Past screenings
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN
SP12
Director: Mel Brooks
Starring Gene Wilder, Peter Boyle, Marty Feldman
(1974 / Rated 12A / US / English / 106min)
Mel Brooks' monstrously crazy tribute to Mary Shelley's classic pokes hilarious fun at just about every Frankenstein movie ever made. Summoned by a will to his late grandfather's castle in Transylvania, young Dr. Frankenstein (Gene Wilder) soon discovers the scientist's step-by-step manual explaining how to bring a corpse to life. Assisted by the hunchback Igor (Marty Feldman) and the curvaceous Ings (Teri Garr), he creates a monster (Peter Boyle) who only wants to be loved.
Screened October 26.24
@ The Wash House
FORCE MAJEURE
SP11
Directed by Ruben Östlund
Starring Johannes Bah Kuhnke / Lisa Loven Kongsli / Clara Wettergren / Vincent Wettergren / Kristofer Hivju / Fanni Metelius
(2014 / Sweden / 119min / Subtitled Swedish / Norwegian / English / French / Rated 15)
Tomas, Ebba and their two beautiful children are the picture-perfect image of the Swedish nuclear family. They’re on holiday in the French Alps and enjoying themselves when a potentially life-threatening event causes Ebba to see Thomas in a new light. Slowly, the family unravels, Thomas’ image of the perfect alpha male is in tatters and there seems to be no going back. This could be a tragedy, but Östlund milks the scenario for every last moment of biting humour, poking fun at the brittle nature of machismo and questioning the stereotype of the traditional family structure.
Screened September 21.24
@ The Wash House
JAWS
SP10
Director: Steven Spielberg
(1975/ Rated 12A / US)
Starring Roy Scheider, Robert Shaw, Richard Dreyfuss
Jaws is a 1975 American thriller film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the 1974 novel by Peter Benchley. When a killer shark unleashes chaos on a beach community off Cape Cod, it’s up to a local sheriff, a marine biologist, and an old seafarer to hunt the beast down.
Screened June 15.24 @ The Wash House
WITHNAIL & I
SP09 / Community vote
Director: Bruce Robinson
(1987 / Rated 15 / UK)
Starring Paul McGann, Richard E. Grant, Richard Griffiths, Ralph Brown, Michael Elphick, Eddie Tagoe
Withnail and I is a 1987 British black comedy film written and directed by Bruce Robinson. Loosely based on Robinson’s life in London in the late 1960s, the plot follows two unemployed actors, Withnail and “I” (portrayed by Richard E. Grant and Paul McGann, respectively) who share a flat in Camden Town in 1969. Needing a holiday, they obtain the key to a country cottage in the Lake District belonging to Withnail’s eccentric uncle Monty and drive there. The weekend holiday proves less recuperative than they expected.
Screened April 27.24 @ The Wash House
THE FAREWELL
SP08
Director: Lulu Wang
(2019 / Rated PG / English and subtitles)
Starring Awkwafina, Tzi Ma and Gil Perez-Abraham.
The Farewell follows Awkwafina’s Billi, a Chinese-born, U.S.-raised writer who, despite her better instincts, returns to Changchun to take part in her family’s elaborate ruse to expedite a big wedding in order to secretly say their goodbyes to a grandmother who hasn’t been told she’s dying.
In The Farewell, Awkwafina takes a big step forward from Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians, turning in a strong lead performance that blends comedy and drama to tell a story based on a real-life event in the family life of writer-director Wang.
Screened March 23.24
@ The Wash House
LARS & THE REAL GIRL
SP07 (1)
Director Craig Gillespie
Starring Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, and Patricia Clarkson.
(2007 / US / 102min / Rated 12)
Lars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. The film stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner, and Patricia Clarkson. Its plot follows Lars, a kind-hearted but socially awkward young man who develops a romantic yet nonsexual relationship with an anatomically correct sex doll, a RealDoll named Bianca.
Screened February 24.24
@ The Wash House
THE PRINCESS BRIDE
SP07 (2)
Director Rob Reiner
Starring Cary Elwes, Robin Wright, Mandy Patinkin
(1987 / US / 98min / Rated PG)
A high-spirited adventure that pits true love against inconceivable odds, The Princess Bride has charmed legions of fans with its irreverent gags, eccentric ensemble, and dazzling swordplay. A kid (Fred Savage), home sick from school, grudgingly allows his grandfather (Peter Falk) to read him a dusty storybook—which is how we meet the innocent Buttercup (Robin Wright, in her breakout role), about to marry the nefarious Prince Humperdinck (Chris Sarandon) though her heart belongs to Westley (Cary Elwes). The wedding plans are interrupted, however, by a mysterious pirate, a vengeful Spaniard, and a good-natured giant, in a tale full of swashbuckling, romance, and outrageously hilarious spoofery. Directed by Rob Reiner from an endlessly quotable script by William Goldman, The Princess Bride reigns as a fairy-tale classic.
Screened February 24.24
@ The Wash House
BABETTE’S FEAST
SP06
Directed by Gabriel Axel (1987)102min / Rated U / Subtitled
Starring Stephane Audran, Birgitte Federspiel, Bodil Kjer
At once a rousing paean to artistic creation, a delicate evocation of divine grace, and the ultimate film about food, the Oscar-winning Babette’s Feast is a deeply beloved treasure of cinema. Directed by Gabriel Axel and adapted from a story by Isak Dinesen, it is the lovingly layered tale of a French housekeeper with a mysterious past who brings quiet revolution in the form of one exquisite meal to a circle of starkly pious villagers in late nineteenth-century Denmark. Babette’s Feast combines earthiness and reverence in an indescribably moving depiction of sensual pleasure that goes to your head like fine champagne.
Screened Nov 25.23
@ The Wash House
THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER
SP05 (1)
Directed by Charles Laughton
Starring Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lilian Gish, Billy Chapin Sally Jane Bruce
The Night of the Hunter—incredibly, the only film the great actor Charles Laughton ever directed—is truly a stand-alone masterwork. A horror movie with qualities of a Grimm fairy tale, it stars a sublimely sinister Robert Mitchum as a traveling preacher named Harry Powell (he of the tattooed knuckles), whose nefarious motives for marrying a fragile widow, played by Shelley Winters, are uncovered by her terrified young children. Graced by images of eerie beauty and a sneaky sense of humor, this ethereal, expressionistic American classic—also featuring the contributions of actress Lillian Gish and writer James Agee—is cinema’s most eccentric rendering of the battle between good and evil. (Criterion)
Screened Oct 28 5.23
@ The Wash House
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON
SP05 (2)
Directed by John Landis
Starring David Naughton, Griffin Dunne, Jenny Agutter
David and Jack, two American college students, are backpacking through Britain when a large wolf attacks them. David survives with a bite, but Jack is brutally killed. As David heals in the hospital, he’s plagued by violent nightmares of his mutilated friend, who warns David that he is becoming a werewolf. When David discovers the horrible truth, he contemplates committing suicide before the next full moon causes him to transform from man to murderous beast.
Screened Oct 29.23
@ The Wash House
HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE
SP04 / Community vote
Directed byTaika Waititi
Starring Sam Neill, Julian Dennison, and Rima Te Wiata
Raised on hip-hop and foster care, defiant city kid Ricky gets a fresh start in the New Zealand countryside. He quickly finds himself at home with his new foster family: the loving Aunt Bella, the cantankerous Uncle Hec, and dog Tupac. When a tragedy strikes that threatens to ship Ricky to another home, both he and Hec go on the run in the bush. As a national manhunt ensues, the newly branded outlaws must face their options: go out in a blaze of glory or overcome their differences and survive as a family.
Screened Aug 5.23
@ The Wash House
I KNOW WHERE I’M GOING!
SP03
Directed by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger • 1945 • UK
Starring Wendy Hiller, Roger Livesey
In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s stunningly photographed comedy, romance flourishes in an unlikely place—the bleak and moody Scottish Hebrides. Wendy Hiller stars as a headstrong young woman who travels to these remote isles to marry a rich lord. Stranded by stormy weather, she meets a handsome naval officer (Roger Livesey) who threatens to thwart her carefully laid-out life plans.
Screened February 24.23
@ The Wash House
Local Hero
SP02
Directed by Bill Forsythe
Starring Burt Lancaster, Peter Riegert
Up-and-coming Houston oil executive "Mac" MacIntyre gets more than he bargained for when a seemingly simple business trip to Scotland changes his outlook on life. Sent by his colorful boss to the small village of Ferness, Mac is looking to quickly buy out the townspeople so his company can build a new refinery. But after a taste of country life Mac begins to question whether he is on the right side of this transaction.
Screened December 9.22
@ Bellfield
Rory’s Way
SP01
Directed by Oded Binnun, Mihal Brezis
Starring Brian Cox, Patricia Arquette, JJ Feild, Thora Birch
Based on a best-selling novel (The Etruscan Smile), Rory’s Way stars Brian Cox as Rory McNeil – a rugged old stubborn type, who reluctantly leaves his Hebridean island to travel to San Francisco for medical treatment. Once there, he moves in with his estranged son, and sees his life transformed through a new found bond with his baby grandson. There’s also one last chance for romance with Rosanna Arquette playing a gallery-owner, mystified by the Gaelic-speaking Rory. Filmed partly on the Western Isles and in the Durness
Screened November 11.22
@ Bellfield