Shichinin no samurai

New 4K restoration. A poor village under attack by bandits recruits seven unemployed samurai to help them defend themselves in Kurosawa’s influential classic.

Kambei the samurai assembles his team of reluctant warriors to participate in a probable suicide mission that will bring them neither money nor fame. The second act explores the strained relationship between villager and warrior class while the last act depicts the epic final battle when the bandits attack the village. The shoot lasted a year, but the results are there to be seen with its sublime photography and choreography. Kurosawa’s approach to historical realism was utterly committed with meticulously researched sets and costumes with masterful deployment of natural lighting and weather conditions to enhance the drama.

Japan 1954 Akira Kurosawa 206m

Spectateurs

What does it mean, to go to the movies? Why have people been going for over one hundred years? This is an unmissable film for lovers of cinema.

Arnaud Desplechin set out to celebrate cinemas and their manifold magic. He walked in the footsteps of his young alter ego Paul Dédalus, as if in a filmgoer’s coming-of-age story. Memories, fiction, discoveries come together in an irrepressible torrent of pictures. The warm, inviting tone of the film and Desplechin’s use of a stunning selection of movie clips should make this hugely appealing for cinephiles who will consider it must-see. ‘Cheerfully makes the point that we grow with cinema, and cinema with us’ – Variety.

(Subtitles)

France 2024 Arnaud Desplechin 88m

We hope to welcome French filmmaker Mathieu Almaric for a Q&A after the screening. (tbc)

Steve McQueen’s new film follows the story of a group of Londoners during the bombings of the British capital in World War II.

Nine-year-old George (Elliott Heffernan) is evacuated to the countryside by his mother, Rita (Saoirse Ronan), to escape the bombings. Defiant and determined to return to his family, George embarks on a journey back home as Rita searches for him. His adventures see him leap from a moving train before finding charity and bigotry, air-raid wardens and criminals (the always wonderful Kathy Burke and Stephen Graham). McQueen does a great job of showing an overview of the Blitz through a series of often powerful and moving moments, somehow making the subject matter feel monumental, even though we have seen documented, honoured and reinterpreted on screen many times before.

UK 2024 Steve McQueen 120m

International Panorama: Japan

Gojira -1.0

Termed by critics as the best Godzilla film in decades - an instant classic with terrific special effects and a really entertaining story to match. Re-released in recognition of its Oscar earlier this year.

Post war Japan is at its lowest point when a new crisis emerges in the form of a giant monster, baptized in the horrific power of the atomic bomb.

Kamikaze pilot Koichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki) stumbles into a Godzilla attack at the start of the film, and his cowardice costs lives. So, when the creature stirs again a few years later, Shikishima has a chance to redeem himself and save his new family, but can he face his greatest fear? A tough call, as this Godzilla is an elemental, uncaring force, a manifestation of Japan's darkest psychology.

It is the rare kaiju (giant monster genre) movie that cares this deeply about the inner lives and motivations of the people scurrying out of the way of the monster’s giant thudding feet.

An instant classic with terrific special effects and a really entertaining story to match.

Japan 2023 Takashi Yamazaki 124m

98% - Rotten Tomatoes