Stephen Frears

Quote:
A small-time conman has torn loyalties between his estranged mother and new girlfriend, both of whom are high-stakes grifters with their own angles to play.Read More »

Michael Brooke wrote:
Alan Bennett’s debut play for television shows a day in the life of the members of a Halifax cycling club in 1911, following them from the town to the ruins of Fountains Abbey and eavesdropping on their conversations, which range from the inconsequential, to the reflective, to the ruefully ironic.

The most telling example of the latter comes when Boothroyd explains why there will never be another war, as the play is set three years before World War I cut swathes through a generation – and, as the 1919 coda implies, many of the club’s members as well.Read More »

Sharon Curley (Tina Kelleher) is 20, works in a Dublin supermarket, lives at home and is pregnant. If that isn’t bad enough, she adamantly refuses to name the father. In turn shocked, concerned, defensive, embarrassed and angry, her own father, Dessie (Colm Meaney), is determined to support her but as the small town is driven into a frenzy of gossip, his loyalty is soon put to the test. As speculation, suggestion and rumour mount will Sharon manage to keep her secret intact? Will Dessie continue to stand by his daughter and how will the ‘snapper’ be welcomed into the world?Read More »

As the Lady Chatterley court case puts its seal on the 1950s, three boys set out for a day’s train-spotting. They see more than just trains, though, on a
day when innocence and illusion are lost.Read More »

Synopsis
Sequel to Walter (1982).

Walter (Ian McKellen) is a mentally disabled man who depends on his parents for his survival. So when his mother and father die, Walter’s future is thrown into question. With nowhere to go, Walter is put into a poorly run state mental institution. In these new, harsh surroundings, Walter befriends a schizophrenic woman named June (Sarah Miles). As their bond grows, the pair’s affection turns to romance — and soon they plot their escape from the hospital, hoping to begin a new life in London.Read More »

Synopsis
This English film examines the state of social programs in Britain during the 1980s through the case of a mentally retarded man who’s thrust into the system. Walter (Ian McKellen) works at a factory and lives with his mother (Barbara Jefford) and father. When his parents suddenly die, Walter is abruptly sent to a mental hospital, where he is mistreated. The hospital experience is a disaster, save for June, another mentally retarded patient, who falls in love with Walter.Read More »

Plot summary:
A white South African sets out with her grandson and coloured cook and chauffeur for her weekly visit to her sister’s farm, unaware that a black uprising is taking place.Read More »

Quote:
George Phillips, a middle-aged Londoner, works as an estate agent for the firm of Frobisher, Rendell and Ross. His home life is soured by clashes with his wife over whether their teenage son’s girlfriend should be allowed to sleep over at their house, a situation the timid, melancholic George dislikes but hasn’t the guts to forbid. His professional life is dominated by his attempts to find a buyer for Sunley House, a once-fashionable 1960s office block which has lain unoccupied for over a year. When his wife leaves for Colchester to look after her elderly father, George avoids conflict with his son by sleeping over at Sunley House. Meanwhile, his workplace rival, a younger man called Rycroft, is also trying to find a buyer for Sunley House (and thereby usurp George’s place in the firm). One morning George finds himself locked in and has to crash through a window to escape. When Rycroft finds the broken window, he sets out to find the culprit.Read More »

Quote:
Lee, a Chinese man, works as a waiter in a hotel in England, despite speaking very little English. Told that a girl called Iris might be interested in him, on his afternoon off work he buys a box of chocolates and sets off to find her.Read More »