All screenings take place at the War Memorial Hall, Common Road. Doors open at 7.30 p.m. and the programme begins at 8.00 p.m.
Friday 20th September 2024 – Wicked Little Letters (2023: Cert.15: 100 mins)
We began the Autumn programme on Friday 20th September with the recent British comedy drama, Wicked Little Letters (2023: Cert.15: 100 mins), directed by Thea Sharrock and starring Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley, Anjana Vasan, Malachi Kirby and Timothy Spall.
When Edith Swan (Olivia Colman) and fellow residents of 1920’s Littlehampton begin to receive wicked letters full of hilarious profanities, foulmouthed Rose (Jessie Buckley) is charged with the crime. However, as the town’s women begin to investigate the crime, they suspect that something is amiss and Rose may not be the culprit after all.
“..undeniably an absolute blast.” Wendy Ide, Screen International
“It’s nominally a mystery…but its appeal is down to the brio of an energised cast led by Jessie Buckley and Olivia Colman.” Nicolas Rapold, Financial Times
Friday 18th October 2024 – Pain and Glory (2019: Cert. 15: 108mins)
Our following film is Pain & Glory (2019: Cert. 15: 108mins) on Friday 18th October from leading Spanish director, Pedro Almodόvar.
Antonio Banderas plays an aging film director afflicted by multiple ailments, the worst of which is his inability to continue making films. His physical condition won’t allow it but without it his life has no meaning. As he reflects on the choices he’s made in life, the past and present come crashing down around him.
The film also stars Asier Etxeandia, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Nora Navas , Julieta Serrano and Penelopé Cruz.
“..a richly satisfying work from a film-maker whose love of cinema, in all its pain and glory, shines through every frame.” Mark Kermode, The Observer
“..Almodόvar’s best work for years, marvelously framed and composed, comparatively restrained for him, hugely enjoyable moment by moment.” David Sexton, London Evening Standard
Friday 15th November 2024 – The Holdovers (2023: Cert.15: 133mins)
November’s film on Friday 15th November is the beautifully bittersweet comedy drama, The Holdovers (2023: Cert.15: 133mins) from the acclaimed director – Alexander Payne – (Sideways and The Descendants). It stars Paul Giamatti, Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa.
A curmudgeonly instructor at a New England prep school is forced to remain on campus during the Christmas break to babysit the handful of students with nowhere to go. Eventually he forms an unlikely bond with one of them – a damaged brainy, troublemaker and with the school’s head cook.
“It is both melancholy and funny as these characters develop the capacity to engage emotionally and take of in new directions. It is affecting without ever being treacly or sentimental and the performances are tremendous” Deborah Ross, The Spectator
“…this is the kind of bittersweet, character-dialogue driven piece they just don’t do anymore” Mark Kermode
Friday 21st February 2025 – Wilding (PG: 2023: 75 mins)
We continue our 2025 film programme on Friday 21st February with WILDING (PG: 2023: 75 mins), which is based on Isabella Tree’s best-selling book of the same title. It tells the true story of a young couple that bets on nature for the future of their failing, 400-year old estate in West Sussex.
The young couple battle entrenched tradition and dare to place the fate of their farm in the hands of nature. Ripping down fences, they set the land back to the wild and entrust its recovery to a motley mix of animals both tame and wild.
It is the beginning of a grand experiment that will become one of the most significant rewilding experiments in Europe…
Directed by five-time Emmy Award-award documentarian David Allen and multi-BAFTA & Emmy-award winning cinematograhers Tim Cragg and Simon Glanville.
“Upbeat, life-affirming and proof that all is not lost, this is a documentary that is utterly enchanting..” Simon Hooper, Any Good Films.
“…the film is visually stunning.” Sarah Kent, The Arts Desk
Friday 21st March 2025 – Vindication Swim (PG: 2023: 94 mins)
The inspirational story of Mercedes Gleitze, the first British woman to swim the English Channel and her battle against both the cold waters of the Channel and the oppressive society of 1920s England.
Directed by Elliott Hasler: starring Kirsten Callaghan, John Locke & Victoria Summer
Friday 25th April 2025 – SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE (12A: 2024: 99 mins)
Cillian Murphy gives a stunning performance as Bill Furlong in this drama adapted from Claire Keeghan’s Booker Prize nominated novel.
It’s Christmas 1985 and Bill Furlong, a devoted father and coal and timber merchant, discovers startling secrets kept by the local convent, along with some shocking truths of his own. He is forced to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.
Directed by Tim Mielants and also starring Eileen Walsh, Michelle Fairley and Emily Watson.
Friday 16th May 2025 – CONCLAVE (12A: 2024: 120 mins)
Our film for May is the multi-award winning psychological thriller, CONCLAVE, adapted from Robert Harris’s best-selling novel. Directed by Edward Berger, the film stars Ralph Fiennes, Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.
Following the unexpected death of the pontiff, a reluctant Cardinal Lawrence (played by Fiennes) is tasked with overseeing the group of more than 100 Cardinals from across the globe that make up the Conclave; those responsible for selecting a new leader for the Roman Catholic Church. But as the political machinations inside the Vatican intensify, Lawrence realises that the departed Pope had kept a secret from them that he must uncover before a new Pope is chosen.
“Here, jostling for the papacy makes the Machiavellian moves of Succession look like child’s play.” Christina Newland, iNews.co.uk
BBFC content advice: brief sexual violence references.
Friday 20th June 2025 – A COMPLETE UNKNOWN (15: 2024: 140 mins)
It’s 1961 and the world is changing. An unknown 19-year-old musician, Bob Dylan, arrives in Greenwich Village, New York seeking to make his name in its’ vibrant music scene. As he forms his most intimate relationships during his rise to fame, he grows restless with the folk movement and, refusing to be defined makes a highly controversial choice that culturally reverberates worldwide.
Directed by James Mangold, the film stars Timothée Chalamet, Edward Norton, Elle Fanning, Monica Barbaro and Boyd Holbrook.
“This is an extraordinary performance, far deeper than an impersonation, that charts the progress of the singer-songwriter, the music scene he entered and altered, and events in the wider world during times that were urgently a’changin’.” Nick Curtis, London Evening Standard
“Dylan’s greatest hits have always been heirlooms: somehow just there. Amid the recreated past, the movie restores a sense of how seismic they would originally have been… New ears and life-long fans may both relish the raw novelty.” Danny Leigh, The Financial Times
A Complete Unknown will be shown at Chorleywood’s War Memorial Hall on Friday 20th June 2025. Doors open 7.30 pm and the programme begins at 8.00 pm.
BBFC content advice: strong language
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The Chorleywood Film Club 