Films by season & age - Tales From The City (Ages 15-18)

Seasons are a great way to explore different ideas through watching a group of films. Why not try watching all the films in a season and make some time for discussion. Topics and discussion points are included.

Take a cinematic world tour with this Film Club season of movies set in the most dramatic of cities. London, Berlin, Tokyo, Buenos Aries, New York, Paris, Glasgow, Helsinki and Los Angeles all get their turn in the spotlight - not to mention the unnamed futuristic location of the silent classic Metropolis.

In some of the movies here, the city setting simply provides a spectacular backdrop to the story. In others, the city plays a vital role in the plot - it's hard to imagine, for instance, Lost in Translation taking place in a western city. In still others, however, the city itself is a character every bit as much as those living within it - Amelie being a film in love with its setting in Paris, director Spike Lee's 25th Hour hums with the energy of New York.

Whether comic or dramatic, joyful or tense, all these films revel in their urban landscapes - and anyone watching will get a real feel for how different film-makers treat the cities they take as their subjects.

Talking points:

  • Do any of the cities here look particularly beautiful - or particularly ugly?
  • Could any of the films here be set anywhere else - for example, would Amelie be the same if it was set in the Helsinki of The Man Without A Past? Can you imagine the story of Nine Queens taking place in Ratcatcher's Glasgow?

Guidance:

25th Hour has several scenes involving guns, and also a scene where a major character engages in racism.

Amelie features a major character who works in a sex shop.

La Haine features several scenes of violence and is not entirely flattering in its depiction of the French police.