Light House Film Club

Director: John Crowley

Cert: 12a

Time: 1hr 35mins

Understated and slightly sentimental though it may be John Crowley’s film about the friendship between a grumpy old man and an independent minded youngster is highly enjoyable.

When Clarence (Michael Caine on top form) a retired magician comes to stay at the care home owned by Edward’s parents the latter’s life is disrupted. Unceremoniously removed from his bedroom - to make way for Clarence - he is nonetheless forced to interact with a man whom he finds difficult to like. However as the weeks pass their enmity recedes as each helps the other, Clarence in making the youngster engage with the world of the living and Edward (Bill Milner of Son of Rambow fame) in getting Clarence to confront the death of his wife.   

One might think that a film set in an old people’s home might be rather morbid. Not so, with a number of laugh out loud moments. A further subplot of problems affecting the marriage of Edward’s parents and the impact on him, is also sensitively portrayed. Worth the entrance fee.

Rating: 3/5

Patrons: 14

CA

Director: Laurent Cantent

Cert: 15

Time: 2 hrs 8 mins (French with subtitles)

They say that education is wasted on the young an assertion which this film, about life in a tough, multi ethnic Parisian school, only serves to confirm. Based on the autobiographical novel by Francois Begaudeau (who also stars in the film) Laurent Cantent’s documentary gives a warts and all account of a year in the life of a French teacher battling to keep his flock on task. 

It is a depressing tale of recalcitrant teenagers, whose non-existent appreciation of the norms of acceptable behaviour, stretches his goodwill to the limit. And in so doing it demonstrates how a teacher (a skilled practitioner) has his existence reduced to the role of child minder. I can only think that there are better ways to spend the money.

The film however also provides some object lessons in how not to manage conflict, as one particularly difficult miscreant slides ever closer to expulsion. It is clear that some of the more progressive methods that the school adopts are totally inappropriate and I would also suggest a course on handling disciplinary interviews.  That aside one is left feeling “what’s the point?”  If ever a film confirmed that education should be compulsory up to age 14, after which children should be free to choose, it was this.  

Rating 3/5

Patrons:  45

CA

Director: Kelly Reichardt

Cert: 15

Time: 1 hr 20 mins

Based on the short story “Choir Train”, by Jon Raymond, this is typical art house fair. It focuses on Wendy Carroll, en route to Alaska, where she hopes to find lucrative employment in a canning factory and with that the beginnings of a new life with her dog Lucy. But when her car breaks down in Oregon, the thin fabric of her financial circumstance comes apart. Caught shoplifting she gets separated from her dog and subsequently loses all contact with her.  The remainder of the story follows her efforts to find her whilst facing up to the fact that her car is a dud and she doesn’t have the funds to repair it.

The basic story is sparse and little if anything happens. Yet it still successfully portrays issues surrounding generosity and compassion and in so doing reveals the limits and depths of the help people can offer in times of difficulty. Michelle Williams is also superb as the forlorn Wendy but we know so little about her that one feels slightly cheated when things end rather abruptly. Perhaps that’s the point.

Rating 3/5

Patrons:  8

CA

Director: Armando Iannucci

Cert: 15

Time: 1 hr 46 mins

Released in the midst of the Damien McBride smear saga, writer/director Armando Iannucci has touched the zeitgeist in a way he could never have envisaged when he was creating this wonderfully prescient comedy.

Those of you familiar with the TV series The Thick of It, will already be familiar with Malcolm Tucker (brilliantly played by Peter Capaldi) the foul mouthed master of control and spin who bears an uncanny resemblance to Alistair Campbell - he has seen the film but didn’t find it particularly funny.  

The story follows the political machinations which led to a US / British sponsored war in the Middle East. And in so doing it shows the depths to which politicians, their advisors and the military will stoop to climb the greasy pole and save their own skins.  All are skewered none more so than Simon Foster (Tom Hollander) a hapless British Secretary of State who, like a child seeking attention, backs the war in order to engineer a central role in the affair.  

No one escapes with their reputation intact and whilst one must not forget that it is farce I suspect that it’s closer to reality than anyone is prepared to admit.  A must if you enjoy politics and current affairs.  

Rating 4/5

Patrons:  14

CA

Director: Tom Hooper

Cert: 15

Time: 1 hr 37 mins

The years 1973-74 were not the happiest in the life of one Brian Howard Clough. It all started when Ol’ Big ‘ed, as he liked to be known, decided to commit career suicide by calling the bluff of the Derby County board and offering up his resignation. Much to his surprise, they accepted and he departed (along with a collaterally damaged Taylor), under a cloud. Having left the frying pan he then jumped into the fire when, some ten months later, he accepted the job as Manager of Leeds United, a team for whom he only had contempt.  That this should also end in tears, after a mere 44 days, was probably evident to everyone bar Clough, whose sizeable ego somewhat blinded him.

The Dammed United, based on the brilliant David Peace novel of the same name, tells the story of this turbulent period together with how Clough and his erstwhile assistant Peter Taylor came to reach a position of pre-eminence in the footballing world.  The film is a period delight, depicting perfectly the down at heal look of football in the seventies.  And Michael Sheen  plays Clough with an eerie physical and verbal perfection, aided by a wonderful script packed with coruscating one liners - Clough was noted for his verbal put downs. Add to that excellent performances by Timothy Spall (Peter Taylor), Colm Meaney (Revie) and Jim Broadbent as the put upon Derby Chairman, Sam Longson and you have the makings of a fine film.

Whilst the subject matter might not appeal to everyone, if you do like football and are old enough to remember the seventies, it’s a complete delight.

Rating 4/5

Patrons:  Circa 40

CA

Director: Clint Eastwood

Cert: 15

Time: 1 hr 56 mins

Rumour has is that this might, at 78 years of age, be Clint’s last major acting role. Even if it isn’t if still feels like an elegy - to American ideals, to a way of life and an iconic career.

The narrative follows Walt Kowalski (Eastwood) a racist veteran of the Korean War stranded in his old Detroit neighbourhood, where jobs and white neighbours have moved out and the oriental Hmongs, have moved in.  At times acidly funny it helps that the film becomes a story of a bigots redemption; as gangs threaten the lives of his immediate neighbours Kowalski comes to their aid and the grumbling hard man softens.

Eventually one reaches a point where the story is trying to have its cake and eat it; on the one hand a pious fable of a racist learning the error of his ways on the other a revenge fantasy in the mould of Death Wish. Thankfully Eastwood is too subtle a director to allow either strand to triumph with an unexpected and thought provoking denouement.

Rating: 3/5

Patrons:  25

CA

Director: Bryan Singer

Cert: 12a

Time: 2 hrs

The “July 20 Plot” on Hitler’s life is one of the most heroic but least known episodes in WWII. Severely wounded in combat, Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg (Tom Cruise) returns from Africa to join the German Resistance and help to create Operation Valkyrie, the complex plan to allow a shadow government to replace Hitler’s once the Fuhrer is dead. But fate and circumstance conspire to thrust Stauffenberg from bit player to a central role in the plot. Not only must he lead the coup and seize control of the government… he must kill Hitler himself.

Those of a sniffy nature have ridiculed this film for its melange of Hollywood accents and I suppose it might have been better had not Cruise spoken American, Kenneth Brannah et al English and others a strained form of English with a German accent.  But that is to be churlish for by concentrating on the narrative you cannot help but be drawn into a tense and historically accurate thriller that keeps one enthralled from beginning to end. In so doing you gain an insight into what by any standard must rank as one of the most audacious plans ever hatched during WWII.  Stauffenberg and his team came within a hair’s breadth of success, a remarkable feat given how heavily the cards were stacked against them.

This is a powerful film and makes one think how finite is the difference between success and failure, life or death.

Rating: 3/5

Patrons:  22

CA

Cert: 15

Time: 1 hr 44 mins

It is 1964 at St Nicholas Catholic School in the Bronx and charismatic Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman) is trying to change the school’s strict and repressive customs, which are fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius (Meryl Streep) a dour and intimidating headmistress.  It is a time of political change as the school accepts its first black student, Donald Miller. But Sister Aloysius becomes suspicious that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald and tries to unearth the truth.  

The ensuing battle of wits is both tense and absorbing as is the method by which the film changes the way one feels about these two characters. This is entirely down to Streep and Hoffman who are both tremendous in their respective roles, ably supported by Amy Adams, a young teacher caught up in the midst of their struggle.

Regrettably the final scene dilutes the power of much that has preceded it, leaving this particular viewer feeling somewhat cheated.   Which is a shame because for the most part this is an excellent and enthralling film.    

Rating: 3/5

Patrons:  60

CA

Director: Woody Allen

Cert: 12a

Time: 1 hr 36 mins

It’s been a while since the words “good film” and Woody Allen have appeared in the same sentence, such has been the lack of quality pervading his recent output.  Vicky Cristina Barcelona sees a return to form and whilst the film does not attain the heights achieved with Manhattan, it is nevertheless an engaging and thought provoking piece.

As the title suggests we are in Barcelona which provides a stunning backdrop to the romantic adventures of Vicky and Cristina. These two young Americans spend a summer in Spain where they meet a flamboyant artist (Javier Bardem) and his beautiful but insane wife (Penelope Cruz). Vicki (Rebecca Hall) is straight laced and about to be married, whilst Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) is a sexually adventurous free spirit.

By bringing all these characters together Allen provides the perfect vehicle for him to examine that eternally perplexing subject of love and the decisions that one makes in finding it; should I stick with safe but dull Doug or switch horses to the charismatic but chaotic Juan Antonio?  And therein lies one of life’s great quandaries, which this film delightfully explores.

Rating: 3/5

Patrons: 18

CA

Director: Stephen Daldry

Cert: 15

Time: 2hrs 3mins

Critics have been less than glowing in their praise for Stephen Daldry’s screen adaptation of Bernhard Schink’s bestselling novel. They were particularly critical of its overt use of sex and its inability to know whether it wants to be a European arthouse movie or a Hollywood block buster. I think this is unfair because its portrayal of how an impressionable teenager (Michael) falls for the older Hannah only to discover (much later), that she was once a Concentration Camp guard is absorbing, thought provoking and at times moving.

Furthermore it raises interesting issues about our ability to understand and forgive and the effect this had on Germany’s post war generation.  Whilst Kate Winslett’s performance as Hannah is far from stellar both she and Ralph Feines (as the older Michael) are entirely believable and add to the films sense of realism.

Rating: 3/5

Patrons: 110 approx

CA