Frozen femme fatale puts marriage under pressure when Royston Picture Palace returns to action after festival break
Unhappy anniversary: Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling in 56 Years - Credit: Archant
There’s a brief hiatus this week in the constant stream of superior cinema being served up by the Royston Picture Palace.
With venues all over town being pressed into service for the annual Royston Festival, movies have to take a back seat – but that’s a chance to look at what’s coming up over the coming weeks.
The first film to be screened when the projector starts whirring again is 45 Years, the much-praised drama starring Tom Courtenay and Charlotte Rampling as a couple coming up to a milestone wedding anniversary wondering whether they really know each other.
The trigger to their disquiet is the discovery of the perfectly-preserved body of the husband’s former girlfriend, who died in an Alpine fall before the two even got together. What really happened way back then? Did that love ever die?
There are no bangs and flashes in this engrossing drama, showing on Friday and Saturday, October 2 and 3, at 7.30pm but it reels you in and gets you asking questions about your own relationships. You can book tickets online at www.roystonpicturepalace.org.uk.
A bit further in the future there’s Ricki And The Flash, only recently released to what can politely be called mixed reviews.
Jonathan Demme directs and Diabolo Cody, who penned Juno, provides the script for Meryl Streep in another step change for the ever-versatile actress, who here is an ageing rocker trying to mend fences with her family after a lifetime spent making music and hitting the road. It’s billed as a comedy drama but it stands or falls on whether you buy into Meryl as the central character. It’s fair to say that many people have been unable to make that leap.
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You’ll be able to make up your own mind on Friday, October 23.
Another high-profile performance which has only just been released sees the talented Tom Hardy tackling the double role of the gangster Kray brothers.
Legend is a slick slice of 1960s East End life and Hardy is impressive as the very different brothers, although seeing him bounce off himself is distracting however hard it is to see the join.
There are two showings planned for Friday and Saturday, October 30 and 31.
The first film on the calendar for November is Woody Allen’s latest.
Irrational Man, which will be screened on Saturday, November 7, stars Joaquin Phoenix as a tormented professor tempted by a young student and tangling with all sorts of dilemmas.
Yes, that sounds depressingly like a Woody Allen film, doesn’t it?
