CHINATOWN & THE KILLER INSIDE ME

PULP FICTION DOUBLE BILL

This week sees part three of our cult classics season with two big ones. First up is the award-winning screenplay by Robert Towne CHINATOWN, a film that has been Etched into filmic history not just for possibly winning every film award around at the time and since but also for, consistently topping the best 100 films list as well as being selected by the Library of Congress to be preserved in the United States National Film Registry as a film of cultural, historical and aesthetic significance. Roman Polanski’s multi-contextual story is part thriller part mystery part psychological thriller cleverly assembled within a film noir context to bring to the screen one of the most visually stunning films of the seventies. Followed by Michael Winterbottom’s THE KILLER INSIDE ME based on Jim Thompson cult pulp classic of the same name, this graphic depiction of the fall from grace of a respected county sheriff a well-crafted tale of violence. Two must-see cult classics this Sunday from 6pm, with the usual complimentary 

Popcorn and rum.   

THE GRIM REAPER / PIGS & BATTLESHIPS

UNDERBELLY DOUBLE BILL

This week sees part two of our summer classics, with the PIER PAOLO PASOLINI penned COMMARE SECCA (THE GRIM REAPER). This dark suffocating thriller with its velvet monochrome cinematography will draw you into PASOLINI'S dark and beautifully dysfunctional mind, this impressive cinematic debut became BERTOLUCCI'S calling card and is still classed as one the greatest debuts of all time. Next up is PIGS & BATTLESHIPS the start of the Japanese New Wave using the pork wars as a backdrop a storm that had been brewing for a while under the US occupation. IMAMURA paints a portrait of Japanese sub-culture that had rarely been documented up and till that point. This hectic crazed landscape gives a knowing wink to the beat movement and with its unforgettable ending, you need to see these films back to back.

WITH THE USUAL FREE POPCORN AND RUM  

LADY SNOWBLOOD & TRAPS

VENGEANCE DOUBLE BILL

This Sunday sees the start of our cult classics season with ten weeks of cult cinema from around the world. Starts with a bang! And a very big one at that with our lady vengeance double bill. First up is the screen adaptation of the Manga classic LADY SNOWBLOOD; a woman conceived through violence seeks retribution for her late mother by exacting revenge on those she deemed responsible for her mother’s attack and subsequent death. Followed by an even more intense ride on the vengeance bus with one of the Czech Republics most inventive and original filmmaker Vera Chytilova the queen of satire and very dark comedy her thought provoking and abstract philosophical style is unique in the art of story telling will have you transfixed. TRAPS (PASTI, PASTI, PASTICKY) looks at the role of the victim and what can happen when the victim becomes the perpetrator, a stark look at morality, society, greed and masculinity this darkly comic look at the human condition and the social structures that surround it will live you for days if not weeks after viewing so come prepared to be blown away. With the usual free popcorn and rum

THE WAVE & ALICE'S RESTAURANT

POLITICAL GENERATION PART FOUR


This Sunday sees the final part of our season of POLITICS ON SCREEN. First up is THE WAVE by Dennis Gansel the film story of a teachers attempt to explain how a dictatorship works by creating a mini dictatorship within the classroom environment. As the group start to realize their strengths the experiment starts to unravel with disastrous consequences. Followed by ALICE'S RESTAURANT based on the song lyrics by Arlo Guthrie Alice's Restaurant charts the changing social and political climate of the 60's. A night of film and education rolled into one.

THE CONFORMIST

AN ITALIAN MASTERPIECE 

THE ART OF POLITICS ON FILM

This week it the turn of the Italians with Bernardo Bertolucci's cinematic masterpiece THE CONFORMIST told in a non linear structure it explores politics, morality, sexuality and the search for acceptance. Set in Fascist Italy in the 1930s it tells the story Marcello and his desperation to aline himself with the Fascist party, to do so he agrees to assassinate a well known ant-Fascist intellectual and Marcello's old professor, set in flashback the film looks at guilt, loyalty, power, belonging, the church and the outsider. THE CONFORMIST is a cleverly crafted work of art that still manages to ask questions of the viewer. 

FINDING FELA AND PUNISHMENT PARK

PART TWO THE POLITICS SPECIALS (70's)

POLITICS PART TWO 

This week we have masterpieces of modern cinema first up is the powerful and extraordinary documentary by Alex Gibney FINDING FELA (MUSIC IS THE WEAPON) the story of the iconic artist FELA KUTI  and his creation of a musical movement that later became known as Afrobeat, and how he used his music to express his political and revolutionary opposition against the Nigerian dictatorship of the 70's and 80's. 

Followed by PUNISHMENT PARK, Peter Watkins's pseudo-documentary purporting to be the fly on the wall documentary coverage of the team of soldiers escorting a group of non-conformists, draft dodgers, and the disillusioned all of whom where classed as anti-establishment and a risk to US security they are forced to cross the desert in a game to capture the US flag.

PUNISHMENT PARK TRAILER 1971

MADE IN BRITAIN & RITA SUE AND BOB TOO!

80's BRITAIN DOUBLE BILL

Thatcher’s Britain, politics special with the king of social commentary, ALAN CLARKE and two of his most documented and replicated films.

First screening MADE IN BRITAIN (1983) starring Tim Roth as a disenchanted teenager.

Second screening RITA, SUE AND BOB TOO! (1986) based on the screenplay by Andrea Dunbar.