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Each week, we round up the most exciting film events happening in London over the coming week, from pop-ups and one-offs to regular film clubs, outdoor screenings and festivals. Here’s this week’s top five…
Black Star Hip Hop weekend: ‘Juice’
This weekend, the BFI Southbank goes all street with a celebration of hip hop, part of its ongoing Black Star season celebrating the greatest black actors. Across the weekend there will be screenings, DJs, and a family fun day with a basketball workshop and a screening of ‘Space Jam’. But we’ve gone for underrated Harlem-set thriller ‘Juice’ (1992), which examines the explosive relationship between four friends: Q is an aspiring DJ in a relationship with an older divorcee; Raheem has an estranged wife and child; Steel is the kid, a gentle butt to their jokes; and Bishop, brilliantly played by Tupac Shakur, is the loaded gun with no safety catch.
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Rd, SE1 8XT.
Sat Nov 5, 8.40pm. £8.35–£11.75.
The Nomad: ‘Full Metal Jacket’
This week, outdoor cinema experts The Nomad come indoors for three days of screenings at the Imperial War Museum. Surrounded by real military museum pieces – including, amazingly, a Spitfire suspended from the ceiling – you can catch up with ‘Atonement’, ‘Casablanca’ and Vietnam-set masterpiece ‘Full Metal Jacket’. The first half of Kubrick’s movie steers clear of South East Asia altogether, focusing on the dehumanising training programme undergone by a group of novice US Marines. Then the action switches to ‘Nam, where star recruit Private Joker soon tires of his behind-the-lines job as military journalist and provokes his CO into sending him into the shit.
Imperial War Museum, Lambeth Rd, SE1 6HZ.
Fri Nov 4, 7pm. £25.
London Jewish Film Festival: ‘The Small World of Sammy Lee’ + live score
This annual film festival returns, screening films by and about Jewish people around the globe. The selection is always strong, with movies from the US, the UK, Israel and beyond, plus plenty of talks, discussions, workshops and get-togethers. New films on offer include ‘Indignation’, an adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel, directed by ‘Sideways’ writer James Schamus, and ‘The People vs Fritz Bauer’, about the hunt for Adolf Eichmann. But we’ve gone for ‘The Small World of Sammy Lee’, a film and live music event, at which jazz man Gareth Lockrane and his band will provide a live soundtrack to this London-set crime classic starring Anthony Newley.
606 Jazz Club, 90 Lots Rd, SW10 0QD.
Mon Nov 7, 8pm. £15.
Made in Prague: ‘Erotikon’ + live score
The ‘Made in Prague’ festival screens films from the Czech Republic, alongside theatre and art happenings. We love the sound of this event, screening beloved avant garde masterpiece ‘Erotikon’ with a live score on piano and theremin (!). The film follows the daughter of a railway station guard who, having run away after being seduced and left pregnant, finds shelter with a gallant (if not so captivating) rescuer who saves her from a rapist. What really distinguishes the film is its wealth of poetic detail (merging raindrops, charging trains), and its bold, frank eroticism
Barbican Centre, Silk St, EC2Y 8DS.
Sat Nov 5, 4pm. £13.50, £12.50 concs.
Korean Film Festival: ‘Asura, City of Madness’
It’s a busy week for film festivals… and here’s another one that does what its title suggests, screening new and classic films from one of the world’s great filmmaking nations. Our top pick is this superb hardboiled noir, the kind of thriller Korean filmmakers excel at. Jung Woo-sung plays an unethical cop at the centre of a corruption ring, who district attorneys are pushing hard to turn into a double agent. The violence is shocking and a bit repetitive, but this is a bold, entertaining crime story.
Regent Street Cinema, 309 Regent St, W1B 2UW.
Fri Nov 4, 8pm. £8.