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 2022/3
Ninja Baby
Film info:
Date shown:
Norway - 2021
June 2023
Synopsis
When Rakel (23), a graphic design dropout, finds out, way too late, that she's six months pregnant after a not-so-romantic one-night stand, her world changes. Abortion is no longer an option. She doodles it - a scrawny ugly foetus with a black mask - and calls it Ninjababy. He climbs out from her note book and comes to life on the screen, funny and needy.
The film is based on Inga Sætre's graphic novel Fallteknikk and interspersed with Sætre's rude, funny animations.
Audience Star rating: 82%
Audience Feedback
Audience comments included: really good; loved it; enjoyed the film; interesting end. Was it a comedy or a tragi-comedy? A very interesting mix. A superb portrayal of how hard it is to be a woman.
Martin Eden
Film info:
Date shown:
Italy/France - 2021
May 2023
Synopsis
The film is loosely based on the 1909 novel of the same name by the American author Jack London and follows an unschooled sailor trying to remake himself as a writer in a timeless 20th century Italy. The film’s historical timeline is blurred by archival imagery, some faked, which nod at the larger historical forces at work. Although not set in London’s Oakland, California, the film maintains the theme that hard work and an audacious gamble on a certain career path can carry anyone, however lowly born, on to riches. That this doesn’t guarantee happiness is not new; other stories with similar themes were mentioned by viewers. The film combines glorious colour and landscape with harsh political statement.
Audience Star rating: 81%
Audience Feedback
The terrible loneliness of success is shown, only having people around you who are the same ones who didn’t like your writing when you were struggling but now are your greatest fans. The use of symbolism was noted – the old footage of a sailing ship looking majestic and then a later clip of the same ship sinking, representing the change from the hugely attractive, magnetic figure of the young Martin to a washed-up, bleached-blond rock star, rotting in his castle, a celebrity but having lost everything else and driven to suicide.
Elena whilst superior, literate and beautiful, is also limited and shallow, groomed for acquiescence, which makes Martin’s wildness intriguing to her. Viewers noted that the upper classes are portrayed in almost Victorian clothing.
Late in the story, after Martin’s great and terrible success, he is toasted by a man whose bald head and loving talk of war suggest Mussolini in a scene that could have taken place yesterday.
The film generated the following audience comments: beautifully made/ bit long but beautiful, especially those Italian faces. Gripping, unusual. Very powerful, not one I am likely to have seen were it not for this showing. Really enjoyed it and thought that the acting was excellent and the whole thing really thought provoking.
First half was good but latterly become a bit of a slog. Loved the visual images - but not sure what the message was!
Non comprende!
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.
Flee
Film info:
Date shown:
Denmark - 2021
April 2023
Synopsis
An animated documentary telling the true story about a man's need to confront his past in order to truly have a future. Amin arrived as an unaccompanied minor in Denmark from Afghanistan. Today, at 36, he is a successful academic and is getting married to his long-time boyfriend. A secret he has been hiding for over 20 years threatens to ruin the life he has built for himself. For the first time, he is sharing his story with his close friend.
Audience Star rating: 87%
Audience Feedback
The unusual format using a blend of animation and archive TV footage, was felt to be an effective merge. The power of the film at telling this story was commented on, the use of the very simple line drawings and how colour was used in the ‘happy /normal life’ parts of the films and greys and blacks for when the refugees were on the move, packed in trucks or on a boat. The shots of Amin’s face when recounting his experiences were felt to be immersive and to engage the viewer emotionally. It was found interesting and moving to see a real story of one refugee.
Further comments were: ‘Ingenious. A memorable film. Harrowing, brutal and sad but thankfully with a happy ending’.
Not all were positive - for a few individual viewers it was: ‘a bit long/ too slow/ unconvincing/ disappointing/ animation amateurish and irritating’.
All in all though, a thought provoking film.
Amin’s claim on arrival in Denmark that all his family were dead raised questions on the reliability of refugees declarations of status, and the passengers on the large ship looking down from high above to the stricken boat below highlighted the gulf between the two groups.
Hive
Film info:
Date shown:
Albania - 2021
March 2023
Synopsis
This film is based on the true story of Fahrije Hoti, a Kosovan woman whose husband went missing during the Balkan wars of the 90s, and so, just to stay alive and provide for her children, she formed a women-only collective, a matriarchal hive, with all the other war widows. Despite facing brutal misogyny and violence from the men in her village, they make honey and ajvar, a traditional pepper sauce made from aubergines and red peppers, to sell.
Audience Star rating: 88%
Audience Feedback
The audience response to this powerful and moving film was generally positive. There was praise for the acting of the lead actress which ‘gave a real sense of unpretentious authenticity’. The filming, too, was praised, especially the use of facial close ups. The colour palette and the meaning of the underwater scenes were also commented upon.
The film brought home the agony of the incessant waiting experienced by those left in limbo by causes out of their control; grieving yet not knowing if the person who has gone is dead or not.
It did generate a couple of negative comments – ‘a serious subject but slow and somehow unconvincing’; ‘subtitles too fast to read’, but overall it was felt to be a moving tribute not just to one woman, but to the value of determination and resilience in all women confronted by war and entrenched patriarchal systems. ‘A very moving film which challenges us with the ever continuing conflicts and wars in the present day’.
Brian and Charles
Film info:
Date shown:
UK - 2022
February 2023
Synopsis
Brian is a lonely inventor in rural Wales, who spends his days building quirky, unconventional contraptions that seldom work. Undeterred by his lack of success, Brian attempts his biggest project yet. Three days, a washing machine, and various spare parts later, he's invented Charles, an artificially intelligent robot who learns English from a dictionary and has an obsession with cabbages. What follows is a humorous and entirely heartwarming story about friendship, family, finding love, and letting go.
Audience Star rating: 90%
Audience Feedback
The audience rated it as touching, funny and both well crafted and acted, and were effusive in their praise… a lovely quirky film, wonderful silliness with feeling! Lovely, touching film. SO DIFFERENT! Good fun – enjoyed a bit of silliness. Delightful - pathos - humour - a triumphant ending. Great fun. Standing up to bullies + getting the girl… what’s not to love! Touches all the buttons for a good film. Enjoyable modern day fable. Loved the setting!
The beauty of the landscape was mentioned more than once – and the rain! Plus the ‘rap’ over the credits enjoyed.
The showing ended with a round of applause and someone shouted out ‘That was a great film!’
Compartment No.6
Film info:
Date shown:
Finland/Russia - 2021
January 2023
Synopsis
Set in 1998, shot largely within the confines of a real Russian train heading from Moscow towards Murmansk – 1200 miles, this film successfully captures the authentic air of its setting: the cramped space; the limited onboard resources; the unhelpful officialdom; the interminable stopovers. It also sets well the 1990s time frame when phone boxes are required to call home and music listened to on cassette players.
The two travellers sharing a compartment are chalk and cheese, almost caricatured representatives of their respective nations. She - a Finnish cultured student, embarking on a trip to see petrographs, he - Russian, foul mouthed, often drunk, en route for a job at a mine. However, along the journey a bond develops and she discovers an essential kindness beneath his brash exterior and they develop a kinship.
Audience Star rating: 83%
Audience Feedback
One element of the cinematography was remarked upon - the tail lights of the car or the train disappearing into the snowy distance, a shot repeated a number of times, a motif for the film’s trip into the unknown.
Although some found the story a little implausible, overall the audience found this film atmospheric, absorbing, well crafted and well acted. The photography and soundtrack were also praised.
There is no Evil
Film info:
Date shown:
Iran 2020
January 2023
Synopsis
The film consists of four short stories – with twists and ingeniously concealed interconnections – on the topic of the death penalty and how it is poisoning the country’s soul. Rather than take as its subject the prisoners sentenced to death, the film instead explores the impact on those who must enact the order; who, one way or another, are left with their own life sentences.
Audience Star rating: 93%
Audience Feedback
This Iranian film consists of four short stories on the topic of the death penalty and explores the impact on those who must enact the order. From a director, who was sentenced to a year in prison in 2020 after three of his films were found to be ‘propaganda against the system’.
It engendered the following comments from the audience:
Thanks for showing this film which was very moving and sensitive. The film makers showed tremendous courage to make such a film is such a repressive society.
Depicts such brutality of the regime by manipulating all young men to do acts against their conscience.
Not an easy watch, but an excellent film.
Consistently gripping despite lasting 2.5hrs
Hit the Road
Film info:
Date shown:
Iran - 2021
January 2023
Synopsis
A family road trip movie in which we never quite know where the film is heading (and are often lied to about why). It may be set amid the winding desert highways and gorgeous emerald valleys of northwestern Iran, but the further Panahi’s foursome drives away from the lives they’ve left behind in Tehran, the more it begins to seem as if they’ve left behind life itself. It’s a film that will make you laugh and cry and feel alive.
Audience Star rating: 86%
Audience Feedback
Indirectly inspired by the sadness of the necessary departure from the country of the director’s sister, this film charts a road trip by a family across Iran. Early on we sense that this is a clandestine venture but only gradually is the purpose of the trip revealed. It comes at an emotional cost, and also a financial one to the parents. The younger son is kept in innocence for fear of disclosure.
The soundtrack is 70’s Iranian pop, banned in Iran, but in the private space within the car there is freedom from this restriction.
The acting, especially by the boy, was praised by viewers, also the cinematography that encompasses beautiful shots of the landscape through which they travel and long shots where the characters grow further and further away from us. In one superb twilight long shot, the players are tiny figures dwarfed by the vastness of the sky,
Humour was noted amid the tragedy: a slightly slapstick brush with a cyclist and the use of the antenna for alleviating the itch inside the father’s plaster cast being examples.
It was felt that the death of the dog was symbolic of the loss of their son.
This film also elicited the following comments from the audience:
Extraordinary film, beautiful, brilliant, enchanting.
Liked the ‘otherness’ of the film.
Great use of humour to mask the pain of saying goodbye.
Enjoyed it for the message it conveyed in a desperate country.
Very thought provoking.
Less positive: Not easy to follow; some parts of the conversations we found hard to grasp their true meaning, too glib in places.
Petit Maman
Film info:
Date shown:
France - 2021
December 2022
Synopsis
When her beloved grandmother dies, eight-year-old Nelly worries that she didn’t say goodbye properly, not realising that the end was so near. Nelly ventures out where her mother once roamed as a child and comes across a young girl, Marion. Marion shares Nelly’s mother’s name, and lives in a house that strangely mirrors that of her grandmother. Indeed, Marion’s life chimes so closely with tales Nelly has been told of her mother’s childhood that she reaches a bold conclusion, telling her new friend: “I come from the path behind you...”
Audience Star rating: 79%
Audience Feedback
This film split the audience. It leaves a lot to the imagination and the viewer needs to be quick to pick up clues as they watch. Indeed, in the post film discussion, quite a lot of time was spent talking about who was who and what was actually going on! There was also discourse about the imaginary friends some children have who are very real to them.
Everyone agreed the child actors were great; they were not rehearsed but knew their words and then the director whispered instructions to them so the scenes developed as they filmed.
Other audience comments: ‘A lovely gentle film with childhood imaginations. We liked the play-acting by the children’, ‘Tedious’, ‘A somewhat stilted dialogue made it drag’.
Memory Box
Film info:
Canada/Lebanon 2021
Date shown:
November 2022
Synopsis
Maia, a single mother, lives in Montreal with her teenage daughter, Alex. On Christmas Eve, they receive an unexpected delivery: notebooks, tapes, and photos Maia sent to her best friend from 1980's Beirut. Maia refuses to open the box or confront its memories, but Alex secretly begins diving into it. Between fantasy and reality, Alex enters the world of her mother's tumultuous, passionate adolescence during the Lebanese civil war, unlocking mysteries of a hidden past.
Audience Star rating: 87%
Audience Feedback
A patchwork of deftly stitched vignettes, the film is successful in analysing how two disparate generations can connect.
Memory Box makes a compelling case for chronicling the big and small parts of your life, if only to share with generations to come. It generated thoughts amongst the audience about how the way people communicate about their lives these days has changed, with so much getting ‘deleted’. Without scrapbooks, photos, entry tickets, etc, it will be harder to share memories with the next generation. The war scenes of the attempts at ‘normal life’ during war times reminded everyone of what the people in Ukraine are going through at this time. The question as to the traumas of one generation affecting subsequent ones was raised.
There was a generally positive feeling about the film, and appreciation of the way it incorporates different media and filmic textures. Unlike so many Middle East war films, this one stands out because it doesn’t end on a tragic note. The protagonists seek closure. Everyone seemed to think this was a very positive end to the film although one or two thought it was a bit too sugary, with others commenting that overall it was exciting and absorbing.
Quo Vardis, Aida?
Film info:
Date shown:
Bosnia - 2020
October 2022
Synopsis
Bosnia, July 1995. Aida is a translator for the UN in the small town of Srebrenica. When the Serbian army takes over the town, her family is among the thousands of citizens looking for shelter in the UN camp. As an insider to the negotiations Aida has access to crucial information that she needs to interpret. What is at the horizon for her family and people - rescue or death? Which move should she take?.
Audience Star rating: 93%
Audience Feedback
A fiction film with the intensity of documentary, based very closely on true events, this film certainly made a powerful impact on those viewing it.
The total silence amongst the audience at the end of the film reflected both the harrowing and disturbing subject matter but also appreciation for a wonderful piece of film making. It managed to balance the enormity of dreadful historical events with the emotional specificity of individual stories. It was suggested that it could have been just as powerful without any dialogue as it told the story so well visually. People felt that it should be required viewing for everyone in the world, in order that such events are not forgotten and never happen again, and perhaps Zbanic’s work here could effect change if seen by the right people.
The Worst Person in the World
Film info:
Date shown:
Norway - 2021
September 2022
Synopsis
A tender relationship comedy with a wonderful freshness. Trier, the Norwegian Director, has taken one of the most difficult genres, the romantic drama, and combined it with another very tricky style – the coming-of-ager – to craft something gloriously sweet and beguiling.
Audience Star rating: 82%
Audience Feedback
The film is billed as a drama/comedy but it was felt there were no laugh out loud moments although in the first two-thirds of the film there are many moments when a wry smile crosses the face. Some were totally gripped by the film throughout, others found it tough to watch, but overall many were impressed with how the film showed the pressure on young people to ‘make a perfect life’ – much harder in these times of the internet and social media.