Subscribe to watch - 14-day free trial, then £6.99 a month

I've Been Trying to Tell You
Saint Etienne present a beautiful and enveloping nostalgia trip through 1990s Britain.
Director: Alasdair McLellan
Overview
Do you look back on the optimism of the 1997-2001 era as a lost golden age, or do you see it as a period of naïvety, delusion and folly? There’s a lot of nostalgia for the nineties at the moment, especially from people too young to remember it who see the decade as a simpler, pre-internet time. Modern nostalgia often draws on corporate American-90s mall culture, but what about British culture? With I’ve Been Trying To Tell You – made to accompany the Saint Etienne album of the same name – director Alasdair McLellan evokes the era through the fog of memory. The resulting film, shot in locations from Grangemouth to Portmeirion to Southampton, is both beautiful and enveloping.
Related

I Am Weekender I Am Weekender
Documentary 2023 72 mins Director: Wiz and Chloé Raunet
Groundbreaking music film, coupled with Chloé Raunet’s documentary about the making of the film, offering an insight into the heart of acid house.

Wild Tales Wild Tales
Comedy 2014 122 mins Director: Damian Szifron
This Oscar-nominated, Almodóvar-produced anthology of six tales of ordinary madness is the most riotously enjoyable portmanteau film since Pulp Fiction.

Nymphomaniac Vol. I Nymphomaniac Vol. I
Drama 2013 118 mins Director: Lars von Trier
Volume 1 of Lars von Trier’s explicit, controversial film about a woman recounting the history of her sexuality in episodic style.

Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn
Comedy 2021 106 mins Director: Radu Jude
Berlin Golden Bear winner, Radu Jude’s scathing satire finds schoolteacher Emi threatened with dismissal when a private sex tape goes viral.

Lawrence of Belgravia Lawrence of Belgravia
Documentary 2012 85 mins Director: Paul Kelly
Paul Kelly's stirring and acclaimed character study of enigmatic musician Lawrence (Felt, Denim and Go-Kart Mozart).

Memoria Memoria
Fantasy 2021 136 mins Director: Apichatpong Weerasethakul
Tilda Swinton stars in the first English-language feature from filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul; a mesmerising and beautifully immersive work.

All My Friends Hate Me All My Friends Hate Me
Comedy 2022 94 mins Director: Andrew Gaynord
A deliciously dark comedy about social paranoia that will have you joyfully squirming in your seat.

The Echo The Echo
Documentary 2023 102 mins Director: Tatiana Huezo
Tatiana Huezo’s poetic documentary captures a holistic view of the rhythms of life in a remote Mexican village.

Pacifiction Pacifiction
Drama 2022 165 mins Director: Albert Serra
Albert Serra’s hypnotic Palme d'Or-nominated drama about the greed and hypocrisy of colonial power in Tahiti.

Hundreds of Beavers Hundreds of Beavers
Comedy 2024 109 mins Director: Mike Cheslik
Stranded in a surreal winter landscape, a drunken applejack salesman must become North America's greatest fur trapper in Mike Cheslik’s gloriously anarchic slapstick comedy.

Cronos Cronos
Horror 1992 93 mins Director: Guillermo del Toro
Guillermo del Toro’s Cannes prize-winning directorial debut offers a unique take on the classic vampire story.

Alma's Rainbow Alma's Rainbow
Comedy 1993 89 mins Director: Ayoka Chenzira
Ayoka Chenzira’s vital coming-of-age comedy about three Black women living in Brooklyn learning to embrace life and exercise their agency.

Welcome II the Terrordome Welcome II the Terrordome
Drama 1995 94 mins Director: Ngozi Onwurah
A ferocious dystopian nightmare, this was the first film directed by a Black British woman to receive a UK theatrical release.