All Out of Bubblegum Film Club

Perfect Blue (Japanese: パーフェクトブルー, Hepburn: Pāfekuto Burū) is a 1997 Japanese animated psychological thriller film directed by Satoshi Kon. It is loosely based on the novel Perfect Blue: Complete Metamorphosis (パーフェクトブルー：完全変態, Pāfekuto Burū: Kanzen Hentai) by Yoshikazu Takeuchi, with a screenplay by Sadayuki Murai. Featuring the voices of Junko Iwao, Rica Matsumoto, Shiho Niiyama, Masaaki Okura, Shinpachi Tsuji and Emiko Furukawa, the plot follows a member of a Japanese idol group who retires from music to pursue an acting career. As she becomes a victim of stalking by her obsessive fan, gruesome murders take place, and she begins losing her grip on reality. The film deals with the blurring of the line between fantasy and reality, a commonly found theme in Kon's other works, such as Millennium Actress (2001), Paranoia Agent (2004), and Paprika (2006). The film garnered critical acclaim and is now regarded as a masterpiece of animation and one of the best anime films of all time.

Please note we will not be showing the film at the meeting. Make sure you watch the film before you attend and then come and join in with the conversation. It’s just a discussion. It’s not a screening.

Fight Club is a 1999 American film directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, and Helena Bonham Carter. It is based on the 1996 novel by Chuck Palahniuk. Norton plays the unnamed narrator, who is discontented with his white-collar job. He forms a "fight club" with a soap salesman, Tyler Durden (Pitt), and becomes embroiled with an impoverished but beguiling woman, Marla Singer (Bonham Carter). The film failed to meet the studio's expectations at the box office and polarized critics. It was ranked as one of the most controversial and talked-about films of the 1990s. However, Fight Club later found commercial success with its home video release, establishing it as a cult classic and causing media to revisit the film. In 2009, on its tenth anniversary, The New York Times dubbed it the "defining cult movie of our time"

Please note we will not be showing the film at the meeting. Make sure you watch the film before you attend and then come and join in with the conversation. It’s just a discussion. It’s not a screening.

The Square is a 2017 satirical black comedy film written and directed by Ruben Östlund. The film stars Claes Bang, Elisabeth Moss, Dominic West and Terry Notary. A Swedish production with co-production support from Germany, France and Denmark, it was shot in Gothenburg, Stockholm and Berlin. The story was partly inspired by an installation Östlund and producer Kalle Boman had made. Östlund was also inspired by a notorious incident involving Oleg Kulik and cast Notary in a parody, drawing on Notary's experience imitating apes. The film was entered into the 2017 Cannes Film Festival, where it received positive reviews and won the Palme d'Or. It was subsequently selected for the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. It went on to win six European Film Awards, including Best Film; two Guldbagge Awards, including Best Director; and other honours. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

Please note we will not be showing the film at the meeting. Make sure you watch the film before you attend and then come and join in with the conversation. It’s just a discussion. It’s not a screening.

Tár is a 2022 psychological drama film written and directed by Todd Field. Cate Blanchett stars as Lydia Tár, a world-renowned conductor, whose life unravels after she is accused of misconduct. The supporting cast includes Nina Hoss, Noémie Merlant, Sophie Kauer, Julian Glover, Allan Corduner, and Mark Strong. Tár received critical acclaim, especially for Blanchett's performance and Field's screenplay and direction. At the 95th Academy Awards, Tár received six nominations, including Best Picture. Blanchett won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress, and was nominated for the Academy Award and Screen Actors Guild Award the same category. Tár is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of the 21st century in numerous retrospective lists published since 2023, including the New York Times, New York, IndieWire, and Rolling Stone.

Please note we will not be showing the film at the meeting. Make sure you watch the film before you attend and then come and join in with the conversation. It’s just a discussion. It’s not a screening.