Just thought I’d post some of my more obscure (and old) suggestions for the Autumn schedule so people can watch the trailers or discuss them before Wednesday.
Foreign: I Saw the Devil: Looks good. Similar to Oldboy (another great Korean film).
Classic: Pulp Fiction: It’s been shown on the Term 1 Week 2 Friday slot for the last few years and has consistently got combined audiences of around 400. I doubt you’ll find many doubles that’ll do better than that. Back to the Future: I think this could do really well (maybe even double worthy). It was digitally rereleased about a year ago. Apocalypse Now: Should do well. Recently rereleased. Independance Day: We’ve been trying to show it for a while. The digital projector might mean we actually can now. Battleship Potemkin: A 1920s silent film made in the Soviet Union. I guess that makes it an uphill struggle to persuade people to put it on but it is very highly regarded and is included in lists of the greatest films ever made. It’s recently been rereleased so now would be a good time to show it.
Documentary: Senna: A documentary about the formula 1 racing driver Ayrton Senna. It’s been getting a lot of publicity in F1 media (so should get a reasonable audience), it won an award at the Sundance film festival and has been getting really good reviews. Plus it’s been a while since we showed a documentary.
Other: Hobo With a Shotgun: Like Machete, another film based on one of the fake grindhouse trailers. I think the university is the right audience for it to do really well.
Can we please NOT show Pulp Fiction again. There are many other films we could show in its place and surely one of our aims as a film society is to have some variety in what we show.
While Pulp Fiction might not be your favourite film, Martin, we’re having a wee financial crisis at the moment, and surely showing something which almost guarantees a sellout would be best for the society?
It has nothing to do with what is or isn’t my favourite film, I do actually like Pulp Fiction quite a lot. All i’m trying to say is that maybe it would be best if we put on a different film. I’m not saying it can’t be another popular one, just one we haven’t shown quite as recently. I was under the impression that we were a not-for-profit society rather than a business and so whilst at the moment we do need to be concerned about our finances it shouldn’t govern our choice of films.
The problem is that we don’t have any other classic films that are consistently as successful as Pulp Fiction. By showing it and taking the money it generates it gives us the freedom to either play a far wider variety of films in the midweek slots (such as Battleship Potemkin which while unlikely to make money has great cinematic value) or shore up our finances which by next term might actually be in the red. We’re not talking about Pulp Fiction pushing a different successful classic film off the schedule, we’re talking about replacing one of our weak doubles with one of the most popular films of term.
I deifnitely agree with showing Pulp Fiction again. Personally, I don’t want to watch it again, yet I don’t see why we want to prevent 300+ people from viewing it, when we get that many new people coming to watch it every year.
Of those we’ve shown in recent years, Pulp Fiction has done comfortably the best (382 in 2010, 389 in 2009, 434 in 2008) of the classics we’ve used on double screenings (Jurassic Park 143, V for Vendetta 229, Donnie Darko 180, American Beauty 84, Moulin Rouge 109, The Shawshank Redemption 105 in 2009 and 162 in 2007) over the past few years. Most modern releases don’t even do 350+ over their doubles!
I agree that Back to the Future should be on as a digital screening, and I’m also really keen on going for some other re-released digital prints, including Apocalypse Now, Akira and Taxi Driver.
I appreciate that this is quite late, but I’ve only just had a chance to look through upcoming stuff thoroughly.
I wanted to put the spotlight on upcoming foreign language films as well as some of the more obscure but promising upcoming releases that didn’t necessarily receive their due on the suggestions page. For your consideration…
Foreign:
Little White Lies (French): Starring Marion Cotilliard, about the changing relationships among a group of friends. One of the biggest box office hits in French cinema history.
A Serbian Film (Serbian): Needs no introduction by now, although seemingly is no longer on IMDb…
A Separation (Iranian): “A couple, Nader and Simin, have opposite ideas about living abroad but the same opinions about divorce.”
Incendies (French): After their mother’s death, twin sisters make a journey to their homeland. Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language 2011.
Angels of Evil (Italian): Bio of an infamous Milanese bank robber.
The Skin I Live In (Spanish): Pedro Almodovar’s latest. “This revenge tale tells the story of a plastic surgeon on the hunt for the men who raped his daughter.”
Life, Above All (African): “A touching mother-daughter relationship that reflects the modern South Africa.”
Palermo Shooting (German/Italian): Wild German photographer takes a break in Sicily.
Le Quattro Volte (Italian): “An old shepherd lives his last days in a quiet medieval village perched high on the hills of Calabria.”
Heartbeats (French): “The story of three close friends who are involved in a love-triangle.”
Julia’s Eyes (Spanish): “The story of a woman who is slowly losing her sight whilst trying to investigate the mysterious death of her twin sister.”
The Big Picture (French): A bigshot lawyer has it all but puts it on the line when he kills his wife’s lover.
Arrietty (Japanese anime): Sounds a lot like ‘The Borrowers’, but in anime form.
Post Mortem (Spanish): “An employee at a Morgue’s recording office falls for a burlesque dancer who mysteriously disappears.”
The Conspirator: James McAvoy and Robin Wright in a drama about Lincoln’s Assassination.
Larry Crowne: Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts. “After losing his job, a middle-aged man reinvents himself by going back to college.”
Horrible Bosses: Jennifer Aniston, Jason Bateman, Colin Farrell and Kevin Spacey. “Three friends conspire to murder their awful bosses.”
Beginners: A young man (Ewan McGregor) is rocked by two announcements from his elderly father: that he has terminal cancer, and that he has a young male lover.
Trust: Clive Owen, dir David Schwimmer. A teenage girl is targeted by an online sexual predator.
Super 8: Sci-fi mystery thriller from JJ Abrams (Lost).
Jack Goes Boating: Quirky romcom starring and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Holy Rollers: “In Brooklyn, a youth from an Orthodox Jewish community (Jesse Eisenberg) is lured into becoming an Ecstasy dealer by his pal (Justin Bartha).”
Mr Popper’s Penguins: Jim Carrey is a businessman whose life is changed when he inherits six penguins.
One Day: Anne Hathaway and Jim Sturgess seen on a single day of each year, sometimes together and sometimes not.