USA/UK/Canada/Germany, 2005

Cert: 15

128 minutes

Dir: Fernando Meirelles. Starring Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Danny Huston, Bill Nighy

Based on John Le Carré’s novel and set in present-day Kenya, the film examines a pharmaceutical company’s exploitation of a poor African country. Brilliant work by Fiennes and Weisz and “City of God” director Meirelles “cuts through Le Carré’s dense intrigue with galloping momentum, concussive camerawork and a vivid palette.” (Sight & Sound)

France/USA, 2005

Cert: 15 

121m

Dir: Tommy Lee Jones. Starring Tommy Lee Jones, Barry Pepper, Julio César Cedillo

Set in present-day Mexico, “Three Burials” recounts the curious need to bury Melquiades Estrada, an illegal Mexican immigrant, three times! An original film and stunningly photographed by ace Director of Photography, Chris Menges.

France, 2005     

Cert: 15            

106m

Dir: Jacques Audiard. Starring Romain Duris, Niels Arestrup, Lin-Dan Pharm, Aure Atika

Unusually, a French film based on an American one, in this case “Fingers”. This is a stylish and audacious gangland thriller set in Paris about Tom Seyr (stunningly played by Duris) who can’t decide between his desire to be a concert pianist and his day job at the shady end of the property market.
Plus short: End of the Line (6m)
 

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USA/Canada, 2005

Cert:15 

114m 

Dir: Bennett Miller. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Katherine Keener, Clifton Collins Jr

Truman Capote, the eminent American writer, reads about the four members of the Clutter family inexplicably murdered at their farm in Kansas. He intends to use the killings as the basis of his next book, the ‘non-fiction’ novel “In Cold Blood”. This remarkable film charts the gradual downfall of Capote as he becomes increasingly involved with the killers awaiting execution on Death Row.

Plus short: Other (5m)

USA/UK/Japan, 2005

Cert: 15 

91m 

Dir: Miranda July. Starring John Hawkes, Miranda July, Miles Thompson, Brandon Ratcliff

Set in present-day Los Angeles this is a funny, sad, whimsical debut film by Miranda July about people who never quite fit into the society they live in. Winner of the Sundance Special Jury Prize.

France, 2004

Cert: 12A 

91m 

Dir: Eléonor Faucher. Starring Ariane Ascaride, Lola Naymark, Thomas Laroppe.

The compelling and atmospheric story of Claire, a young embroiderer who , five months pregnant, leaves her supermarket job and begins temporary employment with embroiderer, Madam Melikian who, herself, is grieving for her son recently killed in a motorcycle accident. The two grow closer and Claire is drawn towards the son’s best friend, Guillaume.

France/Japan, 2004

Cert: 15 

104m 

Dir: Tony Gatlif. Starring Romain Duris, Lulna Azabal, Leila Makhlouf, Zouhir Galem

From the director of “Gadjo Dilo” and with a second appearance this season of Romain Duris, “Exils” recounts Zamo and Naima’s exodus from Paris to Algeria. With his trademark music and dance featuring strongly, the film secured Gatlif the 2004 Cannes Best Director award.

Germany/USA, 2005

Cert: 12A 

135m

Dir: James Mangold. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin

Much-praised biopic of singer Johnny Cash who, like his wife, died in 2003. Great performances from Phoenix and Witherspoon.

South Africa/UK, 2005

Cert:  15 

94m 

Dir: Gavin Hood. Starring Presley Chweneyagae, Terry Pheto, Kenneth Nkosi

Winner of the 2006 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, “Tsotsi” tells of a young thug’s gradual redemption after shooting a young woman only to find her baby in the back of the car he steals. What, in lesser hands, could have developed into unacceptable schmaltz, results in a taut and excellently performed thriller.

Plus short:  Badgered (7m)

Italy, 1963

Cert: PG 

178m 

Dir: Luchino Visconti. Starring Burt Lancaster, Alain Delon, Claudia Cardinale, Paolo Stoppa

Our retrospective this season is Visconti’s brilliant ‘sixties film’, “The Leopard”. “Muscular in its script, which deals with the declining fortunes of a Sicilian aristocratic clan, vigorous in performance and sensuous in direction” (Time Out), this is one of the great movies winning the Palme d’Or at Cannes.

USA/France/UK/Japan, 2005

Cert: 15 

93m 

Dir: George Clooney. Starring David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson, George Clooney

Legendary American reporter, Ed Murrow, took on Senator Joseph McCarthy in the infamous fifties’ communist witch-hunts, exposing McCarthy’s bullying, falsehoods and undemocratic tactics. Clooney’s film, shot in black-and-white, excellently recreates events and period.

France/Austria/Germany/Italy, 2004

Cert: 15

 118m 

Dir: Michael Haneke. Starring Daniel Auteuil, Juliette Binoche, Maurice Benehou

One of the most talked about and feted films of the year, “Cache” is a stunningly assembled thriller about a bourgeois couple and their young son who start receiving disturbing messages and images at their home. A ‘must see’ film and you can argue about ‘who dunnit?’ all the way home!
 

Plus short:  Indians (7m)
 

USA, 2005

Cert: 15

 103m 

Dir: Duncan Tucker. Starring Felicity Huffman, Kevin Zegers, Fionnula Flanagan

The story of a pre-operative male-to-female transsexual, Stanley, who discovers he has a son, “Transamerica” is a comedy of identities and misunderstanding wrapped in the format of a road movie. Felicity Huffman won a Golden Globe award for her outstanding performance.

Plus short: Screen Kiss (5m)