I've Loved You So Long (December 2011)

Chosen by Lucy and Tony

In a break from tradition, we made the most of the Christmas holidays to watch this film together.

The film
Kristin Scott Thomas plays Juliette, a forty-something woman who comes to live with her younger sister Léa, (Elsa Zylberstein). Juliette is grey, gawky, withdrawn - in contrast with Léa's vibrant life (especially her brilliantly-played older daughter). Gradually, subtly, we find out why the two have been parted for so long.

The response
The verdict: 'gripping'. True, not everyone was wholly convinced by the story-line, wondering whether Juliette's family really would have been oblivious to the situation she was in. And some of us spent the film waiting for a terrible denouement. But overall we found ourselves drawn into this carefully-crafted (and beautifully-filmed) depiction of pain, love, death and life.

This was another film that prompted questions. How well do we know the people we are closest to? What characterises sibling relationships? What is a 'criminal' act? How can people carry on living after experiencing terrible things? Perhaps it's enough to notice beautiful and meaningful things - as the sisters, together, recognised beauty and hope in a rain-covered windowpane.

Happy Go Lucky (November 2011)

Chosen by Juliet & Andi

The film
Mike Leigh had to make an appearance in our film club before too long. We could have chosen any of his films, only ending up with this one because it had been sitting in J&A's (tiny) DVD stash. Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a 30-year-old Londoner with a relentlessly positive approach to life. An increasingly tense relationship with her driving instructor weaves through the film - between flamenco lessons, helping a troubled pupil and visiting her pregnant sister.

The response
The film, released in 2008, won acclaim from the professional critics (and many awards); but got a less positive response from our film club members. A minority thought Poppy likeable and sympathetic; most found her profoundly irritating. They criticised her for misleading Scott the driving instructor, saying she flirted unnecessarily with a vulnerable guy (by contrast, her sympathisers thought he was creepy and deserved her dressing-down). In particular, most of us despaired at the shallow conversation - nobody in the film really engaged with each other.

Maybe Mike Leigh's improvisational style made it difficult for the characters to become real and engage deeply with each other? Certainly, some of us thought so, although others enjoyed the 'kitchen-sink realism'. In any case, this was a film that kept us arguing happily all evening.

Lost in Translation (October 2011)

Chosen by Katherine & Danny

The film
2003 film starting Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, set in Tokyo.

Annie Hall (Sept 2011)

Chosen by Tom & Jeani

The film
This month, a Woody Allen 1977 classic. Iconic images (that hat! that waistcoat! that smile!) wrapped around with Woody Allen's one-liners. The film follows Alvy Singer's on-off and ultimately doomed relationship with Annie Hall.

The response
The iconic nature of the film really got us talking. When and where we'd first watched it. How New York is used as a character (forerunner of 'Manhattan') but also how run-down the city was in the 1970s - nothing like its glittering image today. How Annie was, to some of us, wonderful and strong; to others irritatingly fey. Some of us found the introspection too much, but 'isn't that what we all do - spend all our time thinking about ourselves?' The family scenes (argumentative meals, framed by the shaking of the rollercoaster) seemed particularly resonant and funny.

Of course, the film is by and about Woody Allen. B was unimpressed - he pretty much dismissed the film as no more than a re-run of the stand-up comedian's routines. J thought the director is a genius at illustrating and exploring what really happens in relationships. N admitted he couldn't stand Woody Allen, but confessed to having once sat through an all-nighter of Woody Allen films at the old Leeds Playhouse ...

Lars and the Real Girl (Aug 2011)

Chosen by Nigel

The film
Lars, a gentle but odd young man, buys a doll - an anatomically correct sex doll named Bianca - who becomes his 'girlfriend'. His older brother and pregnant sister-in-law are disturbed by this but gradually they and the rest of the small town grow to accept and welcome Bianca into the community.

The response
N's first contribution to the group and definitely a good start: nearly all of us loved this film (only our youngest member thought it was boring...). Watching the film, many of us had expected a darker plot - kept waiting for the despair and destruction. Instead, we felt uplifted by the gentle, optimistic story - by the community's acceptance and love.

There were lots of questions. How realistic was the story? ('completely a fairy story'... 'well, life could be like that'...) Would you like to live there? ('Of course!' ... 'ugh, no'...). Which characters were believable? (Karin, the sister in law - or Gus, the resistant brother?) Who was the 'real girl'? (Probably Bianca, but maybe Karin, Margo or Dagmar, the Doctor). And what does the story tell us about ourselves? Our reluctance to accept difference, the things we keep quiet about because we think others won't approve?

La Leggenda del Santo Bevitore (July 2011)

Chosen by Bruce & Susan

The film
A drunken homeless man (played by Rutger Hauer) in Paris is lent 200 francs by a stranger. He promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to. Unexpectedly, money comes to him but he's constantly thwarted, distracted by old friends, lovers, and alcohol. 1988 Italian film directed by Ermanno Olmi.

Our response
Susan's choice, because she'd enjoyed 'Tree of Wooden Clogs'. Nearly all of us found the film unbearably slow and couldn't claim to like it: but we talked about it all evening. How convincing was the scenario? Who was the stranger? What really stopped him reaching the church? Was the story a pre-death 'life flashing before his eyes' dream? We all loved the iconic Parisien bars - creaky doors, sticky tables, dirty rain.

Savage Messiah (June 2011)

An evening out - Savage Messiah was shown at the Hyde Park Cinema, to accompany an exhibition at the Henry Moore Institute.

Ken Russell himself was due to introduce the film, but sadly wasn't well enough to travel to Leeds: instead a colleague read his words, illustrated by wonderful photos of Ken smiling at us from his hospital bed.

Savage Messiah tells the story of the relationship between French sculptor Henri Gaudier-Brzeska and Polish novelist Sophie Brzeska. They were devoted to each other, but had a complex relationship; both experienced mental illness, and life wasn't easy for them. 2011 marks the centenary of Gaudier-Brzeska's arrival in London, where he lived for the last four years of his life. He was killed in the trenches in 1915. Ken Russell spoke of the affinity he felt with Gaudier-Brzeska, driven by art and struggling for recognition.

The film was rich, emotional, moving: he created amazing art, and his death such a waste.

There died a myriad,
And of the best, among them,
For an old bitch gone in the teeth,
For a botched civilization,

Charm, smiling at the good mouth,
Quick eyes gone under earth's lid,

For two gross of broken statues,
For a few thousand battered books.

- Ezra Pound

(The picture is Gaudier-Brzeska's self-portrait.)

Million Pound Note (May 2011)

Set in 1903, American seaman Henry Adams (Gregory Peck) is stranded penniless in England. Unexpectedly he's given an envelope containing £1,000,000 promising him a job if he can avoid spending the note for the month.

At first, he's mistaken for an eccentric millionaire and has no trouble getting food, clothes, and a hotel suite on credit, friends and romance, just by showing his note. He backs a business venture; but when he can't produce the bank note (it's been hidden by a rival) panic breaks out amongst the shareholders and Adams' creditors. All is straightened out in the end, and Adams is able to return the note to the Montpelier brothers at the end of the month.

B's birthday film, accompanied by Do You Want To Be A Millionaire quiz.

London River (April 2011)

chosen by Lucy, on her father's recommendation

The film
A middle-class white Christian woman travels to London to check on her daughter, following the 2005 bombings there. She's horrified to discover her daughter's been living above a halal butcher's. She's even more horrified when a stranger - a black dreadlocked Muslim - shows her a picture of his son with her daughter. She persuades the police to arrest him, but he's released. Eventually, as they move around the city seeking their children, they realise they have more in common than they might have imagined.

The response
We talked for ages about this film. First, we picked lots of holes in its accuracy. We couldn't believe the parents would have been told about their children's deaths in a grimy basement corridor - and actually most of the scenes in hospitals and police stations seemed far from reality. The French-speaking policeman wasn't too credible, and nor was the scene outside the morgue. It felt like a French film - a bit dreamy and not too accurate. For us Brits, our recollections of 7/7 and its aftermath are different, and the inaccuracies grated.

We all thought the film tried too hard to show that 'black people are nice and helpful'.

But we agreed that Sotiguyi Koyate was stunning - a beautiful, grounded, heartbreaking performance. Most of us thought Brenda Blethyn was brilliant as well. (Most of us thought she'd played the terrified, silent mother wonderfully, but for some of us, her character was too muted.)

The film certainly raised questions about identity, belonging and difference. We could see how confused and troubled Elisabeth was by believing her daughter rejected virtually everything she stood for. Her character was so bigoted, it was a struggle to sympathise with her: but we found ourselves asking, what situations might we find ourselves in where our prejudices might emerge?

Bruce thought it would have been a better ending to have the young people not die - to have them come back and confront their parents. Maybe it was best left as it was, with unresolved sadness, anger and lost hope.

Devil's Advocate (March 2011)

chosen by Jocelyn

The film
A 1997 American horror film directed by Taylor Hackford starring Keanu Reeves, Al Pacino and Charlize Theron, and based on a novel by Andrew Neiderman.

According to Wikipedia, Pacino's character is a tribute to the author of Paradise Lost, John Milton. The movie has some minor allusions to Milton's epic, such as the famous quotation "Better to reign in Hell, than to serve in Heaven".

Maybe that's why Jocelyn (a theology student) chose the film. I couldn't see the film and wasn't at the evening, so hope someone else can fill us all in!

A Town Called Panic (February 2011)

chosen by Andi and Juliet

The Film
Cowboy, Indian and Horse find themselves in the centre of an adventure caused by a computer-inspired mistake. The walls for their new house keep getting stolen and the search to find the thieves leads to all sorts of weird worlds. Horse has a disappointing birthday and Madame Longray waits patiently for him to come for his piano lesson. This is a bizarre animation made with plastic toys.

The response
This film was screened during Leeds Film Festival, and a friend of Andi's recommended it to the group. Andi thought the animation posed fundamental questions about what a film is. Most films try to look completely 'real' but aren't they just as artificial as an animation?

Jeani had struggled to watch the whole thing - the film sent Bruce and Jocelyn to sleep - but Katherine thought it was wonderful, and she appreciated the technical skill. It took Juliet straight back to childhood, and made her laugh. For Lucy, it captured the way children - especially boys - make up adventures. Those of us who enjoyed it didn't find it very memorable. As we talked about particular scenes we found ourselves laughing: Indian in the shower, Horse's bed, Steven's temper. The first half hour of the film was definitely the best, but then it all got a bit vague and directionless.

Andi suggested it had something of Camus about it, and Jeani agreed - somehow it reminded her of The Outsider (although the sense of being distanced from Meursault is not the same as being distanced from plastic toys).

Manderlay (January 2011)

chosen by Jeani

The film
Grace the gangster's daughter discovers a slave colony working a cotton plantation. She frees them, just as their 'owner' Mam dies, and Grace sets out to establish democracy, self-determination and the opportunity to prosper. But her naivety and inability to find out who the people are lead to more and more problems, and she finds herself behaving in ways she would not have anticipated.

This is the second film in Lars von Trier's trilogy 'USA - Land of Opportunities'. It's filmed in the same style as Dogville, which we saw a year ago - no scenery, minimal props, a narrator and a story-book feel.

The response
Tom & Jeani chose Manderley because of the strong response to Dogville last year. Most of us found Manderley much easier to watch, even though the subject matter was uncomfortable. There were loads of questions - Why did Grace stay? Why did Willem allow and even encourage her to behave as she did? Why didn't the slaves plant cotton when they knew they had to?

I (Juliet) thought this was a straightforward metaphor for the state of racial inequality in the USA. But we also found ourselves talking about free will, consciousness, leadership. OK, what would we do if Grace turned up in our street?

Fellini's 8 1/2 (December 2010)

chosen by Katherine and Danny

The film
An Italian film director is working on a science fiction film, but he's got "director's block". He has problems with his stars, his wife and his mistress. The film moves through flashbacks and dreams, as he explores the challenges of depicting the 'truth'.

8 1/2 was directed by Federici and released in 1963.

The response
Katherine and Danny chose this film, to introduce a classic into our repertoire. They chose it 'blind' and only saw it on the morning of the day we met.

First, the grumbles - the library copy was slightly damaged so some of us didn't watch the whole thing and (because of Christmas) some households hadn't seen it at all. The subtitles were difficult to read, too.

Danny and Katherine liked the style - and it must have made a big impression in 1963ut - but agreed it would need several viewings to appreciate it properly. It was quite difficult to remember the various scenes in the film. As a 'stream-of-consciousness' narrative it reminded Juliet of Ulyssees (written much earlier) or Anne Enright's' recent 'What are you like'. Sue and Bruce weren't very impressed, the story didn't seem to go anywhere. (Some of us thought that if the male attitudes in this film to women is at all representative of Italy today it's no wonder that Berlusconi is its Prime Minister.)

Before starting this film club we hadn't realised so many films are about the process of making films - and so many of them refer to each other. Looking forward to our next year of film viewing!

Films so far

November 2010 - The Tree of Wooden Clogs (seen by Bruce and Sue at the Howard Assembly Rooms)
October 2010 - Precious (Tony & Lucy)
September 2010 - To Kill A Mockingbird (Bruce & Susan)
August 2010 - An Education (Tom and Jeani)
July 2010 - Summer - at Seven
June 2010 - Gregory's Girl (Juliet & Andi)
May 2010 - Frost Nixon (Catherine & Danny)
April 2010 - Delicatessen (Lucy & Tony)
March 2010 - The Fall (Susan & Bruce)
February 2010 - The Big Lebowski (Andi & Juliet)
January 2010 - Dogville (Jeani & Tom)
December 2009 - A Matter of Life and Death (Danny & Catherine)
November 2009 - The Bicycle Thieves (Bruce & Susan)
October 2009 - Persepolis (Tony & Lucy)
September 2009 - Revolutionary Road (Tom & Jeani)