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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…
The Final Girls Film Club: ‘Trouble Every Day’
New feminist horror film club, you say? We’re there. The Final Girls screen horror movies with a female director or feminist outlook. It all kicks off with Clair Denis’s gruesome, controversial ‘Trouble Every Day’. This is the tale of two individuals consumed by cannibalistic bloodlust: Beatrice Dalle, who keeps breaking out of the house in which disenchanted boffin Alex Descas keeps her locked up; and Vincent Gallo, honeymooning in Paris. Do the killers thirst for blood because they’re victims of medical experiments, or are the experiments carried out to cure such impulses?
Prince Charles Cinema, 7 Leicester Place, WC2H 7BP. Fri May 13, 7pm. £7.50.
‘Top Gun’ ’80s party
Join Time Out for a trip back to the 1980s, and a screening of one of that decade’s most beloved films. First up there’ll be volleyball, dancing, food and cocktails (wait, wrong Tom Cruise movie?), then it’s time for the main attraction. The story may be laughable, the direction may be routine, the underlying ethic may be highly questionable, but the flying stirs the blood like speed. It’s a great ride to hell and back. Kick the tyres, light the fires, and you're away.
Geffrye Museum, 136 Kingsland Rd, E2 8EA. Sat May 13, 8.45pm. £16.50.
Antonia Bird season: ‘Priest’
The BFI’s tribute to one of the UK’s most underrated filmmakers continues with this 1994 drama. When Father Greg (Linus Roache) arrives at his new Liverpool parish, he's appalled at what he regards as the lax morals of his more experienced colleague Father Matthew (Tom Wilkinson). However, it soon emerges that Greg's fierce conservatism covers a turmoil of self-doubt. One evening he swaps his dog collar for a leather jacket and picks up Robert Carlyle in a gay bar. Bird’s film calls on the traditions of the best radical TV drama, wickedly sardonic and very moving, with an outstanding performance from Roache.
BFI Southbank, Belvedere Rd, SE1 8XT. Sun May 15, 6pm. £8.35–£11.75.
Scared to Dance Film Night: ‘Mistaken For Strangers’
Comedian Josie Long will present the ultra-hip Scared to Dance club collective’s first film event, a screening of recent music doc ‘Mistaken For Strangers’, about US indie stars The National. But don’t expect a typical behind-the-scenes chronicle from Tom Berninger’s calculatedly ramshackle, though often poignant, film. Tom is the brother of lead vocalist Matt Berninger, who hires his younger sibling as a roadie for the group. In between his backstage duties – at which he proves himself ridiculously incompetent – Tom videotapes the band’s comings and goings and conducts a few hilariously off-point interviews.
Genesis Cinema, 93–95 Mile End Rd, E1 4UJ. Fri May 13, 7.30pm. £9.50.
Overlook Screening Room: ‘But I’m a Cheerleader!’
Imagine John Waters directing a teen take on ‘Cool Hand Luke’ and you’ve got a rough idea of this genius pray-the-gay-away satire, in which Natasha Lyonne’s pom-pom princess is sent away to re-education camp when her parents and friends suspect she’s a little that way inclined. The cast is flawless – Michelle Williams, Melanie Lynskey, Julie Delpy and RuPaul butching it up as a camp counsellor in a ‘straight is great’ t-shirt – and the use of colour is eye-frazzling. If you’ve not seen it, look forward to a night of pleasure – for free, no less.
The Water Poet, 9–11 Folgate St, E1 6BX. Thu May 12, 7.30pm. FREE.
For the full list, go to Time Out’s film events page.