Harrold Film Nights – What’s On
Friday 20th March
Downton Abbey (PG) 122 min
Downton Abbey follows the lives of the Crawley family and the servants first depicted in the very popular television series. The film, set in 1927, the film depicts a visit by the King and Queen to the Crawley family’s English country house in the Yorkshire countryside. As the Royal staff descend on Downton, an assassin has also arrived and attempts to kill the monarch. The family and servants are pitted against the royal entourage, including the Queen’s lady-in-waiting, who has fallen out with the Crawleys, especially the Dowager Countess, over an inheritance issue.
“Between the tiaras, the tea trays, the synchronised curtsies, meaningful glances, and interludes of fisticuffs and tweed, fans of the long-running series will fell like they’ve slipped into a welcome warm bath.”
Friday November 22nd
Rocketman (15) 121min
The Elton John biopic directed by Dexter Fletcher and written by Lee Hall, it stars Taron Egerton as John, with Jamie Bell as Bernie Taupin, Richard Madden as John Reid, and Bryce Dallas Howard as Sheila Eileen.
ROCKETMAN is an epic musical story about Elton John’s breakthrough years. The film follows the fantastical journey of transformation from shy piano prodigy Reginald Dwight into international superstar Elton John. This inspirational story – set to Elton John’s most beloved songs and performed by star Taron Egerton – tells the universally relatable story of how a small-town boy became one of the most iconic figures in pop culture.
“But for me, Fletcher is the real star of this show, a director whose enthusiasm for musical storytelling shines through every frame, hitting all the emotional high notes. I have yet to come down.” Mark Kermode, The Observer
Friday September 20th
All is True (12A) 101min.
Kenneth Branagh and Ben Elton’s poignant Bard biopic
The year is 1613, and Shakespeare is acknowledged as the greatest writer of the age. But disaster strikes when his renowned Globe Theatre burns to the ground. Devastated, Shakespeare returns to Stratford, where he must face a troubled past and a neglected family. Haunted by the death of his only son, Hamnet, he struggles to mend the broken relationship with his wife and daughters. In so doing, he is ruthlessly forced to examine his own failings as a husband and father.
4½* (Guardian)
Ben Elton has written a sweet-natured, melancholy film about the retirement years of someone he’s lately been turning into his specialist subject: William Shakespeare. The great poet is played here with genial sympathy by the film’s director, Kenneth Branagh, sporting a pretty outrageous false nose. Judi Dench is his wife Anne Hathaway, wearied into resilient impassivity by grief, the unfairness of life and an awful secret. Ian McKellen has a colossal, emphatically wigged cameo as the ageing Earl of Southampton.
All Is True is sentimental, theatrical, likable – and unfashionable.
Friday May 17th
Green Book (12A) 130min.
Winner of 3 Oscars – Best Motion Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Ali) and Best Screenplay
When Tony Lip (Viggo Mortensen), a bouncer from an Italian-American neighbourhood in the Bronx, is hired to drive Dr Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali), a world-class Black pianist, on a concert tour from Manhattan to the Deep South, they must rely on “The Green Book” to guide them to the few establishments that were then safe for African-Americans. Confronted with racism, danger as well as unexpected humanity and humour—they are forced to set aside differences to survive and thrive on the journey of a lifetime. From the official website
See a Trailer here https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6966692/?ref_=nv_sr_1
Friday March 22nd
First Man (12A) 114min.
The riveting story behind the first manned mission to the moon, focusing on Neil Armstrong and the decade leading to the historic Apollo 11 flight. A visceral and intimate account told from Armstrong’s perspective, the film explores the triumphs and the cost – on Armstrong, his family, his colleagues and the nation itself – of one of the most dangerous missions in history. Directed by Damien Chazelle and starring Ryan Gosling.
“Ryan Gosling plays Neil Armstrong as a hero of relatively few words but Claire Foy provides the emotional heft (and the Oscar buzz) as the steadfast spouse of the lunar legend.” Radio Times
“This is at once cracking, deep-cutting, free-flowing in a defined range, fast and compelling.” Eye for Film
See a trailer here https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213641/?ref_=nv_sr_1