Tue 6 Dec • Parents & Babies Club

HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE (12A) 12.45

(UK/US 2005) dir.Mike Newell 157m.
Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, Emma Watson, Robbie Coltrane, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Brendan Gleeson, Jason Isaacs, Gary Oldman, Alan Rickman, Maggie Smith.

“The golden age of innocence at Hogwarts is over. Puberty has sunk its claws into Harry Potter (Daniel Ratcliffe) and sexual jealousy haunts his friends. Adolescence is Harry’s new foe. One of the perennial joys of J. K. Rowling’s addictive series is the ability to generate ever spookier shades of evil. Here, the fear comes in the shape of scary dragons, a poisonous vision of Lord Voldemort. Ralph Fiennes’s whispy ghost is a lot chillier than the previous incumbents. The plot hinges on a famous Tri-Wizard Tournament. It’s an international wand-flexing competition starring the shapely girls from France, the Beauxbâtons; and the butch Durmstrangs from Bulgaria. What’s fresh about the GOBLET OF FIRE is the intriguing tension between the feeble and the strong. This has always been Rowling’s tug of war. The playground duels between Harry and his peers are as bitter as ever, but there’s a delicious sense of anarchy about boarding school life. For the first time we sense what makes Harry tick under pressure. There are plenty of old familiar staples for fans: the unsporting cut-and-thrust of a Quidditch World Cup; a maze that stretches for ever; and a mission impossible at the bottom of a lake. Brendan Gleeson’s Mad-Eye Moody is the latest loose cannon on the staff. It’s impossible to fault the shades; I’d like to bid for the marble eyeball.”
(James Christopher, The London Times)

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Wed 7 Dec • Classic Matinee

THE WEDDING DATE (12A) 2.30

(US 2005) dir.Clare Kilner 89m.
Debra Messing, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Adams, Jack Davenport, Sarah Parish, Jeremy Sheffield, Peter Egan, Holland Taylor, Jolyon James.

“Kat Ellis (Debra Messing) is a British woman living in New York, who must fly back to London for her sister's wedding. The problem: The groom's best man, Jeff, is Kat's former fiance, who dumped her. The solution: She hires a male escort named Nick (Dermot Mulroney) to go along with her and play the role of her fiance, so that Jeff will be jealous and she won't look pathetic and single. Messing, from TV's WILL & GRACE, makes Kat a character who is dealing with two confusing situations at once. She doesn't know how she feels about hiring an escort, and she doesn't know how she feels about Jeff. Does she want Jeff back, or does she just want to make him miserable? Nick the escort is so handsome, so mysteriously knowledgeable, so at home in every situation and so wise that Kat forgets everything a grown-up girl like her should know. Messing has an appeal similar to Nia Vardalos in MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING. We want her to be happy. Whether that happiness will come at the hands of Nick is an excellent question, made simpler by the certainty that Jeff would only make her miserable.”
(Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times)

NB. With a 15 minute interval

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/free admission for Over 60’s

Fri 9 Dec • Euro Matinee

THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (15) 1.30

(France 2005) dir.Jacques Audiard 107m. Subtitles.
Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh Dan Pham.

“Jacques Audiard translates to modern-day Paris the dilemmas of James Toback’s 1978, New York-set FINGERS – the story of a young man caught between art and crime, between his own ambitions and those of his father – in an audacious move that reverses the old chestnut that you should ignore the remake and hunt down the original instead. In place of Harvey Keitel’s Jimmy Fingers, Audiard gives us 28-year-old Thomas Seyr, an archetypal slick and streetwise Parisian and a man who is in perpetual conflict with himself as the victim of a dual, contrasting inheritance from his wheeler-dealer father, Robert and his late concert-pianist mother, Sonia. Thomas works as a heavy-handed employee of a dodgy property firm, but a chance encounter with a piano teacher leads to a decision by Thomas to turn his back on the manhandling of wayward tenants and instead prepare himself for a career in music. Audiard’s nuanced (and very well-performed, especially by Duris) character study is ultimately about fathers and the shadow they throw over their sons’ lives.”
(Dave Calhoun, Time Out)

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

Sat 10 Dec • Euro Matinee

THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (15) 1.45

(France 2005) dir.Jacques Audiard 107m. Subtitles.
Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh Dan Pham.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

Sun 11 Dec • Double bill

THE CONSEQUENCES OF LOVE (15) 2.00

(Italy 2004) dir.Paolo Sorrentino 104m. Subtitles.
Tonio Servillo, Olivia Magnani, Adriano Giannini.

“Titta, a quiet, smart, very serious and very secretive 50-year-old Italian lives anonymously and pretty joylessly in a Swiss lakeside hotel... until odd figures from his past start turning up at the hotel. Kicking off as a genuinely skewed character study before taking an agreeable turn into the realms of the romantic crime-thriller, this contrives to blend comedy, suspense and understated sentiment to intriguing and witty effect. A delight.”
(Geoff Andrew, Time Out)

+ THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (15) 4.00

(France 2005) dir.Jacques Audiard 107m. Subtitles.
Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh Dan Pham.

“Jacques Audiard translates to modern-day Paris the dilemmas of James Toback’s 1978, New York-set FINGERS – the story of a young man caught between art and crime, between his own ambitions and those of his father – in an audacious move that reverses the old chestnut that you should ignore the remake and hunt down the original instead. In place of Harvey Keitel’s Jimmy Fingers, Audiard gives us 28-year-old Thomas Seyr, an archetypal slick and streetwise Parisian and a man who is in perpetual conflict with himself as the victim of a dual, contrasting inheritance from his wheeler-dealer father, Robert and his late concert-pianist mother, Sonia. Thomas works as a heavy-handed employee of a dodgy property firm, but a chance encounter with a piano teacher leads to a decision by Thomas to turn his back on the manhandling of wayward tenants and instead prepare himself for a career in music. Audiard’s nuanced (and very well-performed, especially by Duris) character study is ultimately about fathers and the shadow they throw over their sons’ lives.”
(Dave Calhoun, Time Out)

MON 12 Dec • Euro Matinee

THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (15) 1.30

(France 2005) dir.Jacques Audiard 107m. Subtitles.
Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh Dan Pham.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

TUE 13 Dec • Parents & Babies Club

MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS (12A) 3.45

(UK 2005) dir.Stephen Frears 103m.
Judi Dench, Bob Hoskins, Will Young, Kelly Reilly, Thelma Barlow, Christopher Guest.

“Oh, what a lovely, horrible war! Just as Stephen Frears’s half-true, half-imagined account of the birth of topless musical entertainment at Soho’s Windmill Theatre in the 1930s and ’40s threatens to float off on the back of one of its own breezy showtunes... boom! The Second World War starts, and we’re treated to almost as fine and sensitive a vision of the defiant wartime spirit as Humphrey Jennings himself could have crafted. It’s this mix of escapism and harsh reality, theatre and real life, that defines MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS, a film that just about walks on the right side of sentiment and nostalgia. The effect is both moving and terrific fun.”
(Dave Calhoun, Time Out)

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

WED 14 Dec • Euro Matinee

THE BEAT THAT MY HEART SKIPPED (15) 1.30

(France 2005) dir.Jacques Audiard 107m. Subtitles.
Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Linh Dan Pham.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

Fri 30 Dec • Late Night Shorts

FUTURE SHORTS DECEMBER PROGRAMME (15) 11.15pm

This month we bring you a varied and heart-warming collection of essential new cinema for the festive month, guaranteed to warm the cockles of even the coldest heart. Highlights of the programme include the quirky and brilliant Hungarian animation Maestro, legendary French director Patrice Leconte's comical Le Batteur du Boléro , Adam Smith's Brilliant Streets Video Blinded by the Lights starring Charlie Creed Miles and the classic Belgian suspense thriller that isn't quite what it seems – The Bloody Olive.

MAESTRO
(Hungary 2004) dir.Geza M. Toth
Five minutes before the Big Performance, the maestro is getting ready behind the curtains. Time is slowly ticking away...

THE UNUSUAL INVENTIONS OF HENRY CAVENDISH
(Ireland 2005) dir.Andrew Legge
An inventor falls in love with a beautiful girl who passes him in a carriage.

LEON
(UK 1998) dir.Ian Sciacaluga
A composed and insightful documentary into the life of Leon, a young boy.

THE CLAP
(UK 2004) dir.Geoff Lindsey
An obsessive concertgoer wants to be the first clapper at the end of every symphony. But when inflicting the clap incessantly on his idol, the virtuoso decides to fight back.

LE BATTEUR DU BOLÉRO
(France 1992) dir.Patrice Leconte
A wry look at a drummer in an orchestra performing Ravel's ‘Boléro’. Bored at the monotony of his part in the performance, his mind wanders...

GOODBYE, CRUEL WORLD
(UK 2003) dir.Vito Rocco
A young boy temporarily resurrects a deceased elderly friend.

FULL MOON SAFARI
(UK 2001) dir.Ben Hibon
Werewolves hate lorry drivers... It's a fact of life!

THE STREETS: BLINDED BY THE LIGHTS
(UK 2004) dir.Adam Smith
Taking music videos to a new, cinematic level, Adam Smith has created another absorbing narrative, this time to the tune of The Streets.

THE BLOODY OLIVE
(Belgium 1996) dir.Vincent Bal
Christmas Eve 1951. Werner and Mylene are looking forward to a cosy evening with turkey and presents when the doorbell rings...

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

Thur 5 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

KING KONG (12A) 11.30am

(US 2005) dir.Peter Jackson 187m
Naomi Watts, Jack Black, Adrien Brody, Andy Serkis, Jamie Bell, Kyle Chandler, Lobo Chan, Thomas Kretschmann, Evan Parke, Colin Hanks, John Sumner, David Dengelo, Stephen Hall, Richard Kavanagh, Louis Sutherland.

Peter Jackson moves his sweeping cinematic vision from Middle Earth to Skull Island in this truly fantastic reworking of the legend that is KING KONG. Naomi Watts plays Ann Darrow, a struggling actress, just another no-luck story of the 1930's Great Depression, until her encounter with celebrity-seeking filmmaker and adventurer Carl Denham (Jack Black) and screenplay writer Jack Driscoll (Adrien Brody) ignites the explosive adventure of a lifetime. For this magnificent remake of the classic 1933 KING KONG, Jackson has gathered his longstanding collaborators from THE LORD OF THE RINGS. Joining Watts, Black and Brody is an accomplished international ensemble cast. German star Thomas Kretschmann portrays Captain Englehorn while Andy Serkis (Gollum in LOTR) provides both on-set performance reference and motion-capture performance for the ape. Certainly more than a series of CGIs, one of the film's qualities is to create two widely diverging worlds – the urban jungle of 1930s Manhattan and the primordial environs of Skull Island. Ultimately a story of survival, love and empathy, the film is deeply rooted in reality. Whether or not it really was Beauty that killed the Beast, Jackson has created a fabulous modern version of one of the screen's most enduring classics and one of the greatest filmic adventures of all time.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Fri 6 & Sat 7 Jan • Late Night shows

MAGIC CARPET RIDE (Organize Isler) (12A)

(Turkey 2005) dir.Yilmaz Erdogan Subtitles. 109m.
Yilmaz Erdogan, Tolga Çevik, Demet Akbag, Altan Erkekli, Cem Yilmaz.

Turkey's newest box office smash is a comedy thriller about Asim Noyan and his gang who run every racket from car theft to fraud throughout the length and breadth of Istanbul. In compete contrast, the Ocak family leads an altogether different life in an altogether different Istanbul. But sometimes life's twists and turns means that the lives of the hardest of criminals and the mildest of Physics professors can fatefully interwine...

£6.00

Sun 8 Jan • Double bill

THUMBSUCKER (15) 1.15

(US 2005) dir.Mike Mills 96m.
Lou Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D'Onofrio, Keanu Reeves, Benjamin.

“Justin is 17 and still suckles his thumb, an intractable habit that incurs the wrath of his macho dad, Mike, who interprets his sensitive kid’s every shortcoming as a personal affront. Hopped up on Ritalin, Justin becomes a cocaine-tongued speed reader, exuding debate team prowess and a certain lack of inhibition about lying. Enriched by Joaquín Baca-Asay’s richly hued, blurred edged cinematography and the enveloping faux-gospel of the Polyphonic Spree, THUMBSUCKER isn’t as sour as the 1999 Walter Kirn novel on which it’s loosely based. Warm, endearing, and well-acted, the film delivers a genial lesson: everybody has a thumb, be it prescription meds, celebrity, heaps of pot, or – perhaps the most insidious addiction of all – nostalgia.”
(Jessica Winter, Time Out)

+ FACTOTUM (15) 3.10

(US/Norway 2005) dir.Bent Hamer 93m.
Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Marisa Tomei, Fisher Stevens, Didier Flamand, Adrienne Shelly.

“The first English-language feature from Norwegian writer-director Bent Hamer may be an unlikely follow-up to KITCHEN STORIES, but it’s no less wise, warm and wonderful. An updated adaptation of Charles Bukowski’s novel, it centres on a terrific, possibly career-best performance from Matt Dillon as Bukowski’s largely autobiographical hero Henry Chinaski, a slob of a man who’s hired and fired from one undemanding job after another because of his inability to focus long on anything but bouts of boozing, gambling and sex. The interplay between Dillon and Taylor really comes into its own here, and the narrative begins to tighten into something vaguely resembling a manifesto illustrating Chinaski’s existential desire to go all the way. The film may be more modest in its ambitions – but achieves just as much anyway. Just terrific.”
(Geoff Andrew, Time Out)

Tue 10 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (15) 12.30

(US 2005) dir.Ang Lee 134m
Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris.

“Ennis (Heath Ledger) and Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) meet in the summer of 1963 when they both herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain in Wyoming. Alone in the mountains they discover a camaraderie that extends into the sleeping bag. But since this is unacceptable back down the mountain, they go their separate ways. Ennis marries his childhood sweetheart (Michelle Williams) and has two kids; Jack moves to Texas and marries a rich girl (Anne Hathaway). Four years later, they meet again. As the story continues over nearly two decades, it deepens and resonates in unexpected ways that are raw and revealing. As usual, Ang Lee directs with subtle attention to detail, capturing both the awesome grandeur of the scenery and the telling flickers of a character's eye, from small outdoor adventures to heaving internal yearnings. The actors pour their souls into these roles. Ledger is the standout, with an open-hearted performance that catches us in the back of the throat. His interaction with every other character is what drives the plot forward with relentless force.”
(Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall)

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions/£3.00 OAP’s

Tue 10 Jan • Early Evening Special

WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT (U) 6.15

(UK 2005) dirs.Steve Box & Nick Park 85m. Animation.
Voices of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith, Liz Smith, John Thomson.

With only a few days left before the Giant Vegetable contest, a huge beast starts ravaging the villagers’ sacred vegetable gardens. Here is a new mission for Wallace and Gromit. Commissioned by the contest’s hostess, Lady Tottington, Wallace and his loyal friend will have to track down the mysterious animal... Don’t miss this colourful comedy.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s

Wed 11 Jan • Classic Matinee

PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (U) 2.30

(UK 2005) dir.Joe Wright 127m.
Keira Knightley, Matthew MacFadyen, Brenda Blethyn, Donald Sutherland, Tom Hollander, Rosamund Pike, Jena Malone, Judi Dench.

“Yes, it's yet another lavish adaptation of Jane Austen's classic novel, but at least these filmmakers make it properly cinematic, finely focusing the story while keeping it gritty and realistic. Mrs Bennet (Brenda Blethyn) is at wit's end worrying over the future of her five eligible daughters. As it's 18th century England, marrying is especially important for girls from less-than-wealthy families. Mr Bennet (Donald Sutherland), meanwhile, is at wit's end after living with six women for too long. The story's told through the eyes of second daughter Elizabeth (Keira Knightley), who squares off against the sullen and apparently cruel, but very rich, Darcy (Matthew MacFadyen), and finds love when she least expects it. The plot and characters are so familiar that it's a real trick to put it on screen in an original way, but cast and crew find new life in it. The superior design and costumes avoid flowery excesses in lieu of simple authenticity. Meanwhile, the script makes the most of Austen's iconic narrative and snappy dialog, sharply highlighting class distinctions and desperate social situations. The nicest surprise is that the film is so delightfully entertaining that it sometimes makes us forget every other adaptation we've seen.”
(Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall)

NB. With a 15 minute interval

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/free admission for Over 60’s

Thur 12 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

WALLACE AND GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT (U) 12.00

(UK 2005) dirs.Steve Box & Nick Park 85m. Animation.
Voices of Peter Sallis, Ralph Fiennes, Helena Bonham Carter, Peter Kay, Nicholas Smith, Liz Smith, John Thomson.

With only a few days left before the Giant Vegetable contest, a huge beast starts ravaging the villagers’ sacred vegetable gardens. Here is a new mission for Wallace and Gromit. Commissioned by the contest’s hostess, Lady Tottington, Wallace and his loyal friend will have to track down the mysterious animal... Don’t miss this colourful comedy.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Sun 15 Jan • Double bill

ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (15) 12.45

(US 2005) dir.Miranda July 91m.
John Hawkes, Miranda July, Miles Thompson.

“July has made a feature-film debut that channels her background in confessional video and performance art, short stories and radio plays into a film that is a tender, funny, intelligent, immediate and passionate meditation on the search for love and belonging in the modern world. The place is LA, the time is now and July moves with a refreshing lack of contrivance through the lives of several characters – all searching for love, all wanting to belong. None is too exaggerated or begs for pity; each could be any of us. Our principal interest, Christine, is a struggling artist and one-woman taxi service for the elderly. Meanwhile, Richard is a nervy but soulful salesman at a local shoe outlet who is breaking up with the mother of his two boys. That July as the film’s pivot is the key to its success; she is the film’s heart and soul, and she can also make us laugh – a lot.”
(Dave Calhoun, Time Out)

+ IN HER SHOES (12A) 2.35

(US 2005) dir.Curtis Hanson 130m.
Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Feuerstein.

“On paper, it could be just another throwaway chick-flick: two very different sisters – one an uptight lawyer, the other a boozy tart – wrestle with life, love and their relationship with each other. But with the director of LA CONFIDENTIAL at the helm and a solid source novel at its core (Jennifer Weiner’s bestseller), this achieves a level of sophistication rarely seen in the genre. Maggie is not only a flirt, but a thief and a liar. Tracking down her estranged grandmother, she discovers a world of wizened wisecrackers – not to mention amiable elderly men giving her the once over. Life doesn’t end when you get older is the message: in fact, the film implies, your communication skills improve. Female communication is one of the film’s enduring themes, and although some lines verge on the trite, they’re given impact by convincing characters. Toni Collette is particularly able as lawyer Rose, a toned-down, smarter version of the Bridget Jones role she once rejected. Broad physical comedy and a high truism count mean not everyone will love this – those who can’t stomach ‘Sex and the City’ (referenced here) should approach with caution. But considering it doesn’t star Maggie Smith or Judi Dench, it’s surprising how mature and moving this female-focused drama is.”
(Anna Smith, Time Out)

Tue 17 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

IN HER SHOES (12A) 12.30

(US 2005) dir.Curtis Hanson 130m.
Cameron Diaz, Toni Collette, Shirley MacLaine, Mark Feuerstein.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Tue 17 Jan • Early Evening Special

ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW (15) 6.15

(US 2005) dir.Miranda July 91m.
John Hawkes, Miranda July, Miles Thompson.

“July’s feature-film debut is a tender, funny, intelligent, and passionate meditation on the search for love and belonging in the modern world. Christine, is a struggling artist and one-woman taxi service for the elderly. Richard is a salesman who is breaking up with the mother of his two boys. July as the film’s pivot is the key to its success; she is the film’s heart and soul, and she can also make us laugh – a lot.”
(Dave Calhoun, Time Out)

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

THUR 19 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (15) 2.00

(US 2005) dir.Ang Lee 134m
Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway, Randy Quaid, Linda Cardellini, Anna Faris.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions/£3.00 OAP’s

Sat 21 Jan • Matinee

LOWER CITY (Cidade baixa) (18) 1.15

(Brazil 2005) dir.Sérgio Machado 98m. Subtitles.
Wagner Moura, Lázaro Ramos, Alice Braga, José Dumont, Harildo Deda, Maria Menezes.

“There's nothing especially complicated about the plotting: a beautiful young prostitute Karinna encounters two petty hustlers Deco and Naldinho, who fall heavily for her, thereby jeapardizing their own deep-rooted friendship. But what impresses about this feverish debut feature is the way director Sergio Machado vividly conveys his characters' intense emotions and the searing performances from his young lead actors.”
(Tom Dawson, BBCi Films)

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

Sat 21 Jan • Late Night Show presented by Class PR & Associates

BOB MARLEY: REBEL MUSIC (15) 11.30pm

UK 2000) dir.Jeremy Marre 75m. Documentary.

A fascinating insight, twenty years after his death, into the legendary musician. Possibly the most revealing documentary ever made on the great man and his music.

To be introduced by Jeremy Collingwood who will be signing copies of his new book BOB MARLEY – His Musical Legacy.
Plus standup comedy from Special ‘P’, guest P.A., memorabilia on sale from Dub Vendor and free Rum Punch Reception from 10pm.
Further info: Lorraine 07941 143412.

£10.00

Sun 22 Jan • Double bill

BLACK ORPHEUS (Orfeu negro) (PG) 1.45

(France 1959) dir.Marcel Camus 108m.Subtitles. Re-release.
Breno Mello, Marpessa Dawn.

“Camus's Brazilian reworking of the Orpheus myth, is a film whose chief attraction is now its innocent charm rather than the samba exuberance that was such a talking point when it won the Golden Palm at Cannes and an Oscar. An inspired reinvention of the underworld.”
(Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian)

+ LOWER CITY (Cidade baixa) (18) 3.55

(Brazil 2005) dir.Sérgio Machado 98m. Subtitles.
Wagner Moura, Lázaro Ramos, Alice Braga, José Dumont, Harildo Deda, Maria Menezes.

“A one-time assistant of Walter Salles, Brazilian filmmaker Sérgio Machado makes a fine break for glory with one of the sexiest films seen in a long time. While Machado’s tale of three twentysomethings scraping together a living in Bahia’s red-light district offers such sensational material as drugs, prostitution, armed robbery, suicide and cockfighting, Lower City is essentially an intimate, well-observed, compassionate film about what happens when lust gets in the way of friendship. The film’s simple but intricately drawn dynamic emerges immediately: 20-year-old prostitute Karinna (Alice Braga) hitches a ride on a boat with Deco (Lázaro Ramos) and Naldinho (Wagner Moura), two childhood friends who are sailing their small vessel to Bahia, where Karinna plans to work as a stripper. Once in Bahia’s cidade baixa (‘lower city’) – a seedy port area of brothels and bars – the three become friends. The two men also fall in love with Karinna. Their desires are open, their intentions confused; and she indulges them. Flesh becomes Machado’s canvas; he portrays their passion viscerally, dressing their encounters in blood, sweat and tears. Here, and unusually, the love triangle is an open secret. But still the classic responses of envy, protectiveness and anger persist, sharply throwing a friendship into disarray. Alongside raw and detailed characterisation, Machado also delivers a tribute to a particular place and its way of life. The director spent many months researching and filming in Bahia’s cidade baixa, and he embraces its people and streets. The balance between the private and the public is thrilling.”
(Dave Calhoun, Time Out)

Tue 24 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

MATCH POINT (12A) 12.30

(UK/US 2005) dir.Woody Allen 124m.
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox, Penelope Wilton.

“Making his first film in the UK with a story originally conceived for New York, Allen once again takes up issues of morality and guilt in what amounts to ‘An English Tragedy’, as in Theodore Dreiser. Well-observed and superbly cast picture is the filmmaker's best in quite a long time. With the action set squarely among Britain's young upper crust, the tale has the debonair Tom Hewett (Matthew Goode) taking on Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) as a tennis coach at his exclusive club. Chris is fresh off the pro tennis circuit, where he did well but never broke through to the winner's circle. Although identified as Irish, the terribly attractive athlete speaks with an impeccable posh accent that allows him to fit in seamlessly with Tom and his set. With Chris's road to success now all but paved with clover, there's got to be a snake in the underbrush, and it comes in the dazzlingly sexy form of young American Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson), who's Tom's girlfriend but who strikes immediate sparks with Chris, which steers the story straight on a collision course toward tragedy.”
(Todd McCarthy, Variety)

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Thur 26 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

MATCH POINT (12A) 12.30

(UK/US 2005) dir.Woody Allen 124m.
Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Scarlett Johansson, Emily Mortimer, Matthew Goode, Brian Cox, Penelope Wilton.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Fri 27 Jan • Holocaust Memorial Day programme

SOPHIE SCHOLL – THE FINAL DAYS (PG) 1.00

(Germany 2005) dir.Marc Rothemund 121m. Subtitles.
Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Joanna Gasdorf.

“Munich, 1943: Sophie Scholl, a member of anti-war movement White Rose, is arrested with her brother Hans for distributing leaflets denouncing the Nazis. Interrogated by the Gestapo, she eventually confesses all and is put on trial... A gripping true-life drama from Germany. Tightly focused on Jentsch's excellent lead performance.”
(Matthew Leyland, BBCi Films)

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Fri 27 Jan • Late Night Shorts

FUTURE SHORTS JANUARY PROGRAMME (15) 11.15pm

Programme to be announced.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions

Sat 28 & Sun 29 Jan • Holocaust Memorial Day programmes

NIGHT AND FOG (Nuit et Brouillard) (15) 2.45

(France 1955) dir.Alain Resnais 30m. Documentary. Subtitles.

“The camera tracks slowly through a deserted, autumnal Auschwitz, with its rusted wire, dilapidated huts and silent crematoria. This muted Technicolor 'now' is intercut with the grainy monochrome records of 'then', as the commentary outlines the development and operation of the Nazi death camps. The achievement of Resnais' film is to find a tone appropriate to the desolating enormity of what took place.”
(Time Out)

+ SOPHIE SCHOLL – THE FINAL DAYS (PG) 3.30

(Germany 2005) dir.Marc Rothemund 121m. Subtitles.
Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Joanna Gasdorf.

“Munich, 1943: Sophie Scholl, a member of anti-war movement White Rose, is arrested with her brother Hans for distributing leaflets denouncing the Nazis. Interrogated by the Gestapo, she eventually confesses all and is put on trial... A gripping true-life drama from Germany. Tightly focused on Jentsch's excellent lead performance.”
(Matthew Leyland, BBCi Films)

£7.50/£5.50 Concessions

Mon 30 Jan • Holocaust Memorial Day programme

SOPHIE SCHOLL – THE FINAL DAYS (PG) 1.00

(Germany 2005) dir.Marc Rothemund 121m. Subtitles.
Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Joanna Gasdorf.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Tue 31 Jan • Parents & Babies Club

SOPHIE SCHOLL – THE FINAL DAYS (PG) 12.30

(Germany 2005) dir.Marc Rothemund 121m. Subtitles.
Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Joanna Gasdorf.

An opportunity for parents with babies to visit the cinema without having to find a baby sitter or worry about their babies causing disturbance. A secure space is provided for pushchairs.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Wed 1 Feb • Holocaust Memorial Day programme

SOPHIE SCHOLL – THE FINAL DAYS (PG) 1.00

(Germany 2005) dir.Marc Rothemund 121m. Subtitles.
Julia Jentsch, Fabian Hinrichs, Joanna Gasdorf.

£5.50/£4.50 Concessions & Under 15’s/£3.00 OAP’s

Thur 2 Feb • Parents & Babies Club

HIDDEN (Caché) (15) 12.30

(Fr/Aust/Ger/It 2005) dir.Michael Haneke 118m.

Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche, Maurice Bénichou, Annie Girardot, Lester Makedonsky, Bernard Le Coq, Walid Afkir, Daniel Duval, Nathalie Richard, Denis Podalydès, Aïssa Maïga, Caroline Baehr, Christian Benedetti.

“Georges (Daniel Auteuil) hosts a TV literary chat-show, and discovers the drawbacks to celebrity when he and his wife Anne (Juliette Binoche) start receiving videotapes of their comings and goings filmed outside the house and wrapped in childlike drawings evocative of bloody violence. Even when the tapes’ contents suggest the anonymous sender has some intimate knowledge of – and murderous intent towards – Georges’s life, the police insist they can do nothing, and the tension begins to take its toll on his family, not to mention his sense of justice… Haneke uses this relatively straightforward story to explore a complex range of issues to do with contemporary life: celebrity and social inequality, the erosion of privacy, the fear of the Other, the weight of the past, the relationship between respons