Ralph Fiennes’ ambitious directing effort centers on Russian ballet legend Rudolf Nureyev from his humble beginnings in Siberia to his life-changing visit to France as part of the Kirov Ballet, culminating in his dramatic defection to the West in 1961. Scripted by Britain’s legendary screenwriter David Hare (“The Hours,” “The Reader”), this dance-heavy biopic features acclaimed Ukrainian dancer Oleg Ivenko as Nureyev, showing a fierce physicality in his first film role. Fiennes plays an understated role as Pushkin, St. Petersburg’s most respected dance instructor, who sees something in Nureyev’s passion, prizing it above pure technical skill.  Fiennes plays the role in Russian, which he learned just enough of to sound convincing. Adele Exarchopoulous (“Blue is the Warmest Color”) acts against type as the reserved Chilean heiress who opens Nureyev’s eyes to the West’s liberated attitudes to art and sexuality. The film, which Variety calls “lovely and elegant” ends with a gripping scene at Paris’ Le Bourget Airport which– even though we know the outcome– leaves us breathless. UK 2018 (117 minutes)

Opening Night
5:00 PM Reception Laureate Bar and Lounge
444 Presidio Avenue
Sponsored by British Heritage Travel Magazine

Purchase your Mostly British Film Festival Series Passes and get priority seating for all films. Individual movie tickets go on sale on January 15. Discounts go to members of the San Francisco Film Society, the Fromm Institute, the San Francisco Neighborhood Theater Foundation and people 65 and over.

The story of “Una” could be ripped from today’s headlines: A seemingly helpful neighbor, Ray, well into his 30s has sexual relations with a pretty 13-year-old girl next door. Based on the scorching Broadway play “Blackbird,” this psychological thriller unfolds as the victim, now a damaged young woman played by Rooney Mara (“The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo”) seeks out her predator (Ben Mendelsohn, King George in “Darkest Hour”) in an attempt to understand his impact on her. To illustrate how damaged she is the film opens with Una engaging in rough, anonymous sex in a club restroom. Frequent flashbacks to her as a girl show her heartbreaking vulnerability. The grown Una is still confused but shrewd enough to overwhelm Ray with guilt. Veteran Australian stage director Benedict Andrews translates the play to the screen with cinematic bravado. UK 2016 (94 minutes)

What do you do for an encore when your debut feature wins the Camera D’Or at the Cannes Film Festival? For Warwick Thornton – the wunderkind director of the prize-winning “Samson and Delilah”- the answer is to again delve into the rich storytelling tradition of Australia’s Aboriginal people. This time Thornton reaches back to 1929 colonial Australia to create a Western set in the stark vistas of the country’s eerily underpopulated Outback. Based on a true story, this gritty film centers on an Aboriginal stockman working the land of a benevolent preacher (Sam Neill). When the laborer kills a drunken war veteran in self- defense and then goes on the lam, he is pursued by a posse led by a determined military sergeant (Bryan Brown). Stunning cinematography and sense of place pull you in as the director turns his lens on Australia’s mistreatment of its indigenous population. Winner Special Jury Prize at Venice Festival. Australia 2017 (113 minutes)

This is one of those unusual remakes that actually lives up to the original– in this case the perennial British comedy classic from 1949 of the same title. What makes the new version really delicious is that it is inspired by a true story. Set on the sweeping prehistoric shores (mixed Gaelic and Norse) in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides islands during World War II, the film shows what happens when the normally complacent inhabitants are told that the island’s supply of whisky – mother’s milk to locals– has dried up. Salvation seems possible when they learn of a shipwrecked cargo vessel destined for New York and loaded with 50,000 crates of Scottish whisky. But their planned raid meets an obstacle: a bellowing home guard captain played with comic flair by the inimitable Eddie Izzard. Director Gillies MacKinnon (“Regeneration”) concocts a steaming brew out of the clash between the whisky deprived and the somewhat depraved captain. UK 2016 (98 minutes)

Mostly British will host a free whisky tasting of top of the line scotch between screenings of the whisky-themed British films “The Hippopotamus” and “Whisky Galore!”
Compliments of Gordon Biersch and WildCide

Introduced by Tony Broadbent, author and former British schoolboy

The title comes from an unidentified source but captures the spirit of this revival, first performed on stage in1928 in London, starring Laurence Olivier, and later made into a film in the 1930s. Directed by Saul Dibb, this powerful classic holds up as a heart – rending glimpse into World War 1 in 1918, on the eve of the Spring Offensive in France, as a small group of officers wait in the trenches, knowing they are to be sacrificed. Set in a dugout over a period of four days from March 18-21, a very fine cast reenacts the psychological toll this real-life event costs, as they fight fear, claustrophobia and misery to maintain patriotic decency in the line of duty. Sam Claflin (“The Hunger Games” sequels) plays the captain who leads the unit through a haze of alcoholic despair. He has lost it. Fortunately, he is nobly supported by Paul Bettany (“A Beautiful Mind”) as a caring, schoolteacher, his second-in-command, who strives to maintain morale. A new recruit played by Asa Butterfield arrives bright- eyed, but way out of his depth. Dibb’s excellent screen revival will mark the centenary of WW1 early next year. His film is timely, honoring the sacrifice demanded of so many, the dignity they demonstrated and ultimately the futility of the wars they fought. With Toby Jones, Stephen Graham, Tom Sturridge and Robert Glenister. UK 2017 (107 minutes)

“Engulfing, immersing, a character-driven piece, powerful performances by an amazing cast.” The Hollywood News

The versatile David Tennant transitions from Dr. Who and “Broadchurch’s” Alec Hardy, DI, to give a dazzling performance as Dr. RD Laing, the radical and controversial psychiatrist who became a 1960s counterculture hero for advocating for the mentally ill. One of Scotland’s greatest minds, Laing adopted humane holistic treatment for mental illness using as tools group therapy and communal healing. Drugs were prohibited except for the experimental use of LSD. Based on a book of the same title of conversations with Laing, the film is largely set at a refuge Laing set up at Kingsley Hall in east London. Gabriel Byrne and Michael Gambon are illuminating as patients who adore their hard-drinking, emotional shrink. Elisabeth Moss brings out Laing’s soft side as his partner. This absorbing biopic, directed by Robert Mullan, captures his impact on mental h ealth around the world. UK 2017 (106 minutes)

“One of David Tennant’s best performances-he is in a pugnacious, mercurial and beady-eyed form.” The Guardian

The film will be introduced by Dr. Michael Guy Thompson, who joined Laing in 1973 and became an integral part of his practice, living in one of the post-Kingsley Hall therapeutic communities. He now practices psychoanalysis in San Francisco.

Pre-eminent British director Terence Davies (“Distant Voices, Still Lives”, “The House of Mirth”, “Sunset Song”) paints a subtle portrait of the poet Emily Dickinson, employing painterly tableaux to portray a life of supreme intelligence that is undermined by social codes and convention. Davies moves through Emily’s youth, so full of spirited repartee on art, life and women’s place in a patriarchal society, heightened by the use of Dickinson’s wonderful verse as voice-over. As her hopes are crushed, Emily withdraws into herself and darkness slowly descends. Those who know Cynthia Nixon only from “Sex and the City” may be totally surprised by her nuanced portrayal of Emily. “Utterly and gloriously Davies,” Sight & Sound

UK/Belgium, 2016 (125 minutes)

Co-presented by Word For Word. Actors from Word For Word will introduce the film by reading selected Dickinson poems.

A day in the life of the Fab Four—the opening chord once heard never forgotten, heralding for countless teenagers the start of the ‘60s. Unendingly magical, the film brims with irreverence, anarchy and comedic flare; a brilliant crystallization of cinéma vérité, documentary film, the pop movie, and rock ‘n’ roll. Shot in black and white and superbly directed by Richard Lester, Alun Owen’s script sparkles—as do John Lennon’s many adlibs. The songs of The Beatles are as fresh and uplifting as when first heard. “The ‘Citizen Kane’ of jukebox movies,” The Village Voice

UK, 1964 (87 minutes)

All Beatles movies will be introduced by Tony Broadbent, author of “The One After 9:09,” a mystery novel that tells of the early day of the Beatles and of the guidebook “From ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula’ to Beatlemania – The Beatles Early Years in Liverpool, Hamburg and London”

The festival’s Noir Evening kicks off with this atmospheric thriller set in and around the tattered precincts of London’s Soho. Bob Hoskins scored an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA win as an ex-con hired to drive an expensive call girl to her assignations. The two become close, and he agrees to help her execute a dangerous plan. Michael Caine is chilling as the local kingpin who they cross at their own peril. Directed by Neil Jordan (“The Crying Game”).

UK, 1986 (104 minutes)

Introduced by Peter Robinson, movie critic for KALW 91.7 FM and editor of San Francisco Books & Travel magazine