#UCFF's most-esteemed films, as seen during 2017
More views of - or before - Cambridge Film Festival 2017 (19 to 26 October)
(Click here to go directly to the Festival web-site)
Christmas Eve
#UCFF's most-esteemed films, as seen during 2017 :
or, available here in a plain-text version
or, available here in a plain-text version
Dedicated to Neil White of everyfilm.co.uk (as pictured)
Just flicked through the 520 films on https://t.co/xFknMehWT9 that @everyfilmneil has watched and posted reviews for so far this year :— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) December 24, 2017
A way of reminding of the dozen or so that #UCFF valued (from a much smaller sample), to compile in a Christmas posting.
In alphabetical order (with date of viewing), and - unless stated otherwise - seen at The Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge (@CamPicturehouse) :
* A Quiet Passion (2016) ~ 12 March
Bright Star (2009) and @aquietpassion link : Jane Campion and Terence Davies, respectively, want us to hear verse unheeded in the poets' day pic.twitter.com/PbPBKDwkGd— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 13, 2017
* Baby Driver (2017) ~ 3 July
No doubt that Wright's poking fun of - outright mocking ? - Drive (2011) and Gosling / Mulligan with the pseudo-psychology and 'Wanting out'— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) July 5, 2017
* Becoming Cary Grant (2017) ~ 29 July [seen at The Watershed* / @wshed]
Loved listening to Mark Kidel intro +Q&A his affectionate Becoming Cary Grant: "He took acid 100 times, which is 99 times more than I did."— Rose (@rozebaker) July 30, 2017
* Cameraperson (2016) ~ 8 March
Thanks, @CamPicturehouse @PicDOCS, for Kirsten Johnson's Cameraperson (2016) :— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 8, 2017
Well worth waiting, since not getting in at @sheffdocfest !
* Citizen Jane : Battle for the City (2016) ~ 8 May
The @janejacobsdoc : Battle for the City (2016) is an encouragement to us, when we do not think that we can make a difference to our lives ! pic.twitter.com/YEG64wrfsw— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) May 8, 2017
* Elle (2016) ~ 10 March
'Where Eastern Boys (2013) evokes merging the power-play of the everyday world with that of gaming and gamers, Elle (2016) actually does it' pic.twitter.com/fWEATuFRZf— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) March 12, 2017
* Happy End (2017) ~ 1 December
Sally Potter's The Party (2017) and Haneke's @HappyEndFilm (2017) are arguably both ensemble films, but there the similarity stops : #HappyEnd's Anne (Isabelle Huppert), for example, has the space of not being in every scene, unlike Tom (Cillian Murphy), in the loo, or at the bin pic.twitter.com/Btxu7UoFu4— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) December 2, 2017
* Jackie (2016) ~ 22 February
Expectations of Grace of Monaco (2014) put right by @everyfilmneil's encouraging review, this was screen-filling intensity and immersion.— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) February 22, 2017
* Missing (Sarajin Yeoja) (2016) ~ 24 April
Hyo-jin Kong and Ji-won Uhm [Missing (2016)] do much more than give Tae-ri Kim and Min-hee Kim a run for their money [The Handmaiden (2016)] pic.twitter.com/xT3ge6KCVr— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 25, 2017
* Prevenge (2016) ~ 31 March [seen at Saffron Screen / @Saffronscreen]
As told by @prevengemovie's @MissJoHartley [@Saffronscreen's guest], @alicelowe scripted @prevengemovie in a fortnight, shot it in 11 days.— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) April 1, 2017
* Silence (2016)
We can be proud to have film-makers with the vision and honesty of Martin Scorsese with Silence (2016), initially in first half C17 Japan.— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 20, 2017
Very easily done with Scorsese, but thinking that #silencemovie has a colonial theme or needs an interest in missionaries misses the point ?— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 24, 2017
* Souvenir (2016) ~ 28 August [seen at Saffron Screen]
Very pleased, once more, for the assurance of trusting @SaffronScreen 'blind' for Isabelle Huppert in Souvenir (2016) - rivalling KST now !— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) August 28, 2017
* The Villainess (Ak-Nyeo) (2017) ~ 11 September
Here's a first response, to a film that asks 'Who are we ?', and asserts (twice ?) that 'Nothing we say here will change anything'... pic.twitter.com/H6hXgw3RPr— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 11, 2017
So, March turns out to have been a good time to be at the cinema (not just because it is the time of year for bait for BAFTA, or The Academy Awards)...
Honourable mentions :
* Aquarius (2016) ~ 23 November
NB Should be 'makes / wants to *keep* an underclass' !— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) November 24, 2017
* Chi-Raq (2015) ~ 5 February [seen at Saffron Screen]
At @Saffronscreen, Chi-Raq (2015) from Spike Lee was sometimes a little patchy, but had a stonking speech from John Cusack in St. Sabina's !— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) February 5, 2017
* Dispossession : The Great Social Housing Swindle (2017)
50,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished to make way for about 130 illegal Israeli settlements #50yearstoomany https://t.co/1ZZ0kQ2pIY— Amnesty UK (@AmnestyUK) September 27, 2017
And we must spot parallels ? :— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 27, 2017
In films such as @halfwaydocu and @velvetjoyltd's Dispossession), we see people in the UK losing their homes https://t.co/bcoMfCK9OX
* Freesia (2017) ~ 26 September
By chance at @CamPicturehouse, ended up (through @ourscreenuk) doing a double-bill : @WindRiverMovie, then Conor Ibrahiem's Freesia (2017). pic.twitter.com/QWQFxr9mYp— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) September 26, 2017
* Half Way (2015)
Some impressive coverage of @halfwaydocu in, respectively, @TimeOutLondon and @guardian :https://t.co/UxjIRhBJIXhttps://t.co/AFB7pVt3oi— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) January 12, 2017
* Loving Vincent (2017) ~ 10 November [seen at The Watershed]
Thanks, @wshed, for Following, and for @LovingVincent (2017) this afternoon !— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) November 10, 2017
* On the Road (2016) ~ 9 October
Arguably, On the Road (2016) is closer to Roger Graef and James Rogan's Monty Python : The Meaning of Live (2014), but at a whole-gig level.— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) October 9, 2017
* The Seasons in Quincy : Four Portraits of John Berger (2016) ~ 18 July
Tilda Swinton shares her friendship with Berger / he his with her : they know they're filmed, but no pretension :https://t.co/1db2h5FC9W— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) July 19, 2017
* The Journey (2016) ~ 16 July [seen at Saffron Screen]
John Hurt RIP and Timothy Spall being in The Journey (2016), and a Good-Friday-agreement setting, was enough to get #UCFF to @Saffronscreen— THE AGENT APSLEY (@THEAGENTAPSLEY) July 18, 2017
End-notes :
* In conjunction with Cary Grant comes Home for the Weekend Festival (@carycomeshome).
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Unless stated otherwise, all films reviewed were screened at Festival Central (Arts Picturehouse, Cambridge)
