June
Tue 3 and Thu 5 June 7.45pm
HONEYDRIPPER (PG)
John Sayles electrifies the blues in this fable of 50s
Alabama. Tyrone (Danny Glover) is the proprietor of rural roadhouse, The
Honeydripper; in debt and struggling to compete with the popular jukebox joint
across the road. His audacious remedy, one big night to pay off his landlord and
get The Honeydripper out of hock; if only he can track down the local legend
Guitar Sam. ' . . . in the endearing musical time-piece "Honeydripper,"
the indie icon lets his narrative gifts take the lead and the social issues
follow like a tight bass line. The result is one of Sayles' best films', (John
Anderson, 'Variety')
USA, 2008, 123mins
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Observer :: The Times ::
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Fri 6 June 7.45pm
SPLASH! - Staffordshire University ARTS, MEDIA & DESIGN SHOW, 2008
You are invited to the opening night of the University's annual show in Arts, Media & Design. You are invited to tour all of the exhibitions showing at College Road: these include films and animation 'shorts'. A number of these will be entered - and usually win - national competitions ! They will be shown in the Film Theatre and adjacent rooms. Join us on 6th June, or throughout the following week until June 14th. Open 10-8 on 9, 11 June, 10 - 6 all other days.
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Sat 7 June 7.45pm
PERSEPOLIS (12A)
A marvellous bittersweet, monochrome memoir about
growing up during the 1979 Iranian revolution and in exile in France and
Austria. Marjane Satrapi directs this Oscar nominated animation, adapted from
her own bestselling graphic novels; the result is a frequently hilarious
autobiography-as-bildungsroman, a lesson in recent Iranian history and a feisty
feminist fable. 'Here is an adaptation so inspired, so simple and so
frictionless in its transformation of the source material that it's almost a
miracle', (Peter Bradshaw, 'The Guardian')
France, 2008, animation (dubbed), 96mins
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Observer :: The Times ::
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Tue 10 and Thu 12 June 7.45pm
FUNNY GAMES U.S. (18) 
Michael Haneke remakes his ground breaking
remorseless horror. The 1997 cult shocker is relocated to the American east
coast, whereby a prosperous middle class family (Naomi Watts and Tim Roth) find
themselves terrorised by two polite and well spoken but sinister young men. 'It
is horrifying, genuinely horrifying, in a way that regular horror films never
are, and somehow never expected to be', (Peter Bradshaw, 'The Guardian')
USA, 2008, B/W, 111mins
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Observer :: The Times ::
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Fri 13 and Sat 14 June 7.45pm
LEATHERHEADS (PG)
Dodge Connolly, captain of a struggling
(American) professional football team, the Duluth Bulldogs, determines to save
both his team and pro football in general; his plan - to recruit college
football star, Carter "the Bullet" Rutherford, hoping to capitalize on
Carter's fame as a war hero. Renee Zellweger provides the romantic interest as
Chicago newspaper reporter Lexie Littleton, determined to expose Carter as a
fraud, who nonetheless becomes the object of the affections of both Dodge and
Carter. George Clooney directs and stars in this 1920's set homage to the
screwball comedies of the 30's and 40's.
USA, 2008, 113mins
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Observer :: The Times ::
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Tue 17 and Thu 19 June 7.45pm
GARAGE (18)
Garage is an low-key tragicomedy set in a small
town in the Midwest of Ireland. Josie is a simple minded rural garage attendant,
condescendingly tolerated and mocked in equal measure, whose innocence is
exploited by others. The tone of Lenny Abrahamson's film darkens as Josie's
naivety and inability to read other people proves to bring about his undoing.
'As a study in loneliness, this is magnificent, sparely directed by Abrahamson
and beautifully played by Shortt, whose roly-poly walk and innocent gaze could
break your heart, if they haven't already melted it.', (Anthony Quinn, 'The
Independent')
Ireland/UK, 2007, 84min
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Observer :: The Times ::
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Fri 20 and Sat 21 June 7.45pm
THE OXFORD MURDERS (15)
In Álex de la Iglesia's first English language
film, Elijah Woods and John Hurt debate philosophy in the pursuit of a
mathematically inclined serial killer. An enigma is all that stands in the way
of solving a spate of gruesome murders in the sleepy university city of Oxford.
When Professor Arthur Seldom (Hurt) is next on the list he knows his time is
beginning to run out.
Spain/France, 2008, 108mins
Reviews: :: The Times ::
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Tue 24 June 7.45pm
HOPE (15)
Hope is a mischievous parable on redemption from
scriptwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz; the final film in a Dantesque trilogy that
includes Tom Tykwer's 'Heaven' and Danis Tanovic's 'L'Enfer'. Anxious to atone
for his part in his mother's accidental death years before, Rafal Fudalej seeks
to save the soul of crooked art-gallery owner Wojciech Pszoniak, however Rafal's
actions are witnessed with suspicion by the police. Stanislaw Mucha directs a
poignant humanist study, touching upon the relevance of Christianity in a modern
capitalist Poland.
Poland, 2008, 101mins
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Times ::
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Thu 26 June 7.45pm
XXY (15)
Argentina's nominee for the best foreign language
academy award 2008, is a powerful and sensitive drama. When encouraged to choose
a gender by her parents, Alex, an intersex teenager, begins a journey of
self-discovery and self-acceptance, complicated by her nascent relationship with
Alvaro, the son of family friends. 'Lucía Puenzo's accomplished debut is bold
and unadorned storytelling that sensitively explores the sexual awakening and
confusion of one intersex teenager', (Kyle Stephan, 22nd London Lesbian &
Gay Film Festival)
Argentina, 2008, 90mins
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Observer :: The Times ::
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Fri 27 and Sat 28 June 7.45pm
LA QUESTION HUMAINE - HEARTBEAT DETECTOR (12A)
Adapted from Francois Emmanuel's novel 'La
Question humaine'. Simon Kessler, an ambitious psychologist working for a German
multinational chemical corporation is commissioned to compile a confidential
report on the French CEO's mental health, only to find his own psyche
unravelling as company intrigues and concealed histories envelop him. ' . . .
one of the most remarkable, formally ambitious and properly disquieting films in
recent French cinema', (Chris Drake, 'Sight & Sound')
France, 2008 (subtitles), 140mins
Reviews: :: The Guardian :: The Times ::
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