WELCOME TO our new season: the first one to use the Marine’s impressive digital projector. It is a more expensive format than DVD hence the modest increase in our subscription rates. The cinema industry is still struggling (as I write, Cineworld has announced that it will close six of its sites); one needs only to see the dearth of weekly film reviews to be aware of this. This applies in particular to the UK independent sector. The box office for 2023 was down 49% on the previous year; our opening film, The Great Escaper, was the only one to clear the £5 million mark. Of course, it would help if more films were made with a general audience in mind. Anyway, despite these problems, we feel that our programme is a strong one – although we won’t know for sure until your reaction slips are in . . . David
Please note:
The start date is 6 October and not all dates are fortnightly.
Typist Artist Pirate King has been moved from 2 February to 9 March.
Please note:
The start date is 6 October and not all dates are fortnightly.
Typist Artist Pirate King has been moved from 2 February to 9 March.
Programme 2024-25
SOME PRESS COMMENTS
THE GREAT ESCAPER
‘An unassuming tale about autumnal dignity’ Times
‘If you are looking for a charmer, this is the film for you’ RTĒ (Ireland)
THE TASTE OF THINGS
‘Vanishingly rare are pictures that capture this kind of relationship so satisfyingly’ Observer
‘Feels like a return to the very best kind of comfort viewing’ Financial Times
ONE LIFE
‘Taut, adeptly told, pounds with heart and deserves to be seen’ HeyUGuys
‘Hopkins delivers an emotionally powerful performance’ Radio Times
FALLEN LEAVES
‘This quiet, sweet, witty, moving drama is a charmer’ Daily Mail
‘The best film of the year’ International Federation of Film Critics
KIDNAPPED
‘A top-notch film’ LA Times
‘Expertly paced, gorgeously shot and evocative’ Empire
THE HOLDOVERS
'Nothing unsurprising about how good and enjoyable this is’ Mark Kermode
‘Like finding an unwatched classic under the tree on Christmas morning’ Little White Lies
THE OLD OAK
'A likeable and well-meaning film’ Independent
‘The final message of hope is resolutely upbeat’ Observer
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
‘Extraordinary piece of filmmaking from the opening credits to the closing ones’ The Australian
‘One of the very best visual artists – comparisons to Stanley Kubrick are warranted’ Independent
TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING
‘Its quiet humour is lovely’ Sunday Times
‘Beautifully lit and shot by cinematographer Agnès Godard’ Sight & Sound
THE INNOCENT
‘A broad, enjoyable, light-hearted movie’ Guardian
‘Few caper comedies have this much heart – an appealingly nutty plot’ Wall Street Journal
HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
‘Well-judged performances and a sharp political edge’ Radio Times
‘A slick, entertaining and timely eco-thriller’ Sight & Sound
PERFECT DAYS
'Achingly lovely’ Observer ‘Rich and resonant’ Total Film
‘A film of profound gentleness’ Little White Lies
AMERICAN FICTION
'Cultural crises are seldom so entertaining’ Irish Times
‘One of the finest directorial debuts in decades’ Variety
THE GREAT ESCAPER
‘An unassuming tale about autumnal dignity’ Times
‘If you are looking for a charmer, this is the film for you’ RTĒ (Ireland)
THE TASTE OF THINGS
‘Vanishingly rare are pictures that capture this kind of relationship so satisfyingly’ Observer
‘Feels like a return to the very best kind of comfort viewing’ Financial Times
ONE LIFE
‘Taut, adeptly told, pounds with heart and deserves to be seen’ HeyUGuys
‘Hopkins delivers an emotionally powerful performance’ Radio Times
FALLEN LEAVES
‘This quiet, sweet, witty, moving drama is a charmer’ Daily Mail
‘The best film of the year’ International Federation of Film Critics
KIDNAPPED
‘A top-notch film’ LA Times
‘Expertly paced, gorgeously shot and evocative’ Empire
THE HOLDOVERS
'Nothing unsurprising about how good and enjoyable this is’ Mark Kermode
‘Like finding an unwatched classic under the tree on Christmas morning’ Little White Lies
THE OLD OAK
'A likeable and well-meaning film’ Independent
‘The final message of hope is resolutely upbeat’ Observer
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
‘Extraordinary piece of filmmaking from the opening credits to the closing ones’ The Australian
‘One of the very best visual artists – comparisons to Stanley Kubrick are warranted’ Independent
TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING
‘Its quiet humour is lovely’ Sunday Times
‘Beautifully lit and shot by cinematographer Agnès Godard’ Sight & Sound
THE INNOCENT
‘A broad, enjoyable, light-hearted movie’ Guardian
‘Few caper comedies have this much heart – an appealingly nutty plot’ Wall Street Journal
HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
‘Well-judged performances and a sharp political edge’ Radio Times
‘A slick, entertaining and timely eco-thriller’ Sight & Sound
PERFECT DAYS
'Achingly lovely’ Observer ‘Rich and resonant’ Total Film
‘A film of profound gentleness’ Little White Lies
AMERICAN FICTION
'Cultural crises are seldom so entertaining’ Irish Times
‘One of the finest directorial debuts in decades’ Variety
6 October
THE GREAT ESCAPER
UK/Swe/Fr, 2023, 96m, colr, 12A
Director: Oliver Parker
With Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson, John Standing
BASED ON true events, Michael Caine plays Bernard Jordan, ex-navy and – in June 2014 – 89 years-of-age, who absconds from his care home to make his own way to Normandy. It’s the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings and he wishes to pay tribute to fallen comrades. In her final performance, Glenda Jackson is superb as his wife and, as a former RAF pilot with a drink problem, John Standing also impresses. The film holds few surprises (we meet fellow veterans, German veterans and a young soldier struggling to erase painful memories), but you wanted more feel-good movies and this certainly fits the bill.
Audience 83, Reactions 92.8%
13 October
THE TASTE OF THINGS
Fr/Bel, 2023, 135m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Tran Anh Hung
With Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel
THE SMALL SCREEN is awash with cookery programmes, but nothing compares to the skill, artistry and commitment on display here. In fin-de-siècle France, chef Dodin and his cook Eugènie, lovers for 20 years, work tirelessly at their tasks in a large country kitchen. The Cannes title was Pot-au-Feu – and this is what they select for the main course, when they are asked to cook for a visiting prince. The Taste of Things is reminiscent of one of our greatest successes, Babette’s Feast; the director’s exquisite 1993 feature debut, The Scent of Green Papaya, was also another early success for us.
Audience 82, Reactions 78%
3 November
ONE LIFE
UK, 2023, 109m, colr, 12A
Director: James Hawes
With Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin
THE YEAR is 1938 and a young Nicholas Winton (affectingly played by Johnny Flynn) works on a desperate plan to rescue Jewish children in Czechoslovakia and bring them to England. Fifty years later, and now an old man (Anthony Hopkins, excellent as always), he is content to live a modest life in suburbia. Despite having brought 669 children to safety, he is still troubled by memories of those he was unable to save. However, as witnessed in a famous 1998 episode of That’s Life, the escapees and their descendants feel that they owe him a debt of gratitude.
Audience 85, Reactions 95.8%
17 November
*** Our AGM at 16:30 followed by
FALLEN LEAVES
Fin/Ger, 2023, 81m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
With Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatenen, Janne Hyytiäinen
DESPITE HIS high international reputation, this gentle, delightful tale marks the director’s debut here in Lyme Regis. The story is most apt: two lonely, middle-aged people meet in a karaoke bar and, tentatively, try to build a relationship. They date in their local cinema (no double seats, I’m afraid); drift apart, and reconnect. Fallen Leaves is one of those simple, modest films that have you willing the characters to find their happy ending. Its several major awards include the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2023.
Audience 115, Reactions 69%
1 December
KIDNAPPED
It/Fr/Ger, 2023, 134m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Marco Bellocchio
With Enea Sala, Leonardo Maltese, Paulo Pierobon
AS REVIEWERS have noted, the story is so bizarre it has to be true. The film whisks us to 19th-century Bologna which was then a Papal State and under the authority of Pope Pius IX. The year is 1858 and, one night, a Jewish family is woken by the police. The parents are told that their son was baptised a Catholic six years previously and must be taken away to be raised within that faith. A long legal battle ensues. The director isn’t as well known as Fellini, De Sica or Bertolucci but he gives us a stylish, thoughtful, at times angry, historical drama.
Audience 91, Reactions 79%
15 December
THE HOLDOVERS
US, 2023, 133m, colr, 15
Director: Alexander Payne
With Paul Giamatti, Dalvine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
THE HOLDOVERS is the perfect choice for our seasonal film. As Christmas 1970 approaches, Barton Academy, an elite boarding school, is about to break up for the holidays. The students are packing – except for Angus (Sessa) who cannot go home. An adult has to stay, too – and it happens to be the cynical, disliked-by-all teacher of ancient history. Plus the cook – played by a magnificent Joy Randolph who fully deserved her Oscar. We did well with Sideways and Nebraska, but Alexander Payne tops it with this witty, moving, instant classic. An imaginative and beautiful score by Mark Orton is the icing on the cake.
Audience 96, Reactions 81%
2025
5 January
THE OLD OAK
UK/Fr/Bel, 2023, 113m, colr, 15
Director: Ken Loach
With Dave Turner, Ebla Mari, Claire Rodgerson
THE OLD OAK was once a busy pub in a thriving Durham pit village, but those glory days are long gone. The landlord, TJ Ballantyne, knows some kind of miracle is needed. The Syrian refugees, who have been placed in the village, are the unlikeliest source of comfort and support, but TJ can, at least, take some pleasure in his burgeoning friendship with Yara. The film is entertaining and moving in equal measure and a key element of this is its palpable sense of community spirit. If this does turn out to be Ken Loach’s swansong, he finishes on a high.
Audience 94, Reactions 93%
19 January
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
US/UK/Pol, 2023, 105m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Jonathan Glazer
With Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Medusa Knopf
THE FILM OPENS with a black screen that acclimatizes the audience to the introduction of birdsong and other sounds that are crucial to what we will observe. And what we do see looks idyllic, an oasis of calm: a beautiful home, a well-tended garden – the roses look lovely – and children at play. Our sense of unease grows because on the other side of the wall is Auschwitz. Not once are we taken into the camp – any horror is experienced only within this domesticity of evil, and it is the ordinariness of the Höss family that is unsettling. It is a masterstroke of creativity by the director.
Audience 91, Reactions 82%
16 February
THE INNOCENT
Fr, 2022, 95m, colr, 15, s/t
Director: Louis Garrel
With Louis Garrel, Roschdy Zem, Noémie Merlant, Anouk Grinberg
HEIST FILMS are invariably entertaining (the 1955 French drama Rififi is often cited as the best of them all) and this particular one is great fun. Young Abel (played by the director) is aghast when his mother marries a convict she met whilst working at his prison. He decides to keep a watchful eye on his stepfather – and his activities do look suspicious. Mind you, Abel can also see why an easy ‘job’ with quick rewards might tempt even the pure and innocent . . . It has a sharp script, good performances (winning Césars in both categories), humour and a tense set-piece robbery – how could we not programme it?
Audience 96, Reactions 85%
2 March
HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
US, 2022, 104m, colr, 15
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
With Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage
A DISPARATE group of young Americans, frustrated by what it sees as government – and corporate – inaction in the face of climate change, hatches a plan. They will meet in West Texas to blow up an oil pipeline. As well as being a symbolic gesture that will garner publicity worldwide, it will disrupt the fossil-fuel industry and shine a light on what needs to be done. We had hoped to programme this absorbing thriller last season, but it was unavailable to us. The situation changed, fortunately, and we can enjoy it together this evening.
Audience 92, Reactions 58%
9 March - rearranged after the inability to show this film on 2 February
TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING
UK, 2022, 108m, colr, 12A
Director: Carol Morley
With Monica Dolan, Kelly Macdonald, Gina McKee
SUNDERLAND-BORN artist Audrey Amiss trained at the R.A. in the 1950s, but subsequently had a breakdown from which she never really recovered. From her research, writer-director Carol Morley fashions a quirky, likeable road movie as, somehow, Amiss persuades her nurse to take her ‘home’ to mount an exhibition of her work. Kelly Macdonald lends sterling support, but this is Monica Dolan’s film and she displays a wonderful range of emotions as it progresses to a touching, and well-judged, finale. A potentially serious topic is leavened by much humour, and we think it will have a favourable response from members.
Audience 78, Reactions 73%
16 March
PERFECT DAYS
Jap/Ger, 2023, 125m, colr, PG, s/t
Director: Wim Wenders
With Yakusho Koji, Emoto Tokio, Nakano Arisa
WIM WENDERS’ directorial CV is hugely impressive and Perfect Days ranks with his best. The story it tells is a simple one: Hirayama is a Tokyo toilet cleaner who is happy with his solitary lifestyle, but who also takes the time to listen to, and help, family and friends. What makes the film such a sublime viewing experience (aside from Yakusho Koji’s mesmerising performance) is the director’s ability to visualise small, everyday details that create an affectionate tribute to the common man. It is 100 years since The Last Laugh and 70 years since Marty and comparisons are not unwarranted.
Audience 112, Reactions 81%
23 March
AMERICAN FICTION
US, 2023, 117m, colr, 15
Director: Cord Jefferson
With Jeffrey Wright, Tracey Ellis Ross, John Ortiz
THELONIUS ELLISON, a professor of English literature, also writes novels in his spare time. Alas, there isn’t much of a contemporary market for works based on Greek myths. Increasingly frustrated, and irritated, by this, he pens a satirical ‘ghetto’ novel which has publishers falling over themselves to secure the rights to a potential goldmine. This isn’t the only story arc, however; the director skilfully blends in family and personal issues to broaden the film’s appeal. Jeffrey Wright is terrific as the academic yearning to be a successful writer.
THE GREAT ESCAPER
UK/Swe/Fr, 2023, 96m, colr, 12A
Director: Oliver Parker
With Michael Caine, Glenda Jackson, John Standing
BASED ON true events, Michael Caine plays Bernard Jordan, ex-navy and – in June 2014 – 89 years-of-age, who absconds from his care home to make his own way to Normandy. It’s the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings and he wishes to pay tribute to fallen comrades. In her final performance, Glenda Jackson is superb as his wife and, as a former RAF pilot with a drink problem, John Standing also impresses. The film holds few surprises (we meet fellow veterans, German veterans and a young soldier struggling to erase painful memories), but you wanted more feel-good movies and this certainly fits the bill.
Audience 83, Reactions 92.8%
13 October
THE TASTE OF THINGS
Fr/Bel, 2023, 135m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Tran Anh Hung
With Juliette Binoche, Benoît Magimel
THE SMALL SCREEN is awash with cookery programmes, but nothing compares to the skill, artistry and commitment on display here. In fin-de-siècle France, chef Dodin and his cook Eugènie, lovers for 20 years, work tirelessly at their tasks in a large country kitchen. The Cannes title was Pot-au-Feu – and this is what they select for the main course, when they are asked to cook for a visiting prince. The Taste of Things is reminiscent of one of our greatest successes, Babette’s Feast; the director’s exquisite 1993 feature debut, The Scent of Green Papaya, was also another early success for us.
Audience 82, Reactions 78%
3 November
ONE LIFE
UK, 2023, 109m, colr, 12A
Director: James Hawes
With Anthony Hopkins, Johnny Flynn, Lena Olin
THE YEAR is 1938 and a young Nicholas Winton (affectingly played by Johnny Flynn) works on a desperate plan to rescue Jewish children in Czechoslovakia and bring them to England. Fifty years later, and now an old man (Anthony Hopkins, excellent as always), he is content to live a modest life in suburbia. Despite having brought 669 children to safety, he is still troubled by memories of those he was unable to save. However, as witnessed in a famous 1998 episode of That’s Life, the escapees and their descendants feel that they owe him a debt of gratitude.
Audience 85, Reactions 95.8%
17 November
*** Our AGM at 16:30 followed by
FALLEN LEAVES
Fin/Ger, 2023, 81m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Aki Kaurismäki
With Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatenen, Janne Hyytiäinen
DESPITE HIS high international reputation, this gentle, delightful tale marks the director’s debut here in Lyme Regis. The story is most apt: two lonely, middle-aged people meet in a karaoke bar and, tentatively, try to build a relationship. They date in their local cinema (no double seats, I’m afraid); drift apart, and reconnect. Fallen Leaves is one of those simple, modest films that have you willing the characters to find their happy ending. Its several major awards include the Jury Prize at Cannes in 2023.
Audience 115, Reactions 69%
1 December
KIDNAPPED
It/Fr/Ger, 2023, 134m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Marco Bellocchio
With Enea Sala, Leonardo Maltese, Paulo Pierobon
AS REVIEWERS have noted, the story is so bizarre it has to be true. The film whisks us to 19th-century Bologna which was then a Papal State and under the authority of Pope Pius IX. The year is 1858 and, one night, a Jewish family is woken by the police. The parents are told that their son was baptised a Catholic six years previously and must be taken away to be raised within that faith. A long legal battle ensues. The director isn’t as well known as Fellini, De Sica or Bertolucci but he gives us a stylish, thoughtful, at times angry, historical drama.
Audience 91, Reactions 79%
15 December
THE HOLDOVERS
US, 2023, 133m, colr, 15
Director: Alexander Payne
With Paul Giamatti, Dalvine Joy Randolph, Dominic Sessa
THE HOLDOVERS is the perfect choice for our seasonal film. As Christmas 1970 approaches, Barton Academy, an elite boarding school, is about to break up for the holidays. The students are packing – except for Angus (Sessa) who cannot go home. An adult has to stay, too – and it happens to be the cynical, disliked-by-all teacher of ancient history. Plus the cook – played by a magnificent Joy Randolph who fully deserved her Oscar. We did well with Sideways and Nebraska, but Alexander Payne tops it with this witty, moving, instant classic. An imaginative and beautiful score by Mark Orton is the icing on the cake.
Audience 96, Reactions 81%
2025
5 January
THE OLD OAK
UK/Fr/Bel, 2023, 113m, colr, 15
Director: Ken Loach
With Dave Turner, Ebla Mari, Claire Rodgerson
THE OLD OAK was once a busy pub in a thriving Durham pit village, but those glory days are long gone. The landlord, TJ Ballantyne, knows some kind of miracle is needed. The Syrian refugees, who have been placed in the village, are the unlikeliest source of comfort and support, but TJ can, at least, take some pleasure in his burgeoning friendship with Yara. The film is entertaining and moving in equal measure and a key element of this is its palpable sense of community spirit. If this does turn out to be Ken Loach’s swansong, he finishes on a high.
Audience 94, Reactions 93%
19 January
THE ZONE OF INTEREST
US/UK/Pol, 2023, 105m, colr, 12A, s/t
Director: Jonathan Glazer
With Christian Friedel, Sandra Hüller, Medusa Knopf
THE FILM OPENS with a black screen that acclimatizes the audience to the introduction of birdsong and other sounds that are crucial to what we will observe. And what we do see looks idyllic, an oasis of calm: a beautiful home, a well-tended garden – the roses look lovely – and children at play. Our sense of unease grows because on the other side of the wall is Auschwitz. Not once are we taken into the camp – any horror is experienced only within this domesticity of evil, and it is the ordinariness of the Höss family that is unsettling. It is a masterstroke of creativity by the director.
Audience 91, Reactions 82%
16 February
THE INNOCENT
Fr, 2022, 95m, colr, 15, s/t
Director: Louis Garrel
With Louis Garrel, Roschdy Zem, Noémie Merlant, Anouk Grinberg
HEIST FILMS are invariably entertaining (the 1955 French drama Rififi is often cited as the best of them all) and this particular one is great fun. Young Abel (played by the director) is aghast when his mother marries a convict she met whilst working at his prison. He decides to keep a watchful eye on his stepfather – and his activities do look suspicious. Mind you, Abel can also see why an easy ‘job’ with quick rewards might tempt even the pure and innocent . . . It has a sharp script, good performances (winning Césars in both categories), humour and a tense set-piece robbery – how could we not programme it?
Audience 96, Reactions 85%
2 March
HOW TO BLOW UP A PIPELINE
US, 2022, 104m, colr, 15
Director: Daniel Goldhaber
With Ariela Barer, Kristine Froseth, Lukas Gage
A DISPARATE group of young Americans, frustrated by what it sees as government – and corporate – inaction in the face of climate change, hatches a plan. They will meet in West Texas to blow up an oil pipeline. As well as being a symbolic gesture that will garner publicity worldwide, it will disrupt the fossil-fuel industry and shine a light on what needs to be done. We had hoped to programme this absorbing thriller last season, but it was unavailable to us. The situation changed, fortunately, and we can enjoy it together this evening.
Audience 92, Reactions 58%
9 March - rearranged after the inability to show this film on 2 February
TYPIST ARTIST PIRATE KING
UK, 2022, 108m, colr, 12A
Director: Carol Morley
With Monica Dolan, Kelly Macdonald, Gina McKee
SUNDERLAND-BORN artist Audrey Amiss trained at the R.A. in the 1950s, but subsequently had a breakdown from which she never really recovered. From her research, writer-director Carol Morley fashions a quirky, likeable road movie as, somehow, Amiss persuades her nurse to take her ‘home’ to mount an exhibition of her work. Kelly Macdonald lends sterling support, but this is Monica Dolan’s film and she displays a wonderful range of emotions as it progresses to a touching, and well-judged, finale. A potentially serious topic is leavened by much humour, and we think it will have a favourable response from members.
Audience 78, Reactions 73%
16 March
PERFECT DAYS
Jap/Ger, 2023, 125m, colr, PG, s/t
Director: Wim Wenders
With Yakusho Koji, Emoto Tokio, Nakano Arisa
WIM WENDERS’ directorial CV is hugely impressive and Perfect Days ranks with his best. The story it tells is a simple one: Hirayama is a Tokyo toilet cleaner who is happy with his solitary lifestyle, but who also takes the time to listen to, and help, family and friends. What makes the film such a sublime viewing experience (aside from Yakusho Koji’s mesmerising performance) is the director’s ability to visualise small, everyday details that create an affectionate tribute to the common man. It is 100 years since The Last Laugh and 70 years since Marty and comparisons are not unwarranted.
Audience 112, Reactions 81%
23 March
AMERICAN FICTION
US, 2023, 117m, colr, 15
Director: Cord Jefferson
With Jeffrey Wright, Tracey Ellis Ross, John Ortiz
THELONIUS ELLISON, a professor of English literature, also writes novels in his spare time. Alas, there isn’t much of a contemporary market for works based on Greek myths. Increasingly frustrated, and irritated, by this, he pens a satirical ‘ghetto’ novel which has publishers falling over themselves to secure the rights to a potential goldmine. This isn’t the only story arc, however; the director skilfully blends in family and personal issues to broaden the film’s appeal. Jeffrey Wright is terrific as the academic yearning to be a successful writer.
Tea and cakes downstairs each Sunday from 4:45pm
Film on-screen 5:30pm