May 23rd   
Simon and Laura*      
(GB 1955)
Rank/Group Films. 91m.

A feuding celebrity couple agree to play happily married for the TV cameras in a daily drama.
A topical film both for its time and more recently (with the advent of reality TV and celebrity obsession), which starts out as an observant satire but soon degenerates into a standard Rank romantic comedy formula, deserving more of its cast.

Written by: Peter Blackmore, Alan Melville, from his play.~
Producer: Teddy Baird.
Director: Muriel Box.
Starring: Peter Finch, Kay Kendall, Ian Carmichael, Muriel Pavlow, Maurice Denham, Thora Hird, Hubert Gregg, Richard Wattis, Clive Parritt, and others.
Photography: Ernest Steward.
Music: Benjamin Frankel.

Preceded by:
The Fat and the Lean*
(Fra 1961. A.P.E.C. 15m. bw; Chaplinesque short by the recently graduated film student Polanski, vaguely symbolising his desire to break out from oppressive Poland (though shot near Paris.); w, d: Roma Polanski; p: Jean-Pierre Rousseau, Roman Polanski; s: Andre Katelbach, Roman Polanski; ph: Jean-Michel Boussaguet; m: Krzysztof Komeda.)

May 14th  
The Mauritanian**  
(GB/US 2020)              
30 West/Topic/BBC/Black Sheep/Convergent Media. 129m. ws

In 2002 a Muslim is arrested and taken to Guantanamo Bay with no definite evidence of his involvement in the September 11th terrorist attacks, and both his defending human rights lawyer and his prosecutor have a hard time trying to crack the case.
Largely matter-of-fact drama from recent history, commendably taking both sides without being overly judgemental. Later excessive flashback scenes nonetheless get their point across. 

Written by: M.B. Traven, Rory Haines, Sohrab Noshirvani, based on the book "Guantanamo Diary" by Mohamedou Slahi.
Producers: Adam Ackland, Michael Branner, Benedict Cumberbatch, Leah Clarke, Christine Holder, Mark Holder, Beatriz Levin, Lloyd Levin, Branwen Prestwood-Smith.
Director: Kevin Macdonald.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Benedict Cumberbatch, Tahar Rahim (as Mohamedou), Shailene Woodley, Zachary Levi, David Frayn.
Photography: Alwin H. Kuchler.
Music: Tom Hodge.
Editing: Justine Wright.

+ NEIL BUCKLAND (Zachary Levi): "The first thing those terrorists did, was slash up a flight attendant to elicit the co-pilot, Bruce, to open the cockpit door and come to her rescue. And then they slit his throat with a box cutter and let him bleed to death on the flight deck as the plane hit the tower. Now someone has to pay for that.

STUART COUCH (Benedict Cumberbatch): Someone, not just anyone."