Chester Film Society 2023/2024 Season
Full details of our 2023/2024 Season are shown below.
For a handy downloadable pdf of the whole season, click on the image below:
For details on how to join as a Member, or attend films as a Guest, go to the Members & Guests page
As last season, all films will be screened in the GARRET THEATRE at Storyhouse, and will take place on THURSDAYS.
Films start at 7.30pm, doors open at 7pm.
28 September 2023
The Outfit
USA | 2022 | 1hr 45m | Cert 15
Director: Graham Moore
To survive a fateful encounter with the mob, an elderly English tailor, or cutter, as he keeps insisting, must outwit a dangerous group of gangsters who take shelter in his shop on a tensely long night.
Audience feedback:
“Enjoyable and stylish”;
“Mark Rylance is superb! Very clever film”;
“A wonderful film”; “Mark Rylance – Olivier for modern times”
“So many twists! Superb acting, all in one room? Love Mark Rylance and Simon Russell Beale. Thank you!”
“A tad Claustrophobic.”
“Need to watch again – all the twists!”
Audience Score: 8.6
12 October 2023
Love According to Dalva
Belgium/France | 2022 | 1hr 28m | Cert 15
Director: Emmanuelle Nicot
A young girl struggles to cope in the aftermath of parental abuse in this emotionally intense Belgian drama which handles its uncomfortable subject matter with sensitivity, respect, and restraint.
Audience feedback
“Mesmerising performance by Dalva”“Hard watching”“Enjoyable”“Harrowing but brilliant depiction of abuse”“Hopeful, thought provoking ““Not easy to watch but excellent film”“More questions than answers”“Well acted , positive ending”“Difficult subject done well”
Audience Score: 8.3
26 October 2023
Cairo Conspiracy aka Boy From Heaven
Sweden/France/Finland | 2022 |
2hr 1 min | Cert 12
Director: Tarik Saleh
The threat of state-sanctioned violence hangs over a male student after he is recruited as an informant. A deadly power struggle ensues between the political and religious establishment in this dark Egyptian conspiracy drama.
Audience feedback
“A cruel male-dominated world”
“Depressing”
“Convincing”
“A little too topical”
“Thought provoking “
“Head mashed. Corruption! Corruption!”
“An exhilarating film whilst not enjoyed, depicted so much in its content and action. Superb”“Weird fish chase seagulls”
“The pulse in the webbing of the police chief’s head! 10/10”
Audience Score: 8.3
2 November 2023
Martin Eden
Italy/France | 2019 | 2hr 9m | Cert 15
Director: Pietro Marcello
Martin Eden, an aspiring writer, navigates societal complexities, love, and self-discovery in early 20th-century Italy, revealing the struggles and sacrifices of artistic ambition when he falls for a wealthy woman, to the disappointment of her family.
“Wonderful cinema”
“Loved first 2/3 lost a bit at end? Not sure”
“Unlikeable, no levity, his sister had it right when she said people need a break from sadness”
“Martin Eden-who cares? Like a continental pastry!”
“A fascinating film which was interesting for the first 75% of the film then a disappointing end.”
“Loved the atmospheric shots of people in Naples”
“Heavy going, but much truth”
“Too long. Lost its way but enjoyed the first half and social/economic context”
“A film of great beauty”
“Capitalism has failed, not socialism”
“Unbearable, loathsome and a depressing ordeal to watch”
“Raw, earthy. Disintegrated towards the end!”
“The film was like the beautiful sailing boat- started off magnificently before sinking without trace.”
Audience Score: 7
23 November 2023
The Beasts
France/Spain | 2022 | 2hr 18m |
Cert 15
Director: Rodrigo Sorogoyen
A French couple’s new life farming in a Galician village is disrupted by hostility, intimidation, and escalating acts of violence from a neighbouring local family in this brooding thriller about familial bonds and forgiveness.
Completely believable
Great acting if a bit slow at times
Savage, hard to endure
Two films for the price of one!
Men! Men! Men!
Clever but a bit too long
Useless dog
Not a film I’d recommend or want to view again
Too miserable – why can’t we have happier films?
Audience score: 7.6
7 December 2023
Winners + Smile
UK | 2022 | 1hr 25m | Cert PG
Director: Hassan Nazer
Persian language drama in which two young children find a lost Oscar statuette in their remote Iranian village and decide to find its owner. Showing with Chester Animation Festival winning entry ‘Smile’.
Rich and poor, old world and new! Make believe!
Excellent! Thanks for showing the film
Visually interesting- contrast between bare and deserted village and Tehran. Plot felt very contrived, dialogue-interactions wooden. But a ‘different’ type of film.
A very fascinating film that perhaps can be said to be very good and mediocre. Well acted and makes me want to go to Iran.
A fantastic insight into rural Iranian life.
Loved it. Delightful
Not my thing, sorry.
Much ado about nothing. ( Too hot, too much light, no air in the room)
Very interesting
Nice rubble
Simple, fascinating, great child actors, interesting locations
Muddling ( or maybe middling)
Audience score: 7
11 January 2024
The Quiet Girl
Ireland | 2022 | 1hr 31m | Cert 12
Director: Colm Bairéad
Academy Award and BAFTA-nominated Irish drama in which an unhappy and neglected girl from a dysfunctional family is sent to live with foster parents for the summer who are coming to terms with an unspoken loss of their own.
Utterly Beautiful
Complexity of characters were a delight. The unsaid said it.
Beautiful film; lovely scenery; cracking
Beautiful
Great film!
If you weren’t moved you are dead!
If only…
We have to make up our own ending!
Good but not my thing. Room too hot again
Heartbreaking, beautiful, touching
Beautiful cinematography. Sound difficult to pick up at first
Powerful. Very touching
Loved it! One of the best
Audience score: 8.6
25 January 2024
Charlotte
Canada/Belgium/France | 2021 |
1hr 32m | Cert 12
Animation
Director: Éric Warin, Tahir Rana
An animated biopic of the German-Jewish painter Charlotte Salomon inspired by her autobiographical painting series, Life? or Theatre?
Moving story but the presentation ????
Animation perfect vehicle for story.
Escape and enjoy your art but beware of evil.
The animations didn’t have the same expression as the paintings .
Lost it in last part.
Beautiful and moving.
Graphic’s cartoon style got in the way and minimalised events
Passion in Paint !
Audience score: 7.7
8 February 2024
Azor
Argentina/France/Switzerland | 2021 |
1hr 40m | Cert 12
Director: Andreas Fontana
Swiss banker visits Buenos Aires to handle the business concerns of his missing associate. Gripping drama that elegantly slips the viewer into its cold embrace and never loosens its grip.
It promised but didn’t deliver
Divine punishment indeed
Not my cup of tea, tedious
Visually interesting, plot too complicated
Imbued with sinister sophistication and menace
Confusing
Too obscure , the music was awful
Private banking there is another name for it, crooks
Engrossing but a little pointless
Different !!
Audience Score: 6.4
22 February 2024
Close
France/Netherlands | 2022 | 1hr 44m| Cert 12
Director: Lukas Dhont
Devastating drama in which the move to high school forces two lifelong young friends apart and leaves one of them struggling to understand what happened to their friendship.
Dealt with a difficult subject very sensitively
Beginning over the top, unbelievable to me, but believable and powerful as it went on
Another joyless and depressing film, please show a comedy!
Amazing young actors
Too many close ups not enough dialogue? Or perhaps that is the point
Oh the silences! Speak volumes
Heartbreaking
Eden was masterful at how he portrayed his emotions or thereof whilst trying desperately to bottle up his feelings. Alas in the end he let it all out beautifully.
An incredible film. Well directed and amazingly acted. Videography superb, one of the best films I have seen for a long time.
Audience score: 7.9
21 March 2024
Clara Sola
Sweden/Costa Rica/Belgium/Germany/France | 2021 | 1hr 46m | Cert 15
Director: Nathalie Álvarez Mesén
Costa Rican drama in which a woman experiences a sexual and spiritual awakening after years of repression by her community.
Doesn’t make me religious.
Haunting performance , deserves an oscar ultimately sad.
Bit meandering but extra mark for wildlife and scenery .
Brilliant
Great film
Sensitive portrayal of learning disability
Bloody weird.
John loved the jungle !
Audience score: 7.5
4 April 2024
Nostalgia
Italy/France | 2022 | 1hr 58m | Cert 12
Director: Mario Martone
Italian drama in which a man returns to his hometown of Naples after 40 years, stirring up a past which he’s tried to keep buried.
Superb acting especially from the leads
Powerful
And that’s why I couldn’t go back to Widnes !
SHOCKING !
Religion seems like a Plague.
” See Naples and Die “
No past , no future just now you idiot .
We all view the past in different ways perhaps it doesn’t exist
Audience score: 8.1
