We haven’t had time to do cover other than The Roses and The Guildhall this week. The links for the commercial cinemas are there, so you can look for yourselves.
Frankly, if these profit-making enterprises, with their marketing departments, web jockeys and industry access can’t be bothered to provide the public with accurate, up-to-date and interesting information about their films, why should we, enthusiasts with a budget of £0.00, make the effort?
The Roses
On February 1st, there is the first of several screenings of Belfast, directed by Kenneth Branagh. It depicts the early days of “The Troubles” through the eyes of a young child, loosely based on Branagh himself. Shot in black and white, it is not without sentimentality, but is a well-told story with some excellent performances. [Sorry about the brutal crop, Ken, but if you make a film in a square ratio, what do you expect?]
As a sort of companion piece, another film showing life from the point of view of a child is the timeless Les 400 coups (The 400 Blows], the first feature film directed by Francois Truffaut, from 1959. It is showing on Thursday 3rd February with another screening on Sunday 6th. If you haven’t seen it on the big screen, do not miss out.
From an even earlier point in the life cycle comes Nine Days, which asks the question “What if being born is not the beginning but the goal?” Well, search me, but perhaps this film, directed by Edson Oda and set in a distant reality, will tell us.
The Guildhall
There is one more screening of Drive My Car on 1st February. Boiling Point, the one-take film with Stephen Graham as a chef about to collapse, starts on 31st January, as does Save the Cinema, which is actually a feature film, not a self-help training package. Although, as it is based on real life events to save a cinema in a small Welsh town, maybe… Directed by Susan Sugarman, who has been slaving in the East Enders mines and hasn’t made a feature since Vinyl in 2012. The King’s Man and Belfast round off the programme for the week.
I thought Drive My Car was very worthwhile even though 3 hours long, and quite well attended at the Guildhall – ?12 people. Like Humans, there was fabulous but sparse musical score.
Derek.
Hi Derek. My son saw it in London and was really enthusiastic. The trailer looks great, too. I must have a look. Maybe we could work out a way of putting it on somewhere. Not likely to appear at the Film Society. They won’t show anything much over two hours. It’s a pity that good films are not getting an audience at the moment, but it is a big problem for the whole sector.