Coming Attractions

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	FRIDAY, September 9, 2011 7:30 pm In a Better World Dir. Susanne Bier, 2010, Denmark, 119 min, R Anton is a doctor who commutes between his home in an idyllic town in Denmark, and his work at an African refugee camp. In these two very different worlds, he and his family are faced with conflicts that lead them to difficult choices between revenge and forgiveness. Anton and his wife Marianne, have two young sons, are separated and struggling with the possibility of divorce. Their ten-year-old son Elias is being bullied at school, until he is defended by Christian, a new boy who has just moved from London. Elias and Christian quickly form a strong bond, but when Christian involves Elias in a dangerous act of revenge, their friendship is tested and lives are put in danger. Ultimately, it is their parents who are left to help them come to terms with the complexity of human emotions, pain and empathy. Winner, 2010 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. In Danish, with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, September 23, 2011 7:30pm La Prima Cosa Bella Dir: Paolo Virzi, 2010, Italy, 120 Min, PG-13 A massive box office hit, celebrating the great Italian movies of the 1960s, a comedy filled with emotions but free from sentimentalism, where tears and laughter go hand in hand. Bruno, an unhappy teacher who lives in Milan, is forced by his sister Valeria to go back to the country home of his birth to visit his dying mother, Anna, who he always despised and deeply loved at the same time. The trip sparks flashbacks to his childhood with recollections of his mother's life. A stunning, beautiful woman married to an introverted man, Anna was admired by all the men and feared by the women of her small town. She was misunderstood, far too modern for her time and completely unappreciated by the men of her family. Nevertheless, she went through life with a smile and with the sole intention of being the best mother in the world. Bruno will finally understand her real nature, when in her final dying days she revives his love for her again. Winner, 3 Donatello Awards. In Italian with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, October 7, 2011 7:30 pm Of Gods and Men Dir: Xavier Beauvois, 2010, France, 120 mins, PG-13 Based on a true incident, the film is set in a Cistercian monastery, in the mountains of Algeria in the 1990's, where eight French monks have lived for years in harmony with the local Muslim population. But the country is increasingly in the grip of fundamentalist violence, and the brothers must soon decide to stay or leave. The movie is a deeply moving exploration of the rift between cultures and the meaning of faith in a violent world, and tackles its subject authoritatively and with a non-sensational forcefulness. Loosely based on the life of the Cistercian monks of Tibhirine in Algeria, from 1993 until their kidnapping in 1996. Winner Cannes Grand Jury Prize. In French with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, October 21, 2011 7:30 pm Poetry Dir: Lee Chang-dong, 2010, S. Korea, 149 min, R The importance of seeing, seeing the world deeply, is at the heart of this quietly devastating, humanistic work from the South Korean film maker Lee Chang-dong. POETRY revolves around the main character of Mija, an elderly woman, who is raising her 16 year-old grandson, and is a personal assistant to an elderly man. Searching for meaning in her life she decides to take a poetry class. Faced with failing health and a heinous family crime, Mija derives strength and purpose from her poetry class. A masterful study of the subtle empowerment - and moral compass - of an elderly woman in a patriarchal society. Best Screenplay, Cannes. In Korean with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, November 4, 2011 7:30 pm Meek's Cutoff Dir: Kelly Reichardt, 2010, USA, 104 Min, PG The year is 1845, the earliest days of the Oregon Trail, and a wagon train of three families has hired mountain man Stephen Meek to guide them over the Cascade Mountains. Claiming to know a shortcut, Meek leads the group on an unmarked path across the high plain desert, only to become lost in the dry rock and sage. Over the coming days, the emigrants face the scourges of hunger, thirst and their own lack of faith in one another's instincts for survival. When a native American wanderer crosses their path, the emigrants are torn between their trust in a guide who has proven himself unreliable and a man who has always been seen as a natural born enemy. Signus Award at 2010 Venis Film Festival. Independent Spirit Award for producing 2011. In English with closed captions.
	SATURDAY, November 19, 2011 7:30 pm Nora's Will Dir Mariana Chenillo, 2009, Mexico, 92 min, NR Nora had a plan that would bring her ex-husband, José, and the rest of their family together for a magnificent Passover feast. But there is a flaw in her plan—a mysterious photograph from the past, hidden under the bed, which leads José to re-examine their relationship and rediscover their undying love for each other. A melodrama with comic punctuation, Nora's Will is about secrets and lies—a truly unique tale of lost faith and eternal love from one of Mexico's most talented new filmmakers, writer/director Mariana Chenillo. The filmmaker continually lightens the mood with laughter, sometimes by underlining the differences between the unsmiling Orthodox Jewish and more freewheeling Christian interlopers. Named Mexico's Best Picture of the Year, with 7 Ariel Awards. In Spanish, with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, December 2, 2011 7:30 pm A Somewhat Gentle Man Dir: Hans Petter Moland, 2010, Norway, 103 Min, R The somewhat gentle man of this droll, highly satisfying black comedy has no special wishes and makes no demands. He does not give too much thought to what he does, either. If he's given some food and a place to sleep, he will give people what they want in return, whether it is a little affection or maybe, an act of violence. Ulrik (Stellan Skarsgard) has served a 12 year sentence for murder. Now he's out. He's in his 50s, with no future, a family that doesn't want anything to do with him, no place to sleep and no job. Fortunately, his old crew wants to help him. His gangster boss gets him an apartment and a job as a mechanic. Women come his way. But there is an old score to be settled. The man who squealed and sent him to jail has been found...As director Moland wryly notes of this festival favorite, “It's a film about our painful shortcomings, a tribute to less than perfect sex, and a worldwide campaign against the people of petty exactness that rule the world.” Official selection of the Berlin Film Festival, winner of the Silver Hugo Award at the Chicago Film Festival. In Norwegian, Swedish, Sami, Polish with English subtitles.
	SATURDAY, January 7, 2012 7:30 pm Incendies Dir: Denis Villeneuve, 2010, Can, Frnc, 130 min, R A film occupied with some of the grisly realities of recent history, INCENDIES has the structure, and the atmosphere, of an ancient folk tale. It is a quest narrative, about children searching out the mysteries of their parentage, and also the story of a resourceful heroine, the mother of those children, surviving an almost unimaginable series of ordeals. These entwined plots unfurl in the modern world in Quebec and an unnamed Middle Eastern country. Judged by strictly naturalistic standards, the flurry of revelations and coincidences that wrap up the parallel stories may seem implausible. But strict verisimilitude would not serve the dramatic ends that it sets out to serve. Based on a play of the same name by Wajdi Mouawad. In French with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, January 20, 2012 7:30 pm Bride Flight Dir. Ben Sombogaart, 2008, Netherlands, 130 min, R This film is about four young Dutch citizens, three women and a man, who meet on an airplane as they're immigrating to New Zealand from war-devastated Holland during the aftermath of World War II. Their airplane, The Flying Dutchman is participating in the “Last Great Air Race” between London and Christchurch. Their lives are interconnected as they all became linked, either by love or law or childbirth. Here and there the narrative flashes forward to show these same women many years later, in old age. All three women make profound mistakes, not the kind that end in disaster, but the kind people usually make. Two of them know themselves too little and betray their emotional natures. One fails to embrace a challenge and lives with a lot of fear. These aren't failed lives, just not as full as they might have been, which is the case with most people, and for the same reason: lack of courage. BRIDE FLIGHT presents a panoramic sweep of lives as they're lived, with the cinematic beauty of New Zealand as its backdrop. In English and Dutch, with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, February 3, 2012 7:30 pm Certified Copy Dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 2010, Frnc/It, 106 min, R The ever-radiant Juliette Binoche is an antique shop owner accompanying a somewhat stiff author on a tour through the sun-drenched landscape of Tuscany to promote his new book on fakery in art. At the heart of the film is the question of the precise relationship between the two protagonists. Have they met before? Are they merely fan and author? Or are they, as a waitress believes, an estranged couple seeking some kind of reconciliation? As the two talk about art and their respective lives, careers and ideals, the sense of ambiguity grows as they each hold back from full disclosure. The director masterfully leads us down emotional cul-de-sacs as we veer between the feeling that we are witnessing the start of a beautiful romance and something altogether more melancholy. This meditative and sometimes funny mystery story has a serious point to make about the need to feel safe—or at least safer—in a world full of doubts. Juliette Binoche won the Best Actress Award at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival. In French, English and Italian, with English subtitles.
	SATURDAY, February 18, 2012 7:30 pm The Human Resources Manager Dir: Eran Riklis, 2010, Israel, 103 Min, NR Jerusalem's largest bakery is making news. When one of their female employees is killed in a suicide bombing and her body remains unclaimed, they are accused of inhumanity and indifference. It falls to the unhappy title character, a man with family problems of his own, to claim the body from the morgue and deliver it to the next of kin. On behest of the company, the human resources manager embarks on a complex journey from Jerusalem to frozen Romania. He finds himself leading an awkward convoy that includes the dead woman's rebellious son, a pesky journalist, a quirky honorary consul, an elderly driver and a coffin. Far from home the HR manager rediscovers his own humanity and his ability to care for human resources. Based on a novel by A.B. Yehoshua this quirky road movie won five Israeli Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. Winner, Audience Award, Locarno Film Festival. In Hebrew, English, Romanian with English subtitles.
	Friday, March 2, 2012 7:30 pm The Double Hour Dir. Giuseppe Capotondi, 2009, Italy, 96 min, 2009, NR Nothing is what it appears to be, in this surprising romantic thriller from Italy. Sonia, an immigrant from Slovenia, is now employed as a chambermaid for a plush Turin hotel. She joins a speed-dating club and meets handsome Guido, an Italian security guard and former cop. The two hit it off, and a passionate romance develops. After they leave the city for a romantic getaway in the country, things suddenly take a dark turn. Questions arise and answers only arrive through a continuous twist and turn of events, keeping viewers on edge until the film's final moments. What begins as a lyrical tale about the merging of two lonely souls takes several unpredictable twists and even some shocking turns, before the director is finished with his suspenseful sleight-of-hand. Best Actress at the 2009 Venice Film Festival. Recommended for adult audiences. In Italian, with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, March 16, 2012 7:30 pm Gainsbourg: (Vie heroique) Dir: Joann Sfar, 2010, France, 122 Minutes, R For the French, self-destructive singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg was a combination of Frank Sinatra, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Jim Morrison, all rolled into one larger-than-life persona. Gainsbourg cut a swath through French popular culture. Sfar visualizes Gainsbourg's journey with a series of striking set pieces and motifs, not least of which is the recurring monstrous puppet – representing Gainsbourg's self-doubting dark side – who pops up regularly. Lucy Gordon captures the initial innocence and long-suffering patience of his grand amour Jane Birkin, while the stunning Laetitia Casta embodies Brigitte Bardot, another of Gainsbourg's many loves. In French with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, March 30, 2012 7:30 pm Beginners Dir. Mike Mills, US, 2011, 105 min, R BEGINNERS is a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments. This film imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna after a long history of failed romantic relationships. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father Hal (Christopher Plummer), who, following the death of his wife of 45 years, came out of the closet at age 75 to live a full, energized and wonderfully tumultuous gay life—which included a younger boyfriend. The upheavals of Hal's new honesty, by turns funny and moving, brought father and son closer than they'd ever been able to be. Now Oliver endeavors to love Anna with all the bravery, humor and hope that his father taught him. At once deeply personal and universal, Beginners was inspired by writer/director Mike Mills' own father and is meant in turn to inspire everyone weighing their chances and choices in life and love. In English with closed captions.
	FRIDAY, April 13, 2012 7:30 pm The Princess of Montpensier Dir. Bertrand Tavernier, 2010, France, 139 min, NR As directed and co-written by veteran French filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier with an expert cast, PRINCESS is a costume production rich in classic dramatic elements at a time when France was divided by a bloody religious war between Catholics and Protestant Huguenots. Beyond politics, what absorbs the audience is this film's unconventional love story about a 16th century princess named Marie and the four very different men who became intoxicated by this beautiful, intelligent and passionate woman. Burdened with too much attractiveness and too little power, the princess of Montpensier is never in a position to enjoy her advantages in this complicated tale. As the intricate psychological interplay with these men ebbs and flows, the princess finds herself constricted by the emotional minefield of her precarious position. Not just because she's a woman in a chauvinistic age but because she's a person who values genuine feelings in a brutally cynical world. Princess Marie is woman out of time who is troubled by her contemporary [16th century] concerns. Based on a 1622 novella. In French, with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, April 27, 2012 7:30 pm Samson and Delilah Dir: Warwick Thornton, Australia, 2009, 101 min, R Two teenagers find love and look for a place where they can be together in peace in this comedy drama from Australia. Samson is 15 years old and lives in a shabby town in the outback, where he huffs gasoline to get high, hangs out with his friends, and spends his days goofing off and getting into minor trouble. One day, Samson meets Delilah at the village market, a girl who follows a different path in life – she looks after her elderly grandmother and helps her create paintings that they sell to tourists to support themselves. While Delilah doesn't have much to say to Samson at first, he's immediately taken with her and shows his affection with a graffiti painting. While she's not willing to admit it at first, Delilah has feelings for him as well and when her grandmother encourages her to follow her heart, the two begin dating. But life is difficult in the outback, and when they both become victims of violence, Samson and Delilah hit the road and begin looking for a town where they can lead a better life. Official selection 2009 Cannes Film Festival. Australian Film Institute award for Best Picture, Best screenplay, Best Director and Best Sound 2009. In English and Aboriginal with English subtitles.
	FRIDAY, May 11, 2012 7:30 pm The Trip Dir. Michael Winterbottom, 2011, UK, 111 min, NR Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon are English comedians with distinctly different styles. In THE TRIP, they play themselves, brought together under a fictional premise: Steve is doing an article on the cuisine of Northern England and brings Rob along on the trip. Coogan, better known in the United States, is low key, somber and slightly irritable in his demeanor. So it was inspired to pair him with Brydon (who is quite big in Britain), a relentless comic absolutely guaranteed to get on his nerves. Part of the fun and interest are those moments that walk the line between truth and fiction. The comedians are competitive, each trying to top the other. In one scene that's just side-splitting, they go back and forth about who has the better Michael Caine imitation. It's dueling Michael Caines, and it's hysterical. In another scene, they're arguing over who does a better Sean Connery ordering a martini, "shaken, not stirred." Then, without any preamble, they shift into doing the same line as Roger Moore. So it's two guys traveling, eating and talking. It doesn't sound like much . . . but it's terrific and very funny. In English with closed captions.