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Film review: Save The Cinema

This heart-warming British drama hits all the right buttons

January 13, 2022 13:28
10 SaveTheCinema
The sleepy town of Carmarthen in Wales is not exactly the first place to spring to mind when thinking of Hollywood blockbusters. But this changed in 1993 when the town council made the unwelcome announcement that The Lyric Theatre – the town’s much-loved but financially stricken cinema – would be demolished so a shopping centre could be built in its place.   It’s down to Liz Evans, hairdresser and linchpin to the local community, to stand up for the ailing cinema and stop the bulldozers. As she and her friends barricade themselves in the theatre, she reaches out to postman turned town councillor Richard (Tom Felton) for help - and they come up with a grand plan.   To revitalise the cinema and stop the council taking the heart of the community away, a desperate Liz persuades Richard to write to Hollywood to ask for a helping hand. One late night phone call later and one of Hollywood’s most legendary filmmakers throws The Lyric a monster-sized lifeline and a premiere Carmarthen will never forget. But will this be enough to save The Lyric?

ByLinda Marric

1 min read


Cert: 12A | ★★★✩✩

Jewish Welsh actor-turned-director Sara Sugarman (Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen) presents a heartwarming tale of triumph over adversity in this new comedy drama based on real life events. Starring Samatha Morton, Jonathan Pryce and Harry Potter alum Tom Felton, Save The Cinema tells the story of a family’s struggle to keep an old Art Deco cinema in their hometown from closure.
It’s 1993 in Carmarthen, Wales. Liz Evans (Morton, sublime as ever), a local hairdresser and leader of a youth theatre has been putting on plays and musicals at the Lyric theatre, a struggling Art Deco theatre. When it transpires that the local mayor (Adeel Akhtar) is behind a plan to demolish and turn the Lyric into a shopping centre, Liz, her children and retired teacher Mr Morgan (Jonathan Pryce) scramble to save the old building by occupying it night and day.
Save The Cinema manages to tick every single box on the list of what is needed to make a family-friendly, uplifting and socially minded production. It’s full of heart-warming moments and plenty of laughs. I loved every second of its cheesy, dewy-eyed sentimentalism.