Season 20 Films – Cork Cine Club

JUST TO BE SURE [OTEZ-MOI D’UN DOUTE – FRANCE], THU 31 JANUARY 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

The breakout French hit of the 2017 Cannes International Film Festival, where it premiered to multiple, raucous standing ovations, writer/director Carine Tardieu’s charming romantic comedy is a winning tale of parenthood, love and family, both lost and found.

When lonely 45-year-old widower Erwan discovers by accident that that man who raised him isn’t his real father, he begins a search for his biological one. Thanks to a local private detective he soon locates the mischievous, 70-something Joseph, whom it seems his mother may have known briefly. Erwan soon falls not only for his charm, but that of the impetuous Anna, who has ties to them both. But the conflicting loyalties become compounded by the pregnancy of his own daughter who defiantly refuses to name the father. Soon Erwan’s families begin to collide, to unexpected, hilarious and moving effect.

Offering a terrific showcase for her brilliant cast, director Carine Tardieu skillfully weaves a wholly-entertaining exploration of love, coincidence and human connection. Few films manage to pluck both the heartstrings and the funny bone. It’s a delight.

Light-hearted, sharp and funny, the kind of French comedy that doesn’t come around so often nowadays. – The Hollywood Reporter

The comedy favourite of Cannes. Invigorating and intelligent. -Le Parisien ★★★★★

Beautiful, touching and hilarious. This film will move you. – Elle Magazine ★★★★

France, 2017 | Language: France | 100 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Carine Tardieu

Cast: Francois Damiens, Cecile De France, Guy Marchand, Andre Wilms, Alice de Lencquesaing

Presented with the support of the French Embassy and the Institut Français.

January 30, 2018

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THREE IDENTICAL STRANGERS [USA – Documentary] – THU 7 FEBRUARY, 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

This sold out two screenings at the Cork Film Festival. Our Cine Club committee gave it 5 stars, and want to give members who missed it a chance to see this incredible documentary.

Three strangers – Bobby Shafran, Eddy Galland and David Kellman – were reunited at age 19 in 1980s New York by an astonishing coincidence after being born identical triplets, separated at birth, and adopted by three different families.

Their jaw-dropping, feel-good story instantly became a global sensation complete with fame and celebrity. However, it set in motion a series of events that revealed a sinister secret behind their miraculous reunion. Tim Wardle’s gripping documentary emerges as one of the year’s best thrillers, an exceptional work of investigative non-fiction that leaves audiences rubbing their eyes in disbelief.

Winner of Sundance Film Festival’s Special Jury Award, it is an exuberant celebration of family that transforms into a thriller with colossal implications and proof that life is truly stranger than fiction.

Effortlessly segues from feelgood to tragedy to full-blown conspiracy…a sure-fire Oscar contender. – The Irish Times ★★★★

As gripping as a first-contact sci-fi. – The Guardian ★★★★

This fine documentary is the stuff of fraught, memorable drama. – The New York Times

USA, 2018 |Language: English | 96 minutes | Cert: 12A

Director: Tim Wardle

January 29, 2018

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C’EST LA VIE! [FRANCE], THU 14 FEBRUARY, 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

A relentlessly hilarious comedy about a wedding planner, it hits the ground running and barely takes a breath as wedding disaster after disaster unfold. Larger-than-life characters and laugh-out-loud set pieces make it a delight.

Max is a veteran wedding planner who is thinking about selling on his business. For now, however, there’s something more pressing to worry about: organising a lavish wedding in a 17th century chateau. It’s no small task, with dozens of people to manage, unreliable electricity, a last-minute musician change, and an increasingly demanding groom. Soon, things start going very wrong indeed. Can Max and his team sort everything out without the guests noticing?

Few films this year will provide as much sheer joy as this bubbly, charming and relentlessly hilarious jog around an arena we’re all familiar with. The ensemble cast has great fun with a dotty assortment of characters, every one of which is put to delightful use. – Irish Independent ★★★★★

A cluttered comedy that works like a charm. – The Irish Times★★★★

France, 2017 |Language: French | 117 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Directors: Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano

Cast: Jean-Pierre Bacri, Gilles Lellouche, Jean-Paul Rouve, Eye Haidara

January 28, 2018

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COLD WAR [ZIMNA WOJNA – POLAND] – THU 28 FEBRUARY, 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

We’ve had massive audiences this season and have had to turn people away.

Anticipating huge interest in the two upcoming films that have been nominated for

the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film [among other awards]

and to avoid further disappointment, we have added screenings for these films:

Cold War [Zimna Wojna – Poland], Thursday 28 February at 6pm and 8pm.

Box office opens for first screening at 5:30pm.

A chilling Soviet-era drama of wounded love and state sponsored fear in 1950s Poland from the director of Ida, which won the 2015 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film. Best Director prize winner at Cannes.

Without any hyperbole, it is one of the films of the year, and possibly of the last decade. – Irish Independent ★★★★★

Paweł Pawlikowski follows his Oscar-winning Ida with the stunning Cold War, an epic romance set against the backdrop of Europe after World War II. Sumptuously shot in luminous black and white, it spans decades and nations to tell a love story that is as tragic as it is moving, and as transportive as it is honest.

In the ruins of post-war Poland, Wiktor and Zula fall deeply, obsessively and destructively in love. As performing musicians forced to play into the Soviet propaganda machine, they dream of escaping to the creative freedom of the West. But one day, as they spot their chance to make a break for Paris, both make a split decision that will mark their lives forever. As the years march on in the wake of that moment, Wiktor and Zula watch the world changing around them, always struggling to find their moment in time.

Pawlikowski melds the personal with the political to exquisite effect. Set to a soundtrack that takes you from the rustic folk songs of rural Poland to the sultry jazz of a Paris basement bar, it’s a wistful and dreamlike journey through a divided continent – and a heartbreaking portrait of ill-fated love.

Irish Times – One of the Best Films of 2018. ★★★★★

Ida director Pawel Pawlikowski’s exquisitely chilling Soviet-era drama maps the dark heart of Poland itself. – The Guardian ★★★★★

Poland, 2018 |Language: Polish | 88 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Pawel Pawlikowski

Cast: Joanna Kulig, Tomasz Kot, Borys Szyc, Cedric Kahn

January 27, 2018

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SHOPLIFTERS [JAPAN], THU 7 MARCH, 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

We’ve had massive audiences this season and have had to turn people away.

Anticipating huge interest in the two upcoming films that have been nominated for

the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film [among other awards]

and to avoid further disappointment, we have added screenings for these films:

Shoplifters [Japan], Thursday 7 March at 5:45pm and 8pm.

Box office for first screening opens at 5:15pm.

Winner of the Palme d’Or at Cannes 2018. A drama of rare complexity and quality about the forces holding a struggling family together, it reveals a Japan rarely seen.

A masterpiece – The Irish Times ★★★★★

On the margins of Tokyo, a dysfunctional band of outsiders are united by fierce loyalty, a penchant for petty theft and playful grifting. When the young son is arrested, secrets are exposed that upend their tenuous, below-the-radar existence and test their quietly radical belief that it is love—not blood—that defines a family.

A film by Kore-Eda Hirokazu, the director of Still Walking, Like Father, Like Son and Nobody Knows.

A film of rare depth and quality that explores the meaning of family, and suggests that real parenthood is not given, but earned. – The Guardian ★★★★★

Kore-eda’s great subject is the contemporary family, a topic that gives him an immensity of themes, including loss, love, class, alienation in the modern world…a perfect story about being human. – The New York Times

Japan, 2017 | Language: Japanese | 121 minutes | Cert: 15A

Director: Hirokazu Koreeda

Cast: Kirin Kiki, Lily Franky, Moemi Katayama

January 26, 2018

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WAJIB [PALESTINE], THU 14 MARCH, 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

An estranged father-son relationship set in the vibrant city of Nazareth makes for an immensely entertaining comedy-drama that interweaves simmering tension with moments of terrific humour.

Shadi returns from Italy to his native Nazareth for his sister’s upcoming marriage. He has reluctantly agreed to honour his “wajib” or duty, to accompany his father in hand-delivering invitations for the wedding. Forced to spend time together after many years apart, past tensions and differences between father and son come to the surface. But as their journey continues, both men also begin to understand each other better.

Acting together for the first time, real-life father and son Mohammad and Saleh Bakri infuse their characters with warmth and humour. The result is a poignant yet entertaining drama.

A sprightly, accessible comedy-drama by established Palestinian writer-director Annemarie Jaci – The Guardian ★★★★★

Sensitive and imaginative…a fine testimony to the director’s powers. – The New York Times

Palestine, 2017 | Language: Arabic | 96 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Annemarie Jacir

Cast: Mohammad Bakri, Saleh Bakri, Maria Zreik, Rana Alamuddin

January 25, 2018

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PILI [TANZANIA], THU 21 MARCH, 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm. Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

The result of a ground-breaking collaboration with the women of Tanzania: 65% of the cast of non-actors are HIV positive. Both heart-warming and heart-wrenching, it’s an authentic view of their hard lives.

Pili is a young woman who provides for her two small children by tilling the local fields. Her husband has deserted her because she has a HIV condition that she keeps secret from the rest of her small community. Pili dreams of a better life for her family, so when she is offered the chance to take over a village market stall, she desperately tries to raise the cash for the required deposit.

Set and filmed in Tanzania, Leanne Welham’s debut feature is the result of a ground-breaking collaboration with the women of Miono, Tanzania, with 65% of the cast of non-actors being themselves HIV positive. Heartwarming and heartwrenching, Pili provides an honest, authentic view of Tanzanian life.

A young mother faces difficult decisions when offered the chance of a better life in Leanne Welham’s thoughtful drama. – The Guardian ★★★

HIV positive cast star in a film shining a light on the struggles of Tanzanian women living with HIV. – The Telegraph

With a compassionate and imaginative boldness, first-time British feature director Leanne Welham has shot a film about HIV in Tanzania. A drama that arose from what was originally a documentary project, Pili uses mostly non-professionals, many in just the same situation as their characters. – The Guardian ★★★

Tanzania, 2017 | Language: Swahili | 83 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Leanne Welham

Cast: Bello Rashid, Sekujua Rashid, Mwanaidi Omari Sefi, Sesilia Florian Kilimila, Siwazurio Mchuka, N’kwabi Elias Ng’andgasamala

January 24, 2018

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THE GUILTY [DEN SKYLDIGE – DENMARK], THU 28 MARCH, 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm. Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

Taking place in just two rooms, this nerve-jangling thriller about an emergency police dispatcher and one fateful call uses minimal ingredients to devastating effect. World Cinema Audience Award, Sundance.

Alarm dispatcher and former police officer, Asger Holm, answers an emergency call from a kidnapped woman. When the call is suddenly disconnected, the search for the woman and her kidnapper begins. With the phone as his only tool, Asger enters a race against time to save the endangered woman. But soon he realizes that he is dealing with a crime that is far bigger than he first thought.

So taut, you almost forget to breathe. – The Guardian ★★★★★

Smartly constructed and tautened with regular twists, but if it were merely clever, it wouldn’t test your nerves as it does. – The New Yorker

A cinematic study in tension, sound design, and how to make a thrilling movie with a limited tool box. – RogerEbert.com

Gustav Möller’s taut debut never leaves the confines of the call center, but builds a vivid aural suspense narrative. – Variety

A pulse-pounding, twisty crime thriller that masterfully ratchets up tension with chillingly effective results. – Hollywood Reporter

Denmark, 2018 | Language: Danish | 85 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Gustav Möller

Cast: Jakob Cedergren, Jessica Dinnage, Johan Olsen

January 23, 2018

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MOUNTAIN [AUSTRALIA – Documentary], THU 4 APRIL 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm. Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

A spectacular documentary that asks what mountains mean to us and why we are compelled to conquer them. It features adrenaline-rushing footage and music by the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

Only three centuries ago, setting out to climb a mountain would have been considered close to lunacy. Mountains were places of peril, not beauty, an upper world to be shunned, not sought out. Why do mountains now hold us spellbound, drawing us into their dominion, often at the cost of our lives?

From Tibet to Australia, Alaska to Norway armed with drones, Go-Pros and helicopters, director Jennifer Peedom has fashioned an astonishing symphony of mountaineers, ice climbers, free soloists, heliskiers, snowboarders, wingsuiters and parachuting mountain bikers.

Willem Dafoe provides a narration sampled from British mountaineer Robert Macfarlane’s acclaimed memoir Mountains of the Mind, and a classical score from the Australian Chamber Orchestra accompanies this majestic cinematic experience.

A truly amazing view from the top. – The Guardian ★★★★

For those terrified of heights, Mountain will be a nonstop nightmare. Yet big scares are a small price for the awe-inspiring footage you’ll see. – The New York Times

How the hell did they film that? – The Irish Times ★★★★

A ravishing feat of vertiginous filmmaking. – The Hollywood Reporter

A sublime rush of adrenaline and orchestral beauty…not for the faint-hearted. – The Guardian ★★★★

Australia, 2017 | Language: English | 76 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Jennifer Peedom

Narrator: Willem DeFoe

Music: Australian Chamber Orchestra

January 22, 2018

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1945 [HUNGARY], THU 11 APRIL 8PM

By Jamiearchive, Season 20 Films

Two screenings, at 6pm and 8pm. Box office for first screening opens at 5:30pm.

An Orthodox Jewish man and his son arrive in a Hungarian village at the end of WWII, upsetting the inhabitants who must confront the recent horrors they’ve experienced, perpetrated, or tolerated.

When two black clad men arrive at a country railway station, a classic western set up appears to be unfolding. But it’s 1945 in Soviet-occupied Hungary in the immediate aftermath of World War II, and by their appearance the men are Orthodox Jews. As the men make their way to town and word of their arrival spreads, there’s a growing panic among some of the more prominent townsfolk – especially town clerk, whose son’s wedding is later that day.

This difficult time in Hungary is rarely dealt with in cinema, and certainly not with as much clarity, economy and nuance as Ferenc Török displays here. A rare subject too, the grave and sobering issue of how the Gentile population of Nazi-occupied countries behaved towards Jewish neighbours, and how they have, or have not, come to terms with a life based on guilt and betrayal. With its monochrome splendour and striking soundtrack, morally compromised townspeople and its tick-tock narrative towards an unknown conclusion, we’re reminded of Fred Zinnemann’s taut and masterful High Noon.

1945 is a tense, chilling, beautifully nuanced take on a little-known slice of history based on the acclaimed short story Homecoming by Gábor T. Szántó.

★★★★★

A sombre, accomplished skilled drama. – The Guardian ★★★

Marvellously directed and acted. – RTE.ie ★★★★

Török’s engaging, imperfect feature has important and timely things to say about historical guilt and remembrance. – The Irish Times ★★★

Hungary, 2017 | Language: Hungarian | 91 minutes | Cert: CLUB

Director: Ferenc Török

Cast: Péter Rudolf, Bence Tasnádi, Tamás Szabó Kimmel, Dóra Sztarenki

January 21, 2018

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