Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 74: Sun Mar 15

Man of Iron (Wajda, 1981): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6pm

This film, part of the Andrzej Wajda season at BFI Southbank, is also screened on February 22nd and March 1st. Details here.

Time Out review:
Andrzej Wajda's remarkable sequel to Man of Marble welds newsreel footage of the Solidarity strike to fiction in a strong investigative drama. A disillusioned, vodka-sodden radio producer is bundled off to Gdansk in a black limousine. His mission: to smear one of the main activists - who also happens to be the son of the hapless 'Marble' worker-hero. But, tempered by bitter experience of the failed reforms of '68 and '70, these new men of iron are more durable than their fathers, not as easily smashed. Media cynicism, censorship and corruption are again dominant themes, this time anchored through the TV coverage of the strike, though the conclusion hints with guarded optimism at a possible rapprochement between workers and intelligentsia. An urgent, nervy narrative conveys all the exhilaration and bewilderment of finding oneself on the very crestline of crucial historical change; and for the viewer, all the retrospective melancholy of knowing that euphoria shattered by subsequent events.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 73: Sat Mar 14

Planet of the Apes (Schaffner, 1968): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.45pm

This film is part of the Big Screen Classics season at BFI Southbank. Details here.

Time Out review:
Four sequels and a TV series bred contempt, but this first visit to Pierre Boulle's planet, bringing a welcome touch of wit to his rather humourlessly topsy-turvy theory of evolution, remains a minor sci-fi classic. The settings (courtesy of the National Parks of Utah and Arizona) are wonderfully outlandish, and Franklin Schaffner makes superb use of them as a long shot chillingly establishes the isolation of the crashed astronauts, as exploration brings alarming intimations of life (pelts staked out on the skyline like crucified scarecrows), and as discovery of a tribe of frightened humans is followed by an eruption of jackbooted apes on horseback. The enigma of the planet's history, juggled through Charlton Heston's humiliating experience of being studied as an interesting laboratory specimen by his ape captors, right down to his final startling rediscovery of civilisation, is quite beautifully sustained.
Tom Milne

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 72: Fri Mar 13

Ma Vida Loca (Anders, 1993): ICA Cinema, 6.15pm

ICA introduction: Mi Vida Loca a.k.a. My Crazy Life, centres on a group of young Latina women who navigate friendship, rivalry, and responsibility amidst the street gangs of Los Angeles in the early 1990s. Shot in the real streets, porches, and apartments of Echo Park the film paints a picture of a close-knit community with its own conflicts, rules, and pressures. After the success of Gas Food Lodging writer/director Allison Anders delivered a new take on the female-led romance/drama by embracing the story of young Chicanas in an urban setting as colourful and vibrant as the songs on the film’s soundtrack. Organised into three connected chapters and using a mix of professional and non-professional actors, Anders unflinching eye and commitment to reality led Hal Hinson of The Washington Post to praise the “extraordinary powers of observation…each segment is richly detailed and vivid…the stuff of life.” Out of circulation in the UK for decades, Lost Reels presents an extremely rare 35mm screening of this unique drama by special arrangement with HBO and it will be followed by an in-person Q&A with writer/director Allison Anders.

Chicago Reader review: A funky independent feature by Allison Anders (Gas Food Lodging), set in the Los Angeles barrios and concentrating on the friendships between working-class women there. The stylistic boldness may get a little top-heavy in spots, but in general this is funny, insightful, and imaginatively told. The cinematographer, interestingly, is Rodrigo Garcia, son of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez. Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 71: Thu Mar 12

Gas Food Lodging (Anders, 1992): ICA Cinema, 6.30pm

ICA introduction: One of the quintessential American indies of the nineties, writer/director Allison Anders elicits detailed performances from an engaging cast and astutely observes the quiet challenges of small-town life. Beautifully written, directed and photographed, the film was nominated for the Golden Bear at the 42nd Berlin International Film Festival and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance in 1992. Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote, “subtly etched characters, effortlessly fine performances, and a moving story that is not easily forgotten.” Tonight’s screening from Lost Reels is a rare 35mm presentation of this evocative, lyrical film followed by an in-person Q&A with writer/director Allison Anders.

Time Out review: Nora (Adams) waits tables and scrapes by, single-handedly raising two teenage daughters in a clapped-out trailer. Romance seems as scarce as rain in her New Mexico backwater: Nora and elder daughter Trudi (Skye) know what it means to be left high and dry, and even young Shade (Balk) suffers rejection at the hands of dreamy Darius (Leitch). But hopes of love die hard, and there's escapism to be found at the local Spanish fleapit. Shade decides to go father-hunting, but an attempt at match-making and the hunt for her long-absent dad (Brolin) yield decidedly mixed results. Far from gloomy fare, this debut from an American independent offers humour, wry observation and sympathetic characterisation. Without patronising her characters, writer-director Anders captures the frustrations of both generations, and the concluding optimistic note isn't forced. Delightfully oddball and strangely sane.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 70: Wed Mar 11

The Promised Land (Wajda, 1975): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 6.45pm

This screening features a Q&A with actor Daniel Olbrychski. The film, part of the Andrzej Wajda season at BFI Southbank, is also being shown on February 22nd.

Guardian review (in full here):
Andrzej Wajda’s queasily compelling film from 1975, adapted by him from a novel by Wladysław Reymont, is an expressionist comic opera of toxic capitalism and bad faith, carried out by jittery entrepreneurs whose skills include insider trading, worker-exploitation and burning down failing businesses for the insurance. It is set in late 19th-century Łódź, a supposed promised land of free enterprise, whose night skies are shown by Wajda as more or less permanently red with factories set ablaze.
Peter Bradshaw

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 69: Tue Mar 10

Young Soul Rebels (Julien, 1991): Prince Charles Cinema, 6.15pm

This is a 35mm screening . It is part of the Funeral Parade Queer Film Society strand (you can find full details here) and will be introduced by Sarah Cleary.

The year is 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee is fast approaching, and DJs Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and Caz (Mo Sesay) are bringing the sounds of soul, disco, and funk to London’s airwaves with Soul Patrol, the pirate radio station they operate from an East End garage. After the death of their friend, who is killed during a night-time cruise in the park, the pair find themselves implicated in the murder when Chris comes into possession of a cassette tape which contains a recording of the killer’s voice. Meanwhile, Caz is falling head over heels for punk rocker Billibud (Jason Durr), even as omnipresent homophobia and racial tensions threatThe year is 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee is fast approaching, and DJs Chris (Valentine Nonyela) and Caz (Mo Sesay) are bringing the sounds of soul, disco, and funk to London’s airwaves with Soul Patrol, the pirate radio station they operate from an East End garage. After the death of their friend, who is killed during a night-time cruise in the park, the pair find themselves implicated in the murder when Chris comes into possession of a cassette tape which contains a recording of the killer’s voice. Meanwhile, Caz is falling head over heels for punk rocker Billibud (Jason Durr), even as omnipresent homophobia and racial tensions threaten to pull the young lovers apart. A unique blend of thriller, social realism, and the ‘hangout movie’, Young Soul Rebels is vibrant celebration of music and youth culture, as well as a vital comment on the UK’s deep-seated divisions.en to pull the young lovers apart. A unique blend of thriller, social realism, and the ‘hangout movie’, Young Soul Rebels is vibrant celebration of music and youth culture, as well as a vital comment on the UK’s deep-seated divisions.

Here (and above) is the trailer.
 

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 68: Mon Mar 9

The Conductor (Wajda, 1980): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 5.50pm

This presentation is part of the Andrzej Wajda season at BFI Southbank and features an introduction by film critic and scholar Michał Oleszczyk.

Time Out review: Culture shocks: Andrzej Wajda's credit appears over New York; John Gielgud's lips move and a disembodied Pole speaks his lines. Such incongruities are never quite integrated within this parable about a prodigal elder's attempted return to the fold. Gielgud is the eponymous international maestro whose encounter with a young violinist stirs memories of a provincial Polish debut - and an old debt - prompting him to celebrate his jubilee with his long-abandoned ain folk. His reception incorporates simmering jealousies and personality clashes (and Wajda's sly digs at the star system of socialist culture), but the film only really lives in fits and starts. Paul Taylor

Here (and above) is the trailer.