Following our involvements in the Abingdon Arts Festival and the Easter break, normal service resumes this Thursday (April 19) with THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES. (7.45, Abingdon College Lecture Theatre, Cert 18), which won best foreign film Oscar in 2011.

There are then two further screenings:

* MY DOG TULIP April 26, 7.45pm, Abingdon College Lecture Theatre, on April 26.

Both the above screenings are included in your termly or annual memberships, but one week members and members’ guests are welcome (tickets @ £5 and £4 respectively).

The screening of MY DOG TULIP will be prededed by an Extraordinary General Meeting with one agenda item: To elect a new Treasurer on the retirement of Richard Stovel from this post. Caroline Harben has been nominated to take on the role and the Committee urges members to support her election.

* LOOSE CANNONS May 3, Abingdon College Lecture Theatre, Cert 12A

This is our annual joint screening with the local twinners (ADTTS), with a cheese and wine party to follow. Timings:

Pre-film glass of wine and nibbles at 7.15

Film at approximately 7.45

Cheese and wine at 9.40 – Please bring your own wine!

Original title Mine Vaganti, Italy 2010, 110 minutes, Cert 12A , directed by Fernan Ozpetek.

” multistranded comedy of errors and sexual identity, the focus is on Tomasso, son of a pasta-making Puglian clan, whose plans to come out to his traditional family are derailed when his older brother steals his thunder. ‘Loose Cannons’ looks sideways to Tomasso’s siblings, friends and acquaintances and back to his grandmother’s early life, exploring a range of dilemmas with humour and sensitivity …” (Ben Walters, Time Out).

This is an extra event and thus not included in your subscription. Admission (ABCD and ADTTS members) £6.00 – includes film, food and soft drinks, £7.00 others.

Another event for your diary is the annual, informal, MEMBERS’ MEETING on May 24th. (College Lecture Theatre from 7.30pm), when we will give give you a progress report on our programme planning for next season. There are always a few decisions still to be made and on occasion members’ comments have led to a change in our plans, so please come and tell us what you think. Refreshments will be served.

We haven’t forgotten the planned trip to the restored Regal in Evesham. Penny is working on this and we hope to have news soon. (The delay is caused by the fact that the cinema hasn’t yet published its June programme).

“Engrossing”

“Superbly structured – enthralling”

“A perfect political thriller. It laid bare the workings of a totalitarian regime and showed what happens at an individual and societal level when justice is denied. Brilliantly scripted, shot and acted – this [film] is A MASTERPIECE !!”

“Everything one could wish for in a narrative noir. Particularly skilful in the way it blended politics, crime, intrigue and emotion in a seamless and plausible fashion. Brilliant shooting captured the authentic atmosphere of 1974 and 2000. This would get into my all-time top ten!”

“Absolutely brilliant! Hitchcockian twists right to the end, as in Nine Queens and L’Aura – with the same principal actor.”

“Brilliant – an amazing study of complicated relationships. What wonderful faces!”

“B for the film but E for the face make-up!”

“Impressive acting and photography. Plot slightly unbelievable at the end (but still) very much worth seeing.”

“A powerful love story and gripping throughout, if away with the fairies at times!”

“Cleverly woven strands and themes which held one’s interest throughout.”

“Slow-moving but excellent. Great twists at the end.”

“An amazing ending!”

“Nicely done”

“Very atmospheric – the flashback sequences worked very well.”

“Very interesting from start to finish, though a very unlikely tale in many ways. I would definitely see it again. Was there a twist where the flashback at the end seemed to show the husband?”

“The lack of cliché in the plot was very refreshing, after so many Hollywood – and some British – movies.”

“Very good but only believable because it was set in Argentina!”

“Nearly a great film”

“Romantic and gruesome!”

“Good – but too long!”

“Cars by Peugeot!”

“Remarkable frame composition – pity more photogrpahers didn’t make films”

“Wonderful film, marred by the intrusive soundtrack!”

“Fantastic and very moving but also amusing with the animals, especially the cat and its jumping.”

“Very irritating soundtrack!”

“Absolutely wonderful! Such courage and endurance in pursuit of a dream.”

“Film – FABULOUS
“Sound – WELL CHOSEN BUT TOO LOUD AT TIMES it should be a background to the film, but sometimes the film was a background to the music”.

“The Great White Silence deserves its place in the history books for not just the technical excellence, but as a cinematic memento of an important feat in human history.”

“Unique”

“Absolutely excellent. Riveting. Would love to see it again.”

“Absolutely incredible and very very moving”

“Excellent film. Voice-over rather than titles might have been preferable. Music, o.k.”

“Scott planned everything geat detail. He had food for four on the last leg and amazingly at the last minute took Evans, an extra man, so they didn’t have enough food. A great mystery.”

“Some remarkable footage with good signage to accompany it. Enjoyed the ‘Penguin’ sequence.”

“The penguin sequence went on and on.”

When one thinks of animation films featuring dogs, one may think of Lady and the Tramp or One Hundred and One Dalmatians. These were cosy and enjoyable films for children. Tonight’s film is definitely not in that category. Based on one of three works of J R Ackerley, a literary editor of the BBC’s The Listener, this is an autobiographical tale of the confirmed bachelor’s relationship with his Alsatian bitch Tulip. He acquired Tulip quite late in life and she became his one love and constant companion for the next 16 years. At first she was a typical playful, excitable and cantankerous eighteen month old bitch. Gradually Ackerley came to the conclusion that what perhaps Tulip needed was a mate for life – such as he himself had never found – and a lot of the film is taken up with his efforts to mate her, resulting in some quite surprising and adult themes in the animation. This is a film that, if you like dogs, you may love but which you may hate if, say, you are more of a cat person.

Other works by J R Ackerley include the memoirs Hindoo Holiday and My Father and Myself, and a novel called We Think The World Of You (made into a film in 1988 with Alan Bates, Gary Oldman and Max Wall). My Dog Tulip was Lynn Redgrave’s last film, and Christopher Plummer gives just the right sort of tone as the narrator, Ackerley.

This animation is the first animated film ever to be entirely hand drawn and painted using paperless computer technology. There is no CGI or anything modern like that, and consequently we get a rather quaint and charming film a bit different from you would normally expect. This is a good and unusual film with which to end our season and we hope you will enjoy it.

J R Ackerley – Christopher Plummer
Nancy/ Greengrocer’s wife – Lynn Redgrave
Ms Canvenini – Isabella Rossellini
Mr Plum/ Pugilist – Peter Gerety
Captain Pugh/ Mr Blandish – Brian Murray
Army Veterinarian – Paul Hecht
Cyclist/ Rude Veterinarian – Euan Morton

Directors – Paul Fierlinger, Sandra Fierlinger
Screenplay – Paul Fierlinger, Sandra Fierlinger based on memoir by J R Ackerley
Original Music – John Avarese
Producers – Howard Kaminsky, Frank Pellegrino, Norman Twain

“No parents of a child have never been more observant or taken better care of their charge.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“The Fierlingers’ animation is disarming: Tulip, in a constant and happy kerfuffle, chased about by Ackerley, his long, bespectacled figure bent over in attempts to contain her. … As a memoir of cross-species affection, the film should charm dog fanciers – and anyone else, really, who has ever looked in the eyes of a loving animal and wondered why people don’t measure up.” Amy Biancholi, San Francisco Chronicle

The Committee hopes that you have enjoyed the varied range of films we have put on for your enjoyment this season and looks forward to the pleasure of your company next season. Happy Summer Holidays!

Recently retired criminal court investigator Benjamín (Ricardo Darín) decides to write a novel based on a twenty-five-year-old unresolved rape and murder case, which still haunts him. Sharing his plans with Irene (Soledad Villamil), the beautiful judge and former colleague he has secretly been in love with for years, Benjamín’s initial involvement with the case is shown through flashbacks, as he sets out to identify the murderer. But Benjamín’s search for the truth will put him at the centre of a judicial nightmare, as the mystery of the heinous crime continues to unfold in the present, testing the limits of a man seeking justice and personal fulfilment at last.

Thus commences an absorbing back and forth journey through time, between Buenos Aires in 1974 and 2000, which reopens both the crime and the unacknowledged feeling that has remained all these years between Irene and Benjamin.

Benjamín Esposito – Ricardo Darín
Irene Menéndez Hastings – Soledad Villamil Campanella
Pablo Sandoval – Guillermo Francella
Ricardo Morales – Pablo Rago
Isidoro Gómez – Javier Godino
Liliana Coloto – Carla Quevedo

Director – Juan José Campanella
Screenplay – Eduardo Sacheri, Juan José based on novel by Eduardo Sacheri
Cinematography – Félix Monti
Original Music – Federico Jusid, Emilio Kauderer
Producers – Mariela Besuievski, Juan José Campanella, Carolina Urbieta

“Juan Jose Campanella is the writer-director, and here is a man who creates a complete, engrossing, lovingly crafted film. He is filled with his stories. The Secret in Their Eyes is a rebuke to formula screenplays. We grow to know the characters, and the story pays due respect to their complexities and needs. There is always the sense that they exist in the now and not at some point along a predetermined continuum.” Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

“Don’t be put off. This spellbinder from Argentina will sneak up and floor you. It’s that good.” Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“A supremely watchable, well-made and well-acted movie with a dark, sinewy sense of history: a tremendously slick thriller from a director who has worked on American TV shows such as Law and Order and House.” Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“They really don’t make them like that anymore. And you can see why.”

“Barney Bigard – eat your heart out!”

“George [Haslam, whose trio played the live jazz] I can watch and listen to forever. The film would have been perfect if kept to no more than one hour.”

“Made a song and dance of it!”

“Hope you do this again.”

“Very impressive dancing and music and some great comedy moments. Also a few cringe-inducing scenes, but highly enjoyable overall.”

“Amazing dance and song, not much plot but a lot fun, though too strident at times, especially towards the end.”

“Great blend of live jazz and film.”

“The evening was excellent and the film was good fun, but was it ‘good’ as a film?”

“What a joy to see them dancing!!”

“Most entertaining.”

“Real classic footage. Great stuff.”

“Terrific choice, let’s have some like it!”

“Wonderful film, thank you – fabulously schmoozy jazz (A*) added to the atmosphere.
More please! Terrific night out. An Arts Festival winning combination.”

“Really enjoyable film in most surprising way – I usually find musicals so strange with characters just bursting into song, but this format just showed the story in a showbiz setting and with fantastic performances throughout.”

“Fantastic! What fun.”

The Great White Silence
UK 1924 (restored 2010) 104 minutes Cert. U

Herbert Ponting was official photographer to the British Antarctic Expedition led by Captain Robert Scott 1910-12, tasked with keeping a detailed cinematic record. The resulting footage was shown in Britain in various different versions between 1911 and 1933 (the last with sound). The British Film Institute spent nearly 20 years restoring all of Ponting’s original footage, and this new film is the result, together with a music score by Simon Fisher Turner. Ponting was a stills photographer who had never previously used a cine camera, which makes the clarity and quality of the pictures all the more remarkable. He used toning and tinting to improve the depth and lustre of his images, and this has been faithfully reproduced digitally by the BFI’s restoration team.

Many of the images in the film are breathtaking and awe-inspiring. The passage of the expedition’s ship Terra Nova through the sea ice was captured by Ponting suspended precariously from two planks fixed over the ship’s bows. In addition to filming the voyage south and the Antarctic fauna, he took footage of the expedition’s scientific team, often engaged in day to day domestic activities. The effect of all this upon British audiences of the time, who were substantially unfamiliar with pictures of the Antarctic, can only be guessed at.

No footage exists of Scott’s ill-fated final journey to the South Pole, as Ponting did not accompany them. Consequently, the last half hour of the film consists of extracts from Scott’s diary, collated with stills and animated film of model figures in a blizzard. However, the telling quality of Scott’s prose and Ponting’s polished commentary in the intertitles combine to make this part of the film both haunting and poignant as it tracks the doomed party on their journey and relates the hardships they endured.

Captain Robert Falcon Scott – himself
Herbert G Ponting – himself

Director – Herbert G Ponting
Cinematography – Herbert G Ponting
Original Music – Simon Fisher Turner (for the 2011-released restoration)
Restoration – Kieron Webb, Angelo Lucatello, Peter Marshall and Dave Gurney. Lead curator: Bryony Dixon.

“Today, we are familiar with documentaries from inaccessible places, but here to some extent, is the mystery and majesty of the landscape restored”. Cath Clarke, The Guardian.

“It was wonderful!”

“Such a good blend of film and music”

“Very funny, very sad – a wonderful film and superb music. Thanks Andrew!”

“The music was wonderful.”

“Many thanks to Andrew Youdell!”

“Thank you for the music – it was great.”

“Andrew Youdell excellent as always. A delightful film!”

“Charming, perfectly charming, my dear!”

“How amusing and so well shot”

“Silent films don’t often have a more serious tone but this was enjoyable on a number of levels – comedy, Japanese culture – which was most interesting – social comment and great acting. Well chosen!”

“A wonderful film. Interesting that the playfulness between the boys was so like that in the previous Japanese film [Good Morning]”

“Humour occasionally lost in translation but a great portrait of suburban life. Superb piano accompaniment as always.”

“Historically fascinating. The child actors were brilliant. Very thought provoking.”

“An insight into Japanese society – enjoyable”

“An interesting view of Japanese society, culture, customs – and costumes!”

“It’s hard not to imagine the future of the two boys as soldiers in Manchuria or Burma a few years later.”

“Whilst some of the cultural contexts may seem a bit awkward to understand, like the calligraphy scene, this was a charming comedy with some entertaining moments.”

“More lavish subtitles [i.e. intertitles] would have been welcome. The film reminded me of the family watching TV …. [the Royle Family?] Some moving and funny moments. Humour rather repetitive but charming for a lot of the time.”

“Just a novelty now. Why did Ozu film close-ups with (the characters’) heads missing?”

“Interesting but just a little too dated for my taste”

“All right but a bit tedious”

“A bit dull”

plus live jazz with the George Haslam Trio

at 7.30: “Live jazz by our trio tonight will be played before and after we have the pleasure of seeing such jazz greats as Fats Waller, Cab Calloway and, of course, Lena Horne – not an enviable position but George Haslam, Jez Cook and Steve Smith have all cut their teeth on the essential bones of jazz. The line-up of baritone sax, guitar and double bass presents a pared down format for some lightly swinging and, I’m sure, most enjoyable jazz and blues” – George Haslam.

at 8.05: Stormy Weather 1943, 75 minutes, Cert U

At the end of WW1 Bill Williamson (ie Bojangles Robinson) meets Selina and hopes to settle down with her. Many years later …

“Fox’s all-black musical answer to MGM’s Cabin in the Sky. No Minnelli this time, so no contest, especially as the wispy plot – one of those up-down romances that span 25 years – serves chiefly to string together a revue collection of items matching the various periods. With those stars let loose on classic songs, and the Nicholas Brothers providing a stunning tap dancing finale, who’s complaining? Often quite imaginatively staged, the numbers are strikingly well shot.” Tom Milne, Time Out Film Guide.

Selina Rogers – Lena Horne
Bill Williamson – Bill Robinson
Gabe Tucker – Dooley Wilson
And as themselves: Cab Calloway and his Band
Katherine Dunham and her Troupe, Fats Waller,
The Nicholas Brothers, Ada Brown

Director – Andrew L Stone
Screenplay – Frederick J Jackson, Ted Koehler adapted by H S Kraft from a story by Jerry Horwin and Seymour B Robinson
Cinematography – Leon Shamroy
Producer – William LeBaron

“Stormy Weather is a first-rate show… Musically, too, it is a joy to the ear, especially when Miss Horne digs deep into the depths of romantic despair to put across the classic blues number, after which the picture is titled, in a manner that is distinctive and refreshing” – Thomas M. Pryor, The New York Times (22nd July 1943 review)

“The music was a strength.”

“Fully deserving of its cult status!”

“Stylish and atmospheric. Great shooting in every sense of the word and done to great music. Surely de Niro’s last good performance. Jody Foster brilliantly credible and good to see Harvey K. being Harvey K. So much better than Drive …”

“An excellent tour-de-force with its eclectic mixture of jazz music, Chandleresque voice-over and an array of well developed supporting characters.”

“Great music and the night scenes were superb. A drama of dead-end lives.”

“I used to live in a bed-sit and can kind of identify with Travis! Excellent film of its time and yet timeless.”

“Loved the atmospheric shots of New York. de Niro’s self-conscious method acting was a bit distracting but Foster and Keitel were stunning. Could have done without the bloodbath at the end but I guess that was restrained compared to what later became the norm!”

“A good film but very much of its era.”

“Interesting camera work”

“Very much of the period. Good entertainment – as long as you didn’t mind all the blood!”

“Good film for its time but lacking a bit of present-day reality and somewhat reminiscent of 1970s cowboy films!”

“Has not aged well after 35 years. Now seems rather disconnected but the soundtrack music was A+!”

“Good, I suppose but I hated all that violence and sleazy characters.”

“An extremely depressing film”

“It’s true – the blood was not as red as it should have been.”