Anyone interested in film discussion club?

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NewToHastings
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Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby NewToHastings » Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:04 pm

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone would be interested in organising a film discussion club in Hastings? The idea would be maybe once a fortnight (or once a week if it takes off) to meet in a public place, possibly in Old Town, for either a drink or a coffee or something, and discuss a film that we've all agreed to watch that week (or that all of us have at least seen at one point).

It would be similar to a book club, but obviously put less pressure on participants as films do not take as long to get through as books typically do.

The aim would be to pick slightly older, maybe more obscure films - some not in the English language, etc. It would all be very casual, but open to people of all ages. It might be a good opportunity to see films that you meant to see many times but never got around too (there are several films like that for me - Akira Kurasawa's Seven Samurai, for one).

Would anyone be interested in something like that? It would be open to people of all ages.

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moonjiver
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Location: St Leonards-on-Sea

Re: Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby moonjiver » Mon Oct 06, 2014 12:12 pm

There is the St Leonard's Film Society which stages films at different venues, but their programme seems a bit limited and heavily geared towards children. Not sure how much discussion etc. takes place, besides the actual viewings.

Also the Electric Palace cinema in the Old Town. They do a variety of films but, for me, too great a sprinkling of controversial or political films, modern films, popular classics, comedies etc. Which is fair enough of course - but I like old film noir thrillers, French New Wave, foreign films from all over, I love Kurosawa's films especially his "samurai" version of the Macbeth story. I watched "The Body" on BBC recently, utterly rivetting, twisted Spanish thriller for thinking people ..

So if a local film club (or someone with a home cinema?) did more of the offbeat or great films, I'd be in there. Maybe a discussion group based around those few really interesting films which do bob up locally?

Hastings people seem to be quite busy (me too!), so you would need to advertise a group well, to catch people's attention and get them along.

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Richard
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Re: Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby Richard » Mon Oct 06, 2014 10:46 pm

Don't know the common ground here as people's choices and tastes vary so widely.
I like some old obscure films that I can't even remember the name of, perhaps because they are foreign and some good ones are in black and white.
Too many Britisah films are funded by American money and in fact American films have taken over so much of the market that they seem to have a monopoly by now.
I suppose there are some very good ones and some which have a cult following but many others of low quality have special tricks and are expert at drawing the viewer in despite the poor content.

The Spanish seem especially good, for the past few years, at producing very disturbing horror films, often involving children, and I don't know if that has a political background, relating to the previous controls under the Franco regime, or whether there is some other reason.
So people might want to consider country-specific source material as well as audience, political and censorship issues.

We know the TV channels in the UK are good at churning out drama's from various sources, which might be adapted into films.
Plus the oldest game of turning a book into cinematic material, not sure why "The film of the Book" now reaches into obscure pretentious quasi-religious productions such as "The DaVinci Code" surely it's just an excuse for a load of cobblers dressed up as something with gravitas, by 'special effects' costing an awful lot of money, to sell the nonsense?

As for getting a club running, to discuss just one film once a week seems a little low but a good idea if anyone can be bothered but I am not one of those people who can read all sorts of interpretations from seeing a film and understanding what the producer (or is it director) is trying to portray.
Clearly many are just meant for light entertainment, whereas others seem to address issues of a more complex nature and since political expression is forbidden in some countries ( or was in the past) then there may be a message or even a Victorian-type moral tale to be learned, who knows ?
:)

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moonjiver
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Re: Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby moonjiver » Mon Oct 06, 2014 11:58 pm

I agree with much of the above. I watch few films on TV these days, the monopoly seems to be held by brain-dead action films in which Bruce Willis, Silvester Stallone, Ray Liotta, Stephen Segal etc. violently reduce earth's human population at a frantic pace ..

Pan's Labyrinth, that was by a Spanish director I think and a wonderful, disturbing work. Obviously we tend to see the best of foreign films (I'm sure other countries besides the USA also have their rubbish), even so I think foreign directors often treat their films much more as a work of art with a great deal of care and passion employed.

I agree too that a film discussion group would be treading a difficult path between everyone's varying tastes and sensibilities. It's a nice idea, worth staying with, but there would need to be a carefully thought-out plan regarding what it was hoped to achieve - although I suppose that a chit-chat about good films in some nice pub would be a perfectly enjoyable way of spending a wet winter evening!

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Richard
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Re: Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby Richard » Wed Oct 08, 2014 9:48 pm

"Chit-Chat" sounds ok to me :)

The director 'del Toro' wrote and produced 'Pan's Labrynth' released in 2006.
It is said to relate to his 'The Devil's Backbone' of 2001.
Both seem to have connections back to Franco and his regime.

they both give me 'the creeps' but far better than 'Vampire' films from America.

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moonjiver
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Re: Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby moonjiver » Thu Oct 09, 2014 10:35 am

As I said, I think this is an idea worth staying with, maybe the original message-poster (is that the right term?!) should make contact with the existing film groups and see what other activities take place besides the actual film viewings.

There has been quite a lot of input here from people, so I rather think that deserves a polite response from the original questioner! Wonder if these thoughts are all what you were looking for?

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Richard
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Re: Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby Richard » Sat Dec 27, 2014 9:28 pm

The original idea is still of some interest and might equally be extended to discussions involving written stories and later televised productions of them, as well as popular stand-alone TV series, involving fictional characters, as a useful starting point.

To take an example:
In Victorian Britain, magazines, like 'The Strand'' once ran serialisations of "Doyle's" 'Sherlock Holmes' short stories, (as the only popular public vehicle of the day), way back in the early 1890's (Doyle first had Sherlock Holme's books published by the late 1880's).
There was often a 'side-kick' called Dr. Watson, and a 'Master' known as Moriarty.
Eventually they made their way into televised productions.

Funnily enough the current 'Benedict Cumberbatch' actor who plays 'Sherlock' is rather less famous than his 'side-kick' Dr.Watson' (Martin Freeman) who stars in 'The Hobbit trilogy', amongst others.

How co-incidental is it that 'Dr Who' also features various 'side-kick' assistants as well as a 'Master' ?

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Richard
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Re: Anyone interested in film discussion club?

Postby Richard » Tue Dec 30, 2014 12:49 pm

not exactly 'films' but I was amused to see 'Mapp & Lucia' last night (and for the next two evenings).
Set in Rye around the 1930's.
Just village mischief and frivolous nonesense really but worth a look for the performance of the two ladies of the title and the scenes of Rye.


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