• ‘Excellent’: 12 votes
  • Fantastic film. The pacing, with the gradual reveals of each character’s issues, was excellent. A film that is worth repeated viewings.
  • ‘Films’ within films, Plays within ‘Plays’ – two sisters seemingly opposites, yet at times indistinguishable. What was What was real and what was simulation? Superb acting!
  • Innovative film making, excellent acting. I really enjoyed it.
  • A perfectly cut diamond of a film with acting of the very highest order. Simply wonderful.
  • Great film.
  • Blew me away! Such a realistic portrayal of a complex family with generational trauma. Amazing acting.
  • Very Nordic. Fantastic performances – is life just that then. Think I need to see it again to fully appreciate it. Loved the house!
  • Brilliantly acted and very believable – nice music too.
  • Great film – super acting. A film I probably wouldn’t have seen without the club!
  • Loved it
  • Dramatic version of the BBC’s House Thru Time.
• ‘Very Good’: 5 votes
  • Nothing like a dose of Nordic angst to remind one of a month spent watching Bergman!
  • Beautiful filming. Brilliant acting. Very thoughtful.
  • I found it absorbing and thought provoking.
  • Terrific film, wonderful acting, great soundtrack. Further viewing will reveal more.
  • Mesmerising. The crack in the home eventually mended. Not sure about choice of music – more a Leonard Cohen film?!
• ‘Good’: 1 vote
• ‘Satisfactory’: 3 votes
  • Rather dark and slow for my liking.
  • Rather too long and complicated.
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

You can download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback for ‘Sentimental Value’

Next screening:

Unfortunately we do not have a film for December, therefore our next film will be “Nouvelle Vague” on Tuesday 19 January

Sisters Nora and Agnes reunite with their estranged father, the charismatic Gustav, a once-renowned director who offers stage actress Nora a role in what he hopes will be his comeback film. When Nora turns it down, she soon discovers he has given her part to an eager young Hollywood star. Suddenly, the two sisters must navigate their complicated relationship with their father — and deal with an American star dropped right into the middle of their complex family dynamics.

Psychological Drama • Cert: 15 • Year: 2025
Languages: Norwegian/English/French/Danish •
2 Hour 15 Minutes

Click here for additional information.

You will be aware that there is no film in December, a date not being available. But we have a raffle – with prizes! – which will be drawn before Sentimental Value starts. Tickets for sale in the foyer at £1 each or £5 a strip. Our next screening therefore will be Nouvelle Vague on Tuesday 19 January ’27. So, we wish you all Seasonal Greetings and a peaceful New Year.

Our previous presentation:

Audience reaction to “Our Land”

18 response slips were returned. The breakdown, and comments were: You can download the comments by clicking on the following link:Feedback for ‘Our Land’ We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film and … 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’: 7 votes
  • A well-made, handsome film!  Lovely to look at England and a bit of Scotland.  Much ‘food for thought’
  • Brill
  • Excellent documentary and hopefully the Right To Roam movement win their case for us to be like Scotland.
  • I wish everybody could see this film.
  • Political and time for a change – but not the House of Lords
  • Thought provoking – comparison to Slave abolition was so right.
  • Interesting and informative.  Makes you think.
• ‘Very Good’: 8 votes
  • Three things to take from this film:
    • 1. We all need to reconnect with nature;
    • 2. Rearing millions of non-native birds each year, just to fill them with lead, is not responsible management of the countryside.
    • 3. Some landowners could do with leaving their estates occasionally and engaging with real people.
  • Complex
  • Beautiful film
  • A reminder that the good things of life are too often reserved for the few. How do they get away with it? Also, a reminder of the magic of nature and the wonder of music.
  • Lovely scenery.  Wish more people would just get out and walk.
  • Thought provoking.
  • When you’re so accustomed to privilege, equality feels like oppression.  Woth remembering Scotland also has very few leasehold properties.
  • Very interesting
• ‘Good’: 1 vote
• ‘Satisfactory’:  1 vote
  • Very soporific.  Not sure it went anywhere.  Characters who were too entrenched to meet anywhere.  Arguments over simplified.
• 1 Comment without a rating
  • Could have been said in half the time.  Don’t agree with the right to roam, plenty of land already available to walk over.

You can download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback for ‘Our Land’

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.

Next screening:

Our next film will be “Sentimental Value” on Monday 2 November

Orban Wallace’s film about the right-to-roam movement shows us a campaigning group with a simple, reasonable aim: to give walkers in England and Wales the same rights that people have in Scotland, courtesy of the Scottish Outdoor Access Code, brought into being by the Land Reform (Scotland) Act of 2003. There, walkers have the right to temporary, non-motorised access – which is to say walking, cycling and camping, carried out responsibly – to most land, public or private. These rights have now existed for some time without the apocalyptic end to the countryside as we know it.

Documentary • Cert: 12A • Year: 2025
Language: English • 1 Hour 30 Minutes

Click here for additional information.

Our previous presentation:

Audience reaction to “The President’s Cake”

22 response slips were returned. The breakdown, and comments were: You can download the comments by clicking on the following link:Feedback for ‘The President’s Cake’ We are always interested to receive any additional comments people may have on this film … 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’: 3 votes
  • As always poor and children who suffer the most.
  • Thank you for a challenging film
• ‘Very Good’: 12 votes
  • Not sure about the Guardian’s “Sugary” review. What it means to survive in a country under international sanctions (as usual, it’s the ordinary people, not the narcistic President, who suffer) – 100+ mins of the exploitation of women and children & futile bartering.
  • Very touching. Lamia’s resilience in a life so tragic.
  • Well made. A view of life we don’t know much about. Good acting & nice music.
  • The child actors were amazing. Good film.
  • Not sure why it was seen as cream cakeish! Relentless & absorbing & a depiction of a horrendous collapsing society.
  • Showed the culture well, and the horrors of war. Amazing young actors.
  • Clever to use the cake as a device to explore all the ingredients that make up Iraqi society. Fascinating to see how such a different society works: yet the outside forces affecting it are as criminal as ever.
  • A fascinating glimpse into the privations of life in Iraq under Saddam’s autocratic rule. An engaging performance from Lamia, eclipsed arguably only by that cockerel!
  • A charming film: a glimpse into so many lives, and the innocence of childhood. Lamia in future boat person’ rescue by the lifeboat off Dover one day!?
  • Suitable reminder of what we supported.
  • Great start to the season – loved the rooster.
  • What real poverty, stolen innocence & no future looks like. Fantastic cinematography.
• ‘Good’: 7 votes:
  • Very thought provoking film.
  • An engaging and authentic film! Deeply moving.
  • Very thought provoking – realise how children suffer in war. Are sanctions justified?
  • ? Genocide. Who was doing the killing? USA or Saddam?
• ‘Satisfactory’: 0 votes
• ‘Poor’: 0 votes

You can download the comments by clicking on the following link:
Feedback for ‘The President’s Cake’

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.

Next screening:

Our next film will be “Our Land” on Monday 19 October, preceded by a brief AGM.

While people across 1990’s Iraq struggle to survive, 9-year old Lamia has been selected by her teacher to prepare a cake to celebrate the President’s birthday. In a landscape of fear and scarcity, where basic ingredients are nearly impossible to find, Lamia sets out on a determined journey throughout the big city in search of eggs, flour, and sugar. Accompanied by her grandmother, her loyal friend Saeed, and her pet rooster Hindi, she navigates vendors and police officers along the way.

Drama • Cert: 12A • Year: 2025
Language: Arabic • 1 Hour 45 Minutes

Click here for additional information.

Our previous presentation:

Audience reaction to “The Room Next Door”

15 response slips were returned. The breakdown, and comments were: 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 … 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.

Another season of films is approaching, starting on Monday 21 September. My thanks go to our Booking Secretary and Website Manager Bob Foale for selecting the films and booking them. Looking at the programme (attached below), I hope you will agree with me that it is a varied and attractive one, in keeping with our core policy of showing independent arthous world cinema. There is a documentary – Our Land – and a ‘feature’ of two films focussing on Jean-Luc Godard’s classic Breathless (A Bout de Souffe), amongst others.

We are keeping the subscription the same as for the last two seasons. Membership is still £75, representing excellent value at £7.50 to see a film. Guests are welcome at £12.50. Agai, each paid-up member will receive two Guest Discount Tickets to use at their discretion, allowing a guest admission for £7.50. And no advertising or trailers!

However, as I pointed out at last year’s AGM, the Club’s resources are at a critical point, virtually all its reserves now being used to hire The Studio for this coming season. It is absolutely vital that we sustain our membership at last year’s level, and even increase it, to ensure we can pay for the screening licences for ten films and, hopefully, be able to plan for yet another season in 2027/28. I do hope all of you will be in a position to support the Club for this coming season and do everything you can to encourage others to do so. In a few weeks’ time, Malcolm will be sending you full details on how to join.

Our first, inaugural, programme for CFC was in 1988/89. It is difficult to believe that we have been showing films at the Studio (The Cramphorn, as it was) for nearly 40 years! I know that many of you will remember those early days and I am deeply grateful for all the support the Club has had since then.

Best wishes

Peter Bunyan
CFC Chairperson

• ‘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.

We end this season with Pedro Almodóvar’s first English Languauge film. Ingrid (Julianne Moore) and Martha (Tilda Swinton) were close friends in their youth, when they worked together at the same magazine. After years of being out of touch, they meet again in an extreme but strangely sweet situation.

Psychological Drama • Cert: 12A • Year: 2024
Language: English • 1 Hour 27 Minutes

Click here for additional information.

Our previous presentation:

Audience reaction to “On Falling”

14 response slips were returned. The breakdown, and comments were: 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 … 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
  • 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.