Films you have seen at the cinema 2024

[Sue]

Le Beau Serge. Claude Chabrol's first film and often viewed as the first feature of the Nouvelle Vague. A young man, François, returns to his rural French village to discover his childhood friend, Serge, has become a violent alcoholic. François tries to help him which goes about as well as you'd expect.

It's a depressing but interesting depiction of 50's French village life and the black and white neo-realist cinematography is great.

Of course much of it is of its time -- the depiction of women (saintly wife and teenage temptress who gets what she 'deserves' ) for example -- and seeing someone recuperating from TB smoking seems pretty wtf to our eyes.

This was the first screening in the Cine Lumiere's Chabrol retrospective -- astonishingly, there's never really been one in the UK. They're currently battling with licensing and distribution issues but will be announcing further screenings soon (it runs till February).

ETA a link:

Claude Chabrol – Behind the Mirror: Family Secrets - Institut Français · Royaume-Uni

From the director’s début feature Le Beau Serge (1958) – that launched the New Wave – to instant classics (La Cérémonie), and lesser-known gems such as Les Bonnes Femmes (1960) or Violette Nozière (1977), dark secrets are uncovered, taboos explored and appearances deconstructed. Through his...

www.institut-francais.org.uk

 

[redsquirrel]

This was the first screening in the Cine Lumiere's Chabrol retrospective -- astonishingly, there's never really been one in the UK. They're currently battling with licensing and distribution issues but will be announcing further screenings soon (it runs till February).

That is crazy - I'd love to see Chabrol on the big screen, I don't think I've ever seen any of his at the cinema despite being a big fan.

EDIT: Fuck they're showing La Cérémonie and Colour of Lies two of my favourites really hope there are some showings outside London. Not holding my breath though, Leeds did not get a showing of the BFI restoration of Seven Samurai.

 

[Sue]

That is crazy - I'd love to see Chabrol on the big screen, I don't think I've ever seen any of his at the cinema despite being a big fan.

I know, it is. The ones I've seen (apart from today's) have all been on DVD I think.

The academic and Chabrol specialist who did an extended intro said they started organising the retrospective then Covid hit and then they discovered actually getting the rights to screen the films was really complicated, despite most of them being released here at the time. Chabrol's daughter -- Cecile Maistre-Chabrol -- is fully supportive and is doing an intro to at least one of the upcoming films.

 

[redsquirrel]

Wondering if I can make a trip to London so see at least one.

I don't see The Rupture or The Butcher on that list, was there any mention of them?

 

[Sue]

Wondering if I can make a trip to London so see at least one.

I don't see The Rupture or The Butcher on that list, was there any mention of them?

No. They'll be announcing the Jan/Feb programme soon so could be they'll be on then. Let me know if you do manage to come down for any of them and fancy company (I'll be trying to make as many as I can).

 

[redsquirrel]

Nope, looks like something that wouldn’t hold my attention.

I can get that - but if they do add an extra showing I'd strongly recommend it

 

[Orang Utan]

Saw a fun bunch of shorts mostly today, but CBA reviewing them as there were 19 of them. I seem to prefer them when they’re really short and when they’re funny.
Makes me wonder about film-making - who sees these films outside of festivals? I understand they’re kind of seen as R&D for talent, but it must be strange going to all that time and effort to make a film that hardly anybody will see.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Saw a fun bunch of shorts mostly today, but CBA reviewing them as there were 19 of them. I seem to prefer them when they’re really short and when they’re funny.
Makes me wonder about film-making - who sees these films outside of festivals? I understand they’re kind of seen as R&D for talent, but it must be strange going to all that time and effort to make a film that hardly anybody will see.

People do it on a shoestring for the love of it mostly, no? A couple of mates of mine have made a few shorts. It's very rewarding to see your film playing at a festival. You make one, then you try to cobble together the finances to make another. Maybe it takes you years just to finish one. And maybe that's all you ever do, but that's better than never having made any films.

It's not really so different from being in a band and only ever playing to a few dozen people. It's still a worthwhile thing to do in and for itself.

 

[Orang Utan]

Film 21
Chlorophyll

Possibly the most visually striking film of the festival so far - a (sort-of) romance set in Sardinia about a young woman who leaves the city to pick oranges for a shy young man, each of them having their own bizarre affinity with the botanical world about them.
4 big green bushes out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

People do it on a shoestring for the love of it mostly, no? A couple of mates of mine have made a few shorts. It's very rewarding to see your film playing at a festival. You make one, then you try to cobble together the finances to make another. Maybe it takes you years just to finish one. And maybe that's all you ever do, but that's better than never having made any films.

It's not really so different from being in a band and only ever playing to a few dozen people. It's still a worthwhile thing to do in and for itself.

Aye, not saying it’s not worthwhile making them. I was just marvelling at the film-makers’ commitment to their art.

 

[redsquirrel]

Film 21
Chlorophyll
Possibly the most visually striking film of the festival so far - a (sort-of) romance set in Sardinia about a young woman who leaves the city to pick oranges for a shy young man, each of them having their own bizarre affinity with the botanical world about them.
4 big green bushes out of 5

I really fancied that, but there were only rubbish seats left.
Hoping it gets a wider release.

 

[Orang Utan]

I really fancied that, but there were only rubbish seats left.
Hoping it gets a wider release.

I had to sit on a sofa with a stranger which was not ideal, but was soon entranced for it not to matter. I normally avoid Everyman Cinemas though.

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Aye, not saying it’s not worthwhile making them. I was just marvelling at the film-makers’ commitment to their art.

My mate made a short sci-fi film and was invited to a festival in miami where he won an award (there are lots of awards). He did all the editing himself. Took ages. One of the actors died, it took so long to make. (Covid didnt help). But it had its moment in the light.

 

[Orang Utan]

Film 22
Wake In Fright

1971 Ozzie horror about a teacher who gets trapped in an outback mining town over the Xmas hols and is forced to rely on the oppressive hospitality of a group of uncultured boorish dipsomaniacs.
We all know how that feels - best Xmas movie ever!
Special mention must be made of Donald Pleasance, who is perfectly malevolant
5 unlucky kangaroos out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

I was going to watch a bunch more sweaty oppressive Ozploitation movies, but fuck Everyman Cinemas and their misleading seating plans. No one should be forced to sit on a sofa with me to watch a film. So my anxiety got the better of me and I went home. Have found the rest of the films in the strand on FshareTV, so may stay at home today and watch them.

 

[Sue]

Film 22
Wake In Fright
View attachment 450685
1971 Ozzie horror about a teacher who gets trapped in an outback mining town over the Xmas hols and is forced to rely on the oppressive hospitality of a group of uncultured boorish swine.
We all know how that feels - best Xmas movie ever!
Special mention must be made of Donald Pleasance, who is perfectly malevolant
5 unlucky kangaroos out of 5

If that film doesn't put you off booze, nothing will.

 

[blossie33]

I was going to watch a bunch more sweaty oppressive Ozploitation movies, but fuck Everyman Cinemas and their misleading seating plans. No one should be forced to sit on a sofa with me to watch a film. So my anxiety got the better of me and I went home. Have found the rest of the films in the strand on FshareTV, so may stay at home today and watch them.

That seating arrangement isn't on is it I wouldn't have been happy about it either and would probably have done the same!

 

[Orang Utan]

If that film doesn't put you off booze, nothing will do

Quite! It did made me glad I’d given up booze!

 

[Orang Utan]

That seating arrangement isn't on is it I wouldn't have been happy about it either and would probably have done the same!

I whinged about it on Instagram as I thought I wouldn’t be the only person who felt that way, and I was pleasantly surprised to get a prompt and positive response from the festival saying they’d updated their online seating plan to make sure single seating is better labelled. Result!

 

[Guineveretoo]

I saw The Apprentice recently in an almost empty screen at the West Norwood Picture House.

Not my choice of film so I didn’t really know what to expect.

If anything, I thought it was too sympathetic towards Trump, although that’s perhaps an odd thing to say since it shows him as a rapist and as totally narcissistic and uncaring.

But that’s probably just because I hate Trump so much.

What do others who have seen it think?

 

[littlebabyjesus]

Bird

Set in Gravesend, where everything looks suitably grim, everyone appears to be going nowhere, and all seemingly reproducing as soon as biologically possible. This could have descended into caricature, but it doesn't. Director Andrea Arnold grew up around here, and she has an enormous sense of empathy and sympathy for both her characters and their surroundings. Finding beauty in the birds and the bees and the moths all around us even in Gravesend with its trains and motorways and industry and wind farms.

The film follows a week in the life of 12-year-old Bailey, who lives with her dad and half-brother, and has a mum and three other siblings down the road. Bailey seems trapped and lost at the start of the film, when a strange stranger called Bird appears. The film is full of a joyous energy even when there appears to be little to be joyous about. "Isn't it beautiful," says Bird when he first meets Bailey who's just slept rough for the night in a bush. "What?" she asks. "The day." Lots is left unexplained and I don't want to spoil it for people, so I won't say too much, but it's two hours long and it absolutely flew by, which is always a good sign. Highly recommended.

 

[Sue]

Heretic. Two young Mormons are out missionarying when they bang on Hugh Grant's door. Turns out he's very interested in the origins of religion and belief and is happy to discuss it all at great length...

Grant is excellent (he plays plausible and jovial but deniably threatening very well), as are the two other leads. Very funny and unsettling, if the last act loses it a bit and it turns out

Spoiler

the Hugh Grant character is just another man who gets off on abusing women. Which isn't exactly original.

Oh and Grant's knitwear is exactly right for his character.

 

[CNT36]

I saw The Apprentice recently in an almost empty screen at the West Norwood Picture House.

Not my choice of film so I didn’t really know what to expect.

If anything, I thought it was too sympathetic towards Trump, although that’s perhaps an odd thing to say since it shows him as a rapist and as totally narcissistic and uncaring.

But that’s probably just because I hate Trump so much.

What do others who have seen it think?

I think the "sympathetic" angle works well tbh. The film also makes him hateable. People are people something makes them who they become. I also found some of the small details interesting for example him actually collecting rent from low income tenants himself.

 

[Orang Utan]

Film 23
Road Games

A thrilling combo of Rear Window with Duel, starring Stacy Keach as an observant trucker who suspects a fellow motorist on the Eyre Highway is a serial killer.
4 barking dingos out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

Film 24
Conclave

Compelling political thriller on the choosing of a new pope. I did not expect to like this as much as I did, but excellent performances and the forgivably on-the-nose jabs at both the Catholic Church and American politics made this way more enjoyable than the premise indicates
4 black smoke puffs out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

Film 25
How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies

Thai humanist tear-jerker about a young man who moves in with his ailing grandma to curry favour with her so she leaves him her modest flat in her will. Every character is fleshed out and portrayed sympathically, so you can forgive the sentimentality.
4 dust motes-in-my-eye out of 5

 

[Orang Utan]

Film 26
She Loved Blossoms More

Confusing but visually sumptous grief scifi about three brothers trying to bring back their dead mother via an experimental time machine in a nice cupboard, all supplemented with a bran-tub selection of lucky dip mystery floor drugs.
3 headless interdimensional chickens out of 5

 

[shifting gears]

Film 26
She Loved Blossoms More
View attachment 451182
Confusing but visually sumptous grief scifi about three brothers trying to bring back their dead mother via an experimental time machine in a nice cupboard, all supplemented with a bran-tub selection of lucky dip mystery floor drugs.
3 headless intermensional chickens out of 5

*adds to watchlist

 

[xenon]

Saw Gladiator 2 tonight. A little too long perhaps but overall, enjoyable nonsense. hitting all the expected notes, gory, bombastic, a little daft but, yeah. Fine.

 

[redsquirrel]

Hard Truths - new Mike Leigh. Marianne Jean-Baptiste plays Pansy a woman who is clearly mentally suffering but also taking it out on others, fighting with her family, passers-by and shop assistants. Pansy's and her families, life is contrasted by that of her sister and nieces. It's reminiscent of Leigh's early works, the sister relationship brings to mind Life is Sweet. There are blackly comic parts but also real tragedy, I would not put in in quite the first rank of Leight films but worth watching.