Leith Kino weekly cinema nights returning in February
The community film club will host screenings of The Bride Wore Black, Tod Browning's Freaks and Miami Connection
Community cinema Leith Kino is returning to its Leith Depot home in February after taking a short break from its weekly film screenings.
In November, we spoke to Morvern Cunningham (co-founder with Fraser Elliott) about the venture. They said, ‘Hopefully [the films] stimulate an audience that trusts us and knows that whatever they’re going to see will be entertaining, challenging or interesting.’
It kicks off with François Truffaut’s Hitchcock tribute The Bride Wore Black (Sunday 8 February), starring Jeanne Moreau as a bereaved widow who seeks revenge on the men who murdered her husband. Despite its similarities to Kill Bill, Quentin Tarantino claims to have never seen it.
For Valentine’s weekend, there's a screening of Tod Browning’s Freaks (Sunday 15 February), a hugely controversial film on its release in 1932 that was banned in the UK for 30 years. Set in the world of a travelling French circus, it centres on a murder plot schemed by a trapeze artist and a strongman targeting a lovesick, wealthy dwarf. While the film is undoubtedly exploitative (particularly in its moments of horror), it has been reassessed in recent years, with many critics praising its sensitive and sympathetic portrayal of the marginalised performers.
The final announced film is Miami Connection (Sunday 22 February), a cult 1987 US film from an era when martial arts were muscling in on a number of American action films (see also The Karate Kid and the careers of Chuck Norris and Jean-Claude Van Damme). Written by, and starring, YK Kim, it delves into a sordid underworld of Orlandoan ninja drug dealers. It was panned on arrival but has since been reappraised as a cult classic.
February films
The Bride Work Black, Sunday 8 February, 7.30pm.
Freaks, Sunday 15 February, 7.30pm.
Miami Connection, Sunday 22 February, 7.30pm.
Tickets for all Leith Kino films are £6 and are available from Ticketlab.