Jun 4th   
Everything Everywhere All at Once* (15)
(King Street Cinema, Ipswich)

(US 2021)
A24/Gozie AGBO/Leyline Entertainment/IAC. 139m. ws

A Chinese laundromat owner in Los Angeles struggles to pay her taxes, and is also propelled into various parallel universes, all of which are being threatened by her volatile teenage daughter.
Long but sustained kinetic action fantasy which quickly gets carried away with itself, akin to The Matrix but not taking itself quite so seriously.

Written and Directed by: Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert.
Producers: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo, Mike Larocca, Dan Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Jonathan Wang, Michelle Yeoh.
Starring: Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Jamie Lee Curtis, Stephenie Hsu, James Hong, Jenny Slate, Tallie Medel, Harry Shum Jnr.
Photography: Larkin Seiple.
Music: Son Lux.
Visual Effects: Zak Stoltz.

 Feb 24th
The Vagabond King*
(US 1930)
Paramount. 104m. (originally Technicolor)

A rogue tavern poet leads Parisian peasants to combat the Duke of Burgundy for King Louis XI.
Stilted looking opera by today's standards, but some of the Technicolor flamboyance and the strength of the performances still remain.

Written by: Herman Mankiewicz, based on the operetta of the novel by Justin Huntly McCarthy.
Producer: Adolph Zukor.
Director: Ludwig Berger.
Starring: Dennis King, Jeanette MacDonald, Lillian Roth, O.P. Heggie, Warner Oland.
Photography: Henry W. Gerrard, Ray Rennahan.
Music/Lyrics: Rudolf Frimi, W. Franke Harling, John Leopold, Oscar Potoker.

+ the opening gala film at the Regal (later Odeon) in Colchester in 1930

Preceded by:
Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves*
(Fra 1902. Pathe. 9m(tinted). silent; Another interesting early colour experiment, made not by Melies but clearly influenced by him.; p,d: Ferdinand Zecca.)

Feb 3rd  
The Exterminating Angel**    
(Mexico 1962)                    
93m. bw

Aristocrats at a dinner party abandoned by most of the servants find themselves mysteriously trapped in the house and unable to get out, until they eventually escape to a church where a similar fate awaits them.
Oddly haunting semi-surreal drama by Bunuel, with no identifiable meaning other than the self-oppression of the establishment and the church. An ensemble cast and some vivid moments hold the attention as the situation become increasingly restless and surreal.

Written by: Luis Bunuel, Luis Alcoriza.
Producer: Gustavo Alatriste.
Director: Luis Bunuel.
Starring: Enrique Rabal, Silvia Pinal, Lucy Gallardo, Cesar del Campo, Augusto Benedico, Ofelia Montesco, Xavier Masse, Claudio Brook.
Photography: Gabriel Figueroa.

Nov 22nd  
Lola Montes* 
(Fra/WG 1955) 
Gamma Films/Florida/Oska. 115m. Cinemascope                         

A 19th century courtesan has a succession of lovers, including the King of Bavaria which brings about his ultimate ruin, and she is resorted to telling her life story a New Orleans circus.
Overblown and magisterial looking epic romantic drama with its circus setting the most audacious and the most bizarre aspect about it. Sweeping in its scope but utterly empty emotionally, perhaps deliberately so. It's director's last great folly, the version here is a 2008 restoration, after the original was heavily altered following the premiere that offended many - although one struggles to see how any alterations would have changed the basic premise.

Written by: Max Ophuls, Franz Greiger, Annette Wadement, based on the novel by Cecil Saint-Laurent (Jacques Laurent).
Producer: Albert Caraco.
Director: Max Ophuls.
Starring: Martine Carol, Peter Ustinov, Anton Walbrook, Ivan Desny, Oskar Werner, Will Quadflieg (as Franz Liszt), Lise Delamare, Carl Esmond.
Photography: Christian Matras.
Music: Georges Auric.

Nov 18th  
Man with a Movie Camera***    
(USSR 1929)
VUFKU. 68m. bw. silent

Experimental documentary beginning in a cinema and charting a cameraman's journey a day in the city.
Something of an ordeal for those who didn't have the freedom to choose whether to see this film, but also brilliantly surreal and thematic, as well as historical hindsight for its evocation of Moscow (and elsewhere). As a cinematic language, it tries and almost succeeds in creating a storytelling form in pure motion, but would need more artistry for that.

Directed by: Dziga Vertov.
Photography: Mikhail Kaufman (who also appears as the cameraman).
Editing: Elizaveta Svilova.

Preceded by:
Our Lady of Lourdes**
(GB/Poland 2013. Independent Films/Light + Mathematics. 17m.; A young girl and a drunken widower unwittingly rescue each other. Oddly moving drama with only partly relevant special effects scenes, and a deliberately vague sense of location.; w,d: Peter Szewecyk; s: Naomi Scott, Lech Byblik, Nick Moran.)

Oct 12th   
Nosferatu**    
(Elgar Room, Royal Albert Hall)

(Ger 1922)
Prana Films. 94m. bw. silent

A sinister vampire count arrives in a German port and spreads the plague.
Murnau's famous first film version of Dracula - cheekily changing the names of the characters, and was sued successfully by Bram Stoker's widow; most copies were therefore destroyed, except for some (including this 2006 restoration), what remains is a a stilted but highly entertaining fantasy melodrama. which admittedly shows its eccentricity with some of the added scenes (the vampire lugubriously walks along carrying his own coffin to his house and then dissolves into it!) Memorable for certain indelible images, not least its star's memorable make-up.

Written by: Henrik Galeen, based on the novel by Bram Stoker.
Producers: Enriko Dieckman, Albin Grau.
Director: F.W. Murnau.
Starring: Max Schreck, Gustav von Wangenheim, Greta Schroder, Alexander Granach, Ruth Landshoff, John Gottowt.
Photography: Fritz Arno Wagner, Gunther Krampf.

Music: Dmytro Morykit (played from memory on piano.)

Apr 29th 
Downfall**        
(Ger/Austria/Russia 2004)

The last days of the Third Reich in WWII, mainly from the perspectives of a Berlin SS doctor and Hitler's personal secretary Traudl Junge.
Probably the definitive account of the final days in Hitler's bunker, an overdue German catharsis of the subject (previously covered in Der Letzte Akt in 1955), conveying as much of the horror of Hitler's decaying empire as well as his own flawed humanity amidst the monster. It drags only in its later stages.

Written/Produced by: Bernd Eichinger, based on books by Jachim Fest, Traudl Junge and Melissa Muller.
Director: Oliver Hirschbiegel.
Starring: Bruno Ganz, Alexandra Maria Lara, Christian Berkel, Juliane Kohler (as Eva Braun), Ulrich Mathes, Corinna Harfouch, Heino Ferch, Matthias Habich, Thomas Kretschmann.
Photography: Rainer Klausman.
Music: Stephen Zacharias.

Dec 15th
Le Rayon Vert*
(The Green Ray)                      
            
(Fra 1986)

A single woman finds her original holiday plans scuppered and spends the remaining weeks in various locations searching for love, happiness and the green ray of sunlight that will herald them.
Fifth in Rohmer's series of "Comedies and Proverbs", boringly plotted although the central performance is engaging, shot in natural sound with largely improvisational dialogue, with the belated ending worth the wait.

Written by: Eric Rohmer, Marie Riviere.
Producer: Margaret Menegoz.
Sarring: Marie Riviere, and others.
Photography: Sophie Maintigneux.
Music: Jean-Louis Valero.

Nov 22nd
Tokyo Story*** (U)

(Slack Space, Colchester)        

(Japan 1953) 135m. bw

Two grand parents visit their adult children in Tokyo for the first time, where they are all for various reasons too busy to attend to them for long.
Slow to start, and doggedly Japanese in its style of relentless static tableau, this nonetheless deeply moving human drama comes into its own in the later stages, playing in subtle ways upon universal human values without any gloss or weepy sentiment.

d: Yasujiro Ozu
s: Chisu Ryu, Chieko Hiyashiyama, Setsuko Hara, Soh Yamamura, Haruko Sugimura, Shiro Osaka, Ejiro Tono

Jul 22nd 

Au Revoir les Enfants***                               

(Fra/WG 1987)

Experiences at a Carmelite boarding school in occupied France during WWII, where a boy realises his quiet, reserved classmate is a Jew in hiding.
Beautifully observed, no-nonsense filming by Malle based on his own childhood (as downbeat and truthful as were The Pianist and Schindler's List), with a heart-wrenching finale.

Written, Produced and Directed by: Louis Malle.
Starring: Gaspard Manesse, Raphael Fejto, Philippe Morier-Genoud, Francois Berleand, Francine Racette, Stanislas Carre de Malberg, Francois Negret, Irene Jacob.
Photography: Renato Berta.
Music: Various classical.
Production Design: Willy Holt.

Jun 22nd 

Spirited Away**                         

(Jap 2001) 
Studio Ghibli/Tohokushimsha Film/Tokuma Shoten. 125m.

A girl tries to get her parents back after they are turned into pigs in a parallel netherworld where the gods are fed and looked after.
Captivating Japanese animation with echoes of Alice in Wonderland and The Wizard of Oz, tricky to follow in some of its plot and setting but full of atmosphere and rich in imagination. The most imaginative film of its year - and this, bear in mind, was also the year of The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.

Written and Directed by: Hiyao Miyazaki.
Producer: Toshio Suzuki.
Animation: Masashi Ando.
Music: Joe Hishaishi.
Art Direction: Yoji Takeshige.

(English version): voices of Daveigh Chase, Jason Marsden, Suzanne Pleshette, Lauren Holly , Michael Chiklis, David Ogden Stiers, John Ratzenberger.

Apr 3rd
Age of Consent*
Australia 1968. Columbia/Nautilus. 103m.

A reclusive artist on the Great Barrier Reef finds his ideal model in a precocious teenage girl who is coming of age.
Leisurely Pygmalion-style drama with occasional touches of visual imagination and lewdness from a director sitting back on previous triumphs.

Written by: Peter Yeldham, from the novel by Norman Lindsay.
Producers: James Mason, Michael Powell.
Director: Michael Powell.
Starring: James Mason, Helen Mirren, Jack MacGowran, Neva Carr-Glyn, Andonia Katsaros, Slim de Grey, Frank Thring.
Photography: Hannes Staudinger, Ron Taylor.
Music: Peter Sculthorpe.

Mar 4th
The Artist** (PG)
Electric Palace, Harwich#

A fading silent star is helped by a hot young talent whom he helped to get her big break.
What did it matter that the plot practically mimicked that of Singin' in the Rain? Hardly original in its concept, but with some occasional surprises such as the hero's nightmare of not being heard in a world of sound, this atmospherically made silent melodrama tribute has won over audiences and critics alike, and is a refreshing reminder of the power of silent films.

d: Michel Hazanavicius
s: Jean Dujardin, Berenice Bejo, Lucky (the dog), John Goodman, James Cromwell, Penelope Ann Miller, Missy Pyle, Malcolm McDowell, Ed Lauter
ph: Guillaume Schiffman

# projected in digital, using the Electric Palace's original 1911 screen

Feb 1st
Scanners
Canada 1980. Avco/Filmplan International. 103m.

Telepathic beings known as scanners are threatened by a sinister organisation attempting to wipe out dissenters.
Unpleasant paranoia thriller with notable shock effects (including exploding heads), with the director at his most excessive. One to turn the light on straight after watching.

Written and Directed by: David Cronenberg.
Producer: Charlie Heroux.
Starring: Patrick McGoohan, Stephen Lack, Jennifer O'Neill, Michael Ironside, Lawrence Dane, Robert Silverman.
Photography: Mark Irwin.
Music: Howard Shore.
Make-up Effects: Dick Smith.

Dec 24th
Whale Rider**
New Zealand/Ger 2002. South Pacific Pictures/ApolloMedia/Pandora/New Zealand Production Fund/New Zealand Film Commission. 101m.

In present-day New Zealand, the saviour of the Maori tribe turns out to be a girl.
Thoughtfully crafted and intelligent semi-mystical drama, weaving family melodrama with observation of contemporary Maori society, beautifully photographed with some fine performances.

Written and Directed by: Niki Caro, from the novel by Witi Ihimaera.
Producers: Tim Sanders, John Barnett, Frank Hübner.
Starring: Keisha-Castle Hughes, Rawiri Paratene, Cliff Curtis, Vicky Haughton, Grant Roa, Mana Taumanu.
Photography: Leon Harbey.
Music: Lisa Gerrard.

Preceded by:
Father Christmas*
(GB 1991. Blooming Productions/TVC London/Channel 4. 26m.; Annual adventures of a caustic Santa Claus grumpily sifting through the mountain of mail in between holidays. Not as funny as the original books, but with some touching moments.; w: Dianne Jackson, Michael Adams, based on "Father Christmas" and "Father Christmas Goes on Holiday" by Raymond Briggs; d: Dave Unwin; voice of Mel Smith; m: Mike Hewer.)

Nov 16th
Kameradshaft***
Ger/Fra 1931. Gaumont- Franco film-Aubert/Nero Film AG. 91m. bw

In a Franco-German border town a mine explodes, and the German miners defy the border controls to help rescue the trapped French miners.
Powerfully moving social melodrama based on the Courieres mine disaster in 1906, here transposed for added effect to between-the-wars Europe, laying home its Socialist message rather heavily, but acutely observes some of the human tragedy and the disaster itself is brilliantly captured with scary authenticity. It couldn't be more relevant today, in the wake of the ongoing debate about migrant workers as well as the recent mining disasters in New Zealand and Chile.

Written by: Peter Martin Lampel, Karl Otten, Gerbert Rappaport, Ladislaus Vajda, Leon Wurth.
Producer: Seymour Nebenzal.
Director: G.W. Pabst (and Robert Beaudoin)
Starring (in no particular order): Alexander Granach, Fritza Kampers, Ernst Busch, Helena Manson, Daniel Mendaille, Georges Chalia, Andree Ducret, Alex Bernard, Pierre Louis, Elisabeth Wendt.
Photography: Fritz Arno Wagner, Robert Baberske.
Music: G. van Rigelus

+ available on YouTube

Mar 29th
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within**
US/Japan 2001. Columbia/Square USA. 106m. ws

In 2065 New York, the remaining humans on Earth fight for survival against an asteroid crater of alien "phantoms".
Billed at the time as the first 100% all-animated "photo realistic" feature film (with millions apparently spent on the heroine's hair - which conveniently never slips in front of her face), this visually stunning mixture of Alien and The War of the Worlds sticks to a few familiar cliches - Dystopian society, humans versus aliens, redneck generals, etc. - with a slightly baffling ending. It certainly earns marks for trying something new, but unluckily (or happily perhaps) it did not start a general trend. CGI films still need actors.

Written by: Al Reinert, Jeff Vintor, Jack Fletcher, Ramin Mebdy, from a story by Hironobu Sakaguchi, based on the computer game.
Producers: Chris Lee, Akio Sakai, Jun Aida.
Directors: Hironobu Sakaguchi, Moto Sakakibura.
Voices of: Ming-Na, Alec Baldwin, Donald Sutherland, James Woods, Ving Rhames, Steve Buscemi, Peri Gilpin, Jean Simmons.
Photography: Moto Sakakibura.
Music: Elliot Goldenthal.
Production Design: Mauro Borrelli.

Jan 1st
Che** (15)
Cineworld Ipswich

US/Spa/Fra 2008. Wild Bunch/Morena Films/Telecinco.
Part One 126m.
Part Two 131m.

Glamorised, long-winded biopic of Che Guevara, from his joining the Cuban Communist revolution (Part One), to his ill-fated attempts to spread the revolution through the rest of South America (Part Two), of which the second half is markedly different in style to the first. Soderbergh initially displays his usual interesting cross-time narrative editing technique, flowing back and forth from Guevera's appearance at the UN in 1965. The second half switches to a more conventional old-fashioned style of epic film making, somewhat akin to Lawrence of Arabia. An honourable effort, but on the whole the Cuban revolution here seems to resemble a few people hanging around the jungle rather than a major uprising.

Written by: Peter Buchman, Benjamin A. van der Veen, based on the books "Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War" and "Bolivian Diary" by Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
Producers: Laura Bickford, Steven Soderbergh, Benicio Del Toro.
Director: Steven Soderbergh.
Starring: Benicio Del Toro, Demian Bichir (as Fidel Castro), Catalina Sandino Moreno, Luis Alberto Garcia, Julia Ormond; Joaquim de Almeida, Franka Potente, Lous Diamond Phillips, Nestor Rodulfo, Cristian Mercado, Matt Damon, and others.
Photography: Peter Andrews (Steven Soderbergh).
Music: Alberto Iglesias.
Editing: Pablo Zumarraga.

+ the cinema version here was a rare joint screening (as screened at the Cannes Film Festival - with an intermission and no credits) at selected Cineworld cinemas, with both parts planned for separate release

Nov 29th
Waltz with Bashir** (18)

Phoenix Cinema, East Finchley

Israel/Fra/Ger/US/Japan/Fin/Belgium/Australia 2008. Bridgit Folman Gang/Les Films D'Ici/Razor Film/Arte France/ITVS International. 90m.

An Israeli film maker stuggles to reconcile his memories of the siege of Beirut in 1982 with friends and fellow witnesses.
Compelling animated docudrama which conveys certain potent images that would be harder (and more painful) to recreate in live action form. Grim, and rather subjective, but very imaginatively told.

Written and Directed by: Ari Folman.
Producers: Ari Folman, Serge Lalou, Yael Nahlieli, Gerhard Meixner, Roman Paul.
Animation: Yoni Goodman.
Music: Max Richter.

Sep 6th 
Angel** (15)
Curzon Mayfair

Fra/GB/Belgium 2006. Fidelite/Wild Bunch. 110m.

In early 20th century England a girl dreams of becoming a romantic novelist, and indeed does, but other love conquests are harder to accomplish.
Deliberately stylised but enjoyable romantic melodrama in the manner of Bette Davis, the French director's approach being a little heavy handed in parts for such material, with performances that don't always ring true, but it takes an actress of Romola Garai's quality to make such an utterly vain woman seem so appealing.

Written by: Francois Ozon, Martin Crimp, from the novel by Elizabeth Taylor.
Producers: Marc Missonnier, Olivier Delbosc.
Director: Francois Ozon
Starring: Romola Garai, Michael Fassbender, Sam Neill, Charlotte Rampling, Lucy Russell, Jacqueline Tong, Jemma Powell, Una Stubbs.
Photography: Denis Lenoir.
Music: Philippe Rombi.
Production Design: Katia Wyszkop.