Films Discussed in 2020

These introductions were all written by the person who recommended the film to the group, from their memory of watching it before and liking it, plus some cursory research, but before watching it again or discussing it in the group. The recommender is usually myself. If it’s someone else I will nearly always have done some editing of what they wrote.

After each intro there are two ratings out of five stars. These are based on what we thought of the film after watching it for the discussion.

My rating is on the left. This closely corresponds to the film’s place in my constantly updated list of favourite films, as follows: 5 stars = position 1-100; 4.5 stars = 101-300; 4 stars = 301-700. Lower ratings = not amongst my favourites.

The other members’ aggregate rating is on the right. 5 stars means everyone liked or loved it. If everyone loved it except one strong dissenter that would be 4.5 stars. This could also be everyone liking it but only one or two praising it strongly. 4 stars is still preponderantly favourable opinion but somewhat more indifference or dislike balanced against the praise. 3.5 is just on the positive side overall, while 3 is middling and lower scores represent a negative balance of opinion. These ratings are all of course based on my interpretation of the discussion and any other feedback.

All That Heaven Allows 08/12/20

In All That Heaven Allows (1955) director Douglas Sirk pits the independent free spirit embodied by the self-sufficient woodsman Rock Hudson against the narrow-minded conservatism of small-town America. Caught in the middle is Jane Wyman as the widow whose friends, neighbours and children know what’s best for her. A deft script seamlessly interweaves the romance and social critique, and it all plays out in glorious technicolor.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Innocents 08/12/20

It is with a slight sense of unease that the able and willing Miss Giddens travels north to take charge of two orphans at their uncle’s country estate. Director Jack Clayton brought in Truman Capote to restore the dreadful uncertainty about the apparitions in the Henry James source novella The Turn of the Screw to the script of The Innocents (1961). The iconic English rose Deborah Kerr wrings the heart as the dutiful governess haunted by the grim legacy of her predecessor.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Onegin 24/11/20

Onegin (1999), directed by Martha Fiennes, is an exemplary translation to the screen of Pushkin’s poignant novel written in rhyming iambic tetrameters. For Eugene Onegin, played with riveting conviction by Ralph Fiennes, the tranquillity of an idyllic country retreat is to be short-lived when he becomes unwillingly embroiled in the passions of his younger companions, Tatyana and Vladimir, played by Liv Tyler and Toby Stephens. All the cast shine in this engrossing study of flawed character and fate.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

To Be or Not to Be 24/11/20

A comedy about the 1939 invasion of Poland and its subsequent Nazi occupation. This extraordinary concept is fashioned by director Ernst Lubitsch into the sparkling Hollywood gem To Be or Not to Be (1942). Carole Lombard and Jack Benny star as the leading lights in a Shakespearean troupe, who engage the enemy in snowbound Warsaw armed only with their inventive wit and a talent for artful illusion worthy of the great bard himself.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Dark Star 10/11/20

The laughably low-budget sci-fi spoof Dark Star (1974), a pet project of first-time feature director John Carpenter, conjures up an unglamorous but amiable vision of space travel in 82 whimsical minutes. A distinctly spaced-out bearded crew are doomed to spend years in each other’s company on an absurd mission to far corners of the galaxy with only the occasional alien intruder or computer malfunction for distraction.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Diary of Anne Frank 10/11/20

The Diary of Anne Frank (1959), directed by George Stevens, is a sincere homage to its source in evoking both the fear of a horrific fate hovering outside only a door’s width away and the interior life a young girl with all the normal yearnings and resentments, heightened in the claustrophobic atmosphere of the family’s self-imprisonment. We share their predicament over the course of 2 hours and 50 minutes, aided by an excellent cast, with newcomer Millie Perkins a natural in the title role.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Shadowlands 27/10/20

Comfortably ensconced in the academic and literary circles of Oxford in the 1950s the devout theologian and fantasy writer C S Lewis begins a correspondence with a creature more exotic th­­an any to be found in Narnia – an American woman. Nor is the personal destiny about to unfold in Shadowlands (1993) less dramatic than that of his child protagonists. Anthony Hopkins and Debra Winger beautifully evoke the emotional flowering of twin souls with striking surface disparities under the seasoned direction of Richard Attenborough.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Woman in the Window 27/10/20

The Woman in the Window (1944), is a gripping film noir in which the armchair musings of a middle-aged Professor of Psychology on the darker impulses come home to roost in a doom-laden swirl of events following a chance encounter with a mysterious woman. Director Fritz Lang ratchets up the tension by the minute as fate closes in on the unlucky pair. Edward G Robinson and Joan Bennett are all too convincing as the hapless academic and his unwitting nemesis, the classic femme fatale.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Brassed Off 13/10/20

Despite losing their livelihoods in the second wave of pit closures in the 1990s the citizens of Grimley are determined to keep the colliery brass band alive and with it their pride at whatever cost. Brassed Off (1996) directed by Mark Herman is a heart-warming comedy with an unusually tough edge. Pete Postlethwaite, Ewan McGregor and Tara Fitzgerald give it their all for Grimley amongst a host of familiar faces.

Here is the All 4 link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf

Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton were destined to play the bickering University couple who wash their dirty linen in front of their guests in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), a full-blooded adaptation of the prize-winning play by Edward Albee. First-time feature director Mike Nichols and all four principal actors received Oscar nominations for bringing to the screen a booze-fuelled all-nighter that shatters the veneer of peace in the groves of academe.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Way to the Stars 29/09/20

With the war in Europe critically poised the RAF base at Halfpenny Field is well-stocked with fighting spirit in the shape of John Mills, Michael Redgrave and Trevor Howard, but the dramatic focus of The Way to the Stars (1945) is on the relationships of the servicemen with their sweethearts, families and the local villagers. Then the American pilots arrive to lend a hand. This distinctively domestic war drama is one of the brightest gems in the rich legacy of director Anthony Asquith.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis 29/09/20

The Garden of the Finzi-Continis (1970), directed by Vittorio De Sica, is based upon Giorgio Bassani’s 1962 novel set during the rise of fascism in Italy in the 1930s. When Jews are barred from the tennis clubs a group of young friends meet to play within the walled gardens of the Finzi-Contini family estate. Winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film this exquisite production was the first big showcase for actors Dominique Sanda and Helmut Berger as sister and brother Finzi-Contini, and Lino Capolicchio as the sister’s aspirant lover.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Prick Up Your Ears 15/09/20

Gary Oldman smoulders and sparkles as the hedonistic, law-breaking young playwright Joe Orton in Prick Up Your Ears (1987), a scintillating collaboration between director Stephen Frears and scriptwriter Alan Bennett. While making a name for himself in a 1960s London scene on the cusp of sexual liberation Orton is closeted in a tempestuous relationship with his older lover Kenneth Halliwell, portrayed with heart-breaking intensity by Alfred Molina.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Diary of a Lost Girl 15/09/20

A luminous late silent movie directed by G W Pabst, Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) chronicles the downward spiral of an unworldly girl in Weimar Germany from her comfortable home to harsh institutional life in a reform school. It stars the striking American actress Louise Brooks as the luckless heroine whose spirits are lifted when she befriends a lively and resourceful fellow inmate. This loving restoration is admirably served by a moody piano accompaniment.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie 01/09/20

Maggie Smith brings to glorious life the charismatic schoolmistress created by novelist Muriel Spark in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969), a consummate adaptation directed by Ronald Neame. At the Marcia Blane School for Girls in 1930s Edinburgh the opinionated champion of fine art, culture and fascist dictatorship holds sway over starry-eyed pupils and amorous male colleagues alike.  Her unconventional antics exasperate the devoted choirmaster played by Gordon Jackson and cause friction with the school authorities.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Ida 01/09/20

Ida (2013), directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, is the story of a young novice nun in 1960s Poland, who, with the help of a lawyer whom she meets along the way, discovers some shocking news about her past. The moody, atmospheric black and white cinematography and the old-fashioned 4:3 screen aspect ratio add to the evocation of time and place in this intriguing, Oscar-winning drama.

Here is the All 4 link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Dangerous Liaisons 18/08/20

The film of a play of an eighteenth century book, Dangerous Liaisons (1988) amply measures up to its illustrious antecedents. The Hollywood dream team of Glenn Close, John Malkovich and Michelle Pfeifer magnificently fill the elegant costumes and assume the courtly character of leisured aristocrats locking horns in the deadly embrace of illicit romantic intrigue. This pinnacle in the career of director Stephen Frears repays repeated viewing.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Meet John Doe 18/08/20

Director Frank Capra paints a dark picture on a broad canvas of the American dream gone sour in Meet John Doe (1941), the story of a cooked-up publicity stunt that lurches out of control. Silver screen icons Barbara Stanwyck and Gary Cooper lend glamour to the production but also grit to their respective roles, as the audacious reporter who invents “John Doe” and the downtrodden everyman hired to be him.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Early Summer 04/08/20

Are you kneeling comfortably on your zabuton? Then you are perfectly poised to appreciate Early Summer (1951), an exquisite portrait of a three-generation household in post-war Tokyo, directed by the prolific Yasujirô Ozu. Amid the domestic detail and sometimes humourous interactions between the engaging personalities a family drama develops hinging on the endemic tug of war between tradition and modernity.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Straight Story 04/08/20

In 1994 the 74 year-old Alvin Straight decided in the face of all opposition to take an unusual, and slow, mode of transport to visit his ailing brother 240 miles away. This is the simple plot of The Straight Story (1999), and its straightforward dramatisation, unexpectedly directed by the master of mind-bending weirdness David Lynch, creeps up on the viewer and becomes a surprisingly engrossing ride.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Topsy-Turvy 21/07/20

Roll up, roll up for the latest diverting spectacle brought to you by the famous Gilbert and Sullivan partnership! But is it a flop in the offing? Such is the intriguing subject of Topsy-Turvy (1999), an inspirational departure by director Mike Leigh, transporting his talent for painfully comic observation from the sitting-rooms of fictional but excruciatingly real contemporary families to the drawing rooms of late Victorian London and the stage of the Savoy Theatre. The historical detail is lovingly rendered, and the two and a half hours fly by in this “putting on a show” film with a difference.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Our Hospitality 21/07/20

Our Hospitality (1923) is a cracking tale in which the young heir to a Southern estate blunders into a remorseless family feud spanning the generations. In his second feature as star and co-director Buster Keaton’s po-faced innocent is already a class act, negotiating a perilous path in a dangerous world with the aid of ingenious visual gags and precarious stunts in this 75 minute outing.

Here is the YouTube link. The orchestral accompaniment is very atmospheric and the picture is clearer than the version on archive.org, which features a more modern soundtrack.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Knife in the Water 07/07/20

A well-to-do couple on the way to a quiet lake retreat give a lift to a young hitch-hiker who ends up joining them for a weekend of sun, sailing and psychological power-play to the accompaniment of a delirious jazz score. Knife in the Water (1962), the first feature directed by Roman Polanski, announces the arrival of a gifted auteur with a penchant for disturbing mind games. 

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Julieta 07/07/20

A chance discovery that her long-lost daughter is back in town incites the now middle-aged Julieta to reminiscence on the life-changing events that culminated in the estrangement. Directed by the evergreen Pedro Almodóvar, Julieta (2016) is less quirky than earlier films but just as inventive. The pangs of love and loss come through strongly in one of his most satisfying concoctions.

Here is the iPlayer link. This expired on Tuesday 30th June.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Lola 23/06/20

During a sultry summer in the port of Nantes an aimless young man bumps into an old flame from schooldays, the eponymous dancer played by Anouk Aimée. She is rather busier, looking after her child and entertaining American sailors, one in particular. Meanwhile a mysterious returnee to the town hovers on the periphery. Lola (1961), the little-known debut feature written and directed by Jacques Demy is a treat for any fan of the French New Wave.

Here is the YouTube link. Ignore the cyrillic characters on the splash screen. The film is in French with English sub-titles if you click Settings and take the appropriate option.

Here is the IMDb link for background information,

Educating Rita 23/06/20

Newcomer Julie Walters bursts into the University cloisters and onto celluloid in her feature film debut Educating Rita (1983) as the working class girl whose querulous eagerness for learning shakes up her jaded tutor, played by Michael Caine. Veteran director Lewis Gilbert captures the chemistry of the disparate duo in this acclaimed adaptation of the play by Willy Russell.

Here is the YouTube link but with Chinese and English subtitles.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Brief Encounter 09/06/20

The spark of romance ignites in a Kent Railway station café at the start of Brief Encounter (1945), and flares up dangerously, pitting passion against propriety. Adapted from a play by Noël Coward in serious mode, directed by David Lean and starring Celia Johnson and Trevor Howard as the exquisitely tortured couple, this is both British and romantic cinema at their best.

Here is the iPlayer link.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Nowhere Boy 09/06/20

The assured first feature by Sam Taylor-Johnson, Nowhere Boy (2009) focuses on John Lennon’s troubled teenage years and the beginnings of the Beatles. Young Aaron Taylor-Johnson as the irresistible force in the title role and stalwart thespian Kristin Scott-Thomas as the immovable object in the shape of strict aunt Mimi are equally impressive.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp 26/05/20

A two and three quarter hour epic charting the 40 year career of a British army officer, inter-weaved with his more intimate personal history. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger is a landmark in the oeuvre of this famed directing duo. The big boots of the title role fit Roger Livesey to perfection, with Deborah Kerr leading the supporting cast.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Les Diaboliques 26/05/20

Squeeze yourself onto the hard bench between the knobbly knees and shoulders of your fidgety neighbours for Les Diaboliques (1955), a claustrophobic psychological thriller/horror set in a boys’ boarding school. Directed with customary panâche by Henri-Georges Clouzot it features Simone Signoret as the mis-treated schoolteacher whose bid to escape her hated oppressor goes horribly right.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Tillsammans (Together) 12/05/20

Plonk yourself on the bean bag and tune into Tillsammans (Together) (2000), directed by Lukas Moodysson, a zesty comedy/drama set in a household of young people trying to live the alternative dream in Stockholm in 1975. Family connections and neighbourly intrusions as well as internal tensions disrupt the communal harmony.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

My Best Girl 12/05/20

A little-known gem of a romantic comedy, My Best Girl (1927), directed by Sam Taylor, stars the legendary Mary Pickford bringing emotional depth to her last silent feature as the decent, hard-working shop girl who receives amorous attentions from across the social divide.

Here is the YouTube link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

Short Cuts 28/04/20

Book yourself onto the sofa for three hours and eight minutes to watch Short Cuts (1993), directed by Robert Altman and featuring an amazing ensemble cast. The multiple intertwined narratives of nine Raymond Carver short stories and a poem are transposed to a Los Angeles setting.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

The Lavender Hill Mob 28/04/20

Synchronise your watches for the comedy crime caper, The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), directed by Charles Crichton and featuring a host of beloved comic character actors. This classic Ealing production brings home the goods in seventy-seven eventful minutes.

Here is the archive.org link.

Here is the IMDb link for background information.

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