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The Queen of Spades
In 1806 St Petersburg, Captain Suvorin of the Engineers (Walbrook) becomes resentful of his rich friend, Prince Andrei (Howard), and the circle of Guards officers who gamble their money at faro, a form of snap in which fortunes can be won or lost on the turn of a card. Convinced by an old book that…
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Round Ireland With A Fridge
Based on Tony Hawks’ best-selling book of the same name, the main character of the film is Tony himself. Will our film hero win a drunken bet to take a fridge round the perimeter if Ireland in under a month It must be a matter of principle as the cost of the fridge turns out…
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A Separation
Written and directed by Asghar Farhadi, A Separation is a powerful Iranian drama about a middle-class couple who are faced with a difficult decision – to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer’s disease. The tension between…
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In the Mood for Love
Kar Wai Wong has strong, nostalgic recollections of his formative years in Hong Kong where, having been born in Shanghai, he grew up from the age of five. In The Mood For Love is the second in a loose triptych of Hong Kong based, 1960s stories, beginning with Wong’s 1990 breakthrough film, Days Of Being…
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Lift to the Scaffold
Distinguished French director Louis Malle (1932-95) made his debut feature film at the age of 24 with this taut thriller, having won the Palme d’Or in 1956 for the documentary The Silent World, co-directed with Jacques Cousteau. The film’s narrative and editing techniques are seen as a key influence on the Nouvelle Vague movement. The…
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Like Father Like Son
Ryota has worked hard for everything in his life and he thinks nothing can stop him from pursuing a perfect life. Then one day, he and his wife Midori, receives a phone call from the hospital. A blood test shows that their son is not theirs, that the hospital made a mistake when their son…
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Timbuktu
Mauretanian director Sissako, who spent part of his youth in Mali, was inspired to make this film when he read an article in Paris newspaper in 2012 about the public stoning of an unmarried couple in the town of Aguelhok (for reportedly having children outside wedlock). Set against the stunning landscapes of the fabled Saraha…
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Our Little Sister
Just as in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Like Father, Like Son (Palme d’Or in Cannes 2013), this is a family drama, but now with a focus on the relationships between sisters. Three of them are living with their grandmother as they have long been estranged from their parents. Their father left them to live with another woman.…
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The Glass Key
Renowned crime novelist Dashiell Hammett’s tale of big-city political corruption The Glass Key was originally filmed in 1935, starring George Raft. This version was devised as a follow-up vehicle for its charismatic lead Alan Ladd, who had recently impressed in This Gun for Hire; and with Hammett’s stock in Hollywood high in the wake of…
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Letters from Baghdad
Explorer and mountaineer, linguist and archaeologist, the Middle East expert Gertrude Bell was recruited by British military intelligence to help draw the borders of Iraq after WWI. Arguably the most powerful woman in the British Empire in her day, she was at the same time an impassioned proponent of the region’s cultural heritage and defended…