Greetings cinephiles! I need a little help here! This evening I’m off to the summer meeting of our local film club. We are going to discuss which films we are going to screen next autumn.
Have I done my homework, got up to speed on recent releases and checked out all the latest winners from Cannes, Sundance and Berlin? Have I hell!
To save my bacon, I now really could do with some help from the AW cinematic hivemind.
Have any of you seen or read about any movies in the past twelve months that might appeal to a Stockholm suburban film club?
My colleagues on the committee do quite rightly tend to go for rather serious films. Genocide, suicide, patricide, we’ve had the lot. And I’m glad we’ve shown them.
But I still have nightmares about, for example, Eric Poppe’s chilling Utoya July 22 about the Breivik massacre and Jasmina Zbanic’s magnificent but deeply upsetting Quo Vadis Aida.
I see my role in the group as coming with suggestions that are a little less glum, not too Bergmanesque or depressingly kitchen-sinky. Films that are fluffier and bouncier. I’m more than keen to find a good comedy drama. Knives Out went down very well, for example.
I also really have tried to persuade them to go for Godzilla Minus One. I didn’t get much enthusiasm there!
A second question. For the past few terms our final film of the season has been a classic which is rarely screened. This term it was Kar-Wai Wong’s In the Mood for Love from 2000. What a treat! If you could choose a favourite movie that you could get screened in a full-size cinema with seats for 200 people what would you go for? Please be as obscure as you like!!
In the Foil Arms and Hogg clip posted below, Granny mentions a movie which really appeals to her. Has anyone seen it? Could it be something for us?
Many thanks in advance for all your suggestions.
Here’s that Foil Arms and Hogg clip. Granny has excellent taste in movies.
The answer is always “Street Trash”. There is poetry and philosophy in it.
Not heard of it before. But I suspect Granny would love his rather gory romp.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094057/alternateversions/?tab=cz&ref_=tt_trv_alt
How about”The Good Liar”? Impeccable cast, funny, great plot.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5563334/?ref_=ext_shr
I think that would go down a treat, Twang!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5563334/?ref_=ext_shr
A couple of star names is always excellent for our marketing too.
It’s unfair, but it take a 5 star review (in Dagens Nyheter or Svenska Dagbladet), a win at Cannes or an Oscar, to get punters interested in a film with actors they’ve never heard of.
You could go low brow and have”Wild Hogs”. Star studded cast, critics hated it, laugh a minute.
**Tin hat**
I quite enjoyed that film, but it did have one of the most ridiculous plot twists I have ever seen.
These are all a bit grim but I enjoyed them:
Lovers of the Arctic Circle (Julio Medem, Spanish, 1998). I saw this a day before American Beauty, which I thought, by comparison, was shite for the masses.
Dancer in the Dark (Lars von Trier, 2000, starring and soundtracked by Björk)
La Haine (Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995, French)
Three excellent, very varied choices there @fentonsteve. Thanks for reminding me about them.
Julio Medem made a series of fine movies back in the day,-. I remember the Red Squirrel and the very steamy and sensual Sex and Lucia.
La Haine seems as topical as ever.
I used to work about 150 yards from the Regal arts cinema, so it was easy to pop in to the 5pm showing on my way home. Often the usher and I were the only people in there.
Offspring the Elder has just turned 21, there’s no coincidence that I stopped that caper in 2002, and those 3 suggestions are of that era.
I am a member of two film clubs and the outstanding movie shown this year has been Hit The Road, an Iranian film that is funny, sad, intriguing, beautifully filmed etc etc. I sing its praises as often as I can and would heartily recommend it.
Here are two reviews that might help you sell Hit The Road to your colleagues should you choose to champion it.
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/hit-the-road-reviewed-a-mysterious-and-thrilling-revelation-from-iran
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/jul/31/hit-the-road-panah-panahi-iranian-road-movie-jafar-panahi-son
@Munster Seconded, a fantastic film. Funny and moving.
Hit the Road got excellent reviews in Sweden:
https://kritiker.se/film/hit-the-road/
So I will definitely champion it this evening.
@DuCo01 will be pleased to hear that I’ll also mention Fremont:
And also La Chimera ( as recommended this week by @deramdaze)
It’s directed by Alice Rohrwacher who also directed the wonderful Happy as Lazarro which we showed at the film club a few years ago. A stupendous piece of magical realism.
I completely agree with you Deram about There’s Always Tomorrow.
I really did try to sell On the Road to my colleagues, @Munster. But one of them had seen it and was under-awed so that was it. We had a short list of 30 films to whittle down to 7 so the competition was fierce.
I’d really like to know a little about the film clubs you and anyone else here belongs to.
Where and how often do you meet?
Do you have a website or FB or Instagram page?
How many films do you see in a term?
How many members are there (roughly)?
Who choses the films?
Does the club belong to a larger, nationwide organisation?
If you’re interested, here’ s our programme for Spring 2024.
Some pretty obscure stuff there, but it was a rather decent season.
Thanks for the feedback. Hit The Road is a film well worth catching but I suspect it will pop up elsewhere, and good luck with your season.
As I say, I belong to two clubs, both of which are in local small towns. One meets once a month for ten months and tries to get a mix of movies from around the world. There are only about 50 members and it alerts everyone via email, with a brief resume of the film to be shown and reactions to the previous movie. There is also a glossy brochure. The films shown this season were Aftersun (UK); Broker (S Korea); The Eight Mountains (Italy); Lunana (Bhutan); Compartment No 6 (Finland); Hit The Road (Iran); Close (Belgium); Promising Young Woman (US); One Fine Morning (France); and The Blue Caftan (Morocco). Films are chosen by committee members only and tend to be recent releases. It costs £35 a season.
The second club, with about 200 members, meets twice a month for nine months and, again, movies are chosen by the committee but members can suggest films (needless to say, I have suggested Hit The Road for this club and await a verdict on that). This club asks for members to review each movie within a few days of viewing and every review is put up on the society’s website (anonymously and there are not a large number of reviews). This club tries to have more of a mix of films, with comedy, dramas “classics” etc. The films this season were: Official Secrets (with a pre-film Q&A with the director, Gavin Hood, and the scriptwriter); Return To Seoul (S Korea); Thank You For Smoking (US); Corpus Christi (Poland/France); Mulholland Drive (US); La Haine (France); an evening of short films; Marcel The Shell With Shoes On (US); Cairo Conspiracy (Sweden/France/Finland/ Denmark); The Last Picture Show (US); Everything Went Fine (France/Belgium); The Quiet Girl (Ireland); Capote (US); Luzzu (Malta); The Brand New Testament (Belgium/France/Luxembourg); Close (Belgium/ Netherlands/ France); and The Castle (Australia). It costs £37 a season and also has a glossy brochure.
Wow! Thanks for such a wonderfully detailed answer @Munster.
I will look through it more carefully this evening and reply to you about which of those films we’ve screened. There’s a fair bit of overlap.
Regretably, I don’t know much about networks of international film clubs.
But Bio Reflexen, where we have our screenings, is a member of Folkets Hus & Parker, a Swedish cultural network.
https://www.folketshusochparker.se/om-oss/om-oss-english/
It’s also part of the Europa Cinemas Network:
https://www.europa-cinemas.org/en
“Founded in 1992 with funding from the MEDIA Programme (Creative Europe) and from the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée (CNC), Europa Cinemas is the first film theatre network focusing on European films. It now has 1,263 cinemas (3,121 screens) in 783 cities and 39 countries.”
Has anyone here heard of the LUX Audience Award? The winner this year was The Teachers Lounge.
https://lux-award.europarl.europa.eu/en/films#:~:text=The%20Teacher's%20lounge&text=The%20winner%20of%20the%202024,Lounge'%20directed%20by%20Ilker%20%C3%87atak.
The shortlist always some excellent movies.
Your lists are very intersting @Munster
Film Club One’s programme would have been perfect for us in Kärrtorp!
Except for Hit the Road (typical eh?), every film on it has been shown by either our film club or as a public screening bu Bio Reflexen.
In the case of Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom, it was show by both. And was very much enjoyed by everyone. A classic case of a “small” film becoming a word-of-mouth success.
Aftersun (UK) – New British cinema at its best!
Broker (S Korea) . The Japanese maestro, Kore- Eda, Hirokazu filmed this in South Korea. It might not be his greatest film ever, but it’s a powerful story, well-told. Full house at Reflexen
The Eight Mountains (Italy). @DuCool really rates this film.
Lunana (Bhutan) A big hit!
Compartment No 6 (Finland). A film I really enjoyed, Heart-breaking. Hilarious. Thought-provoking.
By the final scene I was crying my eyes out. Half of the tears were for the pain and tragedy of life and love. And half of them were tears of laughter at the extremely funny final scene.
Hit The Road (Iran)
Close (Belgium). An enormous success with our members. A film that has been praised to the skies here in Sweden. Sadly I missed it!
The Belgians are very good at heart-breaking social realism. Playground (mentioned by @moseleymoles below is another such film). As is the Dardenne Brothers’ magnificent Tori & Lokita-
And in that vein, I must mention Emanuelle Nicot’s Love According to Dalva which was a big success with our members last term. Quite rightly so.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt19768016/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_4_nm_4_q_dalva
When I read the synopsis, I couldn’t possibly imagine it would be a film that I wanted to see: “a 12 year old girl who has been sexually abused by her father struggles to find a new life.”
But thanks to a wonderfully subtle script, stupendous acting and excellent direction, it became one of my films of the year.
Promising Young Woman (US). I loved it and our audience did too. Emerald Ferrell (not to mention Carey Mulligan!) showed that an intelligent. “art-house film” can be exciting, challenging and very entertaining
One Fine Morning (France) . Not seen this but we’ve shown several of Mia Hansen-Løve’s films at Reflexen
The Blue Caftan (Morocco). This attracted only a small audience when Reflexen screened it and I’ve not seen it myself but my cinephile pal Steve, rated it very highly.
It’s midnight now, so I’ll do Film Club 2 tomorrow.
But there’s a clear pattern here.
With good reviews and word-of-mouth recommendation, the most unexpected films can become big public favourites..
And that the audience have to read subtitles is no longer an obstacle to success.
In many countries, not least in Scandinavia, reading subtitles hs been a way of life for many years.
But now, one can have a hit with a sub-titled film , even in the Anglophone world! Bravo!!
How recent? 2021 was a good year for great films that got largely ignored by the mainstream: The Innocents, Benediction, The Great Freedom.
My favourite film of this year so far is Knox Goes Away. It doesn’t seem to have garnered much publicity. I’ve banged on about it here before. This is what I wrote oh so eloquently on Blogger Takeover in April:
I watched Micheal Keaton’s directorial debut Knox Goes Away last night. I liked it very much. Keaton plays a hitman. “Yawn!”, you think, “hitman films are boring”. Normally I’d agree, but the fact that he’s a hitman is largely (though not completely) irrelevant. The real focus of the film is that he has dementia. And there’s a twist. “Yawn” again! “Twists are always predictable and a bit silly.” Well, actually this is one of the cleverest twists I’ve seen in a long time. Not an “OMG, I did not see that coming!” kind of twist, but an “ooh, how clever” twist. At least I thought it was clever. And the directing is great and Keaton is great and even hammy ol’ Al Pacino doesn’t spoil the film.
Now that review may well, with benefit of hindsight, read like something a 14-year-old moron would write, but don’t let that put you off the film. However, your peeps might have already seen it as it’s been on Netflix since April.
Monkey Man was another favourite of the year so far, but not really arthouse audience fare. I haven’t seen or even read about any interesting new arthouse-friendly films. Not since Zone of Interest and Poor Things.
As to your second question, a few come to mind. If your film club buddies haven’t seen any of the following classics they’d be in for a final film of the season treat: Comrades (1987), Distant Voices, Still Lives (1988), The Long Day Closes (1992), The Assassination of the Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Peterloo (2018), The Painted Bird (2019). All of them unfairly ignored by the mainstream, but very suited to a more intellectually poncey arthouse demographic and all of them brilliant.
As always, you have contributed a magnificent hamper of goodies to this discussion, @Gary.
I just checked. Knox was released in Sweden in March. That completely passed me by. I’ll keep my open for it on Netflix and SVT.
I read a very lukewarm review of Monkey Man which diminished my interest. Dev Patel in a Schwarzeneggeresque tough guy role was rather unexpected.
Your list of forgotten classics was excellent. All of them would be superb on a large screen. I’d love to see those Terence Davies movies in a proper cinema.
Peterloo and the Tolpuddle Martyrs are perhaps topics that are too British to make big waves here.
Then again Ken Loach is always popular with the Reflexen audience.
Sometimes I am pleasantly surprised to see a rather niche film getting a very decent audience. and disappointed to see some very fine films being completely ignored.
Show business, eh!!
I’m not sure I’d recommend The Painted Bird. The novel was pretty hard to take and the film depiction even harder. I’ll nominate Lamerica (1995) by Gianni Amelio – so impressive that I saw it twice during its week-long LA release in 1996. I would also love to see Map of the Human Heart (1992) by Vincent Ward. It died a death on its release, but it has some amazing images.
Map of the Human Heart looks fascinating.
Definitely one to look out for, @Rufus T Firefly
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104812/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_7_nm_1_q_map%2520of%2520the%2520human
I remember being impressed by that film at the time – as you said Rufus, certain scenes in particular – and I’ve never heard it mentioned again anywhere since. I was beginning to think I’d dreamt the whole thing..
We’ve got an online Japanese film festival going on at the moment, with free streaming, which is nice of them. We’ve seen a couple. This is sweet and touching.
This was quirky and beautiful to look at, though I confess I fell asleep a couple of times. Your mileage may vary…
My other half is on the jury for a slightly worthy African film prize here in Spain. I see some of them and occasionally wish I hadn’t. However, the winner this year, from Madagascar, is very good indeed. Somewhat less glum than the trailer implies.
Thanks @Guiri. I will keep my eyes open for that. Just the kind of gem that can become a big hit on the film club circuit.
I just checked. There are 96 film clubs in 91 locations in Sweden.
https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sveriges_F%C3%B6renade_Filmstudios
That’s quite a healthy number of bums on seats.
Here in Stockholm, we have several small film festivals here for films from, for example, Africa, France, Italy. Latin America, so Disko Afrika might turn up here. I checked IMDB. So far it’s been released in Morocco and Germany!
My go to recommendation is always “Malcolm” the mid-80’s Australian film starring Colin Friels in the title role. He plays a slow witted mechanical genius who “falls into a bad crowd” and he, along with his new friends, pull off the most enjoyable bank robbery you’ll ever witness. It’s a gem of a film.
Thanks Cookie. It look like a real treat. I wonder if it was ever released in Scandinavia.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091464/?ref_=tt_trv_trv
Brilliant film.
Malcolm was released in Sweden in 1987.
Once you’ve waded through that lot, how about ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’. I haven’t watched it, I’m not sure if it’s even out yet but it’s got Will Smith in it and sounds like it will be on the streaming services in no time.
Ride or Die! Heaven preserve us! Pass the smelling salts!
Reflexen is the kind of very proper cinematic establishment that Miss Jean Brodie would have taken her wee pupils to.
MJB would rather die than watch Ride or Die.
Perish the thought!
“I am putting old heads on your young shoulders,’ Miss Brodie had told them at that time, ‘and all my pupils are the crème de la crème. ‘
They need to get out of their discomfort zone!
Sssssshhh!! Not so loud. The patrons of our beloved cinema might hear you @BryanD. Here in Kärrtorp we have some problems with this 21st century gubbins.
In our reality, the Swedish Folkhem is in robust good health. ABBA are the most glamorous, successful, sexy pop group in the world. and cineastes the world over are in thrall to magnificent Ingmar Bergman.
We are not ready yet for Bad Boys- Ride or Die, the Fast and the Furious Volume 15 and Zombie Massacre 7 :Revenge of the Strippers.
That cinema club sounds a bit like punishment to me! Perhaps you could ease them in gently with the Equaliser series. Everyone likes Denzil Washington don’t they?
The Equaliser? Oh yes! That was a big hit with our members. Thanks for reminding me @BryanD.
The very moving story of a Belgian Maths teacher struggling to teach a group of primary school kids basic mathematics while being forced to confront some five-year-old bullies armed with state-of-the art pea shooters. Heart wrenching stuff.
I can’t remember which part Denzil had. Was he the school caretaker??
Arf!
I knew they’d like it. If the caretaker went around killing all the bullies while charming everyone else, then that was Denzil.
I think there’s a chance we may be talking about two slightly different films @BryanD.
The caretaker in my film gave those scamps a right good talking to and told them to pull their socks up, mend their ways and turn over a new leaf.
In your film it sounds as though the caretaker had a whole arsenal of automatic weapons stashed away in the broom cupboard. Those pesky peashooter pests didn’t know what hit them when he decided to clean the school up.
I think I’m the only one on this thread talking about a film you can enjoy while having a beer or two, rather than endure.
Anyway probably best not to show them to the film club incase they are like some kind of gateway drug and they start clamouring for a Jason Statham season.
You are a devious fiend, @BryanD.
I can so easily imagine you, dressed in a long black cape, and twirling your moustache, sneaking up to the Projection Room at Bio Reflexen just before our film club and pressing a few buttons.
Instead of the 3 hour long, black and white, Albanian social realist masterpiece about the angst of trans-shepherds in Transylvania, our audience would suddenly find themselves thrilling to……THE MEG!!
And then all would be lost!
Nah, I hate musicals. Maybe Transporter though.
Funnily enough I went to the greengrocers earlier dressed exactly like that.
We watched Kaurismaki’s proletariat trilogy the other week which was an experience. I’m glad we did but it’s hard to describe it all. They were full of humour, very humdrum but quite grim at the same time.
All 3 films are pretty short and that’s a good thing too with these as all the characters suffer and anything longer might have been a bit painful.
Recommended.
I’d also recommend Argentina 1985 about the trials of the juntas. It’s very emotional but has enough artiness in the direction that its two and half hour running time flies by.
Gripping stuff
I am sure that you are already aware of Anatomy Of A Fall from last year. A fantastic film.
Less seen was Perfect Days, a film by Wim Wenders shot in Japan and in the spirit of his great film maker hero Ozu. It seems a simple film at first about a toilet cleaner in a Tokyo. However a story soon emerges and the film really is a tribute to finding beauty in the minutiae of life. Could go well with an Ozu classic (Autumn Afternoon would be my suggestion)
There was also the sainted Vicki Krieps in a French /Norway collaboration, More Than Ever ( Plus que Jamais). Krieps plays a woman diagnosed with a rare, potentially fatal condition. To the shock of her husband she initially refuses traditional treatment and travels to Norway to meet a blogger who is suffering from a fatal disease. It sounds heavy (and might be) but there are moments of joy, beautiful scenery. And it genuinely helped me deal with a loved one who had been diagnosed with Cancer.
Finally a recent film from Lithuania called Slow. Very unusual subject matter. Boy meets girl, mutual attraction is immediate but boy (man actually) announces that he is asexual, he wants a relationship but has no interest in sex. Can they make their relationship work? It can be funny and moving in equal parts with 2 fantastic lead performances. And not really pornographic in any sense.
I was going to recommend Perfect Days as well, so instead I’ll just second it and post the trailer.
Slow looks interesting.
My quick answer would be Playground, a Belgian film from 2021. It’s about a sister and brother and what happens at school when the older brother (about 7/8) starts being bullied. Quite extra-ordinary performances from the two child actors and direction which quite rightly won a fistful of awards, utterly unsentimental and at times you have to watch it through your fingers. Only 70 minutes too!
I could have sworn I put up a commendation toward the modern cautionary tale of The Greasy Strangler, a deeply moral put down of the role of unrendered animal fat in otherwise unregarded carnality, of which it offers a relentless spotlight.
I thought you made that all up @retropath2.
Not at all! it’s a real film
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4381236/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_the%2520greasy
I you havent seen it – “All of us Strangers” is wonderful. I remember sitting in the theatre half way through, thinking this was possibly the most moving film I had ever seen.
Completely agree with you @chilli ray virus.
When we had our committee meeting on Tuesday, several of us expressed enormous enthusiasm about this magnificent film. One of the very best of the year. It just knocks you off your feet.
But it can also be very amusing. Andrew Scott’s jim jams were a hoot.
This thread seems the perfect place to mention Hundreds of Beavers.
A future cult classic?
https://www.appetitefordeconstruction.com/p/hundreds-of-beavers-hundreds-of-laughs?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3yxpe6R_WlOmDUxz_OAKzKxBBpEVezyG7djqy6mjc5vyF8w0iefnwXLwI_aem_ZmFrZWR1bW15MTZieXRlcw
That review is a hoot!
A few fairly recent films that were a big hit at Bio Reflexen and that I enjoyed a lot:
Kaurismäki’s Fallen Leaves
The Finnish maestro’s most recent movie. A bítter-sweet ´master-class in minimalism.
Celine Song’s Past Lives
A stunning Hungarian love story set in a slaughterhouse!
Ildiko Enyedi’s On Bofy and Soul
Celine Sciamma’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire
Sciamma is one of the most interesting film-makers in France today.
I’ve started an IMDB list of all the films mentioned in this thread.
https://www.imdb.com/list/ls547464928/?ref_=uspf_t_1
That should give us all some inspiration.
A very heartening article from today’s Observer.
https://www.theguardian.com/film/article/2024/jun/16/arthouse-hits-filmgoers-subtitles-cinemas-hollywood-studio-films
@deramdaze has praised Alice Rohrwacher’s La Chimera. To my delights and surprise I read that it’s been a box office success in the UK.
“So far, 2024 has seen a box office slump, but is being brightened by breakthrough independent productions that dodge commercial templates and are often in foreign languages (that aren’t Sasquatch). Prominent among them is Italian film La Chimera starring British actor Josh O’Connor. Out for over a month now, it is still drawing audiences and has taken over £700,000 at the British and Irish box office. Director Alice Rohrwacher’s film is pulling off a trick that big-budget title The Fall Guy could not manage: it has become a hit beyond its own ambitions. It must also be quite a surprise to Rohrwacher herself, since her last film, Happy as Lazzaro, brought in just a fifth of that.”
Young people are going to see “arthouse films”!
“Films like Saltburn, Poor Things and All of Us Strangers are bringing in a younger audience, and that’s very exciting for us in terms of the future of our business. Under-25s are embracing arthouse cinema in a way we haven’t seen before.”
Personally, I dislike the term “arthouse”. It sounds very snooty and superior. I prefer to describe Bio Reflexen as, to paraphrase the League of Gentlemen:
“A local cinema for local people.”
I suspect that some of you have been to a film festíval or two in search of interesting, new films that would not come out on general release-
But how many of you have been to the Midnight Sun Film Festival in Sodankylä, Finnish Lapland?
https://msfilmfestival.fi/en/volunteers/
I know about it as our projectionist at Reflexen, Carina, goes every year and just got back this afternoon.
And you’d be surprised at the guests they get. La Chimera’s director, Alice Rohrwacher, for example. Not to mention Mark Kermode and the Dodge Brothers!
https://x.com/DodgeBrothers/status/1801535017778020405