From The Beatles to Queen, from The Rolling Stones to One Direction, from Elton John to Amy Winehouse, Adele to Ed Sheeran, musical talents from the British Isles have been ruling the world. But there is much more to tell behind all the glory and fame, this year’s UK Film Week in Vietnam pays tribute to all the unsung heroes in making music as an integral part of Great Britain.

Organised by British Council Vietnam to showcase the best of UK cinema, the 2015 UK Film Week will take place from 4 to 12 November at CGV Cinemas in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City. 

Award-winning films to be screened during the week include God Help the Girl (2014), Nowhere Boy (2009), Pulp (2014), Northern Soul (2014), Good Vibrations (2013), Control (2007) and Bugsy Malone (1976).

At this year’s UK film week, audiences will be lost in a world where music becomes helps to heal a girl who suffers from anorexia (God Help the Girl) or where the citizens of a small town are revitalised and united through Pulp’s songs for “Common People” (Pulp: a Film about Life, Death and Supermarkets). Thrills are guaranteed for the loyal fans of The Beatles in Vietnam in Nowhere Boy as they can see John Lennon’s early life as he started his banjo lessons, bought his first guitar, formed the Quarrymen, gave himself an Elvis hairdo, switched to Buddy Holly-style horn-rims, met with Paul McCartney and was refused entry to the Cavern.

The tragic life and death of many talented musicians can be shared through Control, an epic film about Ian Curtis, the frontman of Joy Division, an English rock band from Manchester. A dramatic portrayal of Curtis, Control takes audiences through Curtis’ failing marriage and epilepsy, which worsened his mood swings and made performing live incredibly difficult for him. The story that led to his suicide at the age of 23 is told brilliantly, making Control a “must see” film.

For those who want some humour, Bugsy Malone is an excellent choice. It is a gangster movie a cast entirely of children. The BAFTA-winning musical was directed by Sir Alan Parker whose films (including Evita) won 19 BAFTAs and 10 Oscars. Bugsy Malone works as a “real” gangster movie but with a sense of childlike innocence too.

SCREENING SCHEDULE

GOD HELP THE GIRL (2014)

“God help the girl” was directed by Stuart Murdoch who is the mainstay of the Scottish indie band Belle and Sebastian himself. It tells the story of Eve, a young woman with anorexia who escapes from hospital for a summer adventure with her friends. Together they write songs as part of the healing process.

NOWHERE BOY (2009)

“Nowhere boy” was a superbly acted film that depicts John Lennon in his late teens. The story of John Lennon’s childhood and teenage years from 1944 to 1960, his relationship with his aunt Mimi and his mother Julia – the two dominant women in the first part of his life, his first meeting with Paul McCartney and George Harrison, their friendship, their love for music and the birth of The Beatles.

PULP: A FILM ABOUT LIFE, DEATH & SUPERMARKETS (2014)

“Pulp: a film about Life, Death & Supermarkets” is a documentary telling stories about Pulp, the world-famous band from the streets of Sheffield with the help of friends, family and fans, who all have their own stories to tell. Northern Soul is about a youth culture in the 1970s which changed a generation. It tells the tale of a nightclub based movement which developed in Northern England. The film is an uplifting account of two young boys whose horizons are opened up by the discovery of black American soul music.

GOOD VIBRATIONS (2013)

In the 1970s, in Belfast, Terri Hooley is an idealistic rocker who finds himself caught in the middle of Northern Ireland’s bitter Troubles. Seeing a parallel in the chaos with Jamaica, Hooley opens a record shop, Good Vibrations, to help bring reggae music to his city to help encourage some harmony. However, Hooley soon discovers a new music genre, punk rock, and is inspired by its youthful vitality to become an important record producer and promoter of the local scene. In doing so, Hooley would struggle both with the industry’s realities and his chaotic personal life that threaten to consume him. However, he would also be instrumental in creating an alternative Irish community that would bridge his land’s religious and social rivalries with an art no one expected.

CONTROL (2007)

Ian Curtis is a quiet and rather sad lad who works for an employment agency and sings in a band called Warsaw. He meets a girl named Debbie whom he promptly marries and his band, of which the name in the meantime has been changed to Joy Division, gets more and more successful. Even though Debbie and he became parents, their relationship is going downhill rapidly and Ian starts an affair with Belgium Annik whom he met after one of the gigs and he’s almost never at home. Ian also suffers from epilepsy and has no-good medication for it. He doesn’t know how to handle the feelings he has for Debbie and Annik and the pressure the popularity of Joy Division and the energy performing costs him.

BUGSY MALONE (1976)

New York, 1929, a war rages between two rival gangsters: Fat Sam and Dandy Dan. Dan is in possession of a new and deadly weapon, the dreaded “splurge gun”. As the custard pies fly, Bugsy Malone, an all-round nice guy, falls for Blousey Brown, a singer at Fat Sam’s speakeasy. His designs on her are disrupted by the seductive songstress Tallulah who wants Bugsy for herself. How is Bugsy to get the girl and help Fat Sam defend his business against the deadly Dan and his dastardly tricks? With an all-child cast placed in a mobster era, armed with custard instead of bullets and belting out some superb songs, this is simply entertainment at its best.

TICKETS

Ticket price: 50,000 per film in Hanoi and HCMC, 40,000 per film in Danang

Tickets can be purchased now at ticketbox.vn.

Venue

UK film week 2015

Hanoi: 06 – 12 Nov 2015

CGV Ho Guom Plaza

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Đà Nẵng: 05 – 11 Nov 2015

CGV Vincom

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TP HCM: 04 – 10 Nov 2015

CGV SC Vivo City

PV