Fight Club - The Eclectic Cinema

CULT CINEMA

Fight Club 15

USA | 1999 139 minutes

DIRECTED BY

David Fincher

STARRING

Brad Pitt|Edward Norton|Helena Bonham Carter|Meatloaf

There seems so much to say about Fight Club, but we all (probably) know the first rule of Fight Club. It was a hugely expensive film, based on the novel by Chuck Palahniuk, writer of ‘transgressional’ fiction. It has been compared with other rebellious films like Rebel Without a Cause and The Graduate. This one was the film for Generation X (born 1965 to 1980). On its release, it divided the critics and did not do hugely well at the box office. Once released on DVD, though, it found a following, and greater commercial success. Ten years after its first release The New York Times called it the ‘defining cult movie of our time’.

The unnamed narrator of the story (Edward Norton) is disillusioned with his life and his work, is bored, and suffering acute insomnia. He joins a therapy group, but is disillusioned by this experience, too. He joins other groups, feigning issues and illnesses he does not have, until he meets and re-meets Marla (Helena Bonham Carter), who seems to be on a similar trip, trying to find a connection with life. Then the narrator meets Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) and life changes to become more exciting and much more dangerous – first Fight Club, then Project Mayhem. But who is Tyler Durden?

The film did not garner any of the established awards, although it was nominated for Best Soundtrack at the Brits in 2000. Curiously, however, it did pick up the award for Best Foreign Film at the Turkish Film Critics Association (SIYAD) Awards!

10 June 2024 MONDAY 19:30

AUDITORIUM

Tickets £8.00|£5.00 (up to age 25)