FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
In The Beat That My Heart Skipped young Tom struggles to square his love for playing classical piano with his penchant for roughing up his poor tenants and fleecing them for every penny he can his nasty little mitts on. Your choices, then, for what we'll be screening on Tues 4 December are out of three more films in which protagonists experience similar moral dilemmas and find themselves torn between lives of crime and lives of respectability. Up for the vote are:
Ashes and Diamonds (Andrzej Wajda, Poland, 1958)
"Complex, tender, agonising, it makes a country's moral dilemma as personal as love, and the pain of moral disillusion as immediate a torment as, say, disillusion in love." Isabel Quigly, The Spectator
The last day of World War II, and a young Polish Resistance fighter is ordered to kill the newly arrived Communist district leader. However, his target was a fellow soldier and the would-be-assassin is torn between the demands of conscience and of loyalty - his Hamletesque dithering further complicated by his falling for a girl in the hotel at which he and the communist official are staying. Andrzej Wajda is widely considered one of the greatest directors of Eastern European cinema, and Ashes & Diamonds his finest achievement.
The Harder They Come (Perry Henzell, Jamaica, 1972)
"The definitive postcolonial cult-movie musical." - Melissa Anderson, Village Voice
Jamaica in the early 70s, and a young country boy travels to the big city with dreams of becoming a successful reggae star. However, landing himself a record deal and keeping out of the record company's shady dealings with the Kingston organised crime scene is easier said than done. Jimmy Cliff stars in this rough n ready stone-cold cult classic - the (killer) soundtrack for which is credited for “bringing reggae to the world.”
Who's That Knocking At My Door? (Martin Scorsese, USA, 1968)
"In the aggressive self-confidence, the use of rock music, and the perceptive observation, Scorsese reveals an anthropological feel for street life and the attitudes of male adolescence." - Time Out
New York City in the late 60s, and a young Italian-American just wants to hang out at bars and fool around with his pals. However, when he meets an attractive young college student on the Staten Island Ferry one day he starts to wonder if there might be more to life. A double-whammy of debuts for both Harvey Keitel and Martin Scorsese, Who’s That Knocking At My Door? may be rough around the edges but its energy is undeniable - and it offers fascinating glimpses of the masterpieces that were soon to follow.
