Cork Cine Club presents a ten week season of independent films
There’s good news for art house cinema lovers in Cork. Filling the gap in quality independent cinema, the newly-formed Cork Cine Club will take up residence in the Half Moon Theatre in Cork Opera House.
Films that represent the cream of the world cinema crop will be screened on ten Sunday evenings beginning on 21 February. There will be two screenings every Sunday, at 6:30 and 9pm.
The first film is Everlasting Moments, a period drama set in Sweden at the turn of the 19th century, directed by Jan Troell (2008).
Cork Cine Club will be run on a membership basis. Membership numbers will be limited, so cinephiles are encouraged to join promptly. Tickets must be pre-booked in order to guarantee a seat. Booking is through the Cork Opera House box office 021-427 0022. Online bookings cannot be accepted at this time.
Cork Cine Club will operate in conjunction with the Arts Council funded access>CINEMA, the resource organisation which supports regional cultural cinema in over 70 venues around Ireland.
The first season will run until Sunday 2 May when it closes with with the acclaimed Cannes Palme d’Or 2009 winner, The White Ribbon, directed by Michael Haneke. Note - there will be no showing on Easter Sunday.
Membership in Cork Cine Club is open to those 16 years and older.
Sun 14 March:
Let’s talk About the Rain_____________________________________________
Dir: Agnes Jaoui France 2008 98 minutes Cert: 15A
Starring: Jamel Debbouze, Agnes Jaoui, Jean-Pierre Bacri, Frederic Pierrot
Language: French
Available: January
Agnes Jaoui and Jean-Pierre Bacri cast a typically perceptive eye over the discreet charms of the bourgeoisie in Let’s talk about the Rain (Parlez Moi De La Pluie). This ambitious ensemble piece is not as instantly appealing as their previous collaboration on 2004's Comme Une Image (Look At Me), but blossoms into a rueful examination of human foibles and failings. The film's mixture of smart dialogue, rounded characters and shrewd observation make it a civilised pleasure.
Sharing common themes with Comme Une Image, the new film is equally focused on family tensions and the kind of lingering grievances and callous acts that leave permanent scars. The scope is wider this time as the lives of individual characters lend themselves to an examination of class conflict, prejudice and the daily lies and deceptions that allow people to look at themselves in the mirror without feeling ashamed.
Jaoui plays Agathe Villanova, a feminist author who has decided to enter politics. She will announce her candidacy at a rally in her home town in the South of France. Her ten-day visit is also a chance to spend time with her sister Florence (Arbillot) and her family. The visit is seen as an opportunity by Karim (Debbouze), the son of Algerian housekeeper Mimouna who has spent a lifetime with Agathe's family. Karim is a hotel receptionist with aspirations to become a filmmaker and uses his personal connection to persuade Agathe to participate in a succession of interviews for a documentary in a series on successful women. His collaborator is Michael Ronsard (Bacri) and the filming unfolds with a mixture of incompetence and unexpected aggression.
In its initial stages, Let’s talk about the Rain feels top-heavy with plot, especially once we start to discover some of the complex connections between the main characters. It gradually finds its rhythm and focus, building into a thoughtful reflection on human nature, the sorry state of contemporary politics and the casual racism of the privileged elite.
Everyone in the film is a product of their imperfections. They are all guilty of deluding themselves and deceiving the ones that are closest to them. The appeal of the film lies in the way that it neither judges them nor treats their problems with undue sentimentality. Instead, there is an understanding of the way life is and a recognition that we simply have to make the most of it, come rain or shine.
Let’s talk about the Rain appears to be quite casual but it is a quality that only emerges from a deft sense of construction, cause and effect. Subtle, good-looking and very agreeable, it is also well-acted, especially by Jean-Pierre Bacri whose Michel is a small masterclass in self-absorption and blithe indifference to the world around him. Alan Hunter / Screen International
Membership 1: €100 for ten tickets; all to be pre-booked at time of purchase
Membership 2: €50 for five tickets; all to be pre-booked at time of purchase
Membership 3: €12 for a single ticket
Sun 21 March:
Fermat’s Room La habitación de Fermat
Dir: Luis Piedrahita & Rodrigo Sopeña Spain 2007 88 minutes Cert: CLUB
Starring: Federico Luppi, Lluís Homar, Alejo Sauras, Santi Millán, Elena Ballesteros
Language: Spanish
Available: January
It can't be easy to make such a twisty and clever a thriller based on mathematical theories. But Spanish filmmakers Piedrahita and Sopeña do a terrific job keeping things tense and brainy. And thoroughly entertaining.
Sexy young Galois (Sauras) wows the girls at university with his maths prowess. Is this a fantasy sequence dreamed up by a computer geek? No, he's one of four experts invited to an isolated location, given mathematician names and told they'll be solving the biggest enigma ever. The others are Hilbert (Homar), a 64-year-old gentleman; Pascal (Millan), a beardy quick-thinker; and Oliva (Ballesteros), a scooter-riding babe with brains. Their host, Fermat (Luppi), is called away suddenly, leaving the foursome with a riddle. And the walls are closing in.
Fortunately, instead of obscure formulas, the puzzles are tricky brainteasers, which means we can play along with the characters without feeling left too far out in the cold. And with the room shrinking, things start getting extremely tense, especially when the furniture starts splintering around them. As this is happening, they're also trying to solve the bigger question of why they're here in the first place, including an attempt to unravel the connections between them and Fermat's true identity.
And as the room squeezes in and conundrums keep coming, there are a remarkable number of revelations. The four characters react very differently to all of this; some use brains to figure out alternatives, others try brute force and at one point Galois combines the two with an engineering solution. But the walls relentlessly keep moving, and the biggest enigma may turn out to be how to survive this crazy day.
This is played coolly by the cast, with likeable wit that's realistically grounded. And the filmmakers establish a brilliant visual style with unusual, telling angles that make great use of lines, proportions and numbers. There are also scenes outside the room, as we follow Fermat on his own journey. One convenient plot point provides the only false note; otherwise the film keeps us gasping or laughing at this playful bundle of mystery, hints, innuendo and lots of red herrings. And it's great fun to figure out what's what.
- Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Sun 28 March:
35 Shots of Rum 35 rhums
Dir: Claire Denis France, Germany 2008 100 minutes Cert: CLUB
Starring: Alex Descas, Mati Diop, Gregoire Colin, Nicole Dogue
Language: French, German
Available: January
French auteur Claire Denis (Beau Travail) follows her brilliant, elegiac The Intruder with this intimate and affecting film about the intense bond between train-driving, single father Lionel (Alex Descas) and his devoted daughter (Mati Diop). Reversing the usual stereotype of the Paris suburbs as a hive of poverty and crime, Denis establishes a warm, communal integrity to the otherwise grim surrounds. Neighbouring taxi driver Gabrielle’s (Nicole Dogue) understated flirtation with Lionel; the unspoken interest of the boy upstairs (Gregoire Colin); and the changing relationship between father and daughter as she begins to seek her independence; the human pulse of this wonderful film is perfectly encapsulated in the scene where life’s complexities give way to the rhythm of dance. - Sydney Film Festival
Sun 11 April:
Katyn
Dir: Andrzej Wajda Poland 2007 121 minutes Cert: 15A
Starring: Maja Ostaszewska, Artur Zmijewski, Andrzej Chyra, Danuta Stenka, Jan Englert
Language: Polish
Available: January
A towering presence in the world of post-World War II cinema, Andrzej Wajda has spent his career analysing in great detail Poland’s gradual social and political evolution with a considerable amount of sensitivity while maintaining an uncompromising attitude towards his complex subjects. Famous for drawing inspiration from Poland’s history, he has created a magnificent oeuvre of work that devastates even as it informs. Presented with an honourary Oscar in 2000 for his contributions to world cinema, Wajda himself is the son of a Polish cavalry officer who was murdered by the Soviets in what is known as the Katyn massacre – the subject of Katyn his latest and typically unflinching work.
After Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland and following Joseph Stalin’s order, on September 17, 1939, all Polish Officers found themselves in Soviet slavery. Anna, the wife of an Uhlan Regiment captain is waiting for her man, and receives with disbelief all obvious evidence of his having been murdered by the Russians. The wife of a general, in April 1943, learns of her husband’s death after the Germans discovered mass graves of Polish officers in the Katyn Forest. Silence and lies about the crime break the heart of Agnieszka (Magdalena Cielecka), a sister of a pilot, who shared the lot of the other Polish soldiers. The only survivor is the captain’s friend Jerzy, who entered the ranks of the Polish People’s Army.
What is the life of women, waiting for their beloved in the Polish state after the war going to look like, they being still dependent on Soviet Russia? Will homeland and freedom still retain the same meaning for those who have accepted the new system? This latest offering from one of Europe’s greatest directors is a powerful work, forcing audiences to acknowledge the sheer scale of brutality meted out and the grievous consequences for the families affected. - Colm McAuliffe, Jameson Dublin International Film Festival 2008
Sun 18 Apr:
Chéri
Dir: Stephen Frears UK 2008 100 minutes Cert: 15A
Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer, Kathy Bates, Rupert Friend, Felicity Jones, Frances Tomelty, Anita Pallenberg, Harriet Walter,
Language: English
Stephen Frears has followed The Queen with Chéri, a period adaptation of a Colette novel that reunites him with writer Christopher Hampton and actress Michelle Pfeiffer exactly twenty years since the release of Dangerous Liaisons. With this sober evocation of belle époque Paris, Frears and Hampton walk a difficult line between seriousness and amusement, suitable décor and mere decoration, but they emerge with a satisfying, if disposable, portrait of love bought, found and lost among the rarefied courtesan circle of early-twentieth-century France.
The ‘Cheri’ of the title is Fred Peloux (Rupert Friend), a pretty, vain young man of hollow cheekbones and exquisite dress and the son of wealthy former courtesan Madame Peloux (Kathy Bates), a woman who long ago accepted that age brings with it changes to both body and beauty – the twin assets of her trade. It’s through his mother’s social circle – a fun bunch who celebrate the finer things in life but endlessly fear the loss of looks and wealth – that he meets Lea (Pfieffer), another courtesan, whose beauty is far from diminished, despite Madame Peloux’s constant comments about her wrinkles and the increasing elasticity of her skin.
Defying the difference in age, Fred and Lea fall in love and enjoy a six-year affair but part when Madame Peloux arranges a marriage for her son – partly out of spite, partly out of avarice – with Edmee (Felicity Jones), a 20-year-old innocent who comes with a significant dowry. Each struggles to put the relationship behind them: she decamps to a Biarritz hotel and woos a chinless bit of fluff; he shirks marriage and dabbles in opium. But a final stab at reconciliation throws their essential differences into relief.
There’s a playful tone to Frears’s film – helped, surprisingly, by the sound of Frears’s own, deep, knowing voice on the film’s narration – and some of the scenes of the wider cast, especially those involving Bates, have an air of Oscar Wilde to them: characters trade in polite put-downs and subtle one-upmanship while maintaining an air of respectability. The frisson between Bates and Pfeiffer is entertaining, as is the aloof bitchiness with which Fred regularly addresses his mother. Friend turns out to be perfect as a vapid, beautiful wastrel, although he struggles in the film’s more heavy, more demanding scenes, especially towards the end when tragedy truly kicks in. Alexandre Desplat’s score is a little too evident and overbearing, but the costumes and sets tastefully reflect the colour and wealth of this social circle without dominating the eye or drowning the characters in frippery.
It’s Pfeiffer who is the star and delivers the emotional core of Chéri, a film which threatens to float on the surface of emotions rather than fully ride them: she offers a brittle beauty and masks the vulnerability of her character with an outward strength that’s on the verge of crumbling. She brings a welcome tenderness and reality to the relationship between Lea and Fred – a relationship that begins by operating entirely on a superficial level and only later becomes deeper before either of them is even aware of it. The closing voiceover tells of the end of the belle époque and the coming of the Great War, somehow suggesting that the intimacy of what we have just witnessed somehow mirrors at a personal level the passing of an entire age. Chéri never feels so significant, but neither is it solely a vapid confection: it's a cake with a heart.
- Dave Calhoun, Time Out London
Sun 25 Apr:
The Girl Cut in Two Fille coupée en deux, La
Dir: Claude Chabrol Germany, France 2008 115 minutes Cert: CLUB
Starring: Ludivine Sagnier, Francois Berleand, Benoit Magimel, Mathilda May, Caroline Sihol, Etienne Chicot, Marie Bunel, Valeria Cavalli, Thomas Chabrol, Jeremie Chaplain, Jean-Marie Winling, Didier Benureau, Edouard Baer
Language: French
The old master’s touch is certainly evident in this latest missile elegantly lobbed in the direction of the French class system, which, as the title suggests, follows the travails of an innocent young woman torn between two powerfully different lovers.
Ludivine Sagnier, a seductive screen presence in François Ozon’s Swimming Pool, here shows another facet of her talent, ambitious yet also tragically naïve as a wannabe social climber with terrible taste in men. Firstly, she finds herself falling for famed author François Berléand, a greying roué who exploits his literary-celebrity status while using her as a plaything, and only later does Benoît Magimel enter the frame as the petulant heir to a pharmaceuticals fortune. She thinks she’s manipulating them, but, alas, it soon becomes apparent that the reverse is true.
Of course, there’s exquisitely skewed comedy of manners here, since we can see disaster looming a mile off, yet also an undertow of suspense as Chabrol carefully controls the string of revelations which agonisingly morph romantic misapprehensions into the stuff of tragedy. The central trio are note-perfect in their roles, yet, arguably, the film’s main pleasure is its fuss-free storytelling, which sketches in characters and situations with unfailing, utterly assured economy. When you’re this good, you just don’t need to show off. — Trevor Johnston, Irish Film Institute programme
Sun 2 May:
The White Ribbon Das weiße Band
Dir: Michael Haneke Austria, Germany 2009 144 minutes Cert: TBC
Starring: Christian Friedel, Leonie Benesch, Ulrich Tukur, Ursina Lardi, Michael Kranz, Burghart Klaussner, Maria-Victoria Dragus, Josef Bierbichler, Rainer Bock, Branko Samarovski, Roxanne Duran
Language: German
The White Ribbon marks the high point of a journey that Haneke began over twenty years ago with his remarkable first feature film, The Seventh Continent. This latest work, set in a small farming village in northern Germany on the eve of the First World War, is shot in sparkling, iridescent black and white, a film of shimmering surfaces that conceal a much darker reality. True to his style, this reality is hinted at but rarely shown, and it gradually informs every moment of our watching.
Haneke has always had an eerie ability to unsettle, and this quality is in full force during the opening scenes of The White Ribbon. Beneath the sun-dappled fields lurks a series of disturbing events recounted by the local schoolteacher: a horseman has a strange accident, a worker is killed in the nearby sawmill, a young boy is kidnapped and beaten, a man savagely takes his scythe to a crop in a field, a barn is torched. This provides the backdrop to Haneke's brilliant and ruthless examination of a society that admits to nothing and hides everything.
As the young schoolteacher begins to court a shy governess, the brutalizing reality of village life is slowly laid bare. The local children play a key role; as they gravitate toward every violent incident, it soon becomes apparent that they are members of a society that prizes discipline as a virtue, even if it borders on abuse. Their elders, Protestant to the core, are committed to a value system based on obedience and punishment. As the schoolteacher attempts to assert his principles, he finds that they inevitably collide with the strict, harsh rules of the village.
All this is accomplished with utmost rigour and control on the director's part. Though an analysis of the roots of Nazism can be read into the narrative, the film has a more universal reach. Haneke maintains that the work is as much an investigation of terrorism as it is of fascism. Both provocative and elegantly executed, this is essential viewing – an examination of how violence can perhaps unwittingly take root in a society that ostensibly believes in other values. - Piers Handling / Toronto International Film Festival
Winner - Palm D’Or, Cannes Film Festival 2009
Winner – FIPRESCI Film of the Year, San Sebastian International Film Festival 2009
Membership 1: €100 for ten tickets; all to be pre-booked at time of purchase
Membership 2: €50 for five tickets; all to be pre-booked at time of purchase
Membership 3: €12 for a single ticket
Membership in Cork Cine Club is open to those 16 years and older.
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