Listings - The David Lean Cinema (2024)

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Jeymes Samuel’s take on the ‘mistaken Messiah’ idea pays it dues to Monty Python before taking its own hero, Clarence, the dope-dealing twin of the Apostle Thomas, through a parallel Holy Land at the time of the Crucifixion. On the way he runs up an enormous debt with the local Mr Big while falling for his sister, trying – and failing – to join the Apostles and get baptised by David Oyelowo’s John, and performing bogus miracles. LaKeith Stanfield makes a genial comic hero, and there are cameo roles from the likes of Marianne Jean-Baptiste and Benedict Cumberbatch.

Based on the true 1858 story of a 6 year old Jewish boy kidnapped by police from his home in Bologna and taken to live with the pope in the Vatican, because of a report that he had been baptised without his family’s knowledge. In this beautifully shot period drama, director Marco Bellocchio continues his lifelong work of studying the cruel treatment of victims of dogma and entrenched bias. We see the boy grow and the damage this papal decision does to the country. It is believed the consequences of this case moved Italy away from being a wholly religious country, and Rome becoming its more secular capital.

Stuntman Ryan Gosling and camera operator Emily Blunt are super cute as exes who are brought back together for her first feature as director. When the star goes missing, Colt Seavers (Gosling) is told it’s his job to find him, as he’s the only crew member not needed until the star returns. Colt gets into lots of trouble while he tries to find him. A great, funny, romantic action-adventure film. Will Colt find the star and get the girl? You’ll have to come along and find out.

Art is a six-times Grand Slam winner, while Patrick is scraping a living on the lower Challenger circuit. When Art’s coach and ex-wife Tashi pushes him into a Challenger tournament to regain form, he meets Patrick in the final. Art and Patrick were once inseparable best friends and doubles partners, when Tashi was the biggest prospect in tennis… Call Me By Your Name director Luca Guadagnino serves us an ace in this intense, exhilarating and often very funny movie.

A superb British cast shine in this comic dramatization of a real-life incident from 1920s Littlehampton. When exotically insulting poison-pen letters were sent to spinster Edith Swan (Olivier Colman), her fiery Irish neighbour Rose Gooding (Jesse Buckley) was quickly accused of libel. Suspecting there was more to this than met the eye, Sussex’s first WPC (Anjana Vasan) set out to find the true culprit… “Hilariously creative swearing [and] Thea Sharrock’s confident direction” make this “a cheeky pleasure that never tires” (Metro).

Arthur was once a respectable archaeology student in love with the daughter of a local aristocrat (played by Isabella Rossellini). But his love has died, and in his grief, he has turned to using his skills to help a local gang discover Etruscan antiquities and sell them on the black market. A hit with critics at last year’s Cannes festival, Alice Rohrwacher’s film is part comedy, part magic-realist fantasy, part sad romance, and totally captivating. Italian with English subtitles.

Eke Chavleishvili is a revelation as Etero in this coming-of (middle) age movie about a Georgian woman living alone with her own business, doing as she pleases, not concerned with men and relationships… until she almost falls to her death picking blackberries. This incident makes her braver and more adventurous. She starts to enjoy the simple pleasures of life, speaking her mind and making the first move with a man she has admired. This newfound zest for life is bittersweet. Strange symptoms make her fear she may be very sick, and she prepares to end her days at the hospital. Her doctor, however, has a wonderful and surprising diagnosis for her. “A marvellously tender story of loneliness and love. A gentle, sensual gem of a movie” (Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian). Georgian with English subtitles.

From Alex Garland, the sci-fi writer-director behind Ex-Machina and Annihilation, comes a new dystopian thriller about a not too distant future where civil war has broken out in the United States. The film follows a group of journalists as they travel across the country documenting the horrors they witness along the way. As they encounter rising tensions amongst the country’s citizens and betrayals lurking at their every turn, will they make it in time to expose its secrets?

Blandine and Magalie were schoolfriends who once planned to run away to a Greek island, and are now middle-aged, divorced and estranged. Blandine’s son finds Magalie online and books his mother’s dream trip for them. Blandine is uptight, and Magalie is a free spirit, so they don’t hit it off, and have soon drifted off-course in the Greek islands. They then bump into an old friend of Magalie’s, and their relationship changes. Great performances and dreamy Greek landscapes make this the ideal summer escape film. French with English subtitles.

Dementia Friendly screening. Ambitious and independent, Joan knows where she’s going – or at least she thinks she does. Travelling to the Hebrides to marry her older, wealthy fiancé, she’s forced to wait out bad weather on the Isle of Mull, where an encounter with Torquil, a naval officer on shore leave, sets her compass spinning… With a haunted castle, a ceilidh and the stunning island scenery, legendary director duo Powell & Pressburger conjured one of the most enchanting romances in movie history, now restored and re-released through the BFI. “My favourite film of all time” – Tilda Swinton.

This gently heartfelt adaptation of John McGahern’s 1980s-set novel follows a London couple to a lakeside village in the Irish countryside. As a year goes by, the community come together for haymaking, market days, lambing and the seasonal festivals, and we get to know its people through their work, play and religious observance. Set to birdsong and a piano score, this Best Film winner at the Irish Film and TV Awards reveals “under its quiet surface the human condition writ delicate but deep”(Financial Times).

This is really an illustrated lecture by Martin Scorsese, who admired the films of Powell and Pressburger from childhood, and later worked with Michael Powell. Using lavish clips from masterpieces like The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Black Narcissus and The Red Shoes, Made In England shows how the pair responded to the Second World War and its aftermath through their truly great body of work that has continued to influence filmmakers and delight audiences with their intensity of emotion and colour.

In a radioactive wasteland, the Green Place of Many Mothers is one of the last remaining areas with fresh water and arable land. Furiosa, played by Anya Taylor-Joy, is captured by raiders who deliver her to their leader the Warlord Dementus. As Furiosa is forced to join Dementus’s Biker Horde, they scour the Wasteland, and their journey brings them to the Citadel ruled by The Immortan Joe and his followers. Caught between warring factions, Furiosa fights for survival in the Wasteland, all the while plotting her escape as she seeks to return to the place she called home.

Pakistan’s official entry for Best International Film at the 2024 Academy Awards, In Flames delves into Pakistani culture, examining patriarchal customs and morality through a gripping ghost story. The film follows Mariam (Ramesha Nawal) as she and her family face immense pressure after her grandfather’s death. Mariam, her mother Fariha (Bakhtawar Mazhar), and younger brother Bilal (Jibran Khan) are coerced by Uncle Nasir (Adnan Shah) to relinquish their apartment. As Mariam confronts her traumatic past, she and Fariha battle both real and supernatural threats in a male-dominated world. In Flames is a beautiful and sobering film, offering a powerful narrative of resilience. Urdu with English subtitles.

Inger (Sofie Gråbøl) , a schizophrenic, lives in a Danish care home, but her sister Ellen has persuaded her to come on a coach holiday to France, much to their mother’s annoyance. Aided by her new husband, Ellen must combat the antipathy of their fellow travellers, especially middle-aged father Andreas (played by Søren Malling, Gråbøl’s co-star in The Killing), while Inger goes looking for her romantic past in Paris. Anchored by a superb performance from Gråbøl, this is a deeply personal project for writer/director Niels Arden Oplev, whose sister has schizophrenia, and he shows how society struggles to deal with Inger’s of this world. Danish with English subtitles.

After discovering that husband Matias is having an affair (she’s an MP, he’s a priest!), Juulia suggests an open marriage. Matias’s lover Enni is joined in the polyamorous arrangement by non-binary nurse and drag performer Miska… Will the four find a way forward, or will they be derailed by jealousy and social disapproval? Selma Vilhunen’s mature exploration of relationship dilemmas is inspired by her hero Ingmar Bergman, and led by a typically strong performance from Alma Pöysti (Tove; Fallen Leaves). Finnish with English subtitles.

Viggo Mortensen’s second directorial effort, The Dead Don’t Hurt, is a well-executed western set in the 1860s. Mortensen stars alongside Vicky Krieps in this tale of immigrants striving to build a life in a corrupt Nevada town. Krieps shines as Vivienne Le Coudy, an irreverent and fiercely independent French-Canadian flower seller who refuses to wed but travels with Danish carpenter Holger Olsen (Mortensen) to Elk Flats. Facing the town’s corruption, led by Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Danny Huston) and rancher Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt), Vivienne’s resilience and passion highlight her determination to defy an unforgiving, male-dominated world.

Bubbly little Cléo lives with her widowed father Arnaud and her beloved nanny Gloria. When Gloria’s mother dies and she is forced home to Cape Verde, she persuades Arnaud to send Cléo out for a holiday. Most of Gloria’s family and the local children welcome the youngster, but Gloria’s son César resents that his mother left them to look after a foreign child. An insightful look at colonialism and a moving rite-of-passage story, elevated by an exceptional performance by Mauroy-Panzani as the little girl. French with English subtitles.

Blandine and Magalie were schoolfriends who once planned to run away to a Greek island, and are now middle-aged, divorced and estranged. Blandine’s son finds Magalie online and books his mother’s dream trip for them. Blandine is uptight, and Magalie is a free spirit, so they don’t hit it off, and have soon drifted off-course in the Greek islands. They then bump into an old friend of Magalie’s, and their relationship changes. Great performances and dreamy Greek landscapes make this the ideal summer escape film.

We are presenting The Rocky Horror Picture Show! A newly-engaged couple’s car breaks down in an isolated area, forcing them to seek shelter at the bizarre residence of Dr. Frank-n-Furter. As an interactive event, this will not be a sit quietly-in your-chair night. We will be encouraging audience members to dress up as their favourite characters, join in with the songs and actions and have a great night out on the eve of Croydon’s Pride activities. Will you come as Brad? Janet? Or…….? In conjunction with Croydon Pride.

Often cited as one of the greatest British films ever made, Kes tells the tale of young Billy Casper and his beloved kestrel. Based on the book A Kestrel for a Knave by Barry Hines, this South Yorkshire-set story paints a picture of Billy’s poverty-stricken present and seemingly bleak future, which is still relevant today. As Time Out said “Kes is one of the most astute, engaged films about education and what it takes for kids to be excited about learning or passionate about anything, really.” A 35mm presentation in association with The Cinema Museum.

High school student Sohee starts training for a job at a call centre, but it’s full-on and the pressure won’t let up. Pushed over the edge by her own pride and the pride of those around her, the company’s greed leads to her death. Detective Oh Yu-jin starts to probe Sohee’s demise and finds an unsettling truth as she finds she has something in common with Sohee. A thriller/drama which takes an insightful look at the pressures of internships and externships on Korean youth. Korean with English subtitles.

As New York City is invaded by alien creatures who hunt by sound, a woman named Sammy fights to survive. A prequel to the smash hit post-apocalyptic horror film A Quiet Place, this new instalment is set during the first days of the alien invasion, as the world learns to live in their new reality. Experience the day the world went quiet.

Eleven-year-old Mary dreams of becoming a great chef, inspired by the delicious meals created by her beloved grandmother. However, Mary and her family must come to terms with her granny’s illness, helped by a mysterious visitor and a road trip across Ireland. Adopted from a novel by Roddy Doyle, this colourful animation provides some touching life lessons and a little bit of magic. Marvellous Makers – in association with Croydon Libraries and Leisure.

If you enjoyed BenoitMagimel’s delicious performance in our recent screenings of A Taste Of Things with Juliet Binoche, you will love him in this historical drama about a café owner who unknowingly marries a hirsute woman for her dowry. Rosalie has been keeping her secret for her whole life, but things are about to change. His embarrassment of her looks initially puts a wedge between them and he thinks she will put his customers off their drinks. Inspired by the true story of the first Bearded Woman in France. French with English subtitles.