• ‘Excellent’: 9 votes
  • Trademark Almodóvar – bold colours, meticulously planned shots, the single conversation that began at the bar in the cinema and ended back in Martha’s apartment.
  • Sensitive handling of a difficult subject.  Beautifully acted and gripping.
  • Sensational cinematic style!  A painful subject, but so well presented.
  • A lot to think about
  • Beautifully acted.  Wonderful use of vibrant colours and music.
  • Very thought provoking.  Easier for the person that chooses to die.
  • The perfect clothes, the perfect houses, the perfect fruit!  Not sure I could watch that again.  At times I could not believe in Tilda Swinton though.
• ‘Very Good’: 3 votes
  • The film covered a painful subject effortlessly.  The early scenes were more like a play than a film; however, the second part gathered momentum and became increasingly cinematic.  The use of reds and greens key to the film’s impact, most dramatically in the scene where Ingrid finds Martha on the lounger, a scene prepared for by the Hopper picture shown when they first arrived.
    The value of life, and friendship, tested as it slips away.
  • Well played by all concerned.  The music was an integral part of the film.  The musicians certainly found their work cut out!
  • “We had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun”
• ‘Good’: 2 votes
• ‘Satisfactory’: 0 votes
• ‘Poor’: 1 vote
  • Codswallop! Didn’t get it – not even the scenery.

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback for ‘The Room Next Door’

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

This was the final film of the season, we hope you have a great summer and look forward to seeing you again for our next season, which starts on Monday 21 September. Details to follow.

• ‘Excellent’: 5 votes
  • Touching portrayal of the impossible position many people in the gig-economy find themselves in, one unexpected expense being the difference between just about surviving and abject poverty.
  • Real and very, very uncomfortable film [?] lives of people we had maybe never deeply thought about.  Poverty in isolation.
    this was a deeply moving film.
  • A mesmeric performance from Joana Santas.  More than a hint of Ken loach here, and I had always thought that teaching was bad…!
  • Pete Seeger sang about Little Boxes –  only 100 times worse.
• ‘Very Good’: 5 votes
  • Down the Ken Loach/Paul Laverty road, but from the female perspective.
  • Great choice – heartbreaking ending.  Very natural performance by the lead.
  • Depressing but it made me feel grateful.  The fragility of her world was very carefully portrayed[?]. Understated – but hidden warmth.
  • Ken Loach like.  A savage assessment of the world of work we’ve created.  Not the utopia technology was promised to deliver.
  • Memories of shared living as a young adult.   The interview was uncomfortable as out of work she was merely trying to survive.
• ‘Good’: 4 votes
  • Unrelenting, but sadly so true for “fulfilment” centre workers.
  • Watching people – fascinating.  But what was all the ‘junk’ (made in China?) that the poor girl was ‘processing’?  All she seemed to need was the comfort of strangers.
  • Film about surviving depression.  Great symbolism, subtle foreshadowing.  Love an open ending.  Despite being slow paced, still managed to keep interest the whole way.
  • Was definitely a slow burn but I did leave smiling in the end – just grateful it wasn’t a sad ending.  I like that all the workers had names in the credits, even if they never said them on screen.
• ‘Satisfactory’: 0 votes
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback for ‘On Falling’

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

• ‘Excellent’: 18 votes
  • Totally engaging.  The extended first act of domestic bliss served to accentuate the horror of the subsequent film, which descended on the family with very little warning.
  • Brilliant film.  Wonderful acting & a chilling reminder of what can happen when democracy is taken/or is given away
  • A powerful film, shows what happens when fascists take control.
  • A very assured and surprisingly gentle expose of the acts of dictatorship and the impact on the families of the victims.
  • A cracking(?) drama on an “arresting” issue. Clever change of mood from initial joy to terror, mostly focussed on female experience: sadly, the perpetrators were male.  Not quite so comfortable with the final sections but held together by the stunning central performance. “I’m Still Here” – sadly only too but now garbed in a fresh new ICE uniform!
  • Unbearably sad. Very moving.
  • Very moving, not sentimental. A huge sense of the fate of a family in a dictatorship.  Political? Everything is Political.
  • Outstanding.
  • A deeply affecting film; the fortitude and unwavering dignity of Eunice was extraordinary.
  • Powerful film.  Disturbing.  Excellent acting.
  • When will they ever learn?
  • Superb! Cinema first, then ‘politics’ Wim Wenders was right, it seems.
  • Very powerful performance by Fernanda Torres – great choice of movie
  • Thank you.  Rather close to the bone if you’ve lived under a dictatorship.
  • A warning from history, but those who should be listening, were not.
  • Outstanding. Thank you.
• ‘Very Good’: 2 votes
  • An engrossing story, fantastic period details.
• ‘Good’: 0 votes
• ‘Satisfactory’: 2 votes
  • Took an age to say what it had to say.  The ending felt incredibly drawn out after the time jump.  Way too self-indulgent as it went on.
  • Bit long.
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback for ‘I’m Still Here’

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

• ‘Excellent’: 6 votes
  • Absorbing drama.  Delightful cinematography and excellent score.
  • Very similar in plot structure to the Japanese film “Our Little Sister”, shown some time ago.  City life in Mumbai very intimidating. Both films look to nature for sustenance.
  • A very cleverly structured film with excellent acting and screenplay. A favourite film from this season.
  • A film to make the heart sing; simply gorgeous!
  • So beautiful in every way.  Cinematography, acting, scenery, storyline, sound.  A worthy winner.
  • A fine, humanist drama.  Very well observed and a great soundscape.  A worthy award winner.
• ‘Very Good’: 6 votes
  • Absorbing.  The music was very apt for the pacing of the film.  Lovely scenery at the end.
  • Enjoyable.  Strong sex? I must have nodded off!
  • My favourite of the season, so far.  Intimate, characters with dreams and ambitions worn true and open in such a natural fashion that it totally drew me in.  The drowned husband scene confused and intrigued in equal measure. Lovely film!
  • Captured under class people.
• ‘Good’: 1 vote
  • Quite a good film.  Interesting insight about life in Mumbai.
• ‘Satisfactory‘: 1 vote
  • Confused by ending.  Well acted but didn’t add up.  Liked the soundtrack.
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback for All We Imagine As Light

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

• ‘Excellent’: 0 votes
• ‘Very Good’: 3 votes
  • The failure of Business to understand the principles of rural life – not everything revolves around maximising profit.  Hana, as the face of innocence, was fascinating.  Not sure about the enigmatic ending, though.
  • Cinematically engaging & beautiful.  But ultimately a bleak message for life under modern capitalism.
  • Haunting.  I enjoyed it in a strange way.
• ‘Good’: 4 votes
  • Enjoyed scenery.
  • Entrancing camerawork, very “slow burn”. Mystified by the film’s climax.
  • Very peculiar!  Will sit with me for a while.  Would watch it again!
• ‘Satisfactory’: 3 votes
  • Slow – Did it go into Wicker Man territory at the end?
  • Very slow in places.  Instinct – Politics
  • Did not feel it quite worked. Very slow & not intriguing enough.  Well acted, but the contrast between ‘pure’ country & stupid townies too simplistic.
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

+ 1 comment left without a score:

• I don’t know what happened.

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback PDF

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

In the rural alpine hamlet of Mizubiki, not far from Tokyo, Takumi and his daughter, Hana, lead a modest life gathering water, wood, and wild wasabi for a local restaurant. The townsfolk become aware of a talent agency’s plan to build an opulent glamping site nearby, offering city residents a comfortable “escape” to the snowy wilderness. However, it becomes clear that the project will have a devastating impact on the local community.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s follow up to his Oscar-winning DRIVE MY CAR is a foreboding fable on humanity’s mysterious, mystical relationship with nature

Drama • Japan • Cert: 12A • Year: 2023
Language: Japanese • 106 mins

Click here for additional information.

Half-Season Memberships:

As we have now reached half way through our season, the membership fee now drops to £37.50 for the remainder of the season.

Our previous presentation:

Audience reaction to The Crime Is Mine

17 response slips were returned. The breakdown, and comments were: Download the comments by clicking on the following link:Feedback PDF We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to … Continue reading →

Source:

May we encourage you to complete the Response Slips following the showing of each film – feedback (both positive and negative) helps us to decide what types of films to show in future seasons. In addition, you can leave comments for any of the films we have shown via the Discussion page.

• ‘Excellent’: 5 votes
  • Very entertaining and outrageous.  I am sure everyone had great fun.
    Lovely use of colour, locations & fashion.  The France of fantasy!
  • Fun!
  • Good fun.  Lovely costumes and scenery.
  • Pacey!
• ‘Very Good’: 8 votes
  • Very amusing, a bit of light relief following April.  The cinematography was excellent – the way it captured the feel of 30s cinema – even if the sexual politics were clearly 21^st century.
  • Great fun!  Well adapted by Ozon
  • The perfect antidote to the rest of this season: light, frothy, inconsequential, but great entertainment.  Good to discover there were light moments even in the 1930’s.
  • A charming, frothy confection of a film, very stylistic and acted with great verve.  Ideal viewing for the festive season!
  • Cheerful.  Made a change!
  • A very funny period piece.
  • Great fun!
• ‘Good’: 4 votes
  • Enjoyable, and certainly a comedy.
  • What a pleasant change to be not frightened, horrified, scared, bored.  A nice bit of harmless fun.
  • French slapstick, essentially.  I felt it was a little too derivative to award top marks.
  • An enjoyable romp.
• ‘Satisfactory’ 0 votes
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback PDF

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

• ‘Excellent’: 1 vote
  • This film either had to be ‘Excellent’ or ‘Poor’, so I’m going for the former.  René Magritte meets Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’?  A piece of real cinema – begging for a full seminar on its meaning
• ‘Very Good’: 4 votes
  • Deliberately painful to watch and overlong.  The underling story was good and I eventually understood the fantasy sequences to be a reflection of her opinion of herself.  The soundtrack and cinematography were very good.
  • “April is the cruellest month, breeding” – Does art evoke life or imitate it?  Pace of film the key element – eventually I was absorbed.  Amazing use of non-diegetic sound.  Every edit came as a shock!
  • Powerful, challenging and uncompromisingly stark.  This made “Vera Drake” look like “Watch with Mother”!
  • Relentless
• ‘Good’: 3 votes
  • The abortion in real time was very affecting, so was the thunderstorm on my ears!
  • I think I need to lie down for a few days.
  • Obscure, unsettling.  Need time to think further…
• ‘Satisfactory’: 1 vote
  • I thought we’d reached the limit of female pain in the films we’ve already shown, but boy was I wrong.  I feel this film was constantly challenging me not to look away, I failed.  Not sure I was ready for this, and I suspect others weren’t too.  But I applaud on the subject so harrowingly.
• ‘Poor’: 4 votes
  • Not an easy watch.  Abortion scene was too long and not a film I would recommend.
  • 2½ hours of Obstetrics! Didn’t understand it at all.
  • So slow – I fell asleep.  Beautiful photography though!
  • Awful.  I’m glad I didn’t bring a guest to see this depraved film. I had to leave early it was so horrible.
• + 2 comments returned without a grade
  • Muddled.  Not sure I could sit through that again
  • As Alan Smith says, ‘Not for me’

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback PDF

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

• ‘Excellent’: 9 votes
  • This film needs to be seen by as many people as possible; the tactics used by the last 2 Governments are worthy of a Police State.  Sir Robert Peel and Kier Hardie must be spinning in their graves.
  • Superb! Salutary warning! Great Q&A!  Thanks to Trudi and Sam
  • Far more interesting – and disturbing – than anticipated.  Very thought-provoking.  Brave people!
  • Excellent film and discussion afterwards.
  • Very interesting and inspiring
  • What a coup to have your guests as well as a fascinating film.
    This is a great film club and must continue next year.
  • Thanks for the opportunity to see this detailed analysis of our descent into autocracy & removal of human rights.
  • An eye opener to what is happening.  Not what we hear from the media.
  • A story not covered by the right-wing media!
• ‘Very Good’: 4 votes
  • The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good wo/men to do nothing.
  • Really pleased I attended – thought-provoking
• ‘Good’: 0 votes
• ‘Satisfactory’: 0 votes
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

The film club would like to thank Trudi Warner and Sam Griffiths for their attendance and the Q&A session they gave afterwards.

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback PDF

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.

• ‘Excellent’: 13 votes
  • Touching, funny, great soundtrack, great performances.  McArdle, in particular, is superb
  • A lovely mix of all emotions – Dignity & Pride enhanced with sensitive humour.
  • Such a good film – very funny, very close to the bone for many of Ireland. A fascinating study of the themes it dealt with.
  • A compelling, watchable story, held together by the lonely ‘mums’.  The ‘editing’ was superb – great film making!
  • Entertaining
  • Well drawn characters.  Naturally funny
  • Brilliant.  Very funny.  Good parts for older women.
  • The Irish gay scene revealed in all its complexity.  Brilliantly crafted
• ‘Very Good’: 7 votes
  • The return of The Golden Girls.  Fionnula Flanagan stole the show, even with no lines to say.
  • Wacky, wonderful + totally human – not looking forward to a sequel!
  • Charming, poignant and very funny with lead characters all delivering convincing and compelling performances.
  • Such a poignant film – more touching than humorous
  • A lot of interesting ways into conversation about Irish Gay Culture, in a very heart-warming setting.
• ‘Good’: 1 vote
• ‘Satisfactory’: 2 votes
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

Download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback PDF

We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and welcome all contributions to this forum. If you did not leave comments after the screening, but still wish to do so, you can leave them here.