film
Red Wine-Poached Seckel Pear Tartlets
A few weeks ago, I attended an American Folklife Center symposium at the Library of Congress, celebrating the release of the new book Ola Belle Reed …
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film
Colette — a sumptuous period drama that holds up a mirror to reflect on contemporary issues
Colette tells the story of a real-life woman who finds her voice and identity, yet is denied recognition. In 1893, a Parisian author, publisher and …
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film
District 9 - catch it if you dare
I came to it cold. Prompted by remembering that someone had said it was a must see film, and finding an Odeon guest pass tucked in beside my Oyster …
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film
Bait – an unmissable quirky morality tale in which the rich steal what they cannot buy while the displaced locals flail around unable to take back control (QFT from Friday 6 September)
Bait is a beautiful and somewhat quirky tale about the raw interface of new money taking advantage of old in a Cornwall fishing village. Diminishing…
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film
Gaza – understanding lives that are trapped in a place where change is far from certain (from 8 August)
A new documentary film sets out to show what ordinary life is like in Gaza. What do people do in the 141 square mile strip of land? What are their dr…
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film
A Lament for the Lost Lives of the Troubles (QFT from Friday 11 October)
Doubleband’s new film Lost Lives gives testimony to some of the lives lost during the Troubles. Three and a half years in the making, the 90-minute …
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film
Esma’s Secret (Grbavica) - last film of 2006
The last film I saw in 2006 was Esma’s Secret (Grbavica). Esma is a single mother living with her daughter Sara. A Bosnian, she came from the Grbavi…
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film
Last Christmas – like its subject, this film deserves a second chance (cinemas from Friday 15 November)
Take some strained family relationships, throw in a bit of disadvantage, some seasonal songs, an attractive young woman in an elf suit, the chance of…
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film
Hallam Foe
For the first few minutes of Hallam Foe, I found myself wondering if this was the sequel to Billy Elliott, where I’d find out what happened next to …
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film
Born to be Blue - a second jazz biopic (QFT until Thursday 11 August)
Barely three months after the last semi-fictional jazz trumpeter biopic was projected onto the Queen’s Film Theatre screen, along comes another. Back…
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film
The Party ... is over and the last supper has begun (QFT until 2 November)
Janet (played by Kristin Scott Thomas) has been supported in her idealistic climb up the greasy political pole by her academic husband Bill (Timothy …
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film
Just Mercy – lead performances and civil rights at risk capture attention despite muted direction (UK and Irish cinemas from 17 January)
By telling the story of Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy throws light onto a racist and corrupt criminal justice system in Alabama, and his work from the…
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film
Harriet – a significant character in the road to abolition (UK and Irish cinemas from Friday 22 November)
Bringing historical characters – well known, or overlooked – to life has always been an important facet of cinema. A big personality can light up the…
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