Director Kay Mander’s filmed survey of twenty-four square miles of rural Oxfordshire was part of a 1943 government project to [...]
Film Society Programme
Hook Norton Film Society 31st Season
Programme 2011/2012
Find out more about Film Society Membership
Sept 24th
Sugar. USA 2008.
Anna Boden. Ryan Fleck. 120 mins. Cert 18.
Sugar Santos is a poor 19 year old from the Dominican Republic whose dreams of riches are fired when he is discovered by scouts from an American baseball team. Not a conventional gutter to the stars sports movie but a study of commercial exploitation of the developing world and a candid account of the immigrant experience in America.
Oct 8thBaraka. USA 1993.
Ron Fricke. 96 mins. Cert PG.
Described as an awesome cinematic world tour and a spectacular exercise in planetary consciousness- raising, this unique film constructs arguments and ideas without using any language whatsoever. Shot in six continents and with an extraordinary world- music score, it produces images which are overwhelmingly both beautiful and shocking.
Oct 29thOrphans. UK 1997.
Peter Mullan.101 mins. Cert 15.
Although some critics felt this was the best British film of the 90s, Orphans has been sadly neglected. Set in Glasgow, it uses poignant characterisation, surreal set pieces and comedy of the deepest shade of black to explore the different reactions of four siblings to the death of their mother.
Nov 19thLove Like Poison. France 2010.
Katell Quillvr. 92 mins. Cert 15.
Gorgeous photography and a quintessentially French cinematic ambience mesmerise in this delightful Cannes prizewinner about a teenage girl
struggling to cope with her first romance, her dysfunctional parents – and her randy grandfather.
Dec 3rdBenda Bilili! Congo/France 2010.
Barret /de la Tullaye. 85 mins. Cert U.
Staff Benda Bilili is a group of disabled polio victims from the Congo who were street musicians when they were discovered by the makers of this film six years ago. The band is currently touring major music venues in Europe and has produced an award winning album. An inspirational rags to riches rockumentary with compelling street level footage of Kinshasa.
Jan 7thOf Gods & Men. France 2010.
Xavier Beauvois. 122 mins. Cert PG.
Based on the true story of the kidnapping and murder of Algerian monks in 1996, Beauvois beautifully filmed drama initially celebrates the life of the inmates of an isolated monastery and the way they minister to their Muslim neighbours. But when Algerian fundamentalists massacre foreign workers, the monks face a dilemma.
Feb 4th
Showing at 4pm
Went the Day Well? UK 1942.
Alberto Cavalcanti. 93mins. Cert PG.
This wartime propaganda film from Ealing Studios and the film equivalent of a Careless Talk Costs Lives poster, has Nazi paratroopers successfully infiltrating a sleepy English village. In a ruthless attempt at terrifying wartime cinemagoers into extreme caution, Cavalcanti creates a blissful, bucolic paradise and then savagely destroys it as the evil Huns do their worst. Fascinating to watch because of its detailed depiction of English village life 70 years ago.
At 7pm: Potluck Supper
Showing at 8pm.
A Matter of Life and Death. UK 1946.
Michael Powell /Emeric Pressburger. 101 mins.Cert U.
This was originally intended as a propaganda film but became a preposterous romance instead. David Niven is an RAF pilot who falls in love with the voice of a female American radio operator as his plane goes down. He survives and they meet but he learns that he was meant to die and must plead for his life in heaven. Partly in earthly black and white and partly in overwhelming, heavenly colour, this extravagantly theatrical and visually stunning fantasy remains one of the most fondly remembered of all British films.
Feb 18th – Silent Movie Evening.
Nosferatu. USA 1922.
Murnau. 94 mins. Cert PG.
Paul Shawcross returns with his own original piano score and a new print of this great horror classic to take us in his inimitable, wonderful way through this weird, eerie mother of all vampire films. Made by the great expressionist filmmaker Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau, it richly deserves its subtitle: A Symphony of Horror.
March 3rdHow I Ended This Summer. Russia 2010.
Popogrebsky. 130 mins. Cert PG.
Two men inhabit a meteorological research station in the remote Russian Arctic. One is a seasoned professional with bygone era values. The other is a callow youth on a gap year type adventure. Allegories emerge against the backdrop of a vast and frightening wilderness. Beautifully shot and superbly acted, this film won the Best Film Award at the 2010 London Film Festival.
March24thLEnfant Sauvage (The Wild Child). France 1970.
Truffaut. 82 mins. Cert U.
A forest foundling or wolf boy is captured and a behavioural scientist makes painstaking attempts to civilise him. Fundamental questions regarding culture and human nature are foregrounded in this stimulating film based on real events in 1798. The films director takes the part of the scientist.
April 14thLondon River. UK/France. 2009.
Rachid Bouchareb.88 mins. Cert 12A.
A moving and tragic story set in the aftermath of the 7/7 London bombings which finds British Brenda Blethyn and Malian actor Sotigui Kouyat struggling to find their missing children. It soon transpires that their respective offspring were a couple: are they dead or alive, possible victims or even, unthinkably, perpetrators?
April 28th – Charity night: Raise the Roof AppealPolice, Adjective. Romania 2009.
Comelio Porumboiu. 113 mins. Cert 12A.
Against his will, a small town detective trails some suspected druggies through drab Romanian streets whilst battling with wife and boss for understanding of where he stands. Described by Philip French as one of the most fascinating films of 2009, it begins slowly but ends as a monumental treatise on the relationship between language and power.
May 12th – Pot luck supper nightThe Misfits. USA 1961.
J. Huston. 124 mins. Cert PG.
Three drifters hunt wild horses for pet food in Nevada where the bleak and arid landscape mirrors their own mood of despair. With Arthur Millers screenplay, John Hustons direction and Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable giving their final screen performances, its not surprising that this film achieved cult status within a year of its completion. Pot-luck supper members contribute a dish.