17 May 7.45pm
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE (15)
Paulo Sorrentino's first feature since Il Divo is a melancholic road comedy
about a retired rock star. It stars Sean Penn as Cheyenne, an aging rocker,
unwilling to let go of his wild past. When he learns that his father is dying,
he returns to America, where an unusual chain of events, lead to a road trip to
find the concentration camp Nazi, who targeted his father as a young man.
Italy/France/Ireland, 2011, 112mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Fri 18 & Sat 19 May 7.45pm
RAMPART (15)
A taut modern day noir written by James Ellroy, centred on a career best
performance from Woody Harrelson. Dave Brown (Harrelson) is a member of the
notorious Rampart police division in downtown LA in the 1990s, where an
investigation into the beating of a suspect compounds his already complicated
personal life. As the internal affairs department close in, Dave becomes
increasingly paranoid and descends further into a moral abyss.
USA, 2011, 108 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Mon 21 May 7.45pm
LISZTOMANIA (18)
Ken
Russell Season
The life of Franz Liszt as you never imagined it. A romantic composer/piano virtuoso, Liszt (Roger Daltry) is an 1840s rock star, whose competitive friendship with Richard Wagner (Paul Nicholas) provides a distraction from numerous extramarital affairs. Phallic imagery is ubiquitous and accompanied by Rick Wakeman's synthesizer arrangements of works by Liszt and Wagner.
UK, 1975, 102 mins
Free Admission
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Tue 22 May 7.45pm
THIS IS NOT A FILM (U)
Filmed in secret, using a small digital camera and an iPhone, and then
smuggled into France on a data stick, hidden in a cake, This Is Not A Film
portrays the claustrophobic, confined existence of Iranian director Jafar Panahi.
With a six year prison term and 20 year ban on filmmaking pending, Panahi talks
of the nature of filmmaking and the state of Iranian cinema and its politics, in
between managing his legal defence and looking after the family’s pet iguana.
A powerful provocation, reaffirming the role cinema may take on in extremis.
Iran (subtitled), 2010, 75mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Thu 24 May 7.45pm
INTO THE ABYSS (12A)
A sad yet, unsentimental documentary from Werner Herzog about Michael Perry
and Jason Burkett, sentenced to death and life imprisonment respectively,
following a botched robbery attempt. Herzog unravels the legacy of the crime and
the absurd realities of life on death row, through interviews with the convicts
and their family and friends, the victims' families and those involved in the
business of executions.
USA/Germany, 2011, 107mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Fri 25 & Sat 26 May 7.45pm
SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN (12A)
In Lasse Hallström's adaptation of Paul Torday's best selling debut novel,
fisheries expert Fred Jones (Ewan McGregor) is presented with an unenviable
task, the introduction of fly fishing to the Middle East. Fred's protestations
of the project’s impossibility are enthusiastically swept away, in a touching
story of love and beating the odds, starring Ewan McGregor, Emily Blunt and
Kristin Scott Thomas.
UK, 2012, 112 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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Mon 28 May 7.45pm
ALTERED STATES (18)
Ken
Russell Season
Ken Russell's only foray into science fiction adapted from Paddy Chayefsky's novel. William Hurt makes his screen debut as Eddie Jessup, a professor of abnormal psychology, who becomes a guinea pig for his own sensory deprivation research into biological devolution.
USA, 1980, 98 mins
Free Admission
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Tue 29 May 7.45pm
BONSAI (15)
A tale of sex, lies and literature centred on Julio, an aspiring writer who
is offered the job of transcribing the latest manuscript of established author
Gazmuri. Choosing not to tell his girlfriend when he loses the job, he instead
begins a charade, writing his own novel, as if it were Gazmuri's, inspired by a
doomed romance from his youth. Bonsai is a melancholic Chilean black comedy
about the fictions with which we surround ourselves.
Chile/Argentina (subtitled), 2011, 95 mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian ::
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Thu 31 May 7.45pm
BABYCALL (15)
Under the witness protection programme Anna and her eight year old son Anders
are re-housed following an abusive relationship with Anders' father.
Over-protective and paranoid she installs a babycall monitor, but before long it
is picking up strange noises from neighbouring apartments, testing Anna's
fragile state of mind. A psychological, supernatural thriller, that recalls
early Polanski, centred on an intense, naturalistic performance from Noomi
Rapace.
Norway (subtitled), 2011, 96mins
Reviews: :: The Observer :: The Guardian :: The Independent ::
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