We have a great selection of films for you, carefully chosen by our jury to appeal to members, when weresume meetings on Friday 29 October. Many of them are also Oscar winners or Best Films of the Year according to users of the leading movie fans’ website IMDb.
Included are social and period dramas, thrillers, comedies and an edge-of-your seat documentary that will appear breath-taking on the big screen. The provisional programme, carried forward from what was previously planned is listed below, but it is likely to change to avoid clashes, or to bring you the best new releases. The aim is always to present intelligent, amusing titles that many of you are unlikely to have seen before, or that you would want to see again in the company of friends,
Clicking on any titles in red will take you to more information and a trailer for each film, eg for The Guardians.
Plus we have something new: A Nostalgia Night with a Golden Oldie to be chosen by you the members – with drinks that evening at 1950s prices! Watch for details soon.
All films are shown at 7.30pm, at Abbey Fields Community Centre, Back Lane, Winchcombe GL54 5QH, usually on the last Friday of the month, with refreshments served from 7.00pm.
Membership will of course carry over from 2020. October is not so far away. We very much look forward to welcoming you back then
Judy (UK 2019, 2hr, Cert PG), Friday 29 October
A brilliant Oscar-winning performance by Renee Zellweger as a fragile Judy Garland who arrives in London in the winter of 1968 to perform a series of sold-out concerts that she hopes may salvage her career. Trailer:
The Guardians (France 2017, 2hr 18, Cert 15) Friday 26 November
Only orphan Francine is available to help with harvest on a French farm in 1915 since the men left to fight. Returning on leave, soldier Georges falls in love with her, with dramatic consequences. A beautifully shot story of coping with hardship and loss.
With a friend like Harry (France 2000, 1hr 57, Cert 15) Friday 17 December
Harry knew Michel in high school; they meet again by accident, Harry inserts himself in Michel’s life… and things take a sinister turn. “A thriller that would have made Hitchcock grind his teeth in envy,” Alexander Walker, Evening Standard.
The death of Stalin (UK 2017, 1hr 47, Cert 15) Friday 7 January 2022
Moscow 1953: After Stalin fatally collapses panic spreads among senior Politburo members as they scramble to weed out the competition, ie each other. No-one is safe, not even KGB chief Lavrenti Beria. A terrific black comedy scoring 88/100 among leading critics. Watch extra scenes deleted from the film here.
Capernaum (Lebanon 2018, 2hr 6, Cert 15) Friday 28 January
While serving a five-year sentence for a violent crime, a 12-year-old boy from the slums of Beirut sues his parents for neglect. Stars Syrian refugee child actor Zain al Rafeea. Voted runner-up in IMDb audience Best Picture poll of 2018
Calvary (Ireland 2014, 1hr 42, Cert 15) Friday 25 February
Father James (Brendan Gleeson), a small-town Irish priest hears a confession that includes a threat to kill him in a week’s time. He tries to carry on norally but is confronted with spiritual challenges from his estranged daughter and parishioners as his time runs towards a confrontation that seems to crystallize his values.
Free solo (USA 2018, 1hr 36, Cert 12A) Friday 25 March
You’ll gasp with astonishment as Alex Honnold tries to become the first person ever to climb El Capitan with nothing but his boots and bare hands. ‘I try to expand my comfort zone by practicing the moves over and over again until it’s just not scary anymore,’ Alex said. Well, maybe not scary for him. 2019 Best Documentary Oscar winner.
My masterpiece (Argentina, 1hr 40, Uncert.) Friday 29 April
Arturo, an unscrupulous art dealer and Renzo, his easy-going longtime painter friend, whose work is no longer fashionable, have both hit hard times. So they fake Renzo’s death to increase the value of his latest pictures, supposedly painted in his prime. Gentle, quirky comedy.
Green Book (USA 2018, 2hr 10, Cert PG) Friday 27 May
A white working-class bouncer with conventional prejudices drives an African-American pianist on a tour of segregated venues through the 1960s American South and confronts racial bigotry. Best Picture Oscar 2019.
Nostalgia night, Friday 24 June.
A Golden Oldie to be chosen by the members, with drink prices appropriate to when the film was released. A chance to get into the spirit if you choose to do so, and a great film too.
Apostasy (UK 2017, 1hr 35m, Cert PG) Friday 29 July
A faithful Jehovah’s Witness (ex-Corrie star Siobhan Finneran) is forced by the church to shun her own sister because of a religious transgression. As the separation draws out, she starts to question the meaning of God’s love. A hard-hitting but even-handed examination of the sect directed by Daniel Kokotajlo who was brought up as Jehovah’s Witness, but later broke away.
Babette’s Feast (Denmark 1987, 1hr 43, Cert U) Friday 26 August
During the late 19th century, a strict religious community in a Danish village takes in a French refugee from the Franco-Prussian War as a servant to the late pastor’s daughters.
The Guilty (Denmark 2018, 1hr 25, Cert 15) Friday 30 September
A police officer alone on emergency call room duty enters a race against time when he answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. Top audience-rated film of 2018 according to leading movie website IMDb.
