Category Archives: Saturday 4 February 2017

Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

12:15pm, Saturday 4 February, Opera House

Year: 1949        Running Time:  1h 46 mins
Director: Robert Hamer
Starring: Dennis Price, Alec Guinness, Valerie Hobson
Cert: U

A distant poor relative of the Duke of D’Ascoyne plots to inherit the title by murdering eight other heirs who stand ahead of him in the line of succession. This is one of Ealing Studio’s wittiest and blackest comedies.

Set on avenging his mother’s disinheritance and reclaiming his birthright, Louis D’Ascoyne Mazzini, the 10th Duke of Chalfont sets about dispatching the D’Ascoynes one at a time. Alec Guinness is in unforgettable form, playing all eight members of the doomed D’Ascoyne family.

So do come along to the Opera House to enjoy this sophisticated and wonderfully inventive Golden-Age Ealing comedy.

Tickets £5

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Embrace of the Serpent (2016)

Saturday 4 February: Introductory talk: 7:40pm, Grand Foyer. Screening: 8:15pm, Opera House

Year: 2016  Running Time: 125 mins
Director: Ciro Guerra
Starring: Jan Bijvoet, Brionne Davis, Nilbio Torres, Antonio Bolivar, Yauenku Miguee
Cert: 12
Language: Spanish, Portuguese, German, Catalan and Latin.
Subtitles: English
Awards: Nominated: Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards 2016

“Before he can become a warrior a man has to leave everything behind and go into the jungle guided only by his dreams. In that journey he has to discover completely alone, who he really is. Some get lost and never come back”

Karamakate, a warrior shaman and last of his tribe, transcends the worlds of men and seeks truth through their dreams. He alone knows how to find the mysterious and psychedelic Yakruna plant; for some it has life-saving properties, for others it is a commodity waiting to be exploited. Two scientists, in two different times with very different agendas enlist Karamakate on their individual quests in an epic adventure into the heart of the Colombian Amazon to find this mythical plant.

This Oscar nominated film is seen through Karamakate’s eyes and bears witness to the effects of colonialism, religion and the exploitation of rubber, that affect indigenous traditions and the environment to which they are inextricably linked.

“The film is inspired by the travel diaries of Theodor Koch Grunberg (1879–1924) and Richard Evans Schultes (1915-2001). These diaries are the only known accounts of many Amazonian cultures. This film is dedicated to all the peoples whose song we will never know.” Ciro Guerra (Director)

simon-enatahua-150x150We are pleased to announce a short introductory talk from author and explorer Simon Chapman in the Grand Foyer at 7:40pm. 

Simon has been entertaining adults and children with stories of his real-life adventures since 2001.  He has recently returned from exploring the Enatahua River in Bolivia. 

See the Facebook event page.

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Rashomon (1950)

6pm, Saturday 4 February, Opera House

Year: 1950  Running Time: 87 mins
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Takashi Shimura
Language: Japanese with English subtitles
Cert: 12
Awards 

  • Golden Lion, Venice Film Festival 1951
  • Best Foreign Language Film, Academy Awards 1953

Rashomon is a Japanese classic widely considered one of the greatest films ever made. Based on two short stories by Ryūnosuke Akutagawa, it centres on a terrible crime which is recounted through four conflicting accounts. This gripping psychological thriller looks into the meaning of justice and raises questions about the nature of truth.

Set in feudal Japan, the film depicts the murder of  a samurai and the rape of his wife from four different – and contradictory – points of view. Which account is true? Who can be believed – if anyone?

Akira Kurosawa brings us striking imagery and an ingenious use of flashbacks; and this new digital restoration makes Kazuo Miyagawa’s lush cinematography as vivid as if it were made today.

Rashomon is considered a masterpiece of cinema and one of the most influential films of all time introducing Japanese cinema to the wider world.

Take a look at the Facebook event.

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The Phantom of the Opera

4pm, Saturday 4 February, Opera House

Year: 1925
Running Time: 80 mins
Director: Rupert Julian
Starring: Lon Chaney, Mary Philbin, Norman Kerry
Cert: PG
The Phantom of the Opera 

Beneath the sewers of the Paris Opera House dwells a masked figure. He is the Phantom, a hideously disfigured composer whose dream is to turn chorus singer Christine into a diva. Lon Chaney, the “Man of a Thousand Faces”, dominates this classic adaptation of the 1910 novel. His ghastly make-up and outrageous performance made this one of the great classics of American silent film.

Film critic Roger Ebert said in 2004 that “it has always been a question whether The Phantom of the Opera is a great film, or only a great spectacle.” Either way, to see this film in 1925 was a truly shocking experience. Fast-moving and exciting, the film is a dramatic tale of obsession, kidnap, murder and revenge, beautifully tinted throughout and featuring an impressive sequence of early Technicolor as the Phantom appears at a Masked Ball.

This is the original film version of Phantom which inspired numerous remakes. It was a critical and commercial success upon release, as these press quotes from the time contest: an “ultra fantastic melodrama” (New York Times); “produced on a stupendous scale” (Moving Picture World); “probably the greatest inducement to nightmare that has yet been screened” (Variety)

Minima have specialised in live accompaniment to screenings of silent films since 2006. Their electrifying new score for The Phantom of the Opera captures the horror of the story, but also finds pathos, romance and humour. Drums, bass, guitar and cello strike up a thrilling relationship with the film, following the Phantom down into his subterranean nightmare world.

“Minima are one of the leading bands accompanying silent film in Europe.” (Robert Rider, Head of Cinema, the Barbican Centre)

“Minima’s spine-tingling music clung to each twist of the movie… spellbinding accompaniment.” (The Guardian)

“A superbly sinister live score by the soundtrack group Minima.” (Financial Times)

 

  • Buy one adult ticket and get a free child ticket (under 16 yrs).

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