Mon 3 March: Opening Night Party, 6pm The Young Girls of Rochefort by Jacques Demy, 6:30pm Mon 10 March: Jacquot de Nantes by Agnes Varda, 6:30pm Mon 17 March: Bay of Angels by Jacques Demy, 6:30pm
Mon 24 March: NO SCREENING - Easter Monday Mon 31 March: Donkey Skin by Jacques Demy, 6:30pm Mon 7 April: Umbrellas of Cherbourg by Jacques Demy, 6:30pm Mon 14 April: Pool of Princesses by Bettina Blumner, 6:30pm
Mon 21 April: NO SCREENING - World Cinema Showcase, Members get discounted tickets!
Mon 28 April: NO SCREENING - World Cinema Showcase, Members get discounted tickets! Mon 5 May: Requiem by Hans Christian-Schmid, 6:30pm Mon 12 May: Ghosts by Christian Petzold, 6:30pm Mon 19 May: The Round-Up by Miklós Janscó, 6:30pm Mon 26 May: Ivan the Terrible Parts I & II by Sergei Eisenstein, 8:00pm
Mon 2 June: NO SCREENING - Queen's Birthday Mon 9 June: Zabriskie Point by Michelangelo Antonioni, 6:30pm Mon 16 June: The Passenger by Michelangelo Antonioni, 6:30pm Mon 23 June: Control Room by Jehane Noujaim, 6:30pm Mon 30 June: Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett, 6:30pm Mon 7 July: Several Friends / The Horse / When it Rains / My Brother's Wedding by Charles Burnett, 6:30pm Mon 14 July: Unknown Chaplin by Brownlow & Gill, 8:00pm Mon 21 July: Fanny & Alexander by Ingmar Bergman, 8:00pm Mon 28 July: The Glass Shield by Charles Burnett, 6:30pm
Mon 4 August: NO SCREENING - International Film Festival, Members get discount tickets!
Mon 11 August: NO SCREENING - International Film Festival, Members get discount tickets! Mon 18 August: The Man Without a Past by Aki Kaurismaki, 6:30pm Mon 25 August: The World of Apu by Satayajit Ray, 6:30pm Mon 1 September: Kiwi Jokers (NZ Shorts) by Various Directors, 6:30pm Mon 8 September: The Footstep Man by Leon Narbey, 6:30pm Mon 15 September: Charleen / Backyard by Ross McElwee, 6:30pm Mon 22 September: Sherman's March by Ross McElwee, 8:00pm Mon 29 September: Time Indefinite by Ross McElwee, 6:30pm Mon 6 October: The King and the Clown by Lee Jun-ik, 6:30pm Mon 13 October: Forbidden Quest by Kim Dae-woo, 6:30pm Mon 20 October: DOUBLE FEATURE Barking Dogs Never Bite by Bong Joon-ho, 6:30pm Driving with my Wife's Lover by Kim Tai-sik
An off-the-scale hit in Korea (it was the country’s highest grossing film
ever until The Host came along), Lee Jun-ik’s vivid historical drama is the film that Farewell, My Concubine
wanted to be.
Sixteenth century Korea is going to the dogs under the tyrannical misrule of King Yeonsan, and street
entertainers Jang-saeng (the macho one) and Gong-gil (the effeminate one) do well with a vulgar satire of the monarch’s
shortcomings. Their act gets them arrested, but they escape execution by coaxing a laugh from the king himself.
No sooner are they installed as court jesters, though, than the glamorous Gong-gil starts receiving urgent summonses
to the king’s private rooms...
Next thing, they’re in a jealous impasse, with the queen and the possessive
Jang-saeng in one corner and the king and his new favourite in the other. This began life as a stage play by Kim
Tae-woong, and no one in the Korean film industry expected it would wipe various big-budget "blockbusters" off the
screen.
It’s for Korean sociologists to say why the film’s themes proved so popular, but it’s obvious why the
film is such a hit: terrific performances, a smart and witty script, first-rate design and very stylish mise en scène and
cutting. Lee Jun-Ik has directed a couple of films before, one of them also a big hit, but he’s been better known as a
producer. Not any more.
(In Korean with English subtitles, 119 minutes, colour)