Topsham Film Society Current Programme 2011-12 MADE IN DAGENHAM                                              7 October 2011 US, 2009, Cert 15, 138 minutes. Director: Martin Scorsese. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow, Ben Kingsley. Who expected a comedy about a 1960s strike to be such a gem? Rita (Hawkins), a working mother sewing seat covers for Ford Cortinas, leads a strike against management - and the cosy men’s club running the union as well as the company. SHUTTER ISLAND                                                     21 October 2011 US, 2009, Cert 15, 138 minutes. Director: Martin Scorsese. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow, Ben Kingsley. This is Scorsese’s homage to Hitchcock. Set in 1954 it shows two policemen trying to find an escapee from “a hospital for the criminally insane” on an isolated island. DiCaprio is the officer descending into paranoia in this Denis Lehane psycho-thriller. LOOSE CANNONS (subtitled)                                  4 November 2011 Italy, 2010, Cert 12A, 110 minutes. Director: Ferzan Ozpetek. Starring Alessandro Preziosi, Ennios Fantastichini, Riccardo Scarmacio.  The Italians loved this gentle comedy in their own country, and it travels well. The ailing father of a family pasta firm in Puglia prepares to hand over to the next generation - but his two sons are not keen on maintaining family traditions. THE STATION AGENT                                                   18 November 2011 US, 2003, Cert 15, 90 minutes. Director: Thomas McCarthy. Starring Babby Cannavale, Patricia Clarkson, Michelle Williams, Peter Dinklage. This film is charming, sad and unsentimental. A man is so unhappy with the reaction of others to his being a dwarf that he adopts the life of a hermit, but then unexpectedly finds dignity with three other people seeking love and friendship. THE RETURN OF MARTIN GUERRE (subtitled)            2 December 2011 France, 1982, Cert 15. 122 minutes. Director: Daniel Vigne. Starring Gerard Depardieu, Nathalie Baye, Roger Planchon, Dominique Pinon. In 16th century France, Martin returns years after disappearing without trace. His wife accepts him but his village does not. Is Depardieu’s character merely an older, wiser version of the man who left? Or is he an imposter, a deserter, a fraud? THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT          16 December 2011 Australia/Rest of the World, 1994, Cert 15, 103 minutes. Director: Stephan Elliott. Starring Terence Stamp, Bill Hunter, Guy Pearce, Hugo Weaving. This cult classic of three drag queens travelling across the Outback in a camper van called Priscilla is a winner in many ways - it won plaudits at Cannes, won an Oscar for Best Costume Design and won an army of new enthusiasts for Australian films. TAMARA DREWE                                                                06 January 2012 UK, 2010, Cert 15, 114 minutes. Director: Stephen Frears. Starring Gemma Arterton, Tamsin Greig, Roger Allam, Dominic Cooper. With more than a nod towards Thomas Hardy, this comic vision of country life sees Tamara (Arterton) bringing her ‘London Ways’ to a Dorset village as she returns to her Westcountry roots to restore an old house, write a best seller and woo a local lad.  RESTREPO                                                                             20 January 2012 UK/USA, 2010, Cert 15, 93 minutes. Directors: Tim Hetherington, Sebastian Junger. This non-judgmental documentary shows a year-long tour of service by a platoon of US infantrymen in Afghanistan. The soldiers tell their own story of combat, digging trenches, ‘hearts and minds’ work with locals, and events they will never ever forget.  STILL WALKING (subtitled)                                              3 February 2012 Japan/Rest of the World, 2008, Cert U, 114 minutes. Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Starring Hiroshi Abe, Kirin Kiki, Yoshio Harada, Yui Natsukawa.  An internationally-acclaimed, sensitive and touching film of ordinary Japanese family life. Over the 24-hour period of a family summer reunion we slowly learn the tragic reason for this annual event. This is beautifully crafted and photographed. CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF                                                                17 February 2012 US, 1958, Cert U, 108 minutes. Director: Richard Brooks. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Paul Newman, Burl Ives. This is our Members’ Choice film, telling the classic story of an alcoholic ex-football player drinking his days away...until a reunion with his dying father triggers memories and revelations. OF GODS AND MEN (subtitled)                                             02 March 2012 France, 2010, Cert 15, 122 minutes. Director: Xavier Beauvois. Starring Etienne Comar, Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale, Olivier Rabourdin. Eight French Trappist monks work respectfully with a Muslim community outside Algiers, but are confronted by extremists fighting a civil war. This moving picture, loosely based on a true story, won the Cesar for Best French Film of 2010. HOPE AND GLORY                                                                  16 March 2012 UK, 1987, Cert 12, 113 minutes. Director: John Boorman. Starring Sarah Miles, David Hayman, Sebastian Rice-Edwards. This semi-autobiographical story is an affectionate and Oscar-nominated description of childhood London life in the early days of World War Two. Seven-year-old Billy watches wide-eyed as a family of women struggle for survival on the Home Front.