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The All-New 7 Day Cinema Diet #4
QUAD Cinema Programmer Adam Marsh brings you another seven days of fantastic film viewing options.
Another eclectic mix of films for you to view in the comfort of QUAD’s cinema screens or the comfort of your own home. All the recommendations have been pulled from QUAD, QUAD Cinema At Home, BBC iPlayer, All4, Arrow Player and Britbox.
See you at the movies!
Adam J. Marsh
Doc/Fest – The Story Of Looking
See the film at QUAD.
The Story Of Looking sees Mark Cousins prepare for surgery to restore his vision, revealing how looking makes us who we are. In a personal meditation on the power of looking in his own life, he guides us through a kaleidoscope of extraordinary imagery across cultures and eras, showing how looking lies at the heart of human experience, empathy, discovery and thought.
Exhibition On Screen – Sunflowers
See the film at QUAD.
Vincent Van Gogh’s Sunflowers are among his most famous works, and are some of the most iconic paintings in the world. In an extraordinary exhibition, the Van Gogh Museum took a new and revealing look at the five publicly-owned versions of sunflowers in a vase. Each painting is different and has its own unique story, spanning one of the most famous and turbulent periods in art history. All five paintings are now considered to be in such a delicate state that there will never be a show with all five alongside one another ever again. Only in this film will you have the chance to see that on the screen – in our virtual exhibition. In doing so, the film brings to audiences many new levels of understanding both about the paintings and about Vincent van Gogh.
The Father (12A)
See the film at QUAD.
Anthony Hopkin’s unflinching performance as a man in the grips of dementia powers nabbed him the Oscar for Best Actor in Florian Zeller’s screen adaptation of his 2012 award-winning play. Anthony is 81 years old. He lives alone in his London flat and refuses all the nurses his daughter Anne (Olivia Colman) tries to impose upon him. But the necessity of organising care is becoming more and more pressing, as she’s decided to move to Paris with a man she’s just met. Zeller’s brutal, fractured film explores the agonising trajectory of dementia from the sufferer’s point of view, as reality dissembles, crumbles, and finally becomes something that can’t be trusted; whilst also telling the story of Anne, grappling with the painful question of what to do with her father.
“Masterful and agonising, The Father is a gorgeously crafted film” – New York Magazine.
Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry (15)
See the film at QUAD.
This documentary offers a deeply intimate look at extraordinary teenage phenomenon Billie Eilish. Award-winning filmmaker R.J. Cutler follows her journey on the road, onstage, and at home with her family as the writing and recording of her debut album changes her life.
Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse
Brooklyn teen Miles Morales (voice of Shameik Moore) thinks he is the one and only Spider-Man but in the shared multiverse known as the Spider-Verse there are alternate universes and each one has its own version of Spider-Man. When The Kingpin (Liv Schreiber) uses his supercollider and causes these different versions to collide and meet in modern day Brooklyn, the superheroes must work together and use their differences to help save the world.
Eeb Allay Ooo!
A young migrant battles hordes of monkeys in the heart of New Delhi as a contractual monkey repeller – a newly created government job to tackle the monkeys who have been further emboldened by the recent ban on the use of captive langurs – their natural enemy.
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Peter Weir’s atmospheric film is based on actual events which have never been fully explained. On St Valentine’s Day 1900, a group of Australian schoolgirls set out on a picnic. Two of the girls and one of the teachers mysteriously vanish, and even an extensive search turns up nothing.
The Battle For River Plate
British classic from Powell & Pressburger chronicling the true story of the famous 1939 naval battle. Hans Langsdorff (Peter Finch) is captaining the crack German battleship Graf Spee through the South Atlantic, unaware that a small number of lightweight British battle cruisers are hot on his trail. When the British cruisers manage to trap the powerful German ship in the Uruguayan harbour of Montevideo, they attempt to trick Langsdorff into believing that an entire battle fleet is waiting to destroy his vessel at sea.
A Fish Called Wanda
Archie Leach (John Cleese) is a repressed English barrister charged with defending gangster George (Tom Georgeson), who has just pulled off a multi-million jewel heist with the aid of the beautiful Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis), her psychotic ‘brother’ Otto (Kevin Kline) and stuttering animal rights activist Ken (Michael Palin). George was captured before he could tell his cohorts where he had hidden the gems, so Wanda sets out to seduce Archie in order to discover their secret location. However, Otto’s objections to her relationship with the up-tight lawyer ensure that the process is not a smooth one.
Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band
A confessional, cautionary, and occasionally humorous tale of Robbie Robertson’s young life and the creation of one of the most enduring groups in the history of popular music, The Band. It is a moving story of Robertson’s personal journey, overcoming adversity and finding camaraderie alongside the four other men who would become his brothers in music, together making their mark on music history. The film blends rare archival footage, photography, iconic songs and interviews with Robertson’s friends and collaborators including Martin Scorsese, Bruce Springsteen, Eric Clapton, Van Morrison and more.
20th Century Women
The story follows the life of Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a single mother in her 50s, as she tries to raise her adolescent son to the best of her ability while still living her own life. Struggling with the cultural changes going on around her, Dorothea asks two women for help – her teenage neighbour Julie (Elle Fanning) and her hippy artist friend Abbie (Greta Gerwig). Mike Mills writes and directs this 1970s set American Oscar nominated drama.
Tangled Up With Dylan: The Ballad Of AJ Weberman
Documentary chronicling the life, times and crimes of notorious Bob Dylan obsessive and garbology inventor AJ Weberman. It’s an irreverent and witty exploration into one man’s obsessions, a bohemian life lived on the New York fringes and a uniquely twisted take on the American dream. At times both hilarious and disturbing, the film is not only a great companion piece to Scorsese’s No Direction Home but an interesting observation on our unbalanced desires to know more about celebrities and how far we are willing to go to get that information or even become a part of their lives. Weberman does not see himself as a stalker and insists that Dylan should be grateful that he is around: ‘how was I to know I would have been to Dylan what Verlaine was to Rimbaud’. It’s hard to see this as a tale of poet and critic, but rather a look at the bizarre relationship between the obsessed and the object of his obsession and how it can completely take over a man’s life.
Masked And Anonymous
In a fictitious America caught up in a civil war that is tearing the nation apart, a benefit concert is being organised. A travelling troubadour named Jack Fate is sprung from jail by his scheming former manager, Uncle Sweetheart, to headline a concert with the expectations to bring peace to a country that is entrenched by chaos, lawlessness and pandemonium. Directed by Larry Charles, with the black humour he brought to Seinfeld and starring Bob Dylan as an ageing rock legend. The film also stars John Goodman, Jessica Lange, Jeff Bridges, Mickey Rourke, Luke Wilson, Penelope Cruz, Angela Bassett, Giovanni Ribisi, Val Kilmer, Cheech Marin, Ed Harris, Christian Slater and Bruce Dern.
Film Stars Don’t Die In Liverpool
Jamie Bell and Annette Bening star in this British drama directed by Paul McGuigan. The film follows Peter Turner (Bell), a young British actor who enters into a passionate relationship with award-winning Hollywood leading lady Gloria Grahame (Bening). Despite being many years her junior, Peter forms a strong bond with Gloria and remains close friends with her long after their affair has ended. However, the pair’s relationship is put under immense strain when Gloria is given some devastating news regarding her health. The cast also includes Vanessa Redgrave, Stephen Graham and Julie Walters.
Zodiac
Director David Fincher’s cut of his acclaimed thriller based on actual case files surrounding the notorious San Francisco Bay area murders of the 1970s. As the serial killer known as ‘Zodiac’ taunts the police with letters and cryptic clues, reporters and investigators become increasingly obsessed with finding the murderer’s identity, as the cat and mouse game impacts on their professional and personal lives. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo and Robert Downey Jr.
The Quiet Earth
Zac Hobson (Bruno Lawrence, As Time Goes By), a scientist working on a pioneering energy project, wakes up one morning to find that the technology has malfunctioned, leaving him as seemingly the only man left on earth. As Zac wanders the deserted city of Hamilton, New Zealand, hoping to find some remnant of life besides himself, his mind begins to disintegrate until fantasy and reality blur together in a heady, terrifying cocktail.
Elvira: Mistress of The Dark
Having just quit her job as a Los Angeles TV horror hostess, Elvira receives the unexpected news that she’s set to inherit part of her great-aunt Morgana’s estate. Arriving in the small town of Fallwell, Massachusetts to claim her inheritance, Elvira receives a less than enthusiastic reception from the conservative locals – amongst them, her sinister uncle Vinny, who unbeknownst to Elvira, is an evil warlock who secretly schemes to lay his hands on the old family spellbook for his own nefarious ends…
Campy, quirky and stuffed to the brim with more double entendres than your average Carry On movie, 1988’s Elvira: Mistress of the Dark helped solidify the horror hostess (played by Cassandra Peterson) as a major pop culture icon, here owning every inch of the screen with her quick wit, sass, and of course, cleaving-enhancing gown!
Hellraiser
Stephen King was once famously quoted as saying: “I have seen the future of horror… his name is Clive Barker.” That future became a reality when, in 1987, Barker released his directorial debut, Hellraiser. Based on his own novella The Hellbound Heart, Barker’s Hellraiser sees Larry and his wife Julia move into their new home, unaware that something lurks beneath the floorboards of the rundown house, waiting for human blood to bring it back to life… Introducing the world to the iconic Pinhead and his sadistic band of Cenobites, Hellraiser became an instant genre classic upon release and remains one of the most frighteningly original visions in horror.
The Suspicious Death Of A Minor
Claudio Cassinelli (What Have They Done to Your Daughters?) stars as undercover cop Paolo Germi, on the trail of a Milanese criminal outfit following the brutal murder of an underage prostitute. But a killer-for-hire is also on the prowl, bumping off witnesses before they have a chance to talk…
Also starring Mel Ferrer (Nightmare City), Barbara Magnolfi (Suspiria) and Jenny Tamburi (The Psychic), and featuring a script by veteran giallo writer Ernesto Gastaldi (All the Colours of the Dark, Death Walks at Midnight), this unique and lesser-known entry in Martino’s filmography serves as an essential link between two different movements in Italian popular cinema.
The Dig
See the film at QUAD.
In the late 1930s, wealthy landowner Edith Pretty (Carey Mulligan) hires amateur archaeologist Basil Brown (Ralph Fiennes) to investigate the mounds on her property in Sutton Hoo. The self-taught Brown and his team make a staggering find in the mysterious formations. With Lily James, Johnny Flynn, Ben Chaplin and Ken Stott.
Rare Beasts
See the film at QUAD
Mandy (Billie Piper) is a modern woman in a crisis. Raising a son, Larch (Toby Woolf) in the midst of a female revolution, mining the pain of her parents’ separation and professionally writing about a love that no longer exists, she falls upon a troubled man, Pete (Leo Bill), who is searching for a sense of worth, belonging and ‘restored’ male identity.
“A fully-formed director, a forcefully original writer and a brilliant performer – on the evidence of Rare Beasts, Ms Piper might be one of the most exciting big screen talents to emerge from the UK for some time. **** 4 stars” – David Jenkins, Little White Lies.
Satori Screen – Tezuka’s Barbara
See the film at QUAD
Satori Screen returns to QUAD after a lockdown mandated hiatus to present the very first UK cinema screening of new Japanese film Tezuka’s Barbara (18).
When famous novelist Mikura stumbles across a seemingly homeless young woman in an underpass, he brings her home and quickly finds he has a new muse. But his life is soon turned upside down as he is led down some dangerous paths by the bad-mannered, flirtatious and drunken woman who goes by the name of Barbara. This adaptation of one of manga pioneer Osamu Tezuka’s most adult-oriented works was directed by his son Macoto Tezka to mark the 90th anniversary of his father’s birth and features lush camerawork by legendary cinematographer Christopher Doyle (Chungking Express, In The Mood For Love).
Undergods
See the film at home and support QUAD.
A collection of darkly humorous, science fiction tales about human weakness and doomed fortune; a series of men see their worlds torn apart through a visit from an other-worldly stranger. Like all the best sci-fi, this arresting first feature blends sci-fi and fantasy to create a worldview which is at once savagely grotesque and alarmingly familiar. The pulsing retro-synth score enhances the sound design to excellent effect, while the striking visuals are art in themselves.
“A nightmarish modern folktale of the strangest and highest order. Highly Recommended. **** 4stars” – Radio Times
The Long Day Closes
A collection of moments in the childhood of Bud, a Liverpudlian schoolboy in 1955. Plucked from his cosy home when he is sent to his new Catholic school, the film looks at his loneliness as teachers and pupils pick on him and his increasing isolation at home as he hovers between childhood and adolescence. His beloved film idols and screen stories keep him company in his imagination but in the real world he feels increasingly like a misfit.
Quatermass And The Pit
When prehistoric skulls and the remains of an alien spaceship are discovered in the bowels of London’s Underground during an excavation, a weird and powerful force is unleashed. Professor Quatermass (Andrew Keir) is called in to investigate.
The Red Shoes
Classic Powell and Pressburger drama about an aspiring ballerina who is presented with a stark choice between her artistic ambitions and the man she loves. The film, justly famous for a ballet sequence credited by many as the best on film, has at its heart Victoria Page (Moira Shearer), a talented young ballerina hired to work on an adaptation of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, ‘The Red Shoes’. The production is overseen by Boris Lermontov (Anton Walbrook), a ballet impresario who rules his domain with a rod of iron, making the careers of those he champions but demanding absolute loyalty and dedication to the art of ballet in return. When Boris discovers that Victoria has fallen in love with Julian (Marius Goring), the ballet’s composer, he becomes convinced that the affair will distract his leading lady and presents her with a choice – the ballet or Julian? Will the young ballerina be able to choose between her two great loves?
The Man In The White Suit
Eccentric Sidney Stratton (Alec Guinness) is a laboratory cleaner in a textile factory who invents a material that will neither wear out nor become dirty. Initially hailed as a great discovery, Sidney’s astonishing invention is suffocated by the management when they realise that if it never wears out, people will only ever have to purchase one suit of clothing.
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