Film Club
Join the RSC Film Club, all you need to do to join is take part as often as you want.
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Welcome to the RSC Film Club A chance to watch and discuss films, maybe your favourites, maybe something you’ve never heard of before, with all your favourite crew mates. We will be watching one film per month, hopefully giving everyone a chance to watch the film and to have a decent discussion about it before moving on to the next one. How do we choose what to watch? There will be a different theme/genre every month to keep things fresh, which will be announced in this thread. Everyone is free to nominate a film in this thread, all of which will be put in a random draw and chosen by good ol’ trustworthy @Con (it’ll just be luck that his films …
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Monty Python and the Holy Grail [RSC Film Club 55]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 1.4k views
This month's film club selection, thanks to @djw180, is Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the first feature length film from the legendary British comedy troupe made up of Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. Directed by the two Terrys, Jones and Gilliam - both of their directorial debuts - the film is a spoof of Arthurian legend in the Python's own surreal and slapstick style. Chapman stars as King Arthur (I didn't vote for him) who, after assembling his knights of the round table, is given a quest by god, to seek out the Holy Grail. Their journey sees them face off against animated monsters, rude Frenchmen and…
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The Reader [RSC Film Club 53]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 922 views
The first half of our awards season double-bill, nominated by @djw180, is the 2008 drama The Reader, for which Kate Winslet won the Oscar for Best Actress. This is a film I know nothing about, but the synopsis sounds interesting, with Winslet playing a guard at a concentration camp. It co stars the always brilliant Ralph Fiennes as well as Bruno Ganz and Lena Olin. As well as Winslet's win, the film was nominated for Best Film, Director, Adapted Screenplay and Cinematography. it doesn't matter what i feel, it doesn't matter what i think. the dead are still dead
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Leaving Las Vegas [RSC Film Club 54]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 665 views
The second half of our Oscar double-bill is the film that got Nicolas Cage a Best Actor award, Leaving Las Vegas, as nominated by @omarcomin71. Cage plays suicidal, alcoholic screenwriter Ben Sanderson who, when he feels like he has nothing left to live for, resolves to go to Las Vegas and drink himself to death. While there he meets prostitute Sera, plated by Elisabeth Shue and the bond they form may be enough to bring him back from the brink. As well as Cage's win, the film was nominated for Best Director, Actress for Shue, and Adapted Screenplay. i don't know if i started drinking 'cause my wife left me or my wife left me 'cause i st…
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Akira [RSC Film Club 39]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 3 replies
- 987 views
The first film of 2022 will be our second animated film, and that is Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, nominated by @djw180. An absolute landmark in the history of animation, Akira is a cyberpunk film about a biker gang getting involved in military experiments exploring the limits of telekinetic power. Incredibly detailed backgrounds of the towering, neon drenched Neo-Tokyo set the standard of what cyberpunk looks like and the soundtrack, a mixture of the traditional and the futuristic, perfectly sets the mood. And then there's the finale, which I'll leave you to experience for yourself. I only watched this recently but I'm glad for an excuse to re-watch it as this w…
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Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles [RSC Film Club 52]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 1 reply
- 887 views
Our first film of 2023 is the winner of the latest once-a-decade Sight and Sound poll to determine the greatest film of all time, Jeanne Dielman, 23, quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles by Chantal Akerman. The film stars Delphine Seyrig as the titular Jeanne Dielman, a middle aged widow who lives a quiet, orderly life with her teenage son Sylvain (Jan Decorte), while also entertaining the occasional gentleman caller for some extra money. The film follows her over three days where you can watch her slowly unravel in the most subtle way. This isn't a film that everyone will enjoy, being nearly three and a half hours long and consisting of minutes long stat…
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The Muppet Christmas Carol [RSC Film Club 51]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 730 views
I'm pretty sure that Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol is one of, if not the most adapted literary work of all time, and this right here is the best of the bunch. Directed by Brian Henson, son of the legendary Jim Henson, The Muppet Christmas Carol stars Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge with a supporting cast that includes Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy as Bob and Emily Cratchitt, The Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens and Rizzo the Rat as himself. Everyone knows this story, but if you've never seen this version before I think you'll be surprised at how faithful this is to the source material. Michael Caine is genuinely brilliant as Scrooge, playing it straight…
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Steve Jobs [RSC Film Club 44]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 4 replies
- 1.1k views
This month we're delving into the filmography of Oscar winning director Danny Boyle thanks to @Con's nomination. His is an incredibly varied filmography, from gritty drama to Bollywood musical through to sci-fi and feel-good family fare he's pretty much done it all. The film we'll be watching, nominated by @djw180, is a biopic, that of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, also the title of the film. Written by Aaron Sorkin of The West Wing fame, Steve Jobs stars Michael Fassbender in the title role. The film covers the period in his life from 1984 up to the release of the iMac in 1998. It co-stars Kate Winslet as Apple marketing exec Joanna Hoffman, Seth Rogen as A…
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Flash Gordon [RSC Film Club 50]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 801 views
Our fiftieth film for the film club is a cult classic and guilty pleasure, as per @omarcomin71's category nomination. That film is 1980's Flash Gordon, chosen by @djw180. Sam J. Jones plays Flash, football star of the New York Jets who has to defend the Earth from Ming the Merciless (Max von Sydow). As well as Sydow there are a number of fantastic actors in supporting roles such as Topol, Timothy Dalton, and the shy and retiring Brian Blessed. I have vague memories of seeing this as a child but I couldn't tell you a thing about it apart from the legendary soundtrack by Queen, so I can't wait to watch this again. gordon's alive
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Rosemary's Baby [RSC Film Club 49]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 763 views
Our Halloween selection this year was nominated by our resident horror expert @Con, and that is Rosemary's Baby from 1968. It stars Mia Farrow as Rosemary Woodhouse, a young pregnant woman moving into a new apartment with her husband Guy, played by director John Cassevetes. But she soon starts to suspect that her elderly neighbours may have a less than innocent interest in her baby. Widely regarded as one of the great American horror films, it won several awards, including a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for Ruth Gordan, who plays Rosemary's sinister neighbour Minnie. This is another classic horror film that I haven't seen yet, so I'm looking forward t…
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The Untouchables [RSC 48]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 809 views
We're diving into the world of organised crime this month with @djw180's nomination of Brian De Palma's The Untouchables. Based on a true story, this film stars Kevin Costner as by the book lawman Eliot Ness who is determined to bring down Al Capone (Robert De Niro) and his illegal bootlegging activities. He is helped by his crew of untouchables, so called because they can't be bribed, unlike most of the cops in Chicago. This group is made up of Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, and, in an Oscar winning performance, Sean Connery. Throw in a classic Ennio Morricone score (my favourite of his), and you have one classy flick. It's been a while since I've…
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Old Henry [RSC Film Club 47]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 1k views
Our second film for this month's double feature is @omarcomin71's nomination of the recent western, Old Henry. The film stars the always excellent Tim Blake Nelson in a rare leading role. He plays the titular character, a widowed farm owner who must protect it, and his sons, from local outlaws. Not having even heard of this film, let alone seen it, I don't have much to say, so here are some quotes from favourable reviews. From TheWrap, Steve Pond said he wished parts of the film were "more expansive" but overall described it as a "beautiful elegy" with a finale that feels "just right." Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney described the direc…
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Bad Luck Banging or Loony p*rn [RSC Film Club 46]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 1.2k views
This month the film club was open choice, and the first of the two films selected is Radu Jude's confrontational and explicit Bad Luck Banging or Loony p*rn. This film stars Katia Pascariu as teacher Emi whose s*x tape that she makes with her husband is somehow leaked online. Kids in her class see it and she is quickly summoned before a group of teachers and parents who are to decide if she's fit to be a teacher. Told in three distinct acts, this is the very definition of confrontational cinema, with it opening with the McGuffin of a s*x tape in all of its glory. But the real meat of the film is the meeting to decide Emi's fate, things getting more and…
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Young Frankenstein [RSC Film Club 45]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 724 views
This month we are celebrating the work of the legendary Mel Brooks by watching one of his films, namely Young Frankenstein, as nominated by @djw180. Gene Wilder stars as Dr. Frederick Frankenstein, grandson of the infamous mad scientist who re-animated a corpse. After inheriting his estate, Frederick takes up his grandfather's work and makes a monster of his own (the brilliant Peter Boyle). This is peak Brooks, with the jokes coming thick and fast - the first joke happens before a single word is said, just count how many times the clock tolls over the opening credits - all delivered perfectly by an incredible supporting cast including Marty Feldman, Cloris Le…
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Strictly Ballroom [RSC Film Club 43]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 1k views
This month's film club selection, nominated by @djw180, is the Australian rom-com Strictly Ballroom, directed by Baz Luhrmann. This is the first part of an unofficial trilogy, followed by Romeo + Juliet in 1996 and Moulin Rouge in 2001. The film sees talented dancer Scott Paul Mercurio) team up with beginner Fran (Tara Morice) as no one else will dance with him due to his unconventional style which has seen him denounced by the Australian Dancing Federation. I've not seen this before, but having had seen Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge I'm expecting something bold and brash and oozing with style and energy and melodrama. i'm not danci…
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Citizen Kane [RSC Film Club 42]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 3 replies
- 990 views
The second half of our Oscar special, a winning Best Screenplay film, is the legendary Citizen Kane, arguably the greatest film ever made, easily the most influential. When elderly, reclusive billionaire media mogul Charles Foster Kane (Orson Welles) dies in his palatial estate, dogged reporter Jerry Thompson (William Alland) sets out to discover the meaning behind his enigmatic last word, "Rosebud". He interviews people who knew him and we get to see Kane's entire life from childhood through to his lonely death. This is Orson Welle's debut film, and as well as starring in the lead role he also directed, produced and co-wrote the screenplay with Herma…
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Fargo [RSC Film Club 41]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 805 views
To celebrate this years Oscars, and Will Smith's mental breakdown, we're rounding out the 'big five' by watching films that won the award for Best Actress and Best Screenplay. @omarcomin71will be pleased with the results of the Best Actress pick, Frances McDormand's winning performance as Marge Gunderson in the Coen Brother's Fargo, something he's been nominating for months 😉 A pitch-black crime comedy, McDormand plays the sweet natured yet ruthlessly efficient cop investigating a kidnapping case for car salesman Jerry Lundegaard (William H. Macy) and a series of murders committed by the psychopathic Gaear Grimsrud (Peter Stomare) and his quick talking partne…
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The Long Kiss Goodnight [RSC Film Club 40]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 5 replies
- 919 views
This month we are celebrating the long career and extensive filmography of Samuel L. Jackson, the highest grossing actor of all time whose films have made a worldwide total of over 20 billion dollars. Billion. The film we'll be watching is the 1996 spy film The Long Kiss Goodnight. The film stars Geena Davis (whatever happened to her?) as amnesiac teacher Samantha who may have been a spy before she lost her memory. With the help of our man Jackson as private detective Mitch Henessey she attempts to put together the pieces of her past. Directed by Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger) and written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Last Action Hero, The Nice…
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Barton Fink [RSC Film Club 37]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 3 replies
- 1.1k views
This month's film club selection comes from the filmography of Ethan and Joel Coen, as nominated by @djw180. The winning film is their lesser known 1991 thriller/comedy/noir film Barton Fink, selected by @Con. Set in the early 40s, Barton Fink stars John Turturro as the titular character, a hot new playwright who goes to Hollywood to start working on movies. However, upon arriving he finds that he is being told what to write, and has to stay at the rundown Hotel Earle, which may in fact be hell. This film has a great, and terrifying, supporting turn from John Goodman as Charlie Meadows, his hotel neighbour, and smaller but memorable roles for the likes of St…
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Die Hard [RSC Film Club 38]
by LimeGreenLegend- 3 followers
- 4 replies
- 1.1k views
It's taken three years, but we're finally celebrating Christmas at the Film Club with Die Hard thanks to @TheFox2000unit's nomination. Directed by John McTiernan (Predator, The Hunt for Red October, The Last Action Hero), Die Hard is a holiday classic about family, friendship and a terrorist takeover of a Los Angeles skyscraper. Bruce Willis stars as blue-collar New York cop John McClane, in town to visit his estranged wife and kids at Christmas. But soon after he goes to meet her at Nakatomi Plaza, the skyscraper in which she works, it is taken over by a group of terrorists led by Hans Gruber, played by Alan Rickman in a fantastically hammy scene-stealing …
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La Strada [RSC Film Club 34]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 6 replies
- 1.1k views
This month we are going international as the film club watches a movie in a language that we've not yet covered, as suggested by @djw180. So no films in English, French, Norwegian, Korean or Japanese could be nominated. The winning film, nominated by me, is Federico Fellini's neorealist drama, La Strada (The Road). It stars Giulietta Masina as Gelsomina, a naive and simple young woman whose mother sells her to a travelling circus to be the wife and assistant of the brutish strongman, Zampanò (Anthony Quinn). She soon falls in love with the circus's clown, Il Matteo (Richard Baseheart) and considers leaving her jeasous and violent husband for him. I…
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Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror [RSC Film Club 35]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 4 replies
- 1.1k views
It's spooky season and that can only mean one thing here at the film club, time for horror. Just like last year we are having a double bill with a classic and a modern horror film. For our classic selection we have F.W Murnau's legendary German expressionist vampire film Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror. Starring Max Schreck as Count Orlok the film is an unauthorised retelling of Bram Stoker's Dracula, the names all changed to avoid lawsuits, but other than that it is a pretty faithful version of the story. It was so faithful that the estate of Bram Stoker sued the production company and won, putting the company out of business and having a judge rule that al…
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The Shining [RSC Film Club 36]
by LimeGreenLegend- 1 follower
- 2 replies
- 912 views
The modern half of our horror double bill was nominated by @PretendWereDeadand is Stanley Kubrick's haunted house masterpiece, The Shining. The film stars Jack Nicholson and Shelley Duvall as Jack and Wendy Torrance, a couple charged with looking after the isolated Overlook hotel during the winter months. Along with their young son Danny (Danny Lloyd) the soon discover that they may not be alone. I don't think I have to say much more about this film here, it's so legendary that even the carpet is iconic. It is interesting to note that Stephen King, author of the book on which this is based, hated this film so much that he made his own TV miniseries ver…
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American Graffiti [RSC Film Club 33]
by LimeGreenLegend- 2 followers
- 6 replies
- 1.1k views
The genre for August's Film Club selection, as nominated by @Conwas school/college films. The winning entry, nominated by both @djw180and @Squirrelis George Lucas's ode to his teenage years, American Graffiti. Set over the last night of summer vacation, the film follows a group of teenagers as they hang out for the last time, cruising in their hot rods, trying to pick up girls and looking to the future. It stars Ron Howard (Happy Days) before he became an Oscar winning director and Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws), with an expansive supporting cast that includes Harrison Ford (you know who he is). Not only did the film fuel the wave of 50s/60s rock 'n' roll nostalgia…
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A Bronx Tale [RSC Film Club 32]
by LimeGreenLegend- 3 followers
- 8 replies
- 1.5k views
This month's category, chosen by @djw180 was play adaptations with the winning film being @omarcomin71's selection of A Bronx Tale. The directorial debut of Robert De Niro, A Bronx Tale is based on the 1989 autobiographical play of the same name, which was a one man show by Chazz Palminteri, who also adapted the play for the screen. The film is a coming of age story where the young Calogero (Francis Capra/Lillo Brancato, Jr. as child and teen Calogero respectively) is torn between his father Lorenzo (De Niro) and local gangster Sonny (Palminteri). This is another film club choice that I haven't seen yet so there's not much more I can say. I'm really …
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234Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
What I Watched This Week #172 (Apr 14-20) Alien dir. Ridley Scott/1979/1h57m One of the greatest sci-fi horror films of all time, Ridley Scott's Alien stars Sigourney Weaver as a member of a deep space mining crew who takes a detour to an SOS message on the long journey back to Earth, finding a crashed ship full of eggs. My favourite thing about this film after seeing it so many times is how worn and lived in the ship is. I totally believe that it's real and functional and that this crew has spent months living in it. The opening sequence where we explore the empty ship while the crew is in cryosleep not only builds tension but allows us to take in the incredible details in the production design. Speaking of design, H.R. Giger's design for the xenomorph is the best in movie history (though the lil guy who bursts out of John Hurt's chest is kinda cute and goofy looking). The aggressively ph*llic look of it works well with the very male perspective fear of r*pe and childbirth. The whole cast is excellent, alongside Weaver and Hurt you have Ian Holm, Harry Dean Stanton and Yaphet Kotto, the latter two making a great comedic double team. 9.5/10 Lime's Film of the Week! Now You See Me dir. Louis Leterrier/2013/1h56m Now You See Me tells the story of a group of Las Vegas magicians known as the Four Horsemen (Woody Harrelson, Jesse Eisenberg, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco) who rob banks live during their show, distributing the money to their audience. They are being tracked by Mark Ruffalo's FBI agent Rhodes who is determined to uncover their secrets. Totally forgettable fluff, there are some nice moments in here, and I liked the twist at the end even though you can see it coming a mile away. The big trick showpieces are entertaining in that artificial Vegas way that also feels hollow and meaningless. My biggest gripe here is with the four main characters and that I didn't like any of them. Like real magicians I found them to be annoying and so far up their own *sses that I was actively rooting against them every step of the way. The exception is Harrelson, though he comes close at times. There's solid support from Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, with Ruffalo giving the best performance in the film. This is the definition of inoffensive cinematic background noise. 5/10 Cinderella dir. Georges Méliès/1899/6m Georges Méliès here with some more ground breaking work from the dawn of cinema. Not only is this the first film adaptation of Cinderella, it's also the first film adaptation of any fairy tale and also the first film to use dissolves to transition between scenes (with this being his first film with more than one scene). Watching this is to watch the evolution of film in real time, and, like the rest of his work, it's nothing less than magical. This is Méliès becoming more innovative and inventive with his films becoming more complex and technically demanding. The sets and costumes are beautifully detailed and like illustrations come to life. It's amazing to me that a film from the 19th century can still be so magical. 8/10 How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies dir. Pat Boonnitipat/2024/2h7m This family drama/comedy from Thailand stars Putthipong Assaratanakul as M, a lazy young man who has dropped out of college to try and start a streaming career ("wow four viewers" his mother chides early on). When he learns that his grandmother (Usha Seamkhum) has cancer he thinks that he can weasel his way to the top of her will by moving in with her to care for her. A tender and gentle film that also surprises with some pretty dark humour, I found this to be incredibly charming with two excellent lead performances from Assaratanakul and Seamkhum. Seamkhum is particularly impressive in her late in life film debut as the wily old woman who sees through all the bullsh*t from her grandson, but also sees something of herself in him. The plot is fairly predictable - of course the two will grow closer to each other and form a real bond by the time she dies - but the journey to that point, and the touching epilogue, I really enjoyed. There's a lot of family drama with the grandmother's children but it always feels close to reality and not emotionally manipulative or overly melodramatic at any point. 9/10 Shock Treatment dir. Jim Sharman/1981/1h34m Shock Treatment is a sequel to one of my all time favourite films, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and picks up with Brad and Janet (now played by Cliff DeYoung and Jessica Harper) a few years later with their marriage now on the rocks. To rectify this they appear on a TV show with the result being Brad getting committed to a psychiatric hospital run by Dr. Cosmo McKinley (Richard O'Brien) and Janet getting groomed for superstardom. This is perhaps even more bizarre than Rocky Horror, certainly more cynical, with the world now seeming to exists as a series of TV shows, a live studio audience never leaving, sleeping in their seats as the film happens on screens all around them. It's a strange dystopia that seems to predict the dominance TV would have over our lives to an even greater extent in the era of commercialism and Reganomics. If there's not a camera on you then you don't exist, like the antithesis of Rocky Horror's theme of "don't dream it, be it". Many of the Rocky Horror cast returns with the exception of Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick as Janet and Brad (though DeYoung and especially Harper do an excellent job in the roles) and most notably Tim Curry. I kept imagining him in the role played by Barry Humphries (most famous for playing Dame Edna Everage), a garishly sleazy host called Bert Schnick. Humphries is great, but we all know Curry would have been better. Another slight let down for me is the soundtrack. As a musical this doesn't really compare with Rocky Horror, though there are some catchy tunes in there, the main theme still popping into my head occasionally. 9/10 #21xoxo dir. Sine Ozbilge, Imge Ozbilge/2019/9m This animated short from Belgium shows a girl (Indra de Bruyn) and her experiences with online dating, hooking up with several men before finding a genuine connection. The most striking thing about this film are the visuals, with the film being rotoscoped, a process where live action footage is traced over by animators giving it natural movement, a process used by Disney for Snow White back in 1937. Here it's given a thoroughly modern makeover, with the screen bombarded with text and images and memes representing the experience of being chronically online. The aesthetic also calls to mind pop art of the 60's, showing that the digital world may be new but the problems of finding a partner are anything but. It's at times overwhelming, purposefully so, but there's still a cohesion between all these elements. The ending is a bit on the nose but it's well done, wrapping the whole thing up maybe a bit too neatly. 7/10 Toomas Beneath the Valley of the Wild Wolves dir. Chintis Lundgren, Drasko Ivezic/2019/18m Another animated short, this time from Estonia, this tells the story of Toomas (Drasko Ivezic), a wolf who is fired after turning down his boss's advances. With a wife and children to support he turns to prostitution and then gay p*rn. Meanwhile, his wife Viivi (Chintis Lundgren) is learning some things about herself thanks to militant feminist Alexandra Horn-Eye (Lee Delong). This reminded me a lot of Bug Diner, another charming and cheeky animation about sexuality and relationships starring anthropomorphic animals. That was stop motion while this is animated in a simple yet effective style, the linework wobbling between frames like Doug, the 90's cartoon. Like Bug Diner, this is also a very mature film with more human characters than a lot of live action films that tackle the same subjects. 8.5/10 No Home But Cinema: The Spaces of Chantal Akerman dir. Jessica McGoff/2025/14m (no trailer for this, so here's one for a similar film) This short essay film explores the films of Chantal Akerman through her use of space and locations, how she films them, how she moves through them and what they represent. McGoff doesn't narrate this film, rather her essay is presented as text on the screen over clips from films that illustrate her points. I like this approach and how it's executed. The text isn't presented in blocks but line by line and is edited with the rhythm of the film clips so that they're unobtrusive and allow you to fully immerse in the various worlds of Akerman. This doesn't go too in depth with any of her observations as they are things you will pick up on by just watching the films, but it would work as a good introduction to her and what to look out for in her work. 7/10 Hotel Monterey dir. Chantal Akerman/1973/1h3m (no trailer so have an extended clip) Staying with Chantal Akerman, Hotel Monterey is an observational documentary in which she explores the titular hotel, a cheap one in New York where she stayed when she first moved to the city, from the lobby to the roof. It starts off at night where her camera captures people milling about in the lobby, taking the elevators up and down. She then prowls the corridors like a ghost, her very formally structured compositions bringing out the textures of the grimy yellow walls. Methodically we move upwards until we are on the roof, it is day now, and the feeling of escape is palpable. We do this all in silence, and I mean total silence. No music, no background noise, nothing. Not only does this make us even more aware of what we're seeing on screen, but it also makes us aware of our own environment. An exploration of space is happening on the screen and in real life at the same time and it's kind of amazing once you notice that. It's like Akerman speaking out of time saying here I am, where are you? This also feels like a prelude to her masterful film News From Home, in which she takes the same approach but expands it to the whole city, though this time with sound. This totally isn't for everyone, it's not even close to what you'd call entertaining, but if you give it a chance you'll get so much out of it. 8.5/10- 1
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234Rate the Last Film you Watched 2: Electric Boogaloo
Local Hero (1983) dir Bill Forsyth A great early 80s British light comedy drama. Peter Reigert (who I have never seen in anything else) plays Mac, a lawyer / accountant / fixer working for Texas based Happer oil. The CEO, Mr Happer (Burt Lancaster), sends Mac to oversee the purchase of an entire Scottish fishing village that they want to demolish to build a new oil terminal. Mac expects at least some of the villagers, led by their lawyer / accountant / hotel manager Gordon Urquart (Denis Lawson - Wedge from Star Wars), to put up somewhat of a fight. But they are not quite the simple folk he expects. They already know what is going on and Urquart intends to squeeze as much cash as possible from the big oil company. It also co-stars a young Peter Capaldi, almost unrecognisable at times, as Oldsen, a Scottish Happer Oil employee assigned to help Mac and Jenny Seagrove as marine biologist Marina, working for them in what she knows is really just a job to generate good PR in case of environmental problems. Marina has slightly webbed feet, making her seem a bit like a mermaid as she swims, which her job requires a lot of. This is possibly a nod to the Jerry Anderson puppet show Stingray that had a mermaid called Marina. (And maybe having watched Team America last week this is what subconsciously made me decide to watch this film that I have seen many times before). It also features a host of other faces, mainly Scottish actors, familiar to anyone who has watched a lot of British TV over the years, like me. But sometimes it takes a while to recognise them, because this was made over 40 years ago. One of the non-Scots is Christopher Rozycki, who is great as the captain of a Soviet fishing trawler that makes frequent visits to the village. He quite clearly is not a believer in the political ideology of his homeland. He has a great line I wish I could remember word for word, but at one point he says to Mac something like “Don't look so worried. You are doing a great thing here. You are making people very rich!”. It is a beautifully made film, technically very, very good. It's set mainly in the village, but starts in Houston and switches back there a couple of times and has some stunning scenes of the Scottish countryside and coast. There's no great tension to the story, no massive plot twists. It's quite a gentle tale of Mac falling in love with the village he has basically come to destroy, but the locals just wanting the money. Forsyth got a well deserved BAFTA for the direction and a nomination for the original script. It also got a number of other worthy nominations including Chris Menges' cinematography and Mark Knopfler's modern score that includes the iconic “Going home” guitar – saxophone instrumental that accompanies the end credits. The only acting one was for Lancaster but the rest of the cast are very good, even down to some quite minor roles. I do have to pick it up on a couple of factual issues. The village is shown on a map in North West Scotland, but the oil is (was) all on the east, in the North Sea between Scotland and Norway. And I know, from a friend who used to live there and remembers the filming, it was mainly filmed on location in various villages on the east coast. The other thing might have been a deliberate joke at the expense of Hollywood. This is when Marina is showing Oldsen a colony of what are described as grey seals, but what we see on screen are quite clearly sea-lions, the sort you might well see in California but certainly not Scotland! Those don't really detract from the overall film though which is one of my all time favourites. 10 / 10- 2
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