PROGRAMME HIDDEN FIGURES MARCH 2017 “possibly Britain’s most beautiful cinema..” (BBC) Britain’s Best Cinema – Guardian Film Awards MARCH 2017 • ISSUE 144 www.therexberkhamsted.com 01442 877759 Mon-Sat 10.30-6.30pm Sun 4.30-5.30pm BEST IN MARCH CONTENTS Films At A Glance 16-17 Rants & Pants 25-27 BOX OFFICE: 01442 877759 Mon to Sat 10.30-6.30 Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid If we should show it once a year, this 26th March, is this year’s best day. Sun 4.30-5.30 See page 21 SEAT PRICES FILMS OF THE MONTH Circle £9.00 Concessions £7.50 Table £11.00 Concessions £9.50 Royal Box Seat (Seats 6) £13.00 Whole Royal Box £73.00 All matinees £5, £6.50, £10 (box) Disabled and flat access: through the gate on High Street (right of apartments) Denial Christine A tense dangerous true story of A tragic life story, measured Director: James Hannaway clear truth over ugly lies (aren’t all perfectly by the most un-tragic 01442 877999 lies ugly…) See page 8 Rebecca Hall. See page 13 Advertising: Chloe Butler 01442 877999 Artwork: Demiurge Design 01296 668739 The Rex High Street (Three Close Lane) Berkhamsted, Herts HP4 2FG www.therexberkhamsted.com Hidden Figures Fifty Shades Darker Yet another ‘true story’. Three And this is probably the only true “ Unhesitatingly The Rex mathematicians, essential to ‘true story’. Told with certain style is the best cinema I have 1950’s NASA, just happen to be in the ‘eloquent filth’ dept. ever..” (STimes Culture) black and female. See page 19 See page 24 OCTOBERMARCH FILMS FILMS 8 THE REX - MARCH BOX OFFICE: 01442 877759 Denial Imagine being sued for Libel and then, thanks to the UK legal system, having to find the burden of proof that something as undeniable as the Holocaust actually happened…? And on European soil. And – in OUR time…! This was the pressure put on University Professor Deborah E. Lipstadt. The film is based on her acclaimed 1993 book: History on Trial: My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier. Rachel Weisz play Lipstadt as she fights her infamous legal Director: Mick Jackson battle against World War II historian David Irving Cast: Timothy Spall, Rachel Weisz, Tom (a beautifully nasty Timothy Spall). Written by the Wilkinson, Alex Jennings fabulously clever, meticulous David Hare it follows Duration: 110 mins a fight against prejudice. It is laced with a strong, Origin: UK/USA 2016 emotional score and is set for Oscar nods. Certificate: 12A “Another illuminating performance from Rachel Company: Entertainment One Weisz and a brilliant screenplay by the distinguished British playwright David Hare make Denial one of the most powerful and riveting courtroom dramas When... ever made.” (New York Observer) Wed 1 2.00, 7.30 “Awaiting the verdict, cleverly makes for a real nail- biter. Denial demonstrates the truth is worth fighting Thur 2 2.00, 7.30 for.” (Toronto Star) A great cast chase after an ugly Wed 8 7.30 true tale. Don’t miss. www.therexberkhamsted.com THE REX - MARCH 9 La La Land Just this once, believe the hype. These two starry adorables reunite in Damien Chazelle’s fabulous storytelling musical ditty. He has you in the palm of his hand from the opening one-take shot, when the two leads, jobbing jazz musician Ryan Gosling and aspiring actress Emma Stone, pass in their cars after an all singing/dancing traffic snarl-up an on a soaring freeway LA overpass. La La Land gets a lot of flavour from its fabulous screen heritage. It’s an indie do-over of a French New Wave-take on classic American musicals, part Director: Damien Chazelle Top Hat, part Umbrellas Of Cherbourg, but mostly Cast: Ryan Gosling, Emma Stone Singin’ In The Rain. Yet Chazelle deftly handles the Duration: 128 mins combination, and in doing so avoids the cheese. It Origin: USA 2017 is equal parts corny and cool. If Emma is the heart, Certificate: 12A Ryan is its soul. Company: Lionsgate This is Hollywood’s American dream re-dreamt. For two genuinely magical hours, you can forget about the real one. It is Hollywood’s unabashed celebration of itself. It is why ‘they’ built 1100 seater ‘escape’ palaces, like Rex and Odysseys’ everywhere When... throughout the kingdom. Fri 3 7.30 Mon 6 2.00 An Oscar for fun, without one preachy po-faced Streep in sight. Come for fabulous old cinema and a Sat 4 7.00 Wed 8 2.00 few surprisingly good foot tappings… Sun 5 6.00 Tue 14 7.30 10 THE REX - MARCH BOX OFFICE: 01442 877759 Moana (Sing-Along) Toni Erdmann Amidst the lush green rainforest and bubbling vol- Seven years since her second feature Everyone canoes, Disney crafts a heartfelt tale of adventure Else first played, Maren Ade returns with another that doesn’t feel recycled from Frozen! 16 year exquisite offering of unconventionality. old Moana (Auli‘i Cravalhowhojnk) sets out to save Eccentric oddball Winfried (Simonischek) a practical her home island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean joker at heart, sees little of his daughter Ines (Hüller) from the curse laid upon it by the demi-God Maui (a a corporate strategist based in Bucharest. That is critically acclaimed Dwayne Johnson! Imagine that). until the death of his loyal canine companion sparks Moana is soon to take over from her Father as Island a turnaround in his life. So he decides to pay her chief, yet despite repeated warnings to stay out of surprise visit. But when the two vastly different indi- mischief, she can’t ignore the beckoning of the sea. viduals are jumbled back together, it takes little time The young princess sets out on a quest to restore for Winfried’s muted and continuous prods at Ines’ the island to its former glory and her people to lifestyle of performance reports and client meetings, to force them apart again. Several days pass and peace once more. Whilst the musical numbers are a Winfried reappears, this time as “Toni Erdmann“ a classic family-friendly Disney, the film doesn’t lack creation of his own, complete with wacky wig and a stylistic attention to detail, including Maui’s tattoos bizarre pair of false teeth. Claiming to be her CEO’s taking on a hand-drawn narrative of their own (odd, life coach, and amidst the madness, Ines’ attachment but a surprisingly nice touch). The fiery personality to her father steadily grows. Selected for conten- of the young princess, combined with the absence tion in this years’ Palme d’Or and making waves of a love interest, fuels a moral behind the excite- in the Oscars build up, Ade’s unclassifiable gem is ment. It is currently taking Box Offices by storm. little short of miraculous, if at times emotionally “Eye-watering visuals, earworm songs and upheaving. heart-swelling messages about respect for the past “Earns every uproarious, heartbreaking or illuminat- and hopes for the future.” (Guardian) (research Grace ing moment, and every corresponding emotional Atkins) Now you can ‘singalong’ too…! response.” (Screen International) (research Chris Coetsee) Bring a packed lunch and some knitting. Directors: Ron Clements, John Musker Beware, I didn’t check its running time (2hrs:42) Voices: Auli’i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson, before choosing a Monday eve. Apologies Rachel House Duration: 113 mins Director: Maren Ade Origin: USA 2016 Cast: Peter Simonischek, Sandra Hüller Certificate: PG Duration: 162 mins Company: Walt Disney Studios Origin: Germany/Austria 2016 Certificate: 15 Company: Soda Pictures When... When... Sat 4 2.00 Mon 6 7.30 www.therexberkhamsted.com THE REX - MARCH 11 Jackie Loving This raw portrait of America’s, most tragic and With its intimate, human scale and sparse content, history’s only immortalised First Lady, captures Loving is a quietly beautiful true story about one in exquisite detail Jackie Kennedy’s resolve to couple’s forbidden marriage. Ruth Negga plays maintain a figure of poise and grace in the wake of Mildred Jeter, a young black woman from Caroline Dallas, November 22nd 1963. Larraín’s anticipated County, Virginia, who takes a shine to a local white biopic shifts the focus from JFK to the iconic wife construction worker called Richard Loving (Joel who continued living in the sight and shadow of his Edgerton). They fall in love, and when she becomes slaying. Natalie Portman takes Jackie K’s elegance and pregnant the next logical step is marriage. Uh oh, not makes it her own. In the four days following, she has in the Deep South of the 1950s, where racist laws to explain to her children why their father is never still hold considerable sway, forbidding marriage coming home. The narrative centres on her famous between people of different races. The couple’s ‘non-interview’ with Life magazine a mere week after nearly decade-long battle to legalise their interracial Dallas. Interjecting flashbacks to the killing scene marriage in Virginia went all the way to the Supreme and its tense build up, and her married life in the Court, bringing an eventual end to the laws that White House, constantly reminds the audience of the exiled the couple from their home. Nichols, director shadows between them. The psychological trauma of Take Shelter, Mud and, most recently Midnight from her being right beside Kennedy as he is shot, Special tells the Lovings’ story in a way that feels is the crux. It is this cool, aloof, absolute presence immediate and modern, and not just like a history of mind, which assures Jackie Kennedy’s long place lesson.