Author: Barossa Film Club

Barossa Film Club is screening 2015 Japanese drama “Sweet Beam” on Friday 18th March at Barossa Arts Gallery, Tanunda, commencing at 7.30 pm. Directed by Naomi Kawase and starring Kirin Kiki, Masatoshi Nagase and Kyara Uchida. The film was screened at the Cannes Film Festival.
There is little salt to balance out the sugar, yet the Sweet Bean remains delightful. A conventional tale about a few misfits teaching each other about life conforms to a certain narrative mould, but is elevated by Naomi Kawase’s delicate direction and sublime images. Middle-aged Sentaro (Masatoshi Nagase) mans a pantry-sized shop in Japan selling dorayakis, a snack of red bean paste caught between two pancakes. The shop’s few patrons are a trio of schoolgirls, chatty and harmless, and another more pensive named Wakana (Kyara Uchida, magnetic). Sentaro sports the uneasy glare of a man who seen too much, speaks very little, and has no friends. This changes gradually and drastically when he reluctantly hires the 76-year-old Tokue (Kirin Kiki), but only after sampling her home-made bean paste; Sentaro has long grown used to committing the sin of purchasing a pre-made version in bulk.
Tokue teaches her new boss – a title she proudly relishes on him – to get up before the sun to simmer the beans and coax out their flavour by talking to them. An eccentric old lady she is. With a hunch and dawdle, glasses and bonnet, she is a cute grandma-type, full of vague wisdom and rough past to match Sentaro’s . In the beginning she’s someone to be laughed at, and even annoyed with, but be careful. This senior citizen who waves excitedly at sakura blossoms and stares off into the distance might draw you in without notice.
The film will screen on Friday 18th March, commencing at 7.30 pm, at the Barossa Regional Gallery. The side door off the carpark will open at 7 pm. Entry is free for members and membership is obtainable at the door. Because of covid restrictions, pre-reservations are essential by ringing Front of House Allan Pearce on 0417002708 or emailing allan_jill@bigpond.com

On Friday 19th November Barossa Film Club screens the last of its programme for 2021, the 1949 Italian masterpiece “The Bicycle Thieves” directed by Vittorio Dia Sica and starring non-professional actors Lamberto Maggiorani, Enzo Staiola and Lianella Carrell.
The story tells of a man in post-war, poverty-stricken Rome, who struggles to make ends meet, finally managing to get a job hanging posters through the bustling streets. For the job, he needs his bicycle, which is in the pawn-shop. His wife sells the bed-sheets in order to redeem the bicycle. On his first day, his bicycle is stolen, effectively ending his job and leaving his family in even more abject poverty. So he and his son start to scour the streets for the dastardly thieves.
This is a story told by real people about real problems faced by the desperately poor. The head of the family is driven to test all his resolve and push beyond the boundaries of moral behaviour as he and his son desperately try to trace the one means whereby he can earn money to feed his family. Poignant and engrossing this is one of the great film of the 20th century and has been widely acclaimed by critics. As Michael Elliott said, “BICYCLE THIEVES works on a number of levels but without giving anything away, the ending has to be one of the greatest ever done for a film. The movie contains more power and emotion than any of the fake “dramas” that get released each year and it remains one of all-time greats.”
The film will screen at Faith College Wine Centre at 7.30 pm on Friday 19th November. Because this is the last showing for the year, supper will be served before the film starts and the doors will open at 6.30 pm. Entry is free to members and membership is obtainable at the door. Attendees are welcome to bring their own beverages, but please note that, because of ongoing covid restrictions on seating it is essential that those attending register with the Front of House Allan Pearce on telephone 0417 002 708 or email allan_jill@bigpond.com

Barossa Film Club is showing a 1985 Argentinean film next Friday 16th July. “La Historia Officiall” or “The Official Story” was stars Norma Aleandro, Hector Alterio and Chunchuna Villafane. The film won an Academy Award for best Foreign Film.
In this powerful film, Director Luis Puenzo tells the story of a teacher’s awakening to conscience at the end of Argentina’s “Dirty War” of the late 70s and early 80s. As in Pinochet’s Chile, the military secret police sought to consolidate their power by routinely torturing and murdering students, political activists, opponents of the regime, and even expectant mothers. Many ended up as desaparecidos, people taken by the government and not returned. The film is about one mother’s search for the truth about her adopted daughter and her discovery brings harsh political reality very close to home.
As renowned critic Roger Ebert wrote, “The Official Story” is part polemic, part thriller, part tragedy. It belongs on the list with films like “Z” “Missing” and “El Norte” which examine the human aspects of political unrest. It is a movie that asks some very hard questions. Should Alicia search for the real mother of her daughter? Is her own love no less real? What would be “best” for the little girl?
“The Official Story” will screen on Friday at 7.30 pm at the Faith College Wine Centre, Magnolia Road, Tanunda, with the doors opening at 7 pm. Admission is free for Film Club Members, and membership is obtainable at the door. Due to covid restrictions, seating is limited and attendees must book with front-of-house Allan Pearce on 0417 002 708 or email allan_jill @bigpond.com

“The King’s Choice” (“Kongens Mai”) is a film made in 2017. Directed by Erik Poppe and starring Jesper Christensen and Anders Baasmo, it based on the true story of three dramatic days in April, 1940, when the King of Norway is presented with an ultimatum from the German armed forces: surrender or die. The Royal family is forced to flee Oslo to escape the Nazi soldiers.
Film critic Allan Turan said, “Strongly performed by unfamiliar actors and crisply directed by Norway’s Erik Poppe, “The King’s Choice” is a dramatic tale about a pivotal World War II moment, a story infused with tension and psychological conflict that’s all the more engrossing for being fresh to us. The king in question is Norway’s Haakon VII, and the choice he came to during three hectic days in April of 1940 not only determined his country’s specific fate during the war, it speaks to broader questions about the moral role of leaders, whether they be constitutional monarchs or not.As written by Jan Trygve Royneland and Harald Rosenlow-Eeg, “The King’s Choice” gives short shrift to hindsight. Its intent is to show us how difficult it is to see clearly during times of crisis, how what seems as simple as black and white today was the source of uncertainty and soul-searching when it happened.”
The film will be shown at the Faith College Wine Centre on Friday 21st May commencing at 7.30 pm (Doors open at 7 pm). Because of covid restrictions, it is necessary to book in advance, by contacting Allan Pearce on 0417002708 or email allan_jill@bigpond.com Admission is free to members and membership is obtainable at the door.

The audience enjoyed “Sunday Too Far Away”, and its portrayal of the Australian way of life 50 years ago. For its time, it was quite a hard-bitten and confronting story, showing the characters, particyularly Jack Thompson’s gun shearer, as uncompromisingly macho, particularly in front of other men. The quote which provided the title was particularly apt: “Friday he’s too tired, Saturday he’s too drunk, Sunday he’s too far way”.

Barossa Film Club presents one of the iconic Australian films, the classic 1975 “Sunday Too Far Away’, directed by Ken Hannam and starring Jack Thompson and a host of other Australian actors. This was the first film ever produced by the South Australian Film Corporation and made history by being the first Australian film selected for the Director’s Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.
The film is set on a sheep station in the Australian outback in 1955 and its action concentrates on the shearers’ reactions to a threat to their bonuses and the arrival of non-union labour. Acclaimed for its understated realism of the work, camaraderie and general life of the shearer, Jack Thompson plays the knock-about Foley, a heavy drinking gun shearer, and while he makes a play for the station owner’s daughter Sheila (Lisa Peers), the film is a presentation of various aspects of Australian male culture and not a romance; the film’s title itself is reputedly the lament of an Australian shearer’s wife: “Friday night [he’s] too tired; Saturday night too drunk; Sunday, too far away”.
Sunday Too Far Away won three 1975 Australian Film Institute awards: Best Film, Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Actor in a Supporting Role.
The film will screen at 7.30 pm on Friday 9th April at the Faith College Wine Centre; doors will open at 7 pm. Due to ongoing covid restrictions it is essential to book in advance by contacting Front of House Allan Pearce on email allan_jill@bigpond.com or phone 0417 002 708. Entry is free for Club Members and membership is obtainable at the door.

Barossa Film Club presents Academy Award winning Danish film “Haevnen” or “In a Better World” on Friday 19th March. The Oscar was for best foreign film.
The story tells of Anton (Mikael Persbrandt) who is a doctor who travels frequently between his home in Denmark and a refugee camp in Africa. His domestic life is complicated by the fact that he and his wife, Marianne (Trine Dyrholm), are experiencing marital strife and his son, Elias (Markus Rygaard), is a victim of school bullying. When a new boy, whose mother recently died, moves to town and befriends Elias, it provides solace for both father and son. After a reckless act, however, things turn tragic. Impeccably acted and set against a background of the contrasting scenery of Denmark and Africa, the film examines the difficult choice between revenge and forgiveness that one family must make.
The film will screen at the Faith College Wine Centre, commencing at 7.30 pm, with no preceding short film; doors will open at 7 pm. Entry is free to Club members and membership is obtainable at the door. Please note that because of restrictions on gatherings, it is essential to book in advance, by contacting Allan Pearce on 0417002708 or allan_jill@bigpond.com Attendees are welcome to bring their own refreshments.

39 members attended Barossa Film Club’s screening of “La Femme du Boulanger” last Friday evening. It was a deligjhtful film, filled with very real and human characters. The only glamorous people in it were the young wife and the handsome shepherd she ran off with – the rest were orinary-looking villagers we could all identify with. We had 37 “Starbox” votes, giving an average rating of 4.57 out of 5, which is high. Next film: “In a Better World” on March 19th.

Screening 7.30 pm Friday 19th February:
“La Femme du Boulanger” (“The Baker’s Wife”}
This is an undisputed classic from the Golden Age of French Cinema. A simplr story: Aimable the baker is married to a much younger Aurelie. Aurelie runs off with the local hunk and Aimable refuses to bake any more bread until she returns. Faced with the crisis the villagers set about getting her back. Husband and wife are eventually reconciled in one of the greatest scenes ever put on film and Amiable resumes baking “le pain extraordinaire”.
Seating is limited so please book with Allan Pearce 0417002 708 ot allan_jill@bigpond.com