Hurst Village Cinema's January 2022 listings

By Mike Thatcher

The safety net has gone, the period of being a caretaker manager when the team was selected by someone else is over and we are on our own feet now regarding film selection. The criteria for choosing them will not change: films we love which may have slipped under the radar.

Three films and National Theatre production in January and we start on Thursday 13th January at 8pm with Sweet Bean (PG), a gentle and moving film about the elderly Tokue, who is reluctantly hired by Santaro to make dorayaki in his small kiosk. A thoughtful film which questions our attitude to the elderly and the side-lined in society.

Thursday 27th January at 7pm with Leopoldstadt, Tom Stoppard’s latest work and directed by Patrick Marber. Set in Vienna during the Nazi occupation, it is an intimate yet epic family portrait of what it is to be persecuted. Stoppard lost all four of his grandparents to the Holocaust, so it is particularly poignant.

The next night, on Friday 28th January at 8pm we screen The Square (15), from the director of Force Majeure (the original, not the remake!). Set in the modern art world in Stockholm it constantly challenges the viewer to make moral choices and judgements on what they are seeing, which make for memorable, but not always comfortable viewing. Christian, the curator of a museum, gets his wallet stolen, leading to a series of decisions, all of which have their consequences.

Finally, on Sunday 30th January at 3pm we show 1917 (15), carried over from the last programme and therefore the only film this season which I have not seen. From director Sam Mendes, it is a massive technical achievement, recreating trench warfare in WWI with intensity, as two soldiers are charged with the seemingly impossible task of delivering a message across enemy lines.

A Happy New Year from all at Hurst Village Cinema and we hope to see you at a screening soon. If you would like to be added to our mailing list then please just email me at info@hurstfilms.com

Cinema ‘not dead yet’!

Hurst Village Cinema

By David Saitch

The death of cinema has been predicted on many occasions; the invention of television was to be the first nail in its coffin; VCR signed its death warrant; HD Blu-ray and home cinema equipment would surely see cinema consigned to a cold, dark grave; streaming was the final executioner that would put cinema out of its misery. But, in all cases, rather like Mark Twain, the death of cinema has been greatly exaggerated. Cinema has survived all these threats along with wars and plagues of the past. The threat that was identified in the End of Cinema column last month was the closing of the theatrical window; that is, the period where films can only be shown in cinemas before being released for home viewing. Would you bother to go and see a film at the cinema if it was already available for home viewing, was the question posed, and the assumed answer was ‘No’. But, interestingly, we do have some evidence on this. Curzon Cinemas has been operating a streaming service for a number of years, where they release films on to their streaming platform on the same day that they release it in cinemas, but, crucially, this doesn’t seem to have affected audience numbers. Curzon cinema screenings are still full. I use Curzon Home Cinema and I am very fortunate to have an excellent home cinema set up, but I am still more likely to go to see the films at the cinema. Watching films exclusively on my home cinema over the last six months has shown me, if I didn’t know already, that going to the cinema is about more than just seeing the film, it is about the complete experience of going out, socialising, watching a film on the biggest screen possible and with the best sound, as a collective experience with an audience, as it is meant to be seen, without those dreaded words ‘Can you pause it while I go to the loo’. Home cinema will always be there to watch those films I didn’t manage to see at the cinema or to rewatch films. Yes, with the ever expanding plethora of streaming services, it is likely that viewing habits will change over the coming years, but the ‘end of cinema’? I wouldn’t bet on it.

First published in September’s Hurst Life magazine.