Aug 4-5: Movies at Raglan Old School Arts Centre- FUNNY COW and THE ESCAPE

DAILY EXPRESS UK 5/5 stars “The jokes that make Funny Cow a hit in the 1970s would land her in court now but Peake’s brutally honest performance keeps us onside. Funny Cow is a class act; fiercely performed, smartly written, sensitively directed, wonderfully scored. But it’s the bitter tang of authenticity that stays with you.”

NZ HERALD 3.5/5 stars “Peake’s superb performance, hammers home some of the film’s more salient themes. And if you can get through the depressing aspect, it does deliver a powerfully told tale of domestic survival that tugs on the heart-strings.”.

 “One of the Best British Features of the Year” THE INDEPENDENT 

FUNNY COW (R16)

Saturday 4 Aug 8.30pm
Sunday 5 Aug 4.30pm
Saturday 18 Aug 6.00pm

UK drama starring Maxine Peake, charting the rise of a comedian, set against a backdrop of Northern England working men’s clubs in the ’70s and ’80s. From her troubled childhood to her turbulent adult relationships, the Funny Cow uses the raw material of her life experiences to bring her unique style of comedy to the stage.

British actress Maxine Peake got her first big break in TV when the late comedian Victoria Wood cast her to play Twinkle in Wood’s Dinnerladiesin the late 1990s.

Since then Peake’s career has taken off. She played Martha Costello in the TV legal series Silk, and professor Stephen Hawking’s second wife, Elaine in the film The Theory of Everything.

Directed by Adrian Shergold

Starring Stephen Graham, Paddy Considine, Maxine Peake, Alun Armstrong, Diane Morgan, Christine Bottomley, Tony Pitts, Kevin Eldon

Written by Tony Pitts

Comedy, Drama | R16 Domestic violence, sexual material & offensive language 102mins | UK

NEW YORK TIMES critic’s pick:
Subtle and slow and wrenchingly empathetic, “The Escape” is about gradually realizing that the life you have may not be the one you want.

Sunday Star Times- James Croot 4.5/5 Stars “Challenging, emotion-inducing cinema at its best”.

THE ESCAPE (M)

• Saturday 4 Aug 6.00pm

A woman sets out to reclaim her life in this stirring, emotionally rich look at what it means to start over. Tara (Gemma Arterton), a housewife in suburban London, is living a life that is no longer hers: it belongs to her overworked, self-absorbed husband (Dominic Cooper); her young son and daughter; and the numbing routine of housework and childcare. In desperate need of a change, Tara one day makes a bold decision. Armed with a one-way ticket to Paris, she leaves everything behind to rediscover herself in a new city—but walking out on your life isn’t so simple… Built around a remarkable central performance from Gemma Arterton (The Voices), The Escape is a perceptive, deeply compassionate portrait of a woman on the rocky road to becoming herself.

“As she suffocates in her domestic role, Tara (Gemma Arterton) spends her days carting her kids around to school and the park and prepping meals … The occasional date night and routine, impersonal Saturday-morning sex with her husband are no longer enough to compensate for insensitive comments about laundry piling up or all the spilt orange juice. Always the disciplinarian and never the playmate, Tara doesn’t have the luxury of showing her children affection. It’s clear that she does love them, but she’s also aware that if she doesn’t learn to love herself, she may never be able to escape from the cycle of unhappiness that swirls around her.” (Toronto International Film Festival)

Directed by Dominic Savage (‘Love + Hate’)

Starring Gemma Arterton, Dominic Cooper, Frances Barber, Marthe Keller, Montserrat Lombard, Jalil Lespert

Written by Dominic Savage

Drama, Festival & Independent | 101 mins M Sex scenes & offensive language | UK