Plymouth Arts Centre - January film programme

As the film industry is currently experiencing some turbulence when it comes to release dates, Plymouth Arts Centre is currently programming one month at a time. We are delighted to share their January timetable here for you!

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

If the Arts Centre has to cancel a film or change the screening dates, they will communicate this by email, on their website and on social media. They recommend that you phone in advance to check whether a screening is going ahead, or sign up to the newsletter if you are able: https://plymouthartscentre.org/newsletter-signup/

Opening Times and How to Book

The cinema will reopen on Tuesday 5th January, following a closed period (18th December – 4th January) for Christmas and New Year.

Opening times from Tuesday 5 January:

The Box Office and Café-bar are open from 5pm to 8.30pm Tuesday to Friday, from 1pm to 8.30pm on Wednesday if there is a matinée, and from 1pm to 8pm on Saturday if there is a matinée. You can call the Box Office during these times on 01752 206 114 or email info@plymouthartscentre.org

Cinema Tickets:

Standard £9.00 / Concessions, students, OAPs £7.75 / Matinees £7.00 / Bringing in Baby £8.50 / 25 & Under £4 (please bring ID) / PCA staff and students £4 (please show card) / Unwaged £4. Friends 10% discount. Online booking fee £1.50. Advance booking recommended. We have two wheelchair spaces in the cinema.

Reopening Information

There have been some changes to the way the cinema works, in order to keep customers safe and feeling confident to visit the cinema. Plymouth Arts Centre is part of NHS Test & Trace, a compulsory scheme for visitors of hospitality venues including cinemas, and they are required by law to collect contact details for all people attending a film screening. They are also carrying out temperature checks and social distancing. Face coverings are required, except while eating and drinking. Please see the full information here: https://plymouthartscentre.org/reopening/

THE PROGRAMME:

Sol (12), Tue 5 - Fri 8 January, F-Rated

Dir. Jezebel Marques, France, 2020, 98 mins, subtitled. Cast. Chantal Lauby, Camille Chamoux.

Sol, a famous Argentine Tango performer, has lived in Buenos Aires for many years. Behind her excessive temper and her glowing smile, the Diva hides an injury from which she never really recovered: the loss of her only son, Raphaël. She moves back to Paris in the hope of getting to know her young grandson...who has no idea who she is.

The Ladykillers (U), Tue 5 - Thu 7 January

Dir. Alexander Mackendrick, UK, 1955, 92 mins. Cast. Alec Guinness, Cecil Parker.

In a sparkling new restoration, The Ladykillers is one of the classic Ealing Comedies. The film follows the hilarious capers of a group of small-time crooks, taking on more they can handle in the form of their sweet, but slightly dotty, elderly landlady Mrs Wilberforce who likes to report suspicious behaviour to the police. Unaware of her reputation, the dapper thief Professor Marcus (Alec Guinness) rents rooms in the elderly widow's home for himself and his band of cohorts. Posing as a string quintet, the thieves pull off a bank robbery, but slip up in front of the old lady as they try to escape. Agreeing that they need to ‘silence’ her, the bumbling crooks wind up double-crossing each other and slowly killing themselves off. An absolute gem of a film.

French Film Festival: The Specials, Wed 6 - Thu 7 January

Dir. Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano, France, 2019, 114 mins, subtitled. Cast. Vincent Cassel, Reda Kateb.

Directors and screenwriters Éric Toledano and Olivier Nakache follow their huge hits, C’est la vie and Intouchables (about the friendship between a paraplegic and his carer), with The Specials, about a Jewish man, Bruno (Vincent Cassel) and a Muslim, Malik (Reda Kateb), working together to help children with severe autism who have been rejected by other institutions because they are too difficult to care for.

A rare film that comes both from the heart and reality... potent mix welcomes the audience in with grace and humour.

Falling (15), Fri 8 – Thu 14 January

Programmer’s Pick

Dir. Viggo Mortensen, 2020, 112 mins. Cast. Viggo Mortensen, Lance Henriksen, Laura Linney, Ella Jonas Farlinger.

In Viggo Mortensen’s excellent directorial debut, a father/son relationship is marked by pain, rancour and a lifetime of mutual disappointment in Falling. This is an earnest family drama etched in jagged memories and an elegant waltz between past and present. His sensitive handling of the material creates a quietly affecting reflection on the ties that bind and provides an unusually juicy role for Lance Henriksen as the belligerent, bile-spewing patriarch, suffering from the early stages of dementia, who has to move from his rural farm to live with his gay son's family in Los Angeles.

French Film Festival: My Donkey My Lover and I (tbc), Sat 9 – Thu 14 January, F-Rated

Dir. Caroline Vignal, France, 2020, 95 mins, subtitled. Cast. Laure Calamy, Benjamin Lavernhe, Olivia Côte, Eric Cantona. Antoinette, a schoolteacher, is looking forward to her long-planned summer holidays with her secret lover Vladimir, the father of one of her pupils. When she learns that Vladimir cannot come because his wife has organized a surprise donkey trekking holiday with their daughter in the Cévennes National Park, Antoinette decides to follow their trace, by herself, accompanied by Patrick, a singularly stubborn donkey.

A Girl from Mogadishu (15), Tue 12 – Wed 13 January, F-Rated

Dir. Mary McGuckian, Ireland, 2020, 113 mins. Cast. Aja Naomi King, Martha Canga Antonio, Barkhad Abdi.

Fleeing war-torn Somalia in 2006, Ifrah Ahmed is trafficked to Ireland where a traumatic medical examination when seeking asylum reveals the extent of her mutilation as a child. Traumatized by the memory, she channels the experience into a force for change and emerges as a formidable campaigner against Female Genital Mutilation at the highest political echelons in Ireland, across Europe and finally back in the country of her birth, Somalia.

An emotional nuclear explosion’... ‘A clarion call’ – Sunday Business Post

‘A Girl from Mogadishu is as heart-warming as it is heart-breaking’ – Film Threat

Blithe Spirit (tbc), Fri 15 – Thu 21 January

Dir. Edward Hall, UK, 2020, ? mins. Cast. Judi Dench, Dan Stephens, Isla Fisher, Leslie Mann, Julian Rhind-Tutt.

Best-selling crime novelist Charles is struggling with catastrophic writer’s block and a stressful deadline for his first screenplay. His picture-perfect second wife Ruth is doing her best to keep him focussed in the hope of fulfilling her dream of heading to Hollywood. Charles’ desperate search for inspiration leads him to invite Madame Arcati, a medium recently exposed as a fraud, to perform a séance in their home. They all get more than they bargained for when Arcati accidentally summons the spirit of his deceased first wife: the fiery and jealous Elvira who embarks on a mission to kill Charles so she can spend eternity with him which leads to an increasingly comical and deadly love triangle.

French Film Festival: In the Name of the Land, Sat 16 – Thu 21 January

Dir. Edouard Bergeon, France, 2019, 103 mins, subtitled. Cast. Guillaume Canet, Veerle Baetens, Anthony Bajon, Rufus, Samir Guesmi.

An intimate family drama set against a backdrop of agricultural strife. This is also an extremely personal endeavour for first-time feature director Edouard Bergeon, who tells the story of his own father – a proud paysan who struggled for decades to keep his business alive and paid a high price for doing so. Canet portrays the downward spiral of Pierre Jarjeau, a man of the terroir who takes over the farm from his cruel and unforgiving father, Jacques (Rufus). Rather than letting his son inherit the property, Jacques forces him to buy it from him using a bank loan. In the ensuing years, Pierre is bled dry as he tries to make ends meet and pay off the mounting debt.

Baby Done (15), Fri 22 – Thu 28 January

Dir. Curtis Vowell, New Zealand, 2020, 91 mins. Cast. Rose Matafeo, Matthew Lewis, Rachel House, Emily Barclay.

Baby Done is a pleasingly deadpan, tremendously charming romantic comedy about one couple’s response to imminent parenthood. When awkward New Zealander Zoe and her sensitive British boyfriend Tim find out they are having a baby, they resolve to not let parenthood change them – yet almost immediately, it does. While Tim goes into hyper-anxious dad mode, Zoe throws herself into realising some of their wildest dreams before the baby arrives, with her increasing denial about the birth pushing her, and their relationship, to the limit. Powered by Matafeo’s engaging performance and her laid-back chemistry with the equally likeable Lewis, Baby Done is sharply scripted and elicits both laughs and feeling.