chester film society

'..if you missed' Alan Rickman's last appearance on screen then this is for you! A provocatively tense thriller that negotiates the moral minefield of drone warfare in crowd-pleasing fashion. A nail-biting exercise in collective buck passing as the combatants, lawyers and politicians involved in the “kill chain” (the script’s original title) argue the personal, political and legal merits of launching a drone strike in “a friendly country that is not at war”.  A wonderful turn from the late Alan Rickman as the sardonic but very sharp witted British Lieutenant-Colonel, who wrangles the politicians as they defer making a decision and all try to push the responsibility upwards. Not to be missed!

**** The Guardian

'...if you missed' our highest rated film of our last (and slightly truncated) season then you missed the amazing acting from the children in this Lebanese drama. 

Capernaum — the word means ‘chaos’ or ‘disorder’ — opens with drone shots of Beirut buildings and stunning slow-motion images of kids running that suggests we are in poetic mode. But this is (deliberately) deceptive as this is actually the story of 12-year-old Zain. Living in abject poverty, with no education and abusive parents, he is unable to stop his 11-year-old sister being sold to a seedy greengrocer for chickens. Zain goes on the run, a non-person in flight. He is given shelter by an illegal Ethiopian cleaner Rahil, and becomes babysitter to her one-year old, Yonas. When Rahil fails to return from work one day, Zain is forced into desperate measures to keep Yonas and himself alive.

My mum says this is the best film she saw in 2019 - so it must be good!

**** The Guardian

'..if you missed' the Wednesday night of the 2020 Chester International Film Festival, then you missed the heady tale of forbidden desire. It also won the audience award!

Merab, a young Georgian from a family of dancers, has been training all his life to follow in his father's footsteps. Though his dance teacher is very demanding and daily rehearsals are physically draining, Merab’s biggest obstacle to overcome is the fact he starts to have feelings for a newly arrived fellow dancer, who happens to be not only also a man but his main rival for a much-desired spot in the national ensemble. The subject of anti-LGBT protests when it was released in Georgia in 2019, the film juxtaposes the conservative world of Georgia and Georgian dance, with the freedom of self-discovery.

**** The Guardian