20th Century Flicks, Bristol

Episode 17: Cutbacks. Liz is willing to do anything to avoid cutbacks at T.G.S., while Jack is forced to fire his personal assistant and hire Kenneth as his part-time assistant.
Episode 18: Jackie Jormp-Jomp. Jack tries to turn an accidental obituary for Jenna into a marketing opportunity for her Janis Joplin-based biopic. Meanwhile Liz makes friends with a group of single women while away from work for sexual harassment.
Episode 19: The Ones. Jack has second thoughts about marrying find out more...

8 1/2 (1963)

Certification15 Our Rating

The story of a director, devoid of inspiration and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, trying to satisfy the anticipation surrounding his next project. Surreal, serio-comic mildly autobiographical and widely acclaimed as one of the great films about movie-making. Fellini's masterpiece. find out more...

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A PIGEON SAT ON A BRANCH REFLECTING ON EXISTENCE (2014)

Certification12 Our Rating

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ALICE (ANIMATED) (1988)

CertificationPG Our Rating

A brilliant reworking of Alice in Wonderland by surrealist Czech filmaker Jan Svankmajer. Alice, the only human in the film, falls into a terrifying Wonderland populated by animated puppets and full of truily bizarre visuals; she changes size, becomes her own doll, when the White Rabbit loses his stuffing he simply secures his gaping chest with a safety-pin and eats the sawdust, eggs crack to reveal skulls, rolls sprout nails, steaks crawl..... but the very best scene is definitely the tea party find out more...

ANOMALISA (2015)

Certification15 Our Rating

I can’t stop thinking about Anomalisa. It isn’t the best or even the most entertaining film I’ve seen this year, but it’s stuck with me. Every fourth or fifth day since seeing it, when I’ve forgotten to busy my mind, allowing reflection and existential dread to set in, I think about it and another crisis of self and Other presents itself, and strikes a chord. Returning to Anomalisa in this piecemeal way – via the abstraction of my find out more...

BLOOD OF A POET (1930)

CertificationPG Our Rating

Cocteau's avant garde first feature is essentially a two-part study of the tribulations of being an artist; the pain, pleasure and suffering for one's art. Highly imaginative and particularly interesting as a source of his later work, Cocteau creates some stunning, surrealist imagery. Weird and wonderful. find out more...

BRAZIL (1985)

Certification15 Our Rating

A work of genius. A sort of 1984 gone haywire about a humble clerk and his efforts to find the girl of his dreams. The backgrounds and the details are all superb in one of the most immaginative films ever released, although the studio that put up the money wanted a happier ending. A Must see! find out more...

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BRITAIN IN THE 20S (HISTORY OF AVANT-GARDE) (1920)

CertificationE Our Rating

The collection opens with Len Lye's modernist abstraction �Tusalava�, which, heavily influenced by Maori and Aboriginal art, shares an interest in �primitive� cultures that was typical of the Modernist movement of the time. It was almost refused a certificate by the puzzled British Board of Censors who suspected that the dancing abstract shapes might be about sex. Lye's own explanation was that it showed the beginnings of organic life. �Crossing the Great Sagrada�, is a lowbrow spoof on travel find out more...

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BRITAIN IN THE 30S (HISTORY OF AVANT-GARDE) (1930)

CertificationE Our Rating

Award wining documentary �Song of Ceylon�, is a lyrical beauty, but owes its enduring charm to its anachronistic notions of Empire and Englishness. �Bread� is a slice of realism that looks at hunger in Britain. �Beyond This Open Road� shows the urban populace journeying into the countryside during their weekends away from work; the imagery and utopian aesthetic are reminiscent of the work of Leni Riefenstahl. �Coal Face� is an experiment in realism that focuses on the importance of coal mini find out more...

CONSPIRATORS OF PLEASURE (1997)

Certification18 Our Rating

A shop clerk fixates on a TV news reader while constructing a machine to masturbate himself, the newsreader has her own sexual fantasy involving a large carp, another woman makes dough balls, which she grotesquely ingests before bed, need we go on? A strange and cerebral outing for those that really should get out more, did we say out, perhaps stay in would be a better idea. This said there is plenty of material here to discuss with friends and psychiatrists. Oh, did I mention the voodoo-chicken find out more...