Ticket price £7.00
Tangerines (15) – 6.30pm
2013 ( Estonia | Georgia ) ( Drama, War)
(Estonian, Russian, Georgian with English subtitles)
Starring: Lembit Ulfsak, Elmo Nüganen, Giorgi Nakashidze
Director: Zaza Urushadze
Oscar nominated for best foreign film, “Tangerines” tells the story of an Estonian box maker, left behind in the Caucasus Mountains after most of his countrymen have fled the Georgian civil war. He gets pulled into the conflict when he shelters a Georgian soldier and an Abkhazian rebel who are both badly wounded in a nearby skirmish. Stuck under the same roof, these two enemies hiss at each other as they convalesce, each hoping to recover first so he can kill the other man, while their taciturn host shames them both with his own courage and humanity.
Writer-director Zaza Urushadze turns this fragile premise into a superb drama. “Tangerines” is not an anti-war movie, it’s more of a pro-human story. It’s the tale that shows how words and actions can be far more powerful than any armed conflict.
(1hr 27min)
followed by…
Woman in Gold (12A) – 8.30pm
2015 ( UK ) ( Drama )
STARRING: Helen Mirren, Ryan Reynolds, Daniel Brühl
DIRECTOR: Simon Curtis
A Member’s Choice Film. After the death of her sister in 1998, Austrian Holocaust refugee Maria Altmann (Helen Mirren) engages her young American relative and lawyer Randy Schoenberg (Ryan Reynolds) to reclaim a famous portrait of her aunt that was seized by the Nazis. The Austrian government seems to be doing the right thing by hearing cases from Jewish survivors about art thefts, but the work Maria is trying to reclaim is considered the Mona Lisa of Austria. The pair promptly discover technicalities and bureaucracy blocking their quiet crusade for justice. Even the enthusiastic help of a guilt-ridden investigative reporter (Daniel Bruhl) can’t seem to make much difference.
This film, based on a true story and deftly directed by Simon Curtis is full of emotional cadences, subtle shifts of mood and changing motivations. Anyone yet to be convinced of just how terrific Helen Mirren truly is needs to see her shine here as an elderly campaigner driven more by justice than money.
(1hr 49min)