Dancer (dir: Steven Cantor, 2017, cert 12A)
Compelling documentary following the career of Ukrainian ballet dancer Sergei Polunin, utilising some incredible archive material we can observe the arc from precocious eight year old prodigy to disillusioned adult dancer tired of the relentless pressure to perform.
Mon 10 Apr 6pm & Wed 12 Apr 5pm at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £9 macbirmingham.co.uk

Your Name (dir: Makoto Shinkai, 2016, cert 12A)
A beautifully rendered piece of cinema, the sweet and thoroughly naughty body swap comedy has become a sensation in Japan with hoards of fans even making pilgrimages to the locations animated on screen. It’s playful exploration of gender identity and love sits comfortably with the traditional storytelling that has resonated so well with audiences. Delightful and highly recommended.
Mon 10 Apr to Thu 13 Apr at Mockingbird, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA £4 ticketing.eu.veezi.com

Free Fire (dir: Ben Wheatley, 2017, cert 15)
1970’s Boston is the setting for a full on kinetic bullet fest as a major arms deal goes wrong, as they always do, with violent consequences. The mayhem is complemented by some serious facial hair, polyester suits, crackling dialogue, laughs and a bristling Cillian Murphy as visiting Republican terrorist Chris. Uproariously violent fun.
Mon 10 Apr to Thu 13 Apr at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Get Out (dir: Jordan Peele, 2017, cert 15)
Not only is Get Out a fresh and original horror film it also fearlessly pokes a stick into the glibly dangerous racism of white middle class suburbia. But that’s just the start. An aching dread seeps gradually through every pore of the movie building to an unforgettable climax. A stunning directorial debut from Jordan Peele.
Mon 10 Apr to Thu 13 Apr at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

LoveTrue (dir: Alma Har’el, 2016, cert 15)
Best known as a music video director Alma Har’el brings her glossy imaginative eye to the subject of love in a quasi-documentary examining three very different relationships. There are no glib answers and some may find the genre bending imaginings cloying, but there is no denying the joy to be had in observing love’s mysterious work.
Tue 11 Apr 6pm at mac, Cannon Hill Park, Birmingham B12 9QH £9 macbirmingham.co.uk

Casablanca (dir: Michael Curtiz, 1942, cert U)
Cinematic Time Machine follow up the screening of Hitchcock classic Notorious with the oft misquoted romantic Second World War thriller Casablanca. Bogart and Bergman light up the screen as Rick and Ilsa, sacrificing their love to help defeat the Nazis. ‘Kiss me. Kiss me as if it were the last time’.
Tue 11 Apr to Thu 13 Apr at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Princess Bride (dir: Rob Reiner, 1987, cert PG)
A film that couldn’t fail. A William Goldman script, Rob Reiner directing and a great cast including Christopher Guest and Robin Wright, look out for Peter Cook. An anti-fairytale full of hilarious dialogue, grotesque characters and positively dripping with a knowing post-modern satirical glaze.
Wed 12 Apr 8.45pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

The Night of the Hunter (dir: Charles Laughton, 1955, cert 12)
Robert Mitchum’s Reverend Harry Powell is one of cinema’s most frightening creations, a rapacious serial killer punishing sinners in the Lord’s name. Filmed in an expressionistic style, that recalls the work of Murnau and Lang, it was laughton’s only film as director with its subject matter being reviled by contemporary critics and audiences. The Night of the Hunter is now rightly regarded as one of the most important films ever made influencing a host of revered filmmakers such as Lynch, Scorsese and Malick to name a few. The screening on Wednesday 12th will be preceded by a brief introduction from Professor Rob Stone from B Film, beginning at 8.15pm.
Wed 12 Apr 8.15pm & Thu 13 Apr 8.30pm at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

An Affair to Remember (dir: Leo McCarey, 1957, cert U)
Possibly the ultimate chick flick. McCarey’s film crackles along with stars Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr exchanging some, often improvised, electrifying dialogue. The knockabout comedy may give way to tragedy and tears near the end but that’s what gives the movie its charm. A widescreen wonder and worth noting that McCarey was the man who put Laurel and Hardy together, he knows his comedy beans.
Fri 14 Apr 11.30am at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

The Long Good Friday (dir: John Mackenzie, 1980, cert 18)
It’s all going wrong for Harold Shand (Bob Hoskins), the big boys from across the pond are in town to invest and someone keeps blowing up his assets and murdering his boys. Hoskins is unforgettable as the rampaging gangster looking for answers in typically brutal fashion. A prescient film considering the development of London’s Docklands that has since transpired. Look out for an uncredited Pierce Brosnan as an IRA hitman.
Fri 14 Apr 6.30pm at Mockingbird, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA £5 ticketing.eu.veezi.com

The Lost Boys (dir: Joel Schumaker, 1987, cert 15)
Before the current glut of teenage friendly vampire movies there was The Lost Boys. A murderous gang of rather smug blood suckers in California are hunted down by the two Corey’s, Haim and Feldman, in Schumaker’s riot of laughs and gore. Just about keeps the right side of silliness throughout, The Lost Boys is a landmark eighties release.
Fri 14 Apr to Sun 16 Apr at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (dir: Milos Forman, 1975, cert 15)
Still the greatest English language film about mental health and it has lost none of its mordant potency in the four decades since its release. Briefly uplifting but ultimately heartbreaking, the battle of wills between Jack Nicholson’s Randle McMurphy and Louise Fletcher as the terrifying Nurse Ratched plays out compellingly but there can be only one winner. A gut wrenchingly harsh conclusion from the Czech New wave director Milos Forman.
Fri 14 Apr to Wed 19 Apr at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

Harvey (dir: Henry Koster, 1950, cert U)
We’ve all been there. Massive drunkenness leading to visions of a six foot white rabbit. In Harvey, James Stewart’s genial Elwood P. Dowd spends the whole film in the company of an invisible Pooka, a mischievous spirit, that has taken on rabbit form. Is it drunkenness? is it deteriorating mental health? Elwood and Harvey don’t care, they have a date at Charlie’s Bar.
Sun 16 Apr 11.30am at Electric, Station Street, Birmingham B5 4DY £9.50 www.theelectric.co.uk

*Cancelled*Vanishing Point (dir: Richard C. Sarafian, 1971, cert 18)
Kowalski (Barry Newman) leaves the Hippie dream in a cloud of squealing tyres and dust as he hammers a Dodge Challenger across the huge Nevada desert hyped up on benzedrine and adrenaline pursued by the cops. Claustrophobic and intense Vanishing Point is a breakneck race through a post Manson America struggling with its identity.
Sun 16 Apr 8.45pm at Mockingbird, Gibb St, Birmingham B9 4AA £7 ticketing.eu.veezi.com