Unique and challenging is one way to summarise the work of artist-turned-director David Lynch.
From Eraserhead of 1977 to The Elephant Man three years later and the shocking Blue Velvet in 1986, everything is off-kilter, slightly or infamously.
Lynch’s artful and, at times, artless approach first startled the world in Twin Peaks, his TV series that was a cultural phenomenon in the ‘90s and often copied.
Now It’s Dark is a tribute by the Phoenix Cinema to Lynch, who died last year.
But before launching into Lynch’s mob there are some other diversions, such as what is described as an uncommonly deft and very funny adaptation of Jane Austen’s `Sense and Sensibility’. Screening today at 1.45pm, tomorrow at 11am on Sunday at 1.45pm, 15 November at 11am, and 22 November at 2pm, it has been hailed for a heart-stopping performance by Kate Winslet and celebrating the screenwriting skills of Emma Thompson. Starting with talk of money and ending with the security of marriage, it has been celebrated as a beautifully judged piece of footwork.
So, one more before Lynch, and that is Klara and The Sun. Take a robot companion, superhero body horror and a high-octane film directed by Kiwi Taika Waitiiti (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok) which has been greeted as a deeply personal warning about what might become of all of us. Waititi strikes a rare balance between simple comedy and sophisticated drama. It screens tonight at 7.45, tomorrow at 2pm, Sunday at 11am and Monday at 7.45pm.
We need to mention a return-by-popular-demand, and that is The Odyssey, which had a short season and now has four screenings to go. Running for almost three hours, it’s noteworthy for its enormous monsters and a cast of thousands. Circe the witch ((Samantha Morton) is in a class of her own, captivating and horrifying as she magically transforms men. The Odyssey is on today at 4.25pm tomorrow at 7pm, and Sunday and Monday at 4.25.
London in the 19th century is an ugly clash between squeamish Victorian sensibilities and the gritty reality of the industrial revolution. Lynch’s Elephant Man from 1980 captures this world in black and white in this true story of John Merrick and his cruel nickname because of his large tumours. Rescued from a sideshow by a well-intentioned surgeon, Merrick tries to fit into a soc where he is greeted with shock and revulsion.
John Hurt’s Merrick carries sensitivity and dignity, while Anthony Hopkins’s surgeon eventually sees that he may be exploiting Merrick as a medical oddity. It is on at 4.30 tomorrow, 7pm on Sunday and 2pm on Monday.
Twisted mystery combines with satirical Americana in Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986). Greeted as a shocker with its unveiling of a twisted psychopath (Dennis Hopper), it is noteworthy for its use of innocuous pop ballads. Blue Velvet will screen at 2pm on13 November, 4.30 on 14 November and 7pm on 22 November
Lynch’s distinctive sensibility combines with compelling acting by Nicholas Cage and Laura Dern in Wild at Heart, seen as an exciting and threatening trip into the wild heart of an American nightmare. Youth, youth gone wild and a couple mad for life, love and each other rock through a film packed with Lynch’s shock tactics.
It’s on at 4.30 on 13 November, 7pm on 14 November and 11am on 15 November.
Hamnet has been greeted as both a meditation on absence and a film of piercing poignancy. Seen as an elegiac adaptation of Maggie O’Farrell’s novel, it is a lament of loss that reimagines the death of Shakespeare’s son as the ghost that haunts `Hamlet’.
When Shakespeare returns from chasing fame in London, his son Hamnet is gone, his wife consumed by mourning.
The cinematography and score create what has been hailed as a sensory experience as the cinemagoer enters a world authentic, poetic, intimate and resonant. Hamnet is on at 4.30 on12 November, 2pm on 14 November and 7pm on 16 November.
In the 1990s a crew of media-smart bank bandits broadcast their daring stick-ups, unaware that their growing on-line fame puts them in the sights of both the FBI and a brilliant software engineer. It now emerges in a new film, How to Rob a Bank.
In spite of the unlikely pair closing in on them, the bandits push past their limits, putting everything on the line for their beliefs and their most ambitious raid.
How to Rob a Bank screens at 7pm on 12 November, 2pm on 13 November, 4.30 on 14 November, 7pm on 15 November, 4.30pm on16 November, 7pm on 19 November, 4.30pm on 20 November, 7pm on 21 November, 11am on 22 November and 4.30 on 23 November.
For bookings and to check session times, please go to Phoenix Cinema.
