BFI Southbank Programme Notes

Tampopo

+ intro by Catherine Wheatley, King’s College London (Monday 13 December only) Juzo Itami and Nobuko Miyamoto talk about sex, food and death Juzo Itami was born in Kyoto in 1933. His father Mansak...

December 13, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

Philosophical Screens
Tampopo

Our regular Philosophical Screens series, which explores cinema through a philosophical lens, returns this month with a focus on one of the most genre-bending films about noodles. Join our regular ...

December 13, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

Muddy River

+ intro by season co-programmer Alexander Jacoby (Saturday 12 December only) Kôhei Oguri’s debut is a deliberately nostalgic evocation of the world of classical filmmakers such as Ozu and Shimizu....

December 12, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

It's a Wonderful Life

David Mamet on ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ In Frank Capra’s It’s a Wonderful Life the screenwriters warp an old-world vision into a populist myth. The old-world vision is Charles Dickens’ A Christmas C...

December 12, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

1970s Odd Pop and Rare Rock

The Precious Things season gives us the perfect opportunity to pore through the deeper alcoves of the archives to liberate material that would often otherwise lay unseen for decades. Today’s compil...

December 11, 2021 | THE PRECIOUS THINGS

The Great Gatsby

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Jack Clayton active involvement with The Great Gatsby began in the autumn of 1971, though his interest goes a long way further back....

December 11, 2021 | A CLASS OF HIS OWN
THE FILMS OF JACK CLAYTON

Billy Bang Lucky Man

+ intro by author Kevin Le Gendre, and Q&A with co-director Markus Hansen In March 1967 Billy Bang was conscripted to fight in the jungles of Vietnam. On his return to the US he experienced a...

December 11, 2021 | AFRICAN ODYSSEYS

The Lonely Passion of
Judith Hearne

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Jack Clayton’s first British film in twenty years, and his last cinema feature, was adapted from Brian Moore’s 1956 novel, its actio...

December 10, 2021 | A CLASS OF HIS OWN
THE FILMS OF JACK CLAYTON

Death by Hanging

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Nagisa Ôshima’s most radical and brilliant film starts with an unsuccessful execution and proceeds into a stylised re-enactment of t...

December 10, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

tick, tick...BOOM!

+ pre-recorded Q&A with director Lin-Manuel Miranda, producer Julie Oh, executive producer Julie Larson, writer Steven Levenson and actors Andrew Garfield, Vanessa Hudgens, Alexandra Shipp, Rob...

December 9, 2021 | IN PERSON & PREVIEWS

Seven Samurai

When Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai premiered in Japan on 26 April 1954, it was the most expensive domestic production ever, costing 125 million Yen (approximately $350,000), almost five times the ...

December 9, 2021 | JAPAN 2021 AT THE BFI IMAX

The Servant

SPOILER WARNING The following notes give away some of the plot. Adapted from a novel by Robin Maugham, The Servant was the first of three collaborations between Joseph Losey and Harold Pinter. It ...

December 9, 2021 | BOGARDE AT 100

Pale Flower

Fresh out of a stretch in prison, ageing yakuza Muraki (Ryo Ikebe) returns to an underworld he barely recognises. He becomes romantically entangled with the mysterious, beautiful Saeko (Mariko Kaga...

December 9, 2021 | JAPAN 2021
100 YEARS OF JAPANESE CINEMA

Battle Royale

Made with a cast of 35-year-old cowboys, soldiers or gangsters, Battle Royale would be no more shocking than any other post-Peckinpah bloodbath, and many violent dystopian satires – from Peter Watk...

December 9, 2021 | JAPAN 2021 AT THE BFI IMAX

The Passions of
Jack Clayton

Join our special guests, Melanie Williams, Neil Sinyard and Elena Lazic, to explore what made Jack Clayton one of Britain’s most distinctive auteurs. In this richly illustrated event, hosted by the...

December 8, 2021 | A CLASS OF HIS OWN
THE FILMS OF JACK CLAYTON

Gremlins

Joe Dante on ‘Gremlins’ I never happened to believe that Gremlins was a movie that scared children. That was a thing that came up when the movie was released, and there were articles in the paper....

December 8, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

Boiling Point

+ Q&A with director Philip Barantini and actors Ray Panthaki, Lauryn Ajufo and Alice Feetham Actor-turned-director Philip Barantini follows his award winning short of the same name and feature...

December 8, 2021 | PREVIEW

The Tourist

+ Q&A with actors Danielle Macdonald and Shalom Brune-Franklin, writers/executive producers Harry & Jack Williams and director Chris Sweeney. From Emmy-winning and BAFTA nominated writer...

December 7, 2021 | TV PREVIEW

Tim Burton's The Nightmare before Christmas

Director Henry Selick on ‘The Nightmare before Christmas’ The film has been marketed as Tim Burton’s The Nightmare before Christmas , but you’re the director. What do you think is distinctively yo...

December 7, 2021 | BIG SCREEN CLASSICS

The Mezzotint

+ Q&A with director Mark Gatiss and cast members Frances Barber, Robert Bathurst and Nikesh Patel. Hosted by Matthew Sweet. ‘For sale: Interesting mezzotint: View of a manor-house, early part...