Tomorrow night, The Ventnor Film Society presents …. The Band’s Visit.
In this truly lovely first film from Israeli director Eran Kolirin we join the Alexandria Ceremonial Police Band (decked out in loud powder-blue suits) as they arrive in a small Israeli town to perform a concert at the local cultural centre.
By the time it hits them that they’ve taken a wrong turn, the last bus back to civilisation has gone and they grudgingly accept the sanctuary of kind-hearted bar owner Dina and resolve to spend a single weird and wonderful night in this desolate nowhere-town.
The Band’s Visit uses its deadpan compositions and broad comic set-pieces to play very much to the gallery. Kolirin’s sparse direction relies heavily on ironic juxtaposition and what could have easily been a one-trick movie manages to sustain its sweet-natured examination of strangers in a strange land until its moving final scenes.
With its themes of social displacement, subtly and skillfully enmeshed within a pleasingly straightforward shaggy-dog narrative, this is one of those films that runs at you with open arms, and you’ll find it very difficult not to succumb to its warm, warm embrace.
Dir: Eran Kolirin Israel/France 2007 87 mins Cert 12A
Cast: Sasson Gabai, Ronit Elkabetz, Saleh Bakri, Khalifa Natour
Prices
Venue: Ventnor Winter Gardens
Single Ticket: £4.50 (£3.50 Concessionary)
Concessionary tickets are available to students, senior citizens and the unwaged.
All VFS presentations (apart from special events) take place on Tuesday evenings and start at 7.30pm. There is a bar in the building and guests may take drinks into film presentations. All are welcome; you do not have to belong to the Society in order to attend.
