FEEDBACK from our audience
Previously shown films in date order with audience feedback notes.​
Please note: If you missed filling in the Feedback paper slips at the end of the last film you saw, you can now add your feedback on the Contact page.
Year 2023/4
Scrapper
Film info:
Date shown:
UK - 2023
June 2024
Synopsis
After the death of her single mother, 12 year old Georgie takes on the responsibility of parenting herself, continuing to live alone in the home she shared with her mum; until the unwelcome arrival of her father.
Audience Star rating: 80%
Audience Feedback
It was felt that this film treated traumatic issues with tenderness and humour and in an accessible way and gave an insight into how difficult some backgrounds are. The acting was much praised.
People loved the improvised comic dialogue for a couple glimpsed on a railway platform and how it showed the beginning of a relationship between the father and daughter. Also, the tooth fairy was a simple but meaningful moment.
There were mixed feelings about the episodes with talking spiders, the Greek chorus of pink girls, the triplets on yellow bikes, the clouds and the tower open to the sky; whether it worked as an insight into the creative imagination of a child.
The portrayal of a feral 12 year girl misleading social services, rejected by the education system and engaging in theft was disturbing and the question as to whether this was actually possible was raised but it was felt that unfortunately it probably could; the education and social services needed boxes to be ticked and the experience of a former social worker suggested how people in the kind of area depicted might often not report what they see to the authorities as they see them as the enemy.
A deep film, different, heartwarming, tender, touching and amusing, charming depiction of relationships with mate and dad.
Anatomy of a Fall
Film info:
Date shown:
France - 2023
May 2024
Synopsis
An intriguing and austere courtroom drama murder mystery, this film by director Justine Triet won the Palme d’Or at Cannes film festival.
When her husband Samuel is mysteriously found dead in the snow below their secluded chalet, Sandra becomes the main suspect as the police begin to question whether he fell or was pushed. The trial soon becomes not just an investigation but a gripping psychological journey into the depths of their complicated marriage, with conflicting evidence and inconsistent testimony, letting the viewer wonder if Sandra is guilty or not, and kept guessing until the end.
Audience Star rating: 84%
Audience Feedback
Much praised by the audience was the tour de force performance by Sandra Hüller, as the wife. Also applauded was the excellent acting of two other important characters, the partially sighted son, still bereft, mourning the death of one parent as the other is tried for killing them; plus that of the dog.
Some found the film over long with the courtroom scenes too drawn out. There was some surprise, at the leeway given to the French prosecutors; if this was truly representative of the French legal system. It was felt that in a UK court some of their comments would have been challenged by the defence team or the judge.
Audience comments – absolutely brilliant, riveting, totally absorbing, perplexing, exhausting, thought provoking, self indulgent.
A brilliant film with gripping intense scenes reflecting the challenging storyline. Excellent film. It portrayed the complexity of relationships very clearly. Do we ever know the truth - was Sandra blameless even if her husband took his own life?
The Truffle Hunters
Film info:
Date shown:
Itay - 2021
January 2022
Synopsis
Deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, a handful of men, seventy or eighty years young, hunt for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle, guarding their location with absolute secrecy.
Audience Star rating: 89%
Audience Feedback
So enjoyable. Delightful, lyrical! Beautiful scenery and internal scenes. An uplifting film. Lovely glimpse into a small and possibly threatened life. An intriguing portrayal of a pastoral lifestyle.
Beautiful shots of landscapes that look like paintings by Brueghel and interior shots that are almost like tableaux, mostly of two men or a man and his dog. Left a smile on your face.
Lunana: A Yak in the Classroom
Film info:
Date shown:
Bhutan - 2019
April 2024
Synopsis
The debut feature from Bhutan-born US-educated film-maker Pawo Choyning Dorii; and the first Bhutanese film to get an Oscar nomination for best international feature.
Filming in small settlement high in the Himalayas at an altitude of 4,800 metres, with no electricity or communication with the world below, was challenging. Just to reach the location was an 8 day trek on foot and with mules hauling the equipment; such as undertaken by the main character in the film, Ugyen, a young man from the Bhutanese capital. Living with his formidable grandmother since his parents' death, he is four years into a five-year teacher training course although nurturing a dream to go to Australia and make it as a singer. However, under a mandatory 5 year commitment to the government he finds he must do a season teaching at the village school of Lunana in the country's mountainous north-west. This proves to be transformative for Ugyen as he learns profound life lessons from the simple, poor but generous locals. Hailed as a visiting dignitary carrying the villagers hope that he will give their children the education they need to become more than yak herders and fungi gatherers.
Audience Star rating: 92%
Audience Feedback
The audience’s response was positive and complimentary with many superlatives expressed. Highlights were mentioned – the amazing photography, the fresh dung picking up incident, the importance of music and the question left at the end. It was felt to be an authentic picture of life in Bhutan; with the village community, although isolated, not immune from global warming, alcoholism, death through childbirth and accidents. Ironically, as the film’s crew was leaving Lunana, telecommunication workers came to the village to install telephone towers and the village now has internet.
The acting was highly rated, with stand out performances from the actor playing Ugyen, who in real life was playing the clubs in the capital while waiting for an Australian visa, and nine-year-old Pem Zam, whose future has changed since making the film, having travelled all around the world and been recently accepted by one of Bhutan’s most prestigious schools. Also, the first-time performers from the village, many of whom had never even seen a movie before.
A welcome spotlight on both Bhutan and its philosophy of “gross national happiness,”
Full Time
Film info:
Date shown:
France - 2021
March 2024
Synopsis
A gripping white-knuckle thriller, portraying the everyday life of a single mum of two children, with debts mounting and her ex-husband missing along with his alimony. Constantly on the verge of a breakdown, she struggles with the daily balance of commuting from her remote suburb into Paris, tenuous childcare and search for a new job to get her out of debt. It all becomes unmanageable during a paralysing transport strike in Paris.
Audience Star rating: 75%
Audience Feedback
The film was felt to show that just staying financially afloat can sometimes feel like a thriller; demonstrating how challenging it is to escape poverty, and how easy it is to slip into; that many real single parents are forced to make impossible decisions and sacrifices for their children every single day.
The lead actor was praised for her gripping performance, so much emotion in her face – all shown in intense close up. The director keeps the camera moving to reflect the punishing pace of urban life, and the action is enveloping and exhausting. Plus the soundtrack added to the relentlessness, really playing up the tension, with subliminal stressors such as the sound of pumping blood and circling helicopters mixed in with the jangling ambient noise. TVs and radios are all tuned to the news of the strikes and the chaos that ensues throughout the movie.
The word ‘exhausting’ figured much in the audience feedback, also ‘frenetic, hectic from start to finish & stressful’. Almost everyone in the audience had felt the tension that the film showed at sometime in their lives.
‘A brilliant film where you felt that you were living Julie's nightmare’. A lot of people were feeling physically affected by the stress in the film.
The ending was not what was expected – would the new job be the solution? Some people thought there was a chance that this time things would be different, others that her hectic life would continue and her children suffer. Hamster wheels were mentioned – the feeling of the same disastrous cycle starting all over again.
‘A compulsive expose of a single mother caught on an economic merry go round - the opposite of merry’!
Alcarras
Film info:
Date shown:
Spain - 2022
February 2024
Synopsis
This film depicts the life of a family of peach farmers in a small village in Catalonia. The farmer is content with the status quo, despite the hard work and anxiety about crop failure, damage by rabbits and under pricing by the supermarket buyers. However, when the owner of their large estate dies, his lifetime heir decides to sell the land. All the peach trees are to be ripped out and replaced with solar panels, suddenly threatening the family’s livelihood. There is a new harvest to be gathered: solar power. But retraining as a solar panel engineer, although far more lucrative, is abhorrent to the farmer.
Audience Star rating: 77%
Audience Feedback
The characters were played in the film by local non-professionals, with the correct regional accent being of prime concern. Rather than threatening their livelihood with an ‘obvious evil’ - the flattening of the trees to make way for an industrial estate, for example, the director chose solar panels, a clever choice raising questions about the cost of human progress - aren’t solar panels, with their superiority to fossil fuels, just as important as fruit trees? The fact that the fruit in the film looked so lovely emphasised what we stand to lose.
Some of our audience commented: ‘an unusual film and not what I expected'. 'No clear ending and conclusion - more an examination of different responses to change within both the family and community’.
Absolutely beautiful and real.
Good acting from amateur actors.
Uplifting - the family life, the community, the senses, the nature.
Complex relationships within the extended family were superbly done.
Great individual character development.
A very topical film depicting the 'progress' of land use and ownership in the modern world. Loved the portrayal of an extended family experiencing the drip, drip of change that will impact on all their lives.
However, some found it ‘too slow, too long and rather depressing’, and remarks included ‘could take it or leave it’, ‘easily forgettable’, ‘too self indulgent’, ‘the children were a welcome light relief’, ’in the end I couldn’t give a peach’!
The Eight Mountains
Film info:
Date shown:
Italy - 2022
January 2024
Synopsis
Winner of the Jury prize at Cannes, this film was adapted by Belgian film-makers Felix van Groeningen and Charlotte Vandermeersch from the award-winning 2016 novel by Italian author Paolo Cognetti. Wonderfully photographed in the breathtaking Italian Alpine valley of Aosta, which includes the slopes of Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn; although, the ‘eight mountains' of the title refers to the eight highest peaks of Nepal: a mysterious symbol of worldly ambition and conquest.
It spans almost 40 years, showing a lifelong friendship between two men who became fast friends as children and remain friends, even though life, time, and circumstances, often drive them apart. It underpins the tragedy that the world has changed, and for those who are unable, or unwilling, to adapt, there is a price to pay.
Audience Star rating: 89%
Audience Feedback
The two actors are friends in real life and ‘Bruno’s’ real life father was the dialect coach on the film as he comes from one of these lost villages where they speak a different dialect.
Music is from the Swedish composer Daniel Norgren and plays almost throughout, sometimes a long keening note, with muffled percussion underneath, creating an eerie, lonely feeling.
Praise for this film from the audience included…
Superbly crafted by direction, dialogue, filming, acting and music.
Stunning scenery and dynamics between the characters showing the contrasting lives of the two main characters and the impact it had on their relationships.
An interesting portrayal of the relationship between the two men as well as the father-son relationship.
With a minimum of dialogue the narrative was very clear.
Very well made, enjoyable, brilliant, very moving, beautifully filmed, great acting… although it is long I was engrossed.
Intimate yet epic in scope.
The Blue Caftan
Film info:
Date shown:
Morocco - 2022
January 2024
Synopsis
The second feature from Moroccan Maryam Touzani, this film won 3 awards at Cannes and was Morocco's official entry for Best International Film at the 95th Academy Awards, a testament to its quality from a country where homosexuality is a criminal offence.
In a caftan shop in one of Morocco’s oldest medinas, a master embroiderer produces dazzling handmade caftans, maintaining a disappearing tradition inherited from his father, while his ailing wife runs the business side of things. The couple take on a shy young assistant. Together, the two men work on a glorious blue caftan lined with an intricate gold-patterned trim.
Accepting of her husband’s homosexuality although initially jealous of the attraction, as her health fails she weaves the young man into the fabric of her own present and her husband’s future life. The creation and eventual destination of the Blue Caftan is a metaphor for how we might choose to make decisions in life based on love, rather than just money.
Audience Star rating: 83%
Audience Feedback
The following was expressed by the audience after the viewing:
An entirely moving film which was extremely life affirming.
A love story unlike any other: the love of craft and beauty, love of another person, the romantic love of two people at once.
In a society that doesn’t encourage rampant self-expression the way the West does, this was an intimate film with little speech but where small gestures, as shown in the many close up shots, spoke profoundly about feelings and relationships.
Beautifully produced and photographed, stunning, moving, subtle, poignant, and extremely well acted.
For a scant number the film was - a little too slow and a bit laboured, in need of editing, with a few too many meaningful and lengthy glances. For others it was mesmerizing in its slowness / slow to get going but worth it.
Huda’s Salon
Film info:
Date shown:
Egypt - 2021
December 2023
Synopsis
A powerful and thought provoking film, by Palestinian filmmaker Hany Abu-Assad, exploring what happens when a society exists in a state of high-alert paranoia, its members all too willing to turn on one another. Set in the Palestinian West Bank, within an undeclared civil war, it is based on a true story.
The film jumps between the narratives of the two women: Reem who is blackmailed by Huda to have her work for the secret service of the occupiers, and thus betray her people; and a reflection of how Huda got to where she is now. The blackmail scheme works for one simple reason: these women live in a world where just the hint of adultery is a life-shattering one. Even a rumour of collaboration can bring someone down: punished; denied permits; killed even and if you are ‘compromised,’ then so is everyone around you, via guilt by association.
Audience Star rating: 90%
Audience Feedback
The film generated a discussion about the oppression of women and serves as a sobering reminder that in any type of conflict, women tend to get the short end of the stick.
Two audience members had recent experience in this region with both Israelis and Palestinians. To them the scenario was very recognizable.
The short timeline — the whole film takes place in less than a week—turns up the flame.
Remarked upon were long takes in enclosed spaces, carefully observing his characters as the nature of their interactions shifts, almost like a theatre piece.
It was noted that despite the location, the conversation in the salon was your regular everyday hair salon chit-chat.
Viewers comments included: very powerful and moving, great photography, excellent, thought provoking, impressive actresses, good script. Also: frightening, traumatic, so tense and full of menace and threat, you’re involved, ‘in the action’.
The Quiet Girl
Film info:
Date shown:
Ireland - 2022
November 2023
Synopsis
Adapted from Claire Keegan’s book ‘Foster’, this is the first Irish-language film to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best International Feature at this year's Oscars.
Set in rural Ireland in 1981, it tells of a quiet, neglected girl sent away from her dysfunctional family to live with foster parents for the summer - a childless couple who despite their own grief, show her the first kindness and care she has ever experienced. Cait has learned to survive by making herself as small and quiet as possible, at school or at home in the menacing presence of her father.
‘The Quiet Girl’ maintains the child’s point of view, keeping the frame of reference narrowed to the world as seen through the girl's eyes.
Audience Star rating: 91%
Audience Feedback
As the star ratings show this film was much applauded by the audience, with frequent use of the words ‘beautiful’ and ‘favourite’. Other praise included - lovely, beautifuly paced, poignant, very moving. It was also lauded as being an unusual film presenting something of the challenges of living in a dysfunctional environment, and excellent, insightful with many things left to ponder.
More comments included that the music, photography, shallow depth of fields, all contrived to make a beautiful film with a powerful message, one of gorgeous simplicity and heartbreaking humanity.
Some people found it hard to understand why Cait didn’t have a better relationship with her sisters.
Further viewers thoughts: slow and at times confusing - but that may reflect Cait's world? I loved the way her relationship with her foster father developed, both of them scarred by family experience. Some lovely moments like the biscuit being left on the table, not just a cookie but a sign of love and an act of kindness.
A film that generated rushes of overwhelming emotion. There were tears as the film ended!
Utama
Film info:
Date shown:
Bolivia - 2021
October 2023
Synopsis
An elderly Quechua couple live and farm in the Bolivian highlands, in the traditional way and without any modern conveniences but the lack of rain due to climate change threatens this existence. Despite this, they are reluctant to join the rest of their family in the city, wishing to live out their lives in the traditional way, as when they are gone, this and the indigenous Quechua language will die out in the family.
The actors were not professionals but, being a local real life couple, were therefore credible.
Audience Star rating: 79%
Audience Feedback
-
Bursting with atmosphere. Quite slow but encapsulated the life of a family steeped in tradition that couldn't, or perhaps refused, to come to terms with change in both climate and modern progress.
-
A devastating portrayal of the effects of climate change on traditional ways of life.
-
Thought the film captures love and tradition in times of climate change.
-
The visuals make a huge impact, framed like still photographs and showing huge landscapes or close ups of weather beaten faces or hands.
-
The music, from a variety of local and indigenous sources, is evocative and not intrusive.
-
Until the couple’s grandson Clever shows up with his mobile phone, headphones and modern clothes, we could just as easily be watching a film set in the 1920s as the 2020s.
-
We liked how the relationships built between Clever and his Grandparents, as time went on.
-
A worthy film without being didactic.
-
Fantastic film, full of insight and truth.
-
Bleak! Quite hard going.
1976
Film info:
Date shown:
Chile - 2022
September 2023
Synopsis
This suspense-drama, set against the backdrop of Pinochet-era Chile, offers a fresh perspective on the nightmares of this period as it follows a middle-aged woman’s dangerous flirtation with political engagement and anti-Pinochet resistance. The dictatorship is shown to be a pervasive presence, infiltrating all corners of society, with curfews and military checks restricting movement and cultivating a climate of surveillance.
Audience Star rating: 85%
Audience Feedback
A thought provoking film which generated post-film discussion on the following:
-
The framing, whether there is focus on a face or a detail or simply a car door intruding into the frame.
-
A recurring motif of shoes reminding us of the importance of toeing the Pinochet line.
-
The creepy electronic score building up tension while it contrasts with the film’s largely warm colour palette. This was not appreciated by all viewers - ‘over dramatic soundtrack. Very distracting background ‘music’.
-
The feeling of tension and suspense, that ‘something’ was just about to happen, felt by many throughout the film – which one viewer found ‘an ordeal’!
-
A growing awareness of the price to be paid by a woman daring to step out of line.
-
The woozy state of shock and denial that was commonplace among so many middleclass Chileans.
-
The brilliant portrayal of Carmen - painfully concealing her duty to her family and her support for the activist, drawing us into the story.
-
The world repeats itself; is anywhere safe from such a situation.
Further audience comments:
-
Good use of symbol and drama making a powerful film / really good.
-
A bit confusing at first, but I got into it.
-
The film was rather 'thin' and didn't get deeply into many serious issues around the
-
Pinochet era, although it gave a good picture of a well off middle class family. Acting and score both mediocre with only a few 'interesting' incidents. Overall, rather disappointing.
-
Emotionally very undercharged. Our heroine never seemed to really lose her cool detachment and become a different person as a result of her experiences.
-
Too episodic without meaning.