Film Group Programme

Established in October 1999, with the much valued collaboration of the Arts Picturehouse management. The aim of the U3AC Film Group is to show a wide range of the best in cinema from all nations, generations and genres. Our shows take place at The Arts Picturehouse every Tuesday during term time and normally start at 2 pm.  Members are welcome to attend our post screen discussions.

The programme for the Summer term will comprise of a selection of internationally acclaimed films. All screenings will take place at the Arts Picturehouse and unless otherwise stated will commence at 2pm 

16 April                

Inception                                                        

Dir. Christopher Nolan   USA   (148)  2010
A psychological science fiction thriller, in which the acclaimed British director Christopher Nolan explores complex issues, questioning whether what we perceive as reality is actually so or is it a dream upon which our unconscious guilt is projected.  It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a thief who possesses the power to enter into the mind of others in order to steal ideas.

23 April                

About Elly                                                             

Dir. Asghar Farhadi   Iran   (119)  2009
A group of middle-class friends travel from Tehran to spend the weekend relaxing together at the seaside.  Sepideh invites Elly, who is her daughter's teacher, to travel with them in order to introduce her to a recently divorced friend Ahmad, now living in Germany.  In common with Asghar Farhadi’s previously released award winning film A Separation the story skillfully comments on the nature of Iranian society.

30 April                

Touch of Evil                                                          

Dir. Orson Welles   USA   (105)  1958
Orson Welles' glorious - if temporary - return to the Hollywood fray after years of studio neglect is one of his richest and most rewarding pictures.  Adapted by Welles himself, from a shelved Paul Monash script based on a minor novel by Whit Masterson.  It’s a supremely confident and stylish work.  The casting is immaculate headed by Welles himself and accompanied by Joseph Cotten, Charlton Heston, Marlene Dietrich and Janet Leigh.  A visually exciting “film noir” set in a town on the border between Mexico and the USA.

7 May                   

The Bad and the Beautiful                             

Dir. Vincente Minnelli   USA   (113)  1952
Kirk Douglas plays Jonathan Shields, the corrupt and amoral head of a major film studio in this Hollywood drama, often regarded as one of the film industry's most interesting glimpses at itself. Actress Georgia Lorrison (Lana Turner), director Fred Amiel (Barry Sullivan), and screenwriter James Lee Bartlow (Dick Powell) are invited to a meeting at a Hollywood sound stage at the request of producer Harry Pebbel (Walter Pidgeon).  Even though they are no longer on speaking terms with Shields he is hoping to persuade them to change their minds and work on a future project with him.

14 May                 

Ran                                                                   

Dir. Akira Kurosawa   Japan   (153)  1985
A story of greed, a lust for power, and ultimate revenge. Akira Kurosawa’s version of Shakespeare’s King Lear.  The Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji has decided to step aside to make room for the younger blood of his three sons, Taro, Jiro, and Saburo, the Lord's only wish now being to live out his years as an honored guest in the castle of each of his sons in turn.  While the older two sons flatter their father, the youngest son attempts to warn him of the folly of expecting the three sons to remain united.

*NOTE:  This performance will commence at 1 pm. *

21 May                 

Double Indemnity                                                      

Dir. Billy Wilder   USA   (103)  1943
With a screenplay by Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler Double Indemnity represents a highpoint in 1940s “film noir”.  The film features Fred MacMurray, Barbara Stanwyck and Edward G. Robinson and its legendary director weaves a deliciously seductive web of intrigue based on the James M Cain novel of the same name.  Sparks fly between Barbara Stanwyck as the double-dealing dame and Fred MacMurray's insurance salesman, seduced into disposing of her unwanted husband.

28 May                 

Babette’s Feast                                                  

Dir. Gabriel Axel   Sweden   (104)  1987
It is 19C Denmark.  Two elderly maiden ladies reside in remote Jutland, where they have sacrificed their lives, romantic possibilities, and personal happiness in order to continue their long-dead father's religious ministry to the small flock he served.  One of the women's youthful admirers sends to them a Frenchwoman, Babette, whose husband and son have been killed in France and who has fled her homeland lest she meet the same fate.  Stephane Audran leads the cast in this beautifully performed example of Danish cinema at its best.

4 June                  

The Seventh Seal                                         

Dir. Ingmar Bergman   Sweden   (92)  1957
The Seventh Seal is a skillful blend of realistic drama (the disillusioned knight returning from the Crusades in a land wracked by plague and madness) and the allegorical (most famously, the chess game and various encounters with the Grim Reaper).  The historical setting provides a convenient vehicle for Bergman to deal with issues of death and spirituality that are ultimately timeless.  The film also gave major exposure to actors Max von Sydow and Bibi Andersson, who had small roles in the director’s earlier film Wild Strawberries.

11 June                

The Life of PI (3D version)                                             

Dir. Ang Lee   USA   (127)  2012
Based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel, is a magical adventure story centering on Pi Patel, the precocious son of a zoo keeper.  Dwellers in Pondicherry, India, the family decides to move to Canada, hitching a ride on a huge freighter.  After a shipwreck, Pi finds himself adrift in the Pacific Ocean on a 26-foot lifeboat with a zebra, a hyena, an orangutan and a 450-pound Bengal tiger named Richard Parker, all fighting for survival.  Awash with computer generated images; Ang Lee has taken this work onto a magical and metaphysical plane.

18 June                

Late Autumn                                                         

Dir. Yasujiro Ozu   Japan   (131)  1960
Director Yasujiro Ozu (1903-63) was famous for dramas which focused tightly on the character of family members and friends making sacrifices for one another's happiness.  In Akibiyori, a still-beautiful widow has a daughter who is sufficiently past the favored age for marriage to be in danger of becoming an old maid according to the norms of Japanese culture.  Three mature men, friends of the family, get together to discuss the widow and her problem daughter.  Despite the fact that they each would like to marry the mother, they agree that one of them should make the sacrifice of marrying the daughter.  They discuss their marriage idea with the mother, not the daughter.