Audience Ratings: 2024

96%

• Wonderful movie to end the year! Bette Davis rules the screen as well as the stage, though Marilyn Monroe manages to shine in her brief role and Anne Baxter as stalker supreme is charming yet utterly untrustworthy from the start. Thanks so much for an amazing year!
• A spectacular end to the year, and what a joy to share it with such a huge, responsive audience! I think Celeste Holm remains underappreciated, and this film is probably the best performance she ever turned in (but you should totally show High Society next year for contrast!)
• The writing is just so good. You never see scripts like this anymore. I also liked the charming subversion of expectations where the leading man in a classic film is actually faithful and a good partner.
• Nice to end the year with a confirmed classic. And despite being a classical Hollywood glamorous talkie, it was almost modern in its depiction of a gaslighting narcissist.
• A delight from start to finish!  I always look forward to the Classic Hollywood closing nights, and I’m never disappointed.  Long may they continue.

63%

• At first I felt slightly shut out, not always understanding what was going on, especially with the boy, but during the course of the movie it began to make sense – the movie was replicating in us the mother’s feeling of being excluded from her son’s world. By the end I was feeling fully onboard with the mother’s tragi-comic histrionics. Excellent performances and really stunning cinematography too.
• I liked about twenty minutes of this film and maybe fifteen minutes of that is really great mise en scene then five minutes of actually entertaining, worthwhile (read: understood) story. Please no more of this director, I don’t like her!
• Obviously it was a bit confusing but the emotional truth was totally convincing. I’d never thought before how lucky I was that my mother was not a single parent!
• Some great shots and angles but too loose with the script and story – interesting but boring at the same time.
• The top of a head, an ear, a safety pin separating eye lashes, repetitive anti social behaviour from a middle aged woman – these things create a vibe and tell a story in a unique and fresh way. I loved it.

45%

• Too messed up to praise highly, but also admirably realistic. It felt like we were forced to watch through the eyes of one of those four poor children.
• A film tediously hung up on a sense of its own transgressivity. Of passing interest only to the extent that individual self-absorption, nihilistic violence and rape speak to elements in wider American culture in the 90s (and since), which is to refer to nothing that most film-goers didn’t already know. A certifiable stinker.
• We were warned that the film contained exploitation of minors.  Yes, by the filmmakers, some of which is outlined in the recent documentary We Were Once Kids, about the making of the film from the perspective of some of the kids themselves who were skaters, not actors.  Is it art of exploitation?  Maybe we should have screened Gummo instead for a ’90s trash-chic film that actually transcends its moment in time.
• Very confronting, but made it’s point and very powerfully.
• All I wanna do after watching that is have a shower.

79%

• An entertaining and fascinating time capsule of a movie. Wince at the constant diet talk! Despair at the gender politics! Cringe as the backup singers do the limp wrist to “Johnny Are You Queer”! They don’t make ’em like this any more, and that’s probably for the best, but it’s a fun ride while it lasts.
• I missed this in the flurry of teen flicks by John Hughes but now see the derivative themes, us and them, Romeo and Juliet recurring. All against backdrop of early Nicholas Cage, droopy eyes and exaggerated swagger. Sinister clown under-utilised but possible trigger for female lead evolution as “scream queen” (who knew at the time?)
• The stereotypical second act dilemma is almost comically implausible, but that’s only because the titular Valley Girl, Deborah Foreman, is clearly having a whale of a time flirting outrageously with Nic Cage, and was dating him before the end of the shoot.
• It’s amusing that all the valley kids think Nic Cage is so “punk” when at the same time as this movie, the bands in The Decline of Western Civilization were also playing in LA. If he took her to a Black Flag gig the movie would have been much shorter. And then Josie Cotton plays the prom – she’s edgier than the New Wave bands Randy is into! Kudos to whoever in the prop department found that incredibly creepy clown doll.
• It was beautiful to be part of an audience as it gradually realised that The Doll was, for some reason, there.

81%

• This was not so much a rollercoaster of a ride but a rollercoaster inside a haunted house emerging into an escape room and ending up in Ken Russell’s mind. I completely  immersed myself in this work of madcap art and loved the ride.
• The film was fraught and emotional from the very beginning, never any explanation only overt actions. The backdrop of Cold War Berlin is of course the perfect place to set your film about being cut in two, both emotionally and physically. The city itself had become two doppelgangers of each other, each distinct despite the same origin, split down the middle, what was two more human replications?
• Honestly I was expecting it to be way more crazy given the hype. It probably was when it first came out. But to an audience of probable horror enthusiasts I think this was oversold. An enjoyable ride and I really liked the surrealist elements, but can we please tone down the film analysis in the intro until after we’ve all watched it please?
• Shout-out to the person who came to the screening dressed as Anna, complete with bloodied face; funny to thus have enthusiastic warm community feelings around a film that embodies the feeling of screaming during childbirth
• I thought I would hate it but I would’ve been one of the crowd clapping away at Cannes.

85%

• It was funny, dramatic, tense, and bleak. Wonderful characters. The camera work (with looming shadows in the darkness) foreshadows the later The Third Man movie
• Excellent set designs, that B&W cinematography popped on the Embassy screen. Reed’s direction found and brought out some superb characterisations from a panoply of famous and lesser-famed actors, all enriching the narrative. Overall a good classic, but felt it needed at least 15 mins edited out.
• Carol Reed’s direction and shooting style is a joy to behold, the dark streets are bathed in shadows and set a template which would reach its apotheosis with The Third Man.
• Marvellous black and white cinematography and stunning performances from so many Irish actors – many, I am told, from the Abbey Theatre. A major film noir …
  
• Johnny’s got some cash to loot
  And speaking of, a gun to shoot
  Stuck outside in Belfast snow
  The night’s got quite the way to go
  Cabbies, conmen, beer in maw
  Keep him from the arm of law
  His coat is torn, his arm is shot
  Can’t someone get this man a cot?
  Hays codes want and Hays code must
  Johnny’s crew all bite the dust
  Things can’t end well, you must concede
  When breaking law for Carol Reed
  
• This is why I love film society. Pure cinematic joy and thrills

54%

• This is a new favourite film for me joining the Purple Rose of Cairo and der Himmel über Berlin. From the narrative, the sense of looking in, or were we or the film being reflected out, who was being reflected, of feeling as if you’d heard something in passing at the beginning and hadn’t quite caught it, to the use of the mirrors and reflections this film was a standout for me.
• After filmed theatre with Edward II, this time we got filmed Literature. Can we please have some Cinema? These past 3 movies have been quite boooooooooring really. As a French-speaking Belgian, I really believe there are better French movies out there than Duras’ 70s experiments that are so far from Chantal Akerman’s masterpieces.
• Crushingly dull. The worst kind of pseudo-intellectual, navel gazing, overly-mannered nonsense.
• A bit of a strange one, but I really like it when Film Society takes risks. It was pretty and sounded nice, but the dialogue with all the  people speaking poetically in French off screen about leprosy was a bit confusing.
• I’ve never ended up so entranced by a film I nearly walked out of after the first half hour. If you kept playing this and Last Year At Marienbad in alternating years, I’d keep on going back to both of them.

61%

• What a fascinating diversity of lives and life stories. My favourite was the elderly lady on the home nurse’s round who told the story of how her future husband prevented her from throwing herself in the Seine – so matter of fact about it and clearly full of the joy of life in her later years.
• Worst movie of the film society programme this year: ‘We’ was overly long, tedious and unengaging. The deer hunting ‘pageantry’ was distressing and the movie should have carried a ‘content may disturb’ warning so I could have avoided seeing it.
• Tedious in the extreme, no idea how to frame or move the camera, how to edit or pace a scene. Home movies indeed …
• Wonderful insight into ordinary people’s lives, so many lovely vignettes.
• There were people, and they were talking; but if they talked about anything particularly interesting, it must have happened while I was on the train home

76%

• Powerful, horrible and beautiful in equal measure. Really enjoyed the introduction, which helped put it in context.
• Often gripping, sometimes perplexing, and occasionally upsetting.  I can’t tell whether it’s good or bad that I’m not familiar with the original play, but this did make me want to watch a version of that.  The cast was strong, but Tilda Swinton still steals the show (is that wrong?).
• It’s oddly vindicating to watch such a landmark of queer art 33 years after its release. The set design may be stark and postmodern, but Derek Jarman shows a magpie’s eye for everything that glitters, whether it’s a golden robe, a choice line of dialogue, or the icy gleam in Tilda Swinton’s eye, and the whole effect is of a heap of treasures sitting at the bottom of a concrete cistern.
• Some great lines, songs, and costumes, with Tilda stealing every scene she’s in, but ultimately all rather overwrought and vacuous, every shot back-lit and smoked-up like a low budget Ridley Scott movie.
• Jarman uses Edward II’s downfall to draw clear parallels with the sociopolitical climate of the 1980s, critiquing the British government’s role in the Falklands War and the conflict in Northern Ireland, while questioning nationalism, militarism, and state power. Jarman creates a timeless exploration of enduring issues in a distinctly contemporary way.
• Annie Lennox delivering a haunting version of Everytime We Say Goodbye, and you could hear a pin drop in a near full cinema. This is what I love about Film Society Monday.

73%

• Mesmerising and very potent – I loved the slow drift from police procedural to a completely different genre. The ending was shocking but exactly right. While I’m sure there is a lot of nuance I missed because I lacked the cultural context, there was more than enough left for me to interpret, and I thought it was a powerful depiction of a society trying to move on from its past without really addressing the problems… and what happens when those problems refuse to be forgotten.
• For a film which chose to explain so little, I didn’t feel like I had the specific political context necessary to figure out what (if anything) the director was actually thrusting at. The setting and lighting provided for some striking visuals throughout, which I appreciated; but if there was a specific point to it all then I missed it.
• I’ve lost patience for tedium and incomprehensibility. If a film can’t engage and effectively communicate something then it’s wasting our time.
• There’s a constant state of unease throughout this film. The true threat in Ashkal is not just the criminal unknowns, but the lingering spectres of systemic power and control, which persist even after revolutionary movements promise freedom.
• The most superb genre rug-pull I’ve ever seen on film. The framing was superb throughout, but that last sequence is going to stick in my brain for a long, long time.

85%

• Transcendent. Sublime performances from everyone, all really throwing themselves into the fire together. Obviously a singular vision from Jarman with the sets. Murray Melvin has possibly the best cinematic face ever.
• Appropriately sacrilegious, but possibly a tad over-the-top stylistically. I love Dave Kehr’s comment, “it’s like a David Lean remake of Pink Flamingos.” Also, I don’t find scenes of torture entertaining or amusing.
• The production design is astonishing, the sets in particular are like something out of a nightmare of medieval apocalypse, and the cast is fabulous, with Oliver Reed giving one of the greatest performances I’ve ever seen (such blood-curdling screams!). It’s also undoubtedly one of the most exploitative things I’ve ever seen. The horror of the nuns’ violent degradation at the hands of enema-obsessed inquisitors and ogling tourists is somewhat undercut by the fact that the nuns are uniformly perky-breasted 20-somethings who spend all their mad scenes giggling and whooping. There is a fine line between grand guignol and schlock, and Ken Russell spends the runtime of this movie hooning back and forth across it. All that being said: I had a pretty good time.
• Oliver Reed is hypnotic. The hysteria, odd incidental music, jarring sound effects and non stop yelling is not. A strange mix of farce and drama make this a fascinating if uneven watch that is almost Monty Python-esque in look and feel and men playing women. Full credit to the Film Society for this gem that I have no desire to see again.
• Relentlessly bold and provocative filmmaking in every aspect. A searingly powerful attack on the dangers of the confluence of church and state told in hysterical maximalist style that isn’t afraid to be funny, horny, contemplative and above all shocking in a way that still registers all these years later.

75%

• The pace of this film was sublime, as was the interplay between the husband and wife. Thanks for bringing us this beautifully moving piece of cinema.
• A neighbourhood dominated by a ruined church; the ‘Café de la Vieille Église’ – mostly deserted while its regulars are ‘en vacances’. A setting that brilliantly supports the themes of memory, love, loss, and the passage of time explored in a mystery that was slowly but never completely unravelled. Some good moments eventually, but too many awful soap opera style long gazes into an unseen middle distance, and dreadful acting of exagerated mood swings. Perhaps more of an allegory than a film about people that we could really believe in.
• A slow burn but what wonderful performances
• A slow burn, but extremely deft camerawork and editing, and wonderfully understated performances save this one. In contrast to ‘Solaris,’ we actually care about the characters.
• So slow. I slept through much of the first half. But by the end I was somehow with this woman and her desperate need for this rather outlandish premise to be true.

82%

• Beautifully scripted, acted, and shot…but I have so many unanswered questions….
• So gorgeous and meticulous. embodies its influences so faithfully and earnestly while telling such an untold story so humanely; Kiarostami and Kubrick narratively, thematically, and aesthetically exude the screen. a local insecurity and an international idealism at conflict, on the road, professed in a cinematic language
• But what did he do?!???
• Loved this one – funny, warm, mysterious and occasionally eerie
• A beautiful, endearing tender film. Stunningly shot, brilliantly acted and finely directed. There’s so much going on is this wonderful little movie. A film I look forward to rewatching, would be a perfect double bill with Little Miss Sunshine.

74%

• A heartbreaking yet beautiful film about the limits of human consciousness and the past we attempt to shelter ourselves from. Tarkovsky’s work has cemented itself in our society, whether we realise it or not.
• So slow, so strange and surreal. A messy space station! Solaris delivers many visual treats including a middle aged astronaut in his Y-fronts and a leather jacket, and some of the best crocheted fashion I’ve seen anywhere.
• The only time I really perked up during this flabby dirge was when the protagonist turned up on the space station wearing a mesh undershirt (avec hairy chest) and a leather jacket – top notch fashion. Other than that, it appeared to have been directed by a sloth on Valium.
• A melting pot of possibilities to the end. If Tarkovsky’s Solaris truly was an attempt to one-up 2001: A Space Odyssey then it could be considered an abject failure.  But, despite the un-ignorable flaws (although I suspect that the director might actually have ignored them), Solaris remains captivating on its own merits, and burrows a home in the brain for all its best elements.  It’s also a bit of an over-long mess, though…
• As wonderful a viewing experience the second time around and just as enigmatic.

94%

• Loved seeing it again. The cinematography is absolutely brilliant, the sets and costumes are remarkable. And the film is beautifully paced and never lags.
• Yea, society sucks, the aristocracy sucks, the church sucks, we suck; but for gods sake give it some ooomph… and don’t have a plank play the lead role… paced about as well as me doing a 5k run.
• Great to see another big turnout for the repeat screening. Such sumptuous visual treats, and the casting of Ryan O’Neal in the title role was another stroke of Kubrick’s genius.
• Stunning visually, the lighting and cinematography set new standards for a film made 50 years ago, and this was backed up by great choices in pace, editing and acting.
• Thrilled at getting to experience a mesmerising, hypnotic film as it was intended to be shown; infuriated that all of the praise is so justified. An all-timer for Film Society screenings.

85%

• Burning is just as daringly stunning and uncomfortable as the first day I saw it. Very few films manage to pull off something like this in such a subtle and uncompromising way, and it’s a testament to Lee Chang-dong’s talent how he manages to reel you in like he does.
• On the surface a missing person mystery, but with so many questions. Does Haemi exist and if so is she really as sexually forward as portrayed? Are there one or two cats? Is ‘greenhouse’ a metaphor for Haemi? I think I need to see this film again.
• My 3rd view of this remarkable movie, it simply does not disappoint. Full of intrigue, mystery, beautiful visual and aural sequences as well as nuanced acting, Burning is a movie that even Hitchcock or Chabrol would be raving over.
• Manic pixie dream girl gets fridged to give an uninspired writer motivation. Random scenes add time and distraction to an already confusing story. Good acting and some beautiful cinematography can only hide so much – so let’s call it a magical mystery to make it seem arty.
• A slow-burning mystery of burning questions, burning desires, and literal fires.  Expertly suggesting everything whilst telling nothing, the embers of possibility will continue to smoulder in the mind for a long time.

75%

• Fascinating politically incorrect dark comedy on high school cliches and coming of age through the jungle of adolescence. Ryder, Slater and Doherty outstanding moments, at times transcendent iconoclastic riffs glimpse Nirvana teen spirit or Freddie Kruger’s boiler room.
• A crazy take on High School America and teenage peer pressure. Heathers – a black comedy, was just one of many mid-to late 80’s teen movies confronted growing up in the USA, The Breakfast Club, Pretty In Pink, Teachers and even Fast Times at Ridgemont High, many of the movies focusing on the rebels but all saw the rise of the teenage star. Although the movie has murderous and suicidal themes it was a little too much for me working in over-strained comedic takes.
• This putrid, tasteless, unfunny, and offensive shlock doesn’t deserve even a single star. More films by serious film-makers please.
• Still a bitter nihilistic delight, and a rousingly bitchy antidote to most of the lame-o saccharine teen nonsense that issued forth from Hollywood in the 80s. Loses a few points for forgetting to be ludicrously quotable in the last reel, and slightly poignant now Shannen Doherty has departed leaving only one of the three Heathers (Lisanne Falk) remaining standing.
• Transgressive as f*** compared to Sixteen Candles. I presume that’s why i remember loving it as a teen. I was rather more disturbed today.

73%

• Initially elusive, this fast-skipping dance across time and memory had me fascinated by the mid-point and delighted by the end. Russian pugnacity has never seemed so wistful or endearing.
• Beautiful and quite surreal. So many cultural references that surely added meaning for a Soviet audience. Those biccies, the water problems, a tune hummed through a comb – what did they mean?
• I think I would have liked this film more if I understood it. I didn’t realise until quite late that the scenes are not in chronological order. I found the abrupt scene changes disorientating. I couldn’t tell if the characters are likable or not. Yes, I really, really wasn’t following the story. Should have read the blurb beforehand. I loved the upbeat song that the guy sings in the middle. What is it called?
• Beware of the gravelly voiced geologist with the soulful eyes singing folk songs!
• Loved it – slice of life, shows why capitalism is the worst thing except the alternatives, and I fell for his singing – like every other woman.
• очень хороший!

82%

• Well crafted and tightly wound movie portraying immovable power and control, and what it means to be caught up in that.
• So. Dark. I felt like screaming just say no for about half of the movie. Very good, very tense.
• A solid Le Carresque movie (albeit with some truly bizarre tradecraft that would make Smiley turn in his grave) that treats Islam as a religion as opposed to a plot point.
• A powerful yet bleak film about the corruption of institutions and the way even the most moral of people can be persuaded to support those regimes. It may be set in Egypt where this kind of thing may be more out in the open, but it shows a universal truth that seems to be on the rise. Great choice of film.
• My absolute favourite so far.

95%

• 10 out of 10. It was one of the most amazing movies that I have seen from the beginning of this year from the Film Society.
• I really enjoyed this film, it’s one of my favourites from the programme this year. Entertaining, moving, at times crushing, it spanned the full spectrum of emotion. It felt like the viewer was crammed in that multi-generational house along with the family, close to the highs and lows, and the daily grind of chores (dishes to be washed, old man to be cared for, children to be supervised, goats to be slaughtered).
• What a juxtaposition between the film title “Joyland” and the reality of each character’s life. So much repression. Everyone doing what was expected and not living their true lives.
• Delicately devastating, rich in emotion. Like many of the moments that the camera lingers for, this film will linger long for me as I process the deeply personal themes the film unpacks with such care.
• One of the years best so far. Understated, powerful, intelligent.”

83%

• It opened with this layered document type art kind of credits to some ominous music which set the mood well. I really enjoyed the early 70s decor and ‘futuristic technology’. As well as being an aesthetically pleasing piece, was also a good story. It did stressful suspense really well.
• Alexa, can you set the thermo nuclear self destruct to: “off” ? Also, play smooth jazz.
• I enjoy a good movie where the world is saved from a virus mutated by a nuclear blast all because of a paper jam in a machine dedicated solely to sending vital messages. Adds a touch of grounded realism to the high concept of a top secret government facility.
  • “It came from space atop a dish
    No shooting star bearing a wish
    It killed some folk oh way out west
    At killin’ folk yeah its the best
    The scientists know what they’re saying
    Everyone else they get to praying
    Cause dusty blood is such a pain
    So best not catch…
    The Andromeda Strain”
• Not particularly good, but wildly enjoyable with a full interactive audience.

87%

• Happening is deeply moving, with gripping performances and a score straight out of a horror film, continuously building tension until you can’t quite breathe. Tight corridors and suffocatingly quiet whispers push the film beyond the traditional drama genre trappings, moving into body horror territory. You don’t want to be a witness, to feel what Anne is feeling, but you can’t bear to look away.
• Undeniably well crafted, but the more I think about it, the more conservative Happening seems to me. There are many thoughtful, insightful, and radical ways filmmakers can depict a woman dealing with an unwanted pregnancy in a repressive society (Joyland, later in this program, does it very well in my opinion). Showing a nubile teenager writhing and grunting in pain over and over again, agonised but beautiful, glistening like a martyred saint, is none of those things.
• Very well-made and resonant (how little things have changed between then and now, on a moralising level!) but the whole thing just left me cold. The film doesn’t give much of a sense of why Anna has to go through all this, and without that it’s a bit hard to connect to her as a protagonist.
• A true horror movie – I had to cover my eyes several times. The set and costumes were incredible and natural – the 60s so often looks like a cliche in modern films but this movie made it seem real and gritty from – the sweaty nylon and the creased heavy cotton of the protagonists clothes being lesser crimes imposed on her body by her culture.
• Best I’ve seen this year, intensely engrossing. A clear-eyed, non-manipulative story.

82%

• So good to see two old classics. I probably wouldn’t have watched if it was not for film society. Joan Crawford in one of her early roles shines.
• Both films stirred my imagination, and the imagination of Tod Browning brought us iconic stars in The Unknown and less well known actors in Freaks. Joan Crawford’s eyes lit up the Embassy screen showing us that even in youth she dazzled moviegoers with her screen presence. It would be excellent if we could see more Lon Chaney movies in the WFS in future, especially Phantom of the Opera from 1925.
• I knew they didn’t have gore effects in 1927 and I still had to cover my eyes for the last sequence of The Unknown. What a thrill!
• The Unknown: great acting. Alono’s smiling and laughing when he hears Malabar will marry Nanon conveys the hurt and anger superbly. And Nanon’s eyes are beautiful. The Freaks: a sympathetic portrayal of life’s misfits as ‘one of us’.
• Sumptous visual storytelling and surprising relatability

75%

• With Cow, Andrea Arnold operates in the space between the deliberate and the accidental. So many creative decisions (especially the music) are carefully crafted even if they are obscured with vérité filmmaking. But make no mistake, this is a heartbreaking film centring around a stunning performance.
• The accentuation of sounds, restricted visuals and factory style music conveyed sense of cyclic and impending doom. Hard watch and shifted my perspective about milk, let alone meat or banality of farm life. Paradoxically wonderful uneasy cinema experience.
• A steadfastly unflinching and admirably honest portrayal of the life of a dairy cow, largely devoid of easy judgement or sentiment. I don’t see this as all that shocking or exploitative as I’ve seen it described in some places. It is merely a matter of fact presentation of part of the food economy we should all know about. It leaves it up to the viewer to draw their own conclusions.
• This film isn’t heavy handed, but the topic is weighty. It can be easy to turn away from the morally troubling reality that is livestock agriculture. This story asks us not to. Having compassion for animals makes this a wrenching screen experience.
• You kinda know what’s coming the entire time but it’s so much more devastating when it finally happens. Despite all our differences, even between species, at heart we all yearn for an open sky.

96%

• What a pleasure to have the best filmmaker to ever emerge from this part of the world in the best cinema in the country. The film is so tender, awkward and peculiar, so beautiful to see someone create the life they choose out of such painful insecurity. I love it every time I see it.
• Beautifully shot, emotionally resonant, and brilliantly acted by all three Janets. It was quite clear this film was lovingly made. Despite Jane Campion’s self-deprecating remarks before the screening, her wonderful filmmaking talent shines through in this early work of hers.
• A beautifully told story of the triumph of the human spirit and creativity. The film drew me in to Janet’s world and invited empathy in every “frame” for this painfully shy and sensitive individual.
• Not having read Janet Frame’s trilogy I was completely immersed in her story following last Monday’s screening of Jane Campion’s first feature movie. The realness of the ensemble cast, together with the naturalistic situations we saw on screen reminded me so much of the late Terence Davies and his touching directorial style. What an event!
• Best screening so far of 2024. This remarkable piece of filmmaking grabbed me from the beautiful opening and held my attention + my emotions all the way through to the closing credits. I laughed, I cried, my heart was full. And what a treat to have Campion introduce the film for us. I love the WFS so much. I’m so incredibly grateful for WFS providing us unforgettable nights like this.

83%

• What a gem! Superb acting, camerawork, and editing with not a frame out of place so the internal architecture becomes an integral part of the whole. No wonder it’s Polanksi’s favorite film.
• Nicely plotted and really well-crafted. I especially loved the locations and the detailed principal set, which was so crucial to the action. A great example of mid 20th century film-making.
• Give me Carol Reed shots of a post-war city at night and I’ll always be happy. Even with one of cinema’s most annoying child performances.
• The irritating child was brilliantly portrayed and was really annoying by the end. Gratingly good. Baines!!
• I was gearing up for a slow paced mystery and was so pleasantly surprised with the film. It was touching, comedic, dramatic. And what a wonderful performance by Bobby Henrey. It flowed so well, I didn’t want it to end.

84%

• So much to love in this movie, great premise, marvellous set, laugh out loud moments and tenderness between the characters.
• The humour was more subtle than the plot summary suggests; and the observations of life before and after reunification, and effects on individuals and families were understated and well made.
• At what point does a charming charade become a grotesque farce? It might have helped if it was just a little funnier.
• Laugh out loud funny whilst providing plenty to think about. How easily we can believe in things. The lengths that people go to in leading others to believe a lie. Is living with a lie better than the truth?
• It didn’t really come with the set of emotions you would expect for a story about losing someone you love. It was funny, and endearing and by the end of it both the characters and the audience were ready for the future.

77%

• An extraordinary movie, at once fully integrated with Paul Schrader’s Bressonian obsessions and a singular portrayal of a unique man.
• Never been so confused by a film
• Loved the sets.  Wish I had read up on this movie beforehand so I could understand it better.
• This film was an excellent vessel for Eiko Ishiokas absolutely stunning visual design. Every frame was a work of art.
• Still moves me, creative genius and merging of life through art. Beautiful soundscape from Philip Glass.

90%

• I absolutely loved this film, it had it all! Comedy, friendship, questioning of war, and a puppy. Would highly recommend to anyone who wants to dip their toe in Korean film.
• Completely surprised by this. Didn’t expect a film about one of the tensest military standoffs in the world to be so (at times) light-hearted and wholesome. Glad WFS is putting on so much Korean cinema this year!
• Paolo’s introduction was particularly useful to locate the film in a specific period of detente – and to acknowledge the genre stylings. Each time the plot machinations clumsily shook me out of the moment, I was brought back in by the warm, touching portrayals of the soldiers together.
• Tense and gripping murder mystery with mostly amazing performances and demonstrating the power of cigarettes to break down barriers between sworn enemies.
• Suspenseful, intriguing, funny, and emotionally poignant. It was a joy to be treated to such fantastic filmmaking. That last shot hit hard.

57%

• Lovely opportunity to see this on the big screen for the first time, even if it means enduring Joan Baez’s warbling. The whole shebang wouldn’t work without Douglas Trumbull’s fantastic low-budget production design aboard the soon-to-be-decommissioned aircraft carrier USS Valley Forge and Bruce Dern’s committed lead performance; you can imagine a likely alternative lead, Donald Sutherland, bringing a completely different sarcastic energy to the role.
• I found the whole ‘I didn’t realise plants need sun’ plotline rather implausible given the lead character’s gardening credentials but I didn’t know melons grew on the ground, so…yeah…
• Engaging lo-fi tale. It was extraordinary to discover after viewing  that the rather touching drones were worn/operated by double-amputees.(Apparently the director got the idea from Freaks, which is also on this year’s programme.)
• I apologise profusely to the two sophisticated, scholarly men on either side of me during this screening. I swear on my life I wasn’t even remotely sleepy before this film began.
• Lots to like. Enjoyed watching it.

82%

• Gorgeous, evocative portrait of a coming-of-age! Loved it – why hadn’t I seen this? Surely an undersung NZ classic!
• Amazing! And it was so wonderful to have Christine there to share some stories before it started
• A film full of good work and good performances. But to me the ending is a blunt whack in the face, substituting for resolution (or even for unsettledness) a heavy object that the rest of the story can’t heft.
• So beautiful, so moving.
• Another entry in Aotearoa’s remarkably robust array of visually striking and devastating cinema. Marvelous work from the cast, especially the younger ones who had to carry so much on their diminutive shoulders.

82%

• I feel like I really need to show this to my parents. I also feel like that may be the worst idea I’ve ever had. 5 stars.
• Cringeworthy, hugely clichéd,  the film rang true about real-life pain resulting from posturing and deception before again careering off into insensitive parental embarrassments…
• Threatened at times to become cringeworthy, but brilliantly stayed the right side of the line on each occasion. Loved it.
• Crescendo of irritating and cringy behaviour interspersed with humour, masterful in its execution. You thought your family are bad…
• Hilarious but sometimes I felt like I was going to cringe right through the back of my seat.

84%

• Cleverly paced screenplay, great supporting cast, and insouciant acting lift this pre-Bond intrigue to a high level.
• It was very easy to follow, it was funny and charming. Quite baffled how they managed to produce it at the time…
• It might seem quaint in the third decade of the 21st century, but films like this one released in July 1940 at the height of the Blitz… were absolutely crucial in maintaining British wartime morale. And all it took back then was an absolute faith in the innate pluck and decency of British chaps under pressure, plus perhaps a convenient inability to count to six when firing a service revolver.
• Oscillating freely between a war time drama and a (very British) farce, but never taking itself too seriously at any given moment, and with the outcome never truly in doubt — our excessively jovial hero certain to Find A Way, no matter the odds.  Good triumphs over evil, and the trained German military are no match for a couple of good British sports with an inclination to pitch in, what!
• A joy to watch, at times wonderfully comic and at other times unintentionally hilarious!

81%

• So much fun. So many great comedic performances packed in there – and paced so brilliantly, it was dazzling. Why didn’t Scorsese do more comedy? Amazing to see among an appreciative audience at another packed-out showing at The Embassy. Thank you, WFS, for putting it on!
• Loose and frenetic, with more than a few truly funny moments and plenty of beguiling camera moves, but a bit too much coke-head pacing.
• A comedy. What a delight.  So good to see this again, this time with the added joy of seeing familiar stars in their younger days.
• Someone told me that this movie is what a dream from a 30 minute nap looks like. Couldn’t agree more.
• Funny from start to finish, never loses its momentum, and packed full of some truly interesting and fleshed out characters.

87%

• Thoughtful, haunting, and just so well-constructed. Bong Joon-ho is a master of ensemble framing: no boring ‘shot reverse shot’ here — careful blocking, acting choices, and dynamic camera movements made each scene feel so alive. So much great filmmaking to admire.
• Dark, violent and a little bit funny.
• Very funny but the violence was a bit much
• This film had good acting and great cinematography, but that went to waste due to poor plotting. It couldn’t decide whether it was a police procedural/thriller, a comedy, or what I suspect it aspired to be: a philosophical examination of the nature of truth … I found it distasteful to see torture scenes played as comedy, and to be encouraged to feel sympathy for the torturers.
• One of the most intelligent crime/detective films I’ve ever seen … It questions our need for reason and closure, delivering a brilliant questioning of both true crime and police.

82%

• Loved it! The kind of thing I would have switched off after 10mins at home (due to my poor attention span!) but at the cinema, enraptured in the film, admiring the cinematography, a masterpiece …
• A pretty cheerful and charming film, not much emotion is shown but it doesn’t feel flat at all, rather just calming. Their vocabulary is pretty hefty too which adds to the calming and disconnected from today feeling.
• Lovely to see Kelly Reichardt’s ‘slow cinema’ gem on the big screen again, and to remember the cameo from Rene Auberjonois (1940-2019) in his final film role – a direct link back to the legendary 1971 Robert Altman anti-western, McCabe & Mrs Miller.
• I love her movies and you get time to think about them as they are in no rush to finish.
• The meandering pace was difficult to trust at times, but overall I was charmed by the quirky dialogue and sparse use of music. Visually stunning.

95%

• Sumptuous vision that really needs the big screen of the Embassy.  Great way to kick off the start of a new WFS year – and with a full house no less.
• A rather simple story elevated by the breathtakingly beautiful cinematography and set design, it was a joy to see this on the Embassy’s biggest screen. Kubrick’s period piece is a must-see.
• A real joy getting to see an often-overlooked Kubrick on the big screen, and being reminded just how brilliant it is. I was particularly delighted to remember just how hilarious the film is – nothing staid or restrained about this work.
• A simply gorgeous cinematic wonder. Seeing it with a capacity audience of cinephiles immersed in the beauty of the movie was one heck of an evening. The too good to be true handsomeness of Ryan O’Neal lit up the screen and the mise-en-scènes of the entire production left imagery in my dreams last night.
• Once in a lifetime: to see this masterpiece on the big screen and in a packed house? Outstanding!