Film Night – Summerland
2020 Drama – 99mins, Cert 12A
Director: Jessica Swale
Starring: Gemma Arterton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Dixie Egerickx, Lucas Bond, Penelope Wilton, Tom Courtney
Bookings: email filmnight@rockbournevillagehall.org.uk or
phone Lucy Matthews 01725 518695
Released in July 2020, SUMMERLAND is a romantic drama set during World War II in which an Englishwoman opens her heart to an evacuee after initially resolving to be rid of him in this moving journey of womanhood, love and friendship.
Writer and Director Jessica Swales’ Olivier winning play “Nell Gwynne” propelled her to the top of the young promising writer-director lists. The cast was led by Gemma Arterton who reappears in Summerland proving that not only is she spectacularly beautiful, but she is also a very fine, subtle and intelligent actress.
Alice, played by Gemma Arterton, is a reclusive writer and historian living in a Sussex cottage, nestling in a fold of fields that overlook the white cliffs of Dover. So alone is she that the local kids think she must be a witch. It’s wartime and Alice is expected to ‘do her bit’, so she is landed with an evacuee Frank, young actor Lucas Bond, who has been bombed-out in London – ‘Take him away – I don’t want him’. Frank settles into school helped by the teacher, actor Tom Courtney giving us his usual, steady, reliable and very sympathetic portrayal, and strikes up a friendship with Edie played by the lovely Dixie Egerickx. I predict that both she and Bond will soon be stars, they give sensitive, funny and touching performances. But it is the relationship between Alice and Frank that cements the narrative. We find out the back story. Penelope Wilton, as the now older Alice, narrates. She was once in love with Vera, the very beautiful Gugu Mbatha-Raw, who was so memorable in Belle. Of course, the relationship, though perhaps unconventional, was not unheard of. As the story unfolds, we learn more about the very satisfying, almost Dickensian series of coincidences which lead us to a teary, highly emotional climax to this engaging and highly original movie.
An excellent start to a new set of engrossing, original films for the Rockbourne film nights.
John Crome
Click here to read about Summerland on IMDb
Click here to download the flyer in pdf format
Doors open 7:00pm, Film 7:30pm £6 Supper 9:30pm £6, wine £12/bottle
Pay at the door Last bookings 12:00 Sunday 12th September
Next RVH FILM NIGHT: WED 20th OCTOBER Film: To be decided
TABLE TENNIS
Fun Table Tennis starts WEDNESDAY 29th SEPTEMBER 2021. 7.30 – 9pm
All Welcome
Contact Lynn Daly: ljdaly@outlook.com