Autumn 2019 - At The Scout Hut
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SATURDAY 26 October
Scout Hut Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8pm Sometimes Always Never (12) One thing we love to do is bring a ridiculously overlooked film we know people would love to Hurstpierpoint and this film had a ridiculously small distribution, so we are happy to bring it to you. Bill Nighy is absolutely spellbinding in this elegant, off beat, very British comedy. He plays Alan, a stylish tailor with moves as sharp as his suits. He has spent years searching tirelessly for his missing son Michael who stormed out after a row over the use of the word “Zo” in a game of Scrabble and disappeared. With his family torn apart, Alan must repair the relationship with his youngest son Peter. Then one day he comes across a player online who uses the word “Zo”. Could this be his missing son? |
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SATURDAY 23 November
Scout Hut Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8pm Rear Window (PG) Laid up with a broken leg, photojournalist L.B. Jeffries (James Stewart) is confined to his tiny, sweltering courtyard apartment. To pass the time between visits from his nurse (Thelma Ritter) and his fashion model girlfriend Lisa (Grace Kelly), the binocular-wielding Jeffries stares through the rear window of his apartment at the goings-on in the other apartments around his courtyard. As he watches his neighbours, he assigns them such roles and character names as "Miss Torso", a professional dancer with a healthy social life or "Miss Lonelyhearts", a middle-aged woman who entertains nonexistent gentlemen callers. Of particular interest is seemingly mild-mannered travelling salesman Lars Thorwald (Raymond Burr), who is saddled with a nagging, invalid wife. One afternoon, Thorwald pulls down his window shade, and his wife's incessant bray comes to a sudden halt. Out of boredom, Jeffries casually concocts a scenario in which Thorwald has murdered his wife and disposed of the body in gruesome fashion. Trouble is, Jeffries' musings just might happen to be the truth. This masterpiece of suspense, one of Alfred Hitchcock's best films, is a crackling thriller and as in most Hitchcock films, the protagonist is a seemingly ordinary man who gets himself in trouble for his secret desires |
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SATURDAY 14 December
Scout Hut Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8pm Wild Rose (12A) Jessie Buckley is sensational as Scottish songstress Rose-Lynn Harlan, who wants to be a country singer, but who's as troubled as she is talented. Just out of prison, this brazenly ambitious livewire is a mother trying and failing to make amends to her two young children, while her mum (Julie Walters) pours scorn on her dream of country-music success. But just when you think you know where the story is going, the film switches up on you and changes gear. Wild Rose is a charmer, but it doesn't charm at the expense of intelligence or depth. |
Winter 2019 (Back at The Players Theatre)
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THURSDAY 16 January
Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8pm Burning (15) Burning is a mystery thriller based on a story by Japanese writer Haruki Murakami; a psychological drama set in the modern Korea. When Jong-su meets vivacious Haemi he knows she is way out his league, but to his delighted surprise she takes up with him and they start a relationship. So when he goes to pick her up from the airport on her return from a trip, he is shocked to see she has a new man in tow, Ben, an obviously wealthy, very smooth young man. He is smug, assured and perhaps just a little bit creepy and, when Haemi suddenly disappears, Jong-su is convinced Ben is involved. Burning is a brilliantly made one-off; puzzling, intelligent and ultimately mesmerising. |
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FRIDAY 31 January
Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8pm The Kindergarten Teacher (12A) Maggie Gyllenhaal is utterly brilliant as Lisa Spinelli, a kindergarten teacher by day, who takes poetry classes by night. Her two worlds collide when a five-year-old Jimmy Roy (Parker Sevak) reveals himself to be a poetic prodigy. Anxious to protect his gift from a world she believes doesn’t understand, her fascination with the boy spills over into obsession. This smart, sharp film entrances with the deceptive simplicity of the complex matters it deals with and is a showcase for the brilliance of Maggie Gyllenhaal and a reminder she is among the best actors working today. |
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THURSDAY 13 February
Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8pm The Chambermaid (15) Lila Avilés’s terrifically assured first feature finds magic in the routines of a young hotel worker. Eve (Gabriela Cartol) is a maid in a luxurious Mexico city hotel working on the 21st floor, but dreaming of promotion to the glamour and additional pay and perks of the VIP floor, the 42nd. Diligent and conscientious, she amuses herself by sifting through guests’ possessions to get insights into their lives. When she has interactions with guests, some are weird, some funny, some infuriating. Cartol gives a wonderful performance, filled with humour and poignancy in this superbly atmospheric film. |
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SUNDAY 23 February
Doors: 2.30pm Film: 3pm Fighting With My Family (12A) Here is a heart-warming comedy based on the incredible true story of WWE Superstar Paige. Born into a tight-knit wrestling family, Paige and her brother Zak are ecstatic when they get the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to try out for WWE. But when only Paige earns a spot in the competitive training program, she must leave her family and face this new, cut-throat world alone. Florence Pugh shows there’s no role and no genre she can’t handle with aplomb, effortlessly taking on this nuanced comedic role. |
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FRIDAY 28 February
Doors: 7.30pm Film: 8pm If Beale Street Could Talk (15) The incredible documentary about James Baldwin, “I Am Not Your Negro” blew our audience away last season. Now here is one of his novels brought to the screen by the director of “Moonlight” Barry Jenkins. The story of two young lovers torn apart by prejudice, bigotry and injustice. Gorgeous, powerful, and stunningly crafted, If Beale Street Could Talk is a masterpiece. A visually stunning and emotionally intense meditation on young love, family and social injustice in America. The book was written 20 years ago, but it is utterly relevant today. |
