Aug 11th   
My Summer of Love**    
(GB 2004)          
BBC Films/The Film Consortium/Baker Street Media Finance/UK Film Council/Take Partnerships/Apocalypso Pictites. 86m.

Mutually dysfunctional teenage girls meet in a Northern country town, and fall in love in defiance of their mutually disinterested families. 
A nostalgic rites-of-passage novel about a certain time and place in the 1980s is turned by this noted director into a lyrical lesbian love story, slow and going nowhere in places, but with a powerful ending and formative performances.

Written by: Pawel Pawlikowski, Michael Wynne, based on the novel by Helen Cross.
Producers: Chris Collins, Tanya Seghatchian.
Director: Pawel Pawlikowski.
Starring: Natalie Press, Emily Blunt, Paddy Considine, Dean Andrews, Michelle Byrne, Paul-Anthony Barber, Lynette Edwards, Kathryn Sumner.
Photography: Ryszard Lenczewski.
Music: David Charup.

Preceded by:
It Might Be You*   
(GB 1946. Crown Film Unit. 17m. bw; Clunkily obvious road safety short film, an interesting rare post-war find for some pre-stardom talents.; p: Basil Wright; d: Michael Gordon; s: Peter Cushing, Alfie Bass, Peter Madden; ph: Fred Gamage.)

Jul 25th  
A Private Life** (15)   
(Vie Privee)
(King Street Cinema, Ipswich)    

(Fra 2025)
Les Films/France 3 Cinema/others. 104m.

An American psychiatrist living in Paris suspects her absent patient's suicide is actually murder, but slightly drives herself crazy trying to find out.
Psychological mystery which promises to go in various directions (with Foster resembling her character from The Silence of the Lambs), but ultimately goes down a rather ordinary route with the psychiatrist coming to terms with her own humanity. 

Written by: Rebecca Zlotowski, Anne Berest, Gaelle Mace.
Producer: Frederic Jouve.
Director: Rebecca Zlotowski.
Starring: Jodie Foster, Daniel Auteuil, Matthieu Amalric, Virginie Efira, Noam Morgensztern, Sophie Guillermin, Luana Bajrami, Vincent Lacoste, Aurore Clement, Irene Jacob.
Photography: George Lechaptou.
Music: Rob.
Editing: Goaldine Mangenot.

Jul 8th   
City of God**        
(Brazil/Fra/Ger/US 2002)         
O2 Films/Hank Levine Film/Globofilmes/Studio Canal/Wild Bunch. 130m. ws

In the slums of Rio de Janeiero, a young boy grows up among drug-fuelled young hoodlums, and photographs the oncoming gang war.
Stylishly brutal but compelling crime drama, in some ways a Mean Streets for Brazilian ghetto survivors, also based on true events. When released in cinemas, the English subtitles had the good sense to be displayed at the top of the screen, to keep focus on the action.

Written by: Braulia Montavani, from the novel by Paulo Lins.
Producers: Andrea Barato Ribeiro.
Director: Fernando Meirelles.
Starring: Alexandre Rodrigues, Leandro Firmino, Seu Jorge, Renato de Souza, Alice Braga, Phellipe Haagensen, Mattheu Nachtergaele.
Photography: Cesar Cgarlone. 
Music: Antonio Pinto, Ed Cortes.
Editing: Daniel Rezende.

Jun 13th   
Disclosure Day**  (12A)      
(Century Clacton)

(US 2026)    
Universal/Amblin. 145m. Panavision    

Researchers at a government department storing alien activity go AWOL, and a weather forecaster is the channel for the lifeforms from another world...
Close encounters for the third time for Spielberg (or four if one includes The War of the Worlds with less friendly aliens), a more mature and grander X-Files episode with some good suspense, performances and set pieces, but a slightly unintentionally amusing climax.

Written by: David Koepp, Steven Spielberg.
Producers: Kristie Macosko Krieger, Steven Spielberg, Michael Kahn.
Director: Steven Spielberg.
Starring: Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Josh O'Connor, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Elizabeth Marvel.
Photography: Janusz Kaminski.
Music: John Williams.
Production Design: Adam Stockhausen.
Editing: Cindy Tolan.

Jun 10th     
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof*      
(US 1958)
MGM/Avon. 108m.    

Smouldering family tensions in a Deep South plantation where the dying owner is wanting to pass the inheritance over to his alcoholic and sexually repressed son.  
A daring but nonetheless slightly toned down adaptation of a play typical of its author's distinctive Southern drawl, with the principals all acting as if they were in different films. 

Written by: Richard Brooks, James Poe, from the play by Tennessee Williams.
Producer: Laurence Weingarten.
Director: Richard Brooks.
Starring: Paul Newman, Elizabeth Taylor, Burl Ives, Jack Carson, Judith Anderson, Madeleine Sherwood, Larry Gates, Vaughn Taylor.
Photography: William Daniels.
Music: Charles Wolcott.

Preceded by:
Look at Life: Putting on an Act*      
(Gb 1965. 10m. Amateur theatre at various local societies around Britain.; narr: Tim Turner.)

CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF. Not exactly subtle, and with acting very theatrical, but it became a commercial hit. The poster of Elizabeth Taylor probably helped.

May 30th    
The Mandalorian and Grogu*  (12A)         
(Vue Colchester)    

(US 2026)                                          
Walt Disney/Lucasfilm/Fairview. 132. IMAX

In the post Star Wars-era New Republic, a hired bounty hunter and his diminutive friend help hunt down remaining Imperial factions and also assist a reforming son of Jabba the Hutt.
Passable film spin-off of the first live action TV series to live outside the parameters of the original saga. A little tedious for its repetitive preference for action over mysticism or romance, but agreeable enough on its own terms, as a sci-fi James Bond-style Clint Eastwood lone avenger thriller, set in a galaxy not particularly far, far away.

Written by: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Noah Kloor.
Producers: Jon Favreau, Dave Filoni, Kathleen Kennedy, Ian Bryce.
Director: Jon Favreau.
Starring: Pedro Pascal (and some busy stuntmen), Sigourney Weaver, Jeremy Allen White, Jonny Coyne; voices of Steve Blum, Martin Scorsese, Shirley Henderson, Anthony Daniels.
Photography: David Klein.
Music: Ludwig Goranson.

May 16th   
Fever Pitch**     
(GB 1996)       
Film Four/Channel 4 Films. 102m.

A London schoolteacher finds his love life and his beloved football team are following a similar course that season.
The author's own confessions of an Arsenal fan, dressed up as sporting romantic comedy where the romantic interest and most of the other supporting characters are essentially ciphers for the central character's male psyche. Very little of an outside voice is heard, but the film has some funny moments of recognition for those familiar with the milieu and the time.

Written by: Nick Hornby, from his novel.
Producer: Amanda Posey.
Director: David Evans.
Starring: Colin Firth, Ruth Gemmell, Mark Strong, Neil Pearson, Lorraine Ashbourne, Holly Aird, Ken Stott, Stephen Rea, Annette Ekblom.
Photography: Chris Seager.
Music: Bob Hewerdine, Neil McColl.

+ American remake in 2005, with a baseball instead of soccer obsessive

Preceded by:   
Tom and Jerry in  
Saturday Evening Puss**      
(US 1950. 6m.l w, d: William Hanna, Joseph Barbera; p: Fred Quimby.)