2023
The next season for Oswestry Film Society is still being put together by the people now running the show! Films will appear below once scheduled, keep checking back to find out what's being screened when, and please come out and support us.
Tues February 7th 2023
Let Him Go (15)
Kevin Costner shows he still has that big-star screen presence in this gripping 2020 drama - but he is pushed hard by the scene-stealing Lesley Manville as his unflinching matriarchal opponent.
Set in 1963, the film is centred on a retired sheriff Costner and his wife (Diane Lane), whose son dies in an accident and whose ex-daughter-in-law then skips town with their three year old grandson after marrying an abusive second husband. Worried about her grandson, Lane is shocked to find they have moved away without saying goodbye. Fearing the worst, she convinces Costner to help find them. This leads them to the wilds of North Dakota where they encounter the Weboy clan, lead by the powerful Blanche (played by Manville). Upon meeting her, they realize that convention must go out of the window and they will have to fight dirty to get their grandson back. 'Let Him Go' missed out during Covid, but it features great character performances from the entire cast, the unfolding of a tense storyline, beautiful cinematography, and a haunting score. The story is very dark. With uncommon stealth, the film morphs from a drama about loss and grief into a terrifying thriller.
The reviews were excellent. Top UK critic Mark Kermode (always a good gauge) loved it: "I was gripped throughout."
Tues February 21st 2023
Secondhand Lions (12A)
Continuing our season of big-hitter stars in films they're not best known for, Michael Caine and Robert Duvall are the well-paired leads in this overlooked comedy-drama from 2003. Walter, a 14 year old boy, is left by his irresponsible mum to live for the summer with his reclusive great-uncles (Caine & Duvall) on a ramshackle farm. They're rumoured to have a hidden fortune there, hence a constant stream of salesmen - whom they shoot at. Walter's not welcome at first, but then they realise he can annoy gold-digging relatives, and gradually a bond develops between the three. The uncles' past proves to be times of derring-do, involving the Foreign Legion, a powerful sheik, an Arab princess - and were they bank robbers? Walter also gets more involved in their modern life, which includes bizarre episodes with a retired circus lion and an old plane! Caine and Duvall prove perfect sparring partners in a film with twists and turns, adventure, oddities, heart-warmth, and above all - humour. It's that great combination of a good script, actors enjoying themselves - and the bottom line: it's funny.
Tues March 7th 2023
I Start Counting (15)
David Greene's much sought-after British thriller is a gripping, cult classic of late-1960s cinema.
In a rapidly modernising English town, a serial killer is on the loose terrorising local young women. Fourteen year old Wynne (Jenny Agutter) begins to suspect that George (Bryan Marshall), her adoptive stepbrother with whom she's infatuated, is the perpetrator. But could he really be responsible for such horrific crimes?
As the Oswestry Film Society’s latest showing in its continuing season of mainstream actors in lesser-known films, I Start Counting features a stand-out performance of innocence and intrigue from a young Agutter (16 at the time). It’s a haunting coming-of-age tale that also touches several taboo subjects, including incest, drugs, rape, and teenage sexuality and confusion.
I Start Counting played cinemas in 1969, but its long-held obscurity is hard to fathom. Now the OFS is delighted to bring this recently restored film to you.