The Exminster Film Club’s showing for April 2020 (postponed to September) is Rocketman. It is the story of Elton John’s life, from his years as a prodigy at the Royal Academy of Music through his musical partnership with Bernie Taupin.
Young Reginald Dwight changes his name to Elton John and collaborates with singer-songwriter Bernie Taupin to become one of the most iconic figures in pop history. Set to his most beloved songs, it’s the epic musical story of Elton John, his breakthrough years in the 1970s and his fantastical transformation from shy piano prodigy to international superstar.
Film Reviews
Fletcher is the real star of this show, a director whose enthusiasm for musical storytelling shines through every frame, hitting all the emotional high notes.
The sheer brute force of Egerton holds it all together. And despite some darker themes, Rocketman is still quite a ride. It plays more as a musical than a standard biopic.
Yesterday was Exminster Film Club’s third screening. Struggling musician Jack, realises he’s become the only person on Earth who can remember The Beatles after waking up in an alternate timeline where they never existed.
Yesterday, everyone knew The Beatles. Today, only Jack remembers their songs. He’s about to become a very big deal. From Danny Boyle and Richard Curtis, comes a rock-n-roll comedy about music, dreams, friendship, and the long and winding road that leads to the love of your life. Jack Malik is a struggling singer-songwriter in a tiny English seaside town whose dreams of fame are rapidly fading, despite the fierce devotion and support of his childhood best friend, Ellie. Then, after a freak bus accident during a mysterious global blackout, Jack wakes up to discover that The Beatles have never existed … and he finds himself with a very complicated problem, indeed. Performing songs by the greatest band in history to a world that has never heard them.
After the sombre “Peterloo” shown last month it was time for the sheer joy and escapism of “Yesterday”.
Our audience, ranging from 12 upwards, were treated to the uplifting and heartwarming story of a struggling singer-songwriter, Jack Malik (Himish Patel), who by sheer chance is the only person on earth who remembers the Beatles – or so he thinks.
In his debut film role Patel was endearing and convincing as Jack, doing all his own singing and giving his own twist to some of the most well-known and loved songs in the world. Lily James, as best friend and manager Ellie was as watchable as ever and with real-life husband and wife, Sanjeev Bhaskar and Meera Syal, playing Jack’s parents and a supporting appearance by Ed Sheeran, the film couldn’t fail.
Everyone left smiling!
Film Reviews
A glowing tribute to The Beatles and their music, this is both a toe-tapping pleasure to watch and a smart, occasionally scathing look at how we get things wrong.
The film has lots of fun with its premise – until America beckons, then suddenly it seems to lose its head of steam. … Yet it rallies in style for a beautifully judged and surprisingly moving finale.
Fisherman’s friends was Exminster Film Club’s first screening and proved to be a great success. This film follows a ramshackle group of friendly Cornish fisherman as they are persuaded to sell their popular sea shanties to a record label.
Shown: 4 September 2019
Date of release: 2019
Running time: 1h 52m
Director: Chris Foggin
Writers: Piers Ashworth, Meg Leonard and Nick Moorcroft
A fast-living, cynical London music executive (Danny Mays) heads to a remote Cornish village on a stag weekend where he’s pranked by his boss (Noel Clarke) into trying to sign a group of shanty singing fishermen (led by James Purefoy). He becomes the ultimate ‘fish out of water’ as he struggles to gain the respect or enthusiasm of the unlikely boy band and their families (including Tuppence Middleton) who value friendship and community over fame and fortune. As he’s drawn deeper into the traditional way of life he’s forced to re-evaluate his own integrity and ultimately question what success really means.
Our first screening of Fisherman’s Friends proved very successful. In total 69 people attended the film based on a group of local fisherman from Port Isaac, Cornwall who specialise in singing Sea Shanties. The story line provided plenty of material including comedy, romance, the splendour of the Cornish landscape and, of course, plenty of music. It really was ‘feel good’ entertainment and an excellent start to the season.
Films Reviews
Their singing is robustly and winningly performed, and the whole thing is heartfelt. Nice also to see Maggie Steed as the local pub’s landlady. It’s pretty goofy but fun.
Fisherman’s Friends is a somewhat tone-deaf comedy drama. With its by-the-numbers story line of a jaded London music industry exec (Daniel Mays) who finds romance and true meaning in his life in addition to an acapella group, plus a subplot about a village pub under threat from an out of town property developer, the film is wearisomely predictable and parochial in its outlook.
