Showroom Cinema

• 1968
• UK
• 2h 19min
• U

• Directed by: Stanley Kubrick
• Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Douglas Rain (voice)

Kubrick's gloriously grand architecture sees prehistoric apes timelined into a space ballet featuring a lunar craft docking to the sound of Strauss. This scene prefigures an extended drama aboard a spacecraft bound for Jupiter involving the murderous AI computer and the giant embryo of a space child signifying … what? The next step in human evolution? An opaque masterpiece, which suggests so much, yet explains so little. Which is why it's a timeless classic.

• 83%
• 82%
• 94%

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• 2017
• USA
• PG

• Directed by: Sara Driver

Director Sara Driver follows the rise and fall of Jean Michel Basquiat.

• 60%
• 72%

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• 2017
• US
• 1h 29min
• 12A

• Directed by: Sophie Brooks
• Cast: Zosia Mamet, Matthew Shear, Deirdre O'Connell

Diana (Mamet), an aspiring writer, returns from a European sabbatical and finds that former boyfriend Ben (Shear) is living in the basement flat of her apartment block. A winsome wisp of a romance, likeable and naturalistic enough but lacking in substance, sharp wit or comic highpoints.

• 57%
• 59%

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• 2017
• 1h 33min

• Directed by: Nora Twomey
• Cast: Saara Chaudry, Soma Chhaya, Noorin Gulamgaus

Parvana (Chaudry) is an 11-year-old girl living in Kabul, who when her father is arrested by the Taliban, disguises herself as a boy so she can move around unimpeded. The animation is elegantly simple and it’s a valiant effort, but the script lacks clarity and it’s hard to see how children would take to such a politically-charged narrative.

• 77%
• 78%

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• 2017
• 1h 58min

• Directed by: Jonas Carpignano
• Written by: Jonas Carpignano
• Cast: Pio Amato, Koudous Seihon, Damiano Amato

A coming-of-age drama, drawn from true stories of life among Italy’s Romani community.

• 70%
• 70%

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• 2017
• UK
• 1h 37min
• 12A

• Directed by: Simon Hunter
• Cast: Sheila Hancock, Kevin Guthrie, Paul Brannigan

Edie (Hancock) was trapped in a loveless marriage for years, so when her husband dies, the 85-year-old takes advantage of her new freedom to go mountain-climbing in the Scottish Highlands. There’s charming chemistry between Hancock and co-star Guthrie, and the film is not unaware of how unprepared Edie is; unashamedly feel-good if somewhat formulaic.

• 64%

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• 2017
• UK
• 1h 42min
• 15

• Directed by: Adrian Shergold
• Cast: Maxine Peake, Stephen Graham, Paddy Considine

Funny Cow (Peake) is a northern woman who takes to stand-up comedy in the 70s and 80s. The film foregrounds the pain and suffering involved, from her abusive husband Bob (Pitts, also the screenwriter) and the grim reality of working men’s clubs. A fine supporting cast is largely wasted, but a great soundtrack and Peake’s fearless performance give it plenty of soul.

• 68%

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Annilese Miskimmon directs Puccini's tragic romance.

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• 2018
• Germany / Belgium / UK / Italy
• 1h 45min
• 15

• Directed by: Rupert Everett
• Cast: Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Emily Watson

The tale of the last days of Oscar Wilde (Everett), as he lives out his post-prison existence in France and Italy. If Firth and Watson are underused as pal Reggie Turner and wife Constance, they’re well-cast, and Everett himself, in his accomplished directorial debut, is sensational as the fallen star. A surprising and courageously unflattering portrait.

• 66%
• 66%

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• 2018
• US
• 2h 7min
• 15

• Directed by: Ari Aster
• Cast: Toni Collette, Gabriel Byrne, Alex Wolff, Milly Shapiro

Annie (Collette) is an artist who crafts a dollhouse depicting the traumas of her life, but then her family begins to feel they’re being haunted by her late mother. Unnervingly oppressive debut from Aster, exploring maternal guilt and family anxiety. Collette has one of her best roles in years.

• 79%
• 87%

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• 1994
• US
• 1h 29min
• PG

• Directed by: Roger Allers/Rob Minkoff
• Written by: Irene Mecchi, Jonathan Roberts, Linda Woolverton
• Cast: Matthew Broderick, Jeremy Irons, James Earl Jones, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Moira Kelly, Nathan Lane, Ernie Sabella, Rowan Atkinson, Robert Guillaume, Madge Sinclair, Whoopi Goldberg, Cheech Marin, Jim Cummings

The first Disney animated feature to be based on an original story rather than a traditional folk or fairy tale, The Lion King retains all of the studio's markers: impeccable animation, jolly songs, colourful characters and a strong moral guideline. Solid family fare.

• 85%
• 83%
• 92%

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• 2018
• UK
• 1h 51min
• 15

• Directed by: Ian Bonhôte, Peter Ettedgui
• Cast: Alexander McQueen

Elegant documentary on the working-class London lad who became chief designer at Givenchy, combining behind-the-scenes footage with archive comments and fresh interviews, looking at the grief caused by the loss of close friend Isabella Blow and his beloved mother. Informative, engrossing but never maudlin.

• 89%

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• 1993
• Australia/New Zealand
• 2h
• 15

• Directed by: Jane Campion
• Written by: Jane Campion
• Cast: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Anna Paquin, Sam Neill

Jane Campion's masterpiece follows mute Scotswoman Ada (Hunter) as she travels to 19th century New Zealand with her piano and daughter to enter into an arranged marriage. Soon she begins a passionate and erotic affair with her illiterate neighbour as a means to regaining her treasured instrument. Impeccable performances lift this highly charged piece to the realms of classic cinema. Undoubtedly one of the best films of the 90s.

• 76%
• 89%
• 90%

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• 2014
• Jordan/United Arab Emirates/UK
• 1h 5min

• Directed by: Charlotte Ginsborg, Anatole Sloan

The story of 50 women from Syria, all forced into exile in Jordan, who came together in 2013 to create and perform their own version of The Trojan Women, the ancient Greek tragedy about the plight of women in war.

• 75%

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• 1957
• Sweden
• 1h 30min
• PG

• Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
• Written by: Ingmar Bergman
• Cast: Gunnar Björnstrand, Bengt Ekerot, Nils Poppe, Max von Sydow, Bibi Andersson, Inga Landgré, Åke Fridell

Bergman's hugely iconic and sustained meditation on the inevitability of death and suffering in the Middle Ages makes a more than welcome return to the big screen courtesy of this lovely new print.

• 82%
• 92%

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• 1955
• Sweden
• 1h 45min
• PG

• Directed by: Ingmar Bergman
• Cast: Gunnar Bjornstrand, Eva Dahlbeck, Una Jacobson.

The ex-mistress of a provincial lawyer bumps into her old flame after a number of years and invites both him and his new young wife to her mother's country home for a weekend. Elegant comedy of genteel period manners, which although not of the genre one associates with Bergman is nevertheless handled with a good deal of detached wit and sophistication. It was, of course, the model for Woody Allen's 'Midsummer Night's Sex Comedy'.

• 79%
• 100%

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