The Arbor - documentary - Clio Barnard
RT: 90 MC: 87
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvahJ-SjMZU" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvahJ-SjMZU
Wildly successful and dead by age 29, British playwright Andrea Dunbar (1961-1990) wrote the screenplay for "Rita, Sue and Bob Too!" based on her own hardscrabble life. Roger Ebert, writing about the film in 1987: "An angry comedy... If it were an American film, it would be an R-rated sex romp without a brain in its head, a soft-core baby-sitter saga... But this is a movie about two tough, deprived girls... and an irresponsible feather-brained adult who thinks he's taking advantage of them, when in fact they're a whole lot more worldly and cynical than he is." "The Arbor" revisits this material through a innovative technique known as verbatim theater: actors lip-synching documentary recordings of the people they're playing. Dunbar's daughters update a family saga of alcoholism, drugs, prostitution, sexual abuse and violence. Rarely has the cyclical nature of poverty been so brilliantly and believably dramatized.
Beats, Rhymes & Life; The Travels of A Tribe Called Quest - documentary - Michael Rapaport
RT: N/A MC: N/A
HYPERLINK "http://youtu.be/bbCT6_HAOmM" http://youtu.be/bbCT6_HAOmM
"BEATS, RHYMES & LIFE: THE TRAVELS OF A TRIBE CALLED QUEST is a documentary film directed by Michael Rapaport about one of the most influential and groundbreaking musical groups in hip-hop history. Having released five gold and platinum selling albums within eight years, A Tribe Called Quest has been one of the most commercially successful and artistically significant musical groups in recent history, and regarded as iconic pioneers of hip hop. The band’s sudden break-up in 1998 shocked the industry and saddened the scores of fans, whose appetite for the group’s innovative musical stylings never seems to diminish. A hard-core fan himself, Rapaport sets out on tour with A Tribe Called Quest in 2008, when they reunited to perform sold-out concerts across the country, almost ten years after the release of their last album, The Love Movement. As he travels with the band members (Q-Tip, Phife Dawg, Ali Shaheed Muhammad and Jarobi White), Rapaport captures the story of how tenuous their relationship has become; how their personal differences and unresolved conflicts continue to be a threat to their creative cohesion. When mounting tensions erupt backstage during a show in San Francisco, we get a behind-the-scenes look at their journey and contributions as a band and what currently is at stake for these long-time friends and collaborators. Rarely heard stories from New York’s legendary DJ Red Alert, Native Tongues members like Monie Love, the Jungle Brothers, Busta Rhymes, and De La Soul bring an intimacy to the days when young artists discovered the freedom of artistic expression, while rejecting the confines of gangster rap and negative stereotypes. Chronicles of songs like “Scenario” and “Check the Rhime” paint a vivid picture of growing up in Queens, and how the band’s unique approach to hip hop helped transform and influence the genre for years to come. A New York native, Rapaport’s lifelong love for hip hop helps achieve intimate, all-access interviews and cinéma vérité-style filmmaking, fostering a conversation for A Tribe Called Quest to determine if there is a possibility to mend the wounds from over the years. In addition to chronicling the past, present and uncertain future of the band, the film includes interviews from the Beastie Boys, Kanye West, Pharrell, Mos Def, Santigold, Monie Love, Pete Rock, Large Professor, De La Soul, The Jungle Brothers and Common, all of whom attribute some combination of love, respect, and inspiration drawn from the legacy of A Tribe Called Quest."
The Beaver - comedy/Drama - Jodie Foster
RT: 63 MC: 59
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttv-gvOzaPw" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttv-gvOzaPw
Two-time Academy Award® winner Jodie Foster directs and co-stars with two-time Academy Award® winner Mel Gibson in ""The Beaver"" – an emotional story about a man on a journey to re-discover his family and re-start his life. Plagued by his own demons, Walter Black was once a successful toy executive and family man who now suffers from depression. No matter what he tries, Walter can't seem to get himself back on track... until a beaver hand puppet enters his life.
Beginners - comedy - Mike Mills
RT: 85 MC: 81
HYPERLINK "http://youtu.be/rXUFUp6vsxg" http://youtu.be/rXUFUp6vsxg
When it comes to relationships, we're all beginners. From writer/director Mike Mills comes a comedy/drama about how deeply funny and transformative life can be, even at its most serious moments. "Beginners" imaginatively explores the hilarity, confusion, and surprises of love through the evolving consciousness of Oliver (Golden Globe Award nominee Ewan McGregor). Oliver meets the irreverent and unpredictable Anna (Mélanie Laurent of "Inglourious Basterds") only months after his father Hal (Academy Award nominee Christopher Plummer) has passed away. This new love floods Oliver with memories of his father, 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. 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, the film was inspired by Mike Mills' own father and is meant in turn to inspire everyone weighing their chances and choices in life and love.
Bellflower - action/drama - Evan Glodell
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgVod-LzV6M&feature=related" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgVod-LzV6M&feature=related
"Best friends Woodrow and Aiden spend all of their free time building Mad Max-inspired flamethrowers and muscle cars in preparation for a global apocalypse. But when Woodrow meets a charismatic young woman and falls hard in love, he and Aiden quickly integrate into a new group of friends, setting off on a journey of love and hate, betrayal, infidelity and extreme violence more devastating and fiery than any of their apocalyptic fantasies
Bill Cunningham New York - documentary - Richard Press
RT: N/A MC: N/A
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu6YoshWd_A" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu6YoshWd_A
Bill Cunningham is a fashion photographer, but unlike most in his profession, he rarely spends a day in a photo studio. Cunningham's work has been a long-time fixture in The New York Times; in his "Evening Hours" column, he presents pictures he's snapped of the wealthy and influential and what they're wearing to social events, while "On the Street" documents bold and individual looks worn by everyday people on the sidewalks of New York City. Cunningham captures the glamorous lives of others and has been hailed as one of the most important men in New York fashion, yet he prefers to live a simple life -- he rides a bicycle around town, makes his home in a modest apartment, has his film processed at a corner store, and keeps his personal life to himself. Filmmaker Richard Press offers a look into the life and art of this influential and enigmatic figure in the documentary Bill Cunningham New York, which follows him as he works and tries to reveal what makes this unique artist tick. Bill Cunningham New York was an official selection at the 2010 Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival.
Bride Flight - drama - Ben Sombogaart
RT: 78 MC: 83
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeoQjFm4610&feature=relmfu" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeoQjFm4610&feature=relmfu
BRIDE FLIGHT is a lavish romantic drama that charts the lives of three women who escape the gloom of post-WWII Holland for what they hope will be a better life in New Zealand. Ada, the shy but sensual farm girl, Marjorie, who dreams of a big family, and Esther, a Holocaust survivor who aspires to be a fashion designer, become fast friends during the long flight taking them to their waiting husbands, who have already settled in Christchurch. On the flight the women also meet Frank, a dashing young man who will play a large role in each of their lives. Upon arrival, they part ways to start their new lives, but their paths continue to cross with chance meetings resulting in adultery, betrayal and near tragedy leading up to a reunion fifty years later.
Buck - documentary - Cindy Meehl
RT: 90 MC: 76
HYPERLINK "http://www.ifcfilms.com/videos/the-buck" http://www.ifcfilms.com/videos/the-buck
"Your horse is a mirror to your soul, and sometimes you may not like what you see. Sometimes, you will.” So says Buck Brannaman, a true American cowboy and sage on horseback who travels the country for nine grueling months a year helping horses with people problems. BUCK, a richly textured and visually stunning film, follows Brannaman from his abusive childhood to his phenomenally successful approach to horses. A real-life “horse-whisperer”, he eschews the violence of his upbringing and teaches people to communicate with their horses through leadership and sensitivity, not punishment. Buck possesses near magical abilities as he dramatically transforms horses – and people – with his understanding, compassion and respect. In this film, the animal-human relationship becomes a metaphor for facing the daily challenges of life. A truly American story about an unsung hero, BUCK is about an ordinary man who has made an extraordinary life despite tremendous odds.
Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff - documentary - Craig McCall
RT: 95 MC: 71
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN_aejkbh9c" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dN_aejkbh9c
Jack Cardiff's career spanned an incredible nine of moving picture's first ten decades and his work behind the camera altered the look of films forever through his use of Technicolor photography. Craig McCall's passionate film about the legendary cinematographer reveals a unique figure in British and international cinema.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams - documentary - Werner Herzog
RT: 96 MC: 86
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZFP5HfJPTY" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZFP5HfJPTY
"Cave of Forgotten Dreams,"" a breathtaking new 3D documentary from the incomparable Werner Herzog (""Encounters at the End of the World,"" ""Grizzly Man"") follows an exclusive expedition into the nearly inaccessible Chauvet Cave in France, home to the most ancient visual art known to have been created by man. A hit at this year's Toronto Film Festival, ""Cave of Forgotten Dreams"" is an unforgettable cinematic experience that provides a unique glimpse of pristine artwork dating back to human hands over 30,000 years ago -- almost twice as old as any previous discovery.
"
Circo - documentary - Aaron Schock
RT: 92 MC: 77
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HXld94WqUc" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HXld94WqUc
Gorgeously filmed along the back roads of rural Mexico, CIRCO follows the Ponce family's hardscrabble circus as it struggles to stay together despite mounting debt, dwindling audiences, and a simmering family conflict. Tino, the ringmaster, is driven by his dream to lead his parents' circus to success and corrals the energy of his whole family, including his four young children, towards this singular goal. But his wife Ivonne is determined to make a change. Feeling exploited by her in-laws, she longs to return to her kids a childhood lost to laboring in the circus. Through this intricately woven story of a marriage in trouble and of a century-old family tradition that hangs in the balance, CIRCO opens the viewer to the luminous world of a traveling circus while examining the universal themes of family bonds, filial responsibility, and the weight of cultural inheritance. With Original Music by CALEXICO.
Circumstance - drama - Maryam Keshavarz
RT: n/a MC: N/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td-cYUVOg4Q" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=td-cYUVOg4Q
Winner of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival Audience Award, this vibrant, sexy drama depicts the rapid changes happening in Iran and throughout the Middle East through the prism of one Tehran family and their rebellious children.
Conan O'Brien Can't Stop - documentary - Rodman Flender
RT: 67 MC: 63
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRdpC1jtZE0" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRdpC1jtZE0
"After a much-publicized departure from hosting NBC's ""Tonight Show"" - and the severing of a 22-year relationship with the network - O'Brien hit the road with a 32-city music-and-comedy show to exercise his performing chops and exorcise a few demons. The ""Legally Prohibited From Being Funny on Television Tour"" was O'Brien's answer to a contractual stipulation that banned his appearance on television, radio and the Internet for six months following his last show. Filmmaker Rodman Flender's resulting documentary, Conan O'Brien Can't Stop, is an intimate portrait of an artist trained in improvisation, captured at the most improvisational time of his career. It offers a window into the private writers room and rehearsal halls as O'Brien's ""half-assed show"" (his words) is almost instantly assembled and mounted to an adoring fan base. At times angry, mostly hilarious, O'Brien works out his feelings about the very-public separation with comedy and rockabilly music, engaging in bits with on-stage guests such as Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart and Jim Carrey, duetting with Jack White and sweating out manic Elvis Presley covers with his band and back-up singers. We see a comic who does not stop -- performing, singing, pushing his staff and himself. Did Conan O'Brien hit the road to give something back to his loyal fans, or did he travel across the continent, stopping at cities large (New York, Las Vegas) and remote (Enoch, Alberta) to fill a void within himself?
The Double Hour - crime/drama - Giuseppe Capotondi
RT: 83 MC: 72
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4yzgbspy5Y" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4yzgbspy5Y
Guido (Timi), a former cop, is a luckless veteran of the speed-dating scene in Turin. But, much to his surprise, he meets Slovenian immigrant Sonia (Rappoport), a chambermaid at a high-end hotel. 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. As Sonia's murky past resurfaces, her reality starts to crumble. Everything in her life begins to change—questions arise and answers only arrive through a continuous twist and turn of events keeping viewers on edge until the film's final moments.
Film Socialisme - drama - Jean-Luc Godard
RT: 52 MC: 63
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGV21s2P5YU" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGV21s2P5YU
Legendary director Jean-Luc Godard returns to the screen with Film Socialisme, a magisterial essay on the decline of European Civilization. As a garish cruise ship travels the Mediterranean (with Patti Smith among its guests), Godard embarks on a state of the EU address in a vibrant collage of philosophical quotes, historical revelations and pure cinematographic beauty.
The Future - drama - Miranda July
RT: 83 MC: N/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3CptIWoCik" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3CptIWoCik
In her follow-up to ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, internationally-acclaimed artist, author and filmmaker Miranda July returns with this story of a thirty-something couple whose decision to adopt a cat changes their perspective on life, literally altering the course of time and testing their faith in themselves and each other.
Hey Boo: Harper Lee and To Kill A Mockingbird - documentary - Mary Murphy
RT: 76 MC: 64
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7hE4MCHIjQ" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7hE4MCHIjQ
Fifty years after winning the Pulitzer Prize, To Kill a Mockingbird remains a beloved bestseller and quite possibly the most influential American novel of the 20th Century. Nearly one million copies are sold each year and the novel has been translated into more than forty languages worldwide. The film version, starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch, won a trio of Academy Awards, and the U.S. Postal Service's new stamp honoring Peck depicts him wearing glasses, as Finch. Behind it all was a young Southern girl named Nelle Harper Lee, who once said that she wanted to be South Alabama's Jane Austen. Hey, Boo explores Lee's life and unravels some of the mysteries surrounding her, including why she never published again. Containing never-before-seen photos and letters and an exclusive interview with Lee’s sister, Alice Finch Lee, the film also brings to light the context and history of the novel's Deep South setting and the social changes it inspired after publication. Tom Brokaw, Rosanne Cash, Wally Lamb, Anna Quindlen, Richard Russo, Scott Turow, Oprah Winfrey, Andrew Young and others reflect on the novel's power, influence, and popularity, and the many ways it has shaped their lives.
If A Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front - documentary - Marshall Curry
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGxy85R380" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAGxy85R380
On December 7th, 2005, federal agents conducted a nationwide sweep of radical environmentalists involved with the Earth Liberation Front -- an organization the FBI has called America's "number one domestic terrorism threat." "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" is the remarkable story of the group's rise and fall, told through the transformation and radicalization of one of its members, Daniel McGowan. Part coming-of-age tale, part cops-and-robbers thriller, the film interweaves a chronicle of McGowan facing life in prison with a dramatic investigation of the events that led to his involvement with the ELF. Using never-before-seen archival footage and intimate interviews -- with cell members and with the prosecutor and detective who were chasing them -- "If a Tree Falls" asks hard questions about environmentalism, activism, and the way we define terrorism.
Incendies - drama - Denis Villeneuve
RT: 100 MC: N/A
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDf-XuYid1A" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDf-XuYid1A
Director Denis Villeneuve adapts Wajdi Mouawad's play concerning a pair of twins who make a life-altering discovery following the death of their mother. Upon learning that their absentee father is still very much alive and they also have a brother they have never met, the pair travels to the Middle East on a mission to uncover the truth about their mystery-shrouded past.
The Last Mountain - documentary - Bill Haney
RT: 79 MC: 60
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5wmUkpOCKE&feature=player_embedded" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5wmUkpOCKE&feature=player_embedded
In the valleys of Appalachia, a battle is being fought over a mountain. It is a battle with severe consequences that affect every American, regardless of their social status, economic background or where they live. It is a battle that has taken many lives and continues to do so the longer it is waged. It is a battle over protecting our health and environment from the destructive power of Big Coal.
Life, Above All - drama - Oliver Schmitz
RT: 93 MC: N/A
HYPERLINK "http://youtu.be/H8cMjWE9BK4" http://youtu.be/H8cMjWE9BK4
Just after the death of her newly-born sister, Chanda, 12 years old, learns of a rumor that spreads like wildfire through her small, dust-ridden village near Johannesburg. It destroys her family and forces her mother to flee. Sensing that the gossip stems from prejudice and superstition, Chanda leaves home and school in search of her mother and the truth. LIFE, ABOVE ALL is an emotional and universal drama about a young girl (stunningly performed by first-time-actress Khomotso Manyaka) who fights the fear and shame that have poisoned her community. The film captures the enduring strength of loyalty and a courage powered by the heart. Directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz (Mapantsula; Paris, je t-aime), it is based on the international award winning novel Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton.
Magic Trip - documentary - Alex gibney and Alison Ellwood
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://youtu.be/FZt82oqpkE4" http://youtu.be/FZt82oqpkE4
In 1964, Ken Kesey, the famed author of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” set off on a legendary, LSD-fuelled cross-country road trip to the New York World’s Fair. He was joined by “The Merry Band of Pranksters,” a renegade group of counterculture truth-seekers, including Neal Cassady, the American icon immortalized in Kerouac’s “On the Road,” and the driver and painter of the psychedelic Magic Bus. Kesey and the Pranksters intended to make a documentary about their trip, shooting footage on 16MM, but the film was never finished and the footage has remained virtually unseen. With MAGIC TRIP, Oscar-winning director Alex Gibney and Alison Ellwood were given unprecedented access to this raw footage by the Kesey family. They worked with the Film Foundation, HISTORY and the UCLA Film Archives to restore over 100 hours of film and audiotape, and have shaped an invaluable document of this extraordinary piece of American history.
The Names of Love - comedy/drama - Michel Leclerc
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipig9HfESFM" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipig9HfESFM
Baya Benmahmoud, a young, extroverted liberal, lives by the old hippie slogan: “Make love, not war” to convert right-wing men to her left-wing political causes by sleeping with them. She seduces many and so far has received exceptional results – until she meets Arthur Martin, a Jewish middle aged, middle-of-the road scientist. Bound by common tragic family histories (the Algerian War and Holocaust under Vichy), the duo improbably falls in love. Amid the bubbly amour, humorous lasciviousness and moments of sheer madness, filmmaker Michel Leclerc injects satirical riffs on such hot-button sociopolitical issues as Arab-Jewish relations, anti-Semitism, immigration, and racial and cultural identity.
Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times - documentary - Andrew Rossi
RT: 79 MC: 74
HYPERLINK "http://youtu.be/ajfeAXg9fTk" http://youtu.be/ajfeAXg9fTk
In the tradition of great fly-on-the-wall documentaries, PAGE ONE: INSIDE THE NEW YORK TIMES deftly gains unprecedented access to The New York Times newsroom and the inner workings of the Media Desk. With the Internet surpassing print as our main news source and newspapers all over the country going bankrupt, PAGE ONE chronicles the transformation of the media industry at its time of greatest turmoil. Writers like Brian Stelter, Tim Arango and the salty but brilliant David Carr track print journalism’s metamorphosis even as their own paper struggles to stay vital and solvent. Meanwhile, their editors and publishers grapple with existential challenges from players like WikiLeaks, new platforms ranging from Twitter to tablet computers, and readers’ expectations that news online should be free. But rigorous journalism is thriving. PAGE ONE gives us an up-close look at the vibrant cross-cubicle debates and collaborations, tenacious jockeying for on-the-record quotes, and skillful page-one pitching that produce the “daily miracle” of a great news organization. What emerges is a nuanced portrait of journalists continuing to produce extraordinary work—under increasingly difficult circumstances. At the heart of the film is the burning question on the minds of everyone who cares about a rigorous American press, Times lover or not: what will happen if the fast-moving future of media leaves behind the fact-based, original reporting that helps to define our society?"
Pianomania - documentary - Robert Cibis
RT: 100 MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2TX9KYIKpA&feature=player_embedded" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2TX9KYIKpA&feature=player_embedded
Pianomania takes you into the secret world of sounds - a place where passion and the pursuit of perfection collide with artistic obsession and a little bit of madness. As Steinway & Sons’ chief technician and Master Tuner in Vienna, Stefan Knüpfer is dedicated to the unusual task of pairing world-class instruments with world-famous pianists. Juggling the demands of the pianist, the piano, and the piece to find the perfect match requires boundless enthusiasm, but also endless patience and nerves of steel. No detail is too small or too inconsequential for Knüpfer, not even the tiniest speck of dust on a piano string. Pianomania is a humorous and surprisingly suspenseful peek into the heated clash of wills between a genius craftsman and the renowned pianists who rely on his talent – including Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel, Rudolf Buchbinder and Pierre-Laurent Aimand – as they search together for that elusive perfect tone.
Project Nim - documentary - James Marsh
RT: 100 MC: N/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_vha0FI0j8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_vha0FI0j8
From the Academy Award winning team behind MAN ON WIRE comes the story of Nim, a chimpanzee who in the 1970s became the focus of a landmark experiment which aimed to show that an ape could learn to communicate with language if raised and nurtured like a human child. What was learned about his true nature – and indeed our own – is comic, revealing and profoundly unsettling.
Le Quattro Volte - drama - Michelangelo Frammartino
RT: 93 MC: 80
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpDSlbNj8bE" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpDSlbNj8bE
Inspired by Pythagoras’s belief in four-fold transmigration — by which the soul is passed from human to animal to vegetable to mineral — Michelangelo Frammartino’s wondrous docu-essay traces the cycle of life through the daily rituals of life in the southern Italian region of Calabria.
Queen to Play - drama - Caroline Bottaro
RT: N/A MC: N/A
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RcBGcMJY7Y" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RcBGcMJY7Y
A middle-aged maid with few prospects before her finds a new lease on life via the game of chess, in this unusual tale that marked the first directorial go-round of acclaimed scriptwriter Caroline Bottaro (Les Aveux de l'innocent). French screen siren Sandrine Bonnaire (À Nos Amours) stars as Hélène, a Frenchwoman employed as a housekeeper in a posh Corsican hotel. Though devoted and diligent as a wife and mother, she lacks any real passion in her life. That changes in a single, defining instant when Helene espies a mysterious couple (the female played by Jennifer Beals) exchanging erotic glances and seductive gestures over a chessboard, on a nearby balcony. Feeling sexual arousal, Hélène misguidedly tries to parlay this into her own personal life by giving her boatworker husband an electronic chessboard, but the connection between this and a need for greater intimacy eludes him. Hélène's curiosity about chess nonetheless endures, and when she fails to teach herself to play sans assistance, she turns to an eccentric, reclusive American whose house she cleans, Dr. Kroger (Kevin Kline) and asks him to mentor her in the game. In time, her expertise outstrips Kroger's and she begins to live and breathe chess, but this very passion also threatens to alienate the woman's family, who perceive a form of infidelity in this new obsession.
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan - drama - Wayne Wang
RT: n/a MC: N/a
HYPERLINK "http://youtu.be/6wlk7TsdhsY" http://youtu.be/6wlk7TsdhsY
"Inspired by the bestselling novel ""Snow Flower and the Secret Fan"" by Lisa See, the film is a timeless portrait of female friendship. In 19th-century China, seven year old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as laotong – or ""old sames"" – bound together for eternity. Isolated by their families, they furtively communicate by taking turns writing in a secret language, nu shu, between the folds of a white silk fan. In a parallel story in present day Shanghai, the laotong's descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggle to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship in the face of demanding careers, complicated love lives, and a relentlessly evolving Shanghai. Drawing on the lessons of the past, the two modern women must understand the story of their ancestral connection, hidden from them in the folds of the antique white silk fan, or risk losing one another forever. What unfolds are two stories, generations apart, but everlasting in their universal notion of love, hope and friendship.
Submarine - comedy - Richard Ayoade
RT: 85 MC: 78
HYPERLINK "http://youtu.be/4IVFfiv6wpY" http://youtu.be/4IVFfiv6wpY
Fifteen-year-old Oliver Tate has two big ambitions: to save his parents' marriage via carefully plotted intervention and to lose his virginity before his next birthday. Worried that his mom is having an affair with New Age weirdo Graham, Oliver monitors his parents' sex life by charting the dimmer switch in their bedroom. He also forges suggestive love letters from his mom to dad. Meanwhile, Oliver attempts to woo his classmate, Jordana, a self-professed pyromaniac who supervises his journal writing - especially the bits about her. When necessary, she orders him to cross things out. Based on Joe Dunthorne's acclaimed novel, ""Submarine"" is a captivating coming-of-age story with an offbeat edge.
The Tree - drama - Julie Bertuccelli
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfrZaXVKuLE&NR=1" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfrZaXVKuLE&NR=1
The exquisite Charlotte Gainsbourg (Antichrist, I’m Not There) stars in French filmmaker Julie Bertuccelli’s achingly beautiful follow-up to her sleeper hit Since Otar Left. The Closing Night Film at Cannes in 2010, The Tree is a mystical drama of loss and rebirth in the Australian countryside. Not since classic 1970s works Picnic at Hanging Rock and Walkabout has the harshly gorgeous outback landscape been such a lyrical yet foreboding metaphor for grief and coming of age. Blindsided with anguish after her husband’s sudden death, Dawn (Gainsbourg)—along with her four young children—struggles to make sense of life without him. Eight-year-old Simone (unforgettable newcomer Morgana Davies) becomes convinced that her father is whispering to her through the leaves of the gargantuan fig tree that towers over their house. The family is initially comforted by its presence, but then the tree’s enormous roots slowly begin to encroach on the abode and threaten their fragile existence....
The Trip - comedy - Michael Winterbottom
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qYwrmluoYU" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qYwrmluoYU
THE TRIP brings director Michael Winterbottom and the hilarious Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon (24 HOUR PARTY PEOPLE, A COCK AND BULL STORY) back together in a side-splitting road comedy. The film follows the pair on a hysterical odyssey that has won over audiences at the Toronto and Tribeca Film Festivals, and has critics rolling in the aisles. When Steve Coogan is asked by The Observer to tour the country's finest restaurants, he envisions it as the perfect getaway with his beautiful girlfriend. But, when she backs out on him, he has no one to accompany him but his best friend and source of eternal aggravation, Rob Brydon. As the brilliant comic duo, freestyling with flair, drive each other mad with constant competition and showdowns of competing impressions (including dueling Michael Caines, Sean Connerys and Al Pacinos), the ultimate odd couple realize in the end a rich amount about not only good food, but the nature of fame, relationships and their own lives.
Trollhunter - comedy/horror - André Øvredal
RT: 79 MC: 61
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9dgeYkYOZA" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9dgeYkYOZA
Shot in a vérité style, "Trollhunter" is the story of a group of Norwegian film students that set out to capture real-life trolls on camera after learning their existence has been covered up for years by a government conspiracy. The government says there’s nothing to worry about – it’s just a problem with bears making trouble in the mountains and forests of Norway. But local hunters don’t believe it – and neither do a trio of college students who want to find out the truth. Armed with a video camera, they trail a mysterious “poacher,” who wants nothing to do with them. But their persistence lands them straight in the path of the objects of his pursuits: Trolls. They soon find themselves documenting every move of this grizzled, unlikely hero – The Troll Hunter – risking their lives to uncover the secrets of creatures only thought to exist in fairy tales.
Viva Riva - crime/action - Djo Tunda Wa Munga
RT: 82 MC: 63
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyjBiIgafGY" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GyjBiIgafGY
Riva is a small time operator who has just returned to his hometown of Kinshasa, Congo after a decade away with a major score: a fortune in hijacked gasoline. Wads of cash in hand and out for a good time, Riva is soon entranced by beautiful night club denizen Nora, the kept woman of a local gangster. Into the mix comes an Angolan crime lord relentlessly seeking the return of his stolen shipment of gasoline. Director Djo Tunda Wa Munga’s Kinshasa is a seductively vibrant, lawless, fuel-starved sprawl of shantytowns, gated villas, bordellos and nightclubs and Riva is its perfect embodiment.
!Women Art Revolution - documentary - Lynn Hershman Lesson
RT: 64 MC: 69
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjikMGTeyjc" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjikMGTeyjc
An entertaining and revelatory “secret history” of Feminist Art, !Women Art Revolution deftly illuminates this under-explored movement through conversations, observations, archival footage and works of visionary artists, historians, curators and critics. Starting from its roots in 1960s antiwar and civil rights protests, the film details major developments in women’s art through the 1970s and explores how the tenacity and courage of these pioneering artists resulted in what is now widely regarded as the most significant art movement of the late 20th century. For more than forty years, filmmaker Lynn Hershman Leeson (Teknolust, Strange Culture) has collected a plethora of interviews with her contemporaries—and shaped them into an intimate portrayal of their fight to break down barriers facing women both in the art world and society at large. With a rousing score by Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein, !W.A.R. features Miranda July, The Guerilla Girls, Yvonne Rainer, Judy Chicago, Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger, B. Ruby Rich, Ingrid Sischy, Carolee Schneemann, Miriam Schapiro, Marcia Tucker and countless other groundbreaking figures.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
March Advisory Meeting Candidates
Bhutto – documentary - Duane Bachman
RT: 86 MC: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU6gCTpe3g&feature=related
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the People's Party of Pakistan and the patriarch of one of the nation's most powerful political dynasties, and when he fell from power after a spell as Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister, he made a surprising decision -- he groomed his daughter Benazir Bhutto to move into Pakistan's political arena rather than his son. Benazir was bright (she studied at Harvard and Oxford), personable, and had a campaigner's instincts, but it was anyone's guess how successful any woman could be in a Muslim nation where the authority of women was still questioned. In 1988, Benazir was voted prime minister of Pakistan, but was removed from office in 1990 under allegations of corruption she insisted were politically motivated; she was voted back into office in 1993, but further scandals once again drove her from office in 1996, and she eventually fled the country despite her popularity with voters. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, hoping to run for office and reassert the power of democracy at a time when Muslim fundamentalist leadership threatened to move political progress backward, but her assassination in December 2007 put an end to that dream. Filmmakers Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O'Hara tell the story of the first woman elected to lead a Muslim nation in the documentary Bhutto, which explores the history of Pakistani politics, Benazir's relationship with her controversial family, the scandals that surrounded her, and her tragic death. Bhutto received its North American premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Bill Cunningham New York – documentary - Richard Press
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu6YoshWd_A
Bill Cunningham is a fashion photographer, but unlike most in his profession, he rarely spends a day in a photo studio. Cunningham's work has been a long-time fixture in The New York Times; in his "Evening Hours" column, he presents pictures he's snapped of the wealthy and influential and what they're wearing to social events, while "On the Street" documents bold and individual looks worn by everyday people on the sidewalks of New York City. Cunningham captures the glamorous lives of others and has been hailed as one of the most important men in New York fashion, yet he prefers to live a simple life -- he rides a bicycle around town, makes his home in a modest apartment, has his film processed at a corner store, and keeps his personal life to himself. Filmmaker Richard Press offers a look into the life and art of this influential and enigmatic figure in the documentary Bill Cunningham New York, which follows him as he works and tries to reveal what makes this unique artist tick. Bill Cunningham New York was an official selection at the 2010 Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival.
Blue Valentine – drama - Derek Cianfrance
RT: 91 MC: 80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgr_iGATB4
A relationship is charted from its promising beginning to its sad collapse in this independent drama from Derek Cianfrance. Dean (Ryan Gosling) meets Cindy (Michelle Williams) when they're in their late teens; he's working for a moving company, she's a college student visiting her elderly grandmother at a home for the elderly. Cindy is dating Bobby (Mike Vogel), her boyfriend from high school, but as she gets to know Dean better, a mutual attraction grows between them. Years later, Dean and Cindy are married and have a daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka), but they're clearly not as happy as they once were; Dean loves his daughter but feels distant from his wife, they have to look after an elderly relative (John Doman), and when Cindy bumps into Bobby while running errands, it's clear he still holds a grudge against her. Dean and Cindy go away for a weekend together at a hotel, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the magic isn't coming back. Blue Valentine received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Cedar Rapids – comedy - Miguel Arteta
RT: 84 MC: 69
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9VspqcwtJQ
Ed Helms stars as a down-and-out insurance salesman who goes to bat for his fellow employees at a trade conference in this Miguel Arteta-directed comedy co-starring John C. Reilly and Sigourney Weaver. Sideways' Alexander Payne produces the Fox Searchlight pic, with scripting duties handled by Phil Johnston.
Ceremony – comedy - Max Winkler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcrrZ0ixTEI
Sam Davis (Michael Angarano) convinces his former best friend to spend a weekend with him to rekindle their friendship at an elegant beachside estate owned by a famous documentary filmmaker (Lee Pace). But it soon becomes clear that Sam is secretly infatuated with the filmmaker's fiancée, Zoe (Uma Thurman), and that his true intention is to thwart their impending nuptials. As Sam's plan begins to unravel, he is forced to realize how complicated love and friendship can be.
Certified Copy - drama - Abbas Kiarostami
RT: 89 MC:84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_8TPLMCOU
A British author and a French art-gallery owner form an intimate bond after a chance meeting in a quaint Southern Tuscany village in director Abbas Kiarostami's dialogue-driven drama.
Circo – documentary - Aaron Schock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNCqOzkuZ2Q
A man's loyalties are tested under the big top in this documentary from director Aaron Schock. Circo Mexico is a small family-run carnival that's been making its way through small towns in the Mexican countryside for years. While the show was never quite a spectacular, its circumstances are far shabbier than they once were, and Tino Ponce, who runs Circo Mexico, struggles to keep it afloat. Ponce's parents trusted him to carry on the family's performing tradition, and he's brought his own children into the show as he tries to keep the dream alive. But Ponce's wife is no longer convinced that the show should go on, and he's caught between following the dream instilled in him by his folks or following his wife's wishes and moving on to a career with a more stable future. Circo follows Ponce and his carnival as they travel the back roads, offering a bit of tarnished showbiz glamour at each stop while struggling to keep the tradition from fading out. Circo was an official selection at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival.
Cracks – drama - Jordan Scott
RT: 36
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Xf1BdWbik
A teacher who prides herself on being different meets a student who matches her nonconformist nature in this period drama. It's 1934, and Miss G (Eva Green) is a teacher at a private school for girls near the eastern coastline of England. While most of the teachers at the school are severe and straight-laced women who reinforce its reputation as a repressive environment, Miss G is more youthful and glamorous than her colleagues, and enjoys dropping hints of a free-spirited past to her young charges. Miss G encourages her students to challenge conventional norms of the day, and organizes a diving team at the school, which she oversees with great interest. Miss G also sees a danger in the cliques that dominate the school, and she tries to undermine them, much to the annoyance of Di (Juno Temple), who holds a high place in the school's pecking order. But things change for both Miss G and her students when Fiamma (Maria Valverde) enrolls at the school. Fiamma is from Spain and has a strong independent streak; she doesn't look to her peers for approval and insists on doing things her own way, which makes her all the more exotic and appealing to the other students. Fiamma also earns the approval of Miss G, but before long rumors begin to spread that the teacher's interest in her new student is more than academic. Cracks was the first feature film from director Jordan Scott, whose father is the noted filmmaker Ridley Scott.
Hanna – drama - Joe Wright
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugireeCoYyU
A teenage assassin raised in remote Finland is dispatched on a dangerous mission by her father, an ex-CIA operative, in this innovative action thriller from director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice). Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) may look like your typical teenage girl, but she's a trained killer who has spent her entire life preparing for one mission. Schooled in the arts of survival and killing by her mysterious father (Eric Bana), Hanna finally reaches the age when she must put her skills to the test, and sets out across Europe on a collision course with a cunning intelligence operative (Cate Blanchett) who has been awaiting her arrival for years. Later, as agents close in from all sides and Hanna finally gets her target in the crosshairs, the trained assassin uncovers some secrets from the past that stir the conscience she never knew she had, and cause her to question everything she has ever known.
Happythankyoumoreplease – comedy - Josh Radnor
RT: 41 MC: 44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG3qBqtX50o
Actor Josh Radnor makes his debut as a writer and director with this independent comedy drama in which a handful of people riding the gap between their late twenties and early thirties navigate the sometimes tricky path of adulthood in New York City. Sam (Radnor) is a struggling writer who has trouble with long-term relationships; one day while on the subway, he meets Rasheen (Michael Algieri), a young boy who has been abandoned by his parents. Sam takes the boy in, which gives him a preview of parenthood but also proves to be more complicated than he expected. Sam is infatuated with Mississippi (Kate Mara), a bartender with a dream of making it as a musician; tired of one-night stands, she agrees to move in with Sam for a few days to see how she feels about a "real" relationship, but Rasheen's presence makes things awkward. Another of Sam's sometime girlfriends is Annie (Malin Akerman), who suffers from a rare medical condition that prevents her from having any hair. Though she's beautiful, Annie's lack of hair has caused her to have a dire self-image and she jumps from one relationship to another with a handful of men, some of whom treat her poorly. And Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) are a couple whose relationship is teetering on the brink as he considers a lucrative job offer in Los Angeles while she refuses to budge. Happythankyoumoreplease received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the audience award for Best Dramatic Feature.
Heartbeats - drama/romance - Xavier Dolan
RT: 75 MC: 70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znpU_Aup-Bg
Two friends compete for the affections of the same man in this romantic drama from Canada. Marie (Monia Chokri) is a woman living in Montreal who has frequently been let down in her relationships with men, while her close friend Francis (Xavier Dolan) is a gay man who hasn't been faring much better in his love life. When Marie meets Nicolas (Niels Schneider), a good-looking man who is new in town, she's immediately attracted to him and tries to use her feminine allure to win him over. However, Francis is equally drawn to Nicolas, and the new man hasn't revealed his sexual preferences strongly enough for either Marie or Francis to be certain where they stand. The two friends each begin taking bolder steps in hopes of earning Nicolas' attention until their rivalry threatens to destroy their friendship. Heartbeats (aka Les Amours Imaginaires) was directed, written, and edited by Xavier Dolan, who also co-stars as Francis; the film was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Housemaid – thriller - Sang-soo Im
RT: 76 MC: 67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvZowWUNRh4
A young woman becomes both benefactor and victim of a wealthy family's world of privilege and power in this drama from South Korea. Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) is a beautiful but naïve young woman who is hired by a wealthy family as a housekeeper when their long-time domestic, Byung-sik (Youn Yuh-jung), needs help keeping up with her responsibilities. Hoon (Lee Jung-jae) shares his opulent home with his lovely wife, Hae-ra (Seo Woo), who is expecting a baby, and their daughter. While all seems to be happy between Hoon and Hera, the man of the house is clearly attracted to Eun-yi, and after he seduces her they begin having an affair. Hoon's indiscretion becomes obvious when Eun-yi gets pregnant, but he and his family believe Eun-yi is the one who made a mistake, not Hoon, and before long Hae-ra's mother (Park Ji-young) pays a visit to help the family take care of their dirty laundry. A re-imagining of Kim Ki-young's classic 1960 thriller, Hanyo (aka The Housemaid) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
I Saw the Devil - drama horror - Jee-woon Kim
RT: 79 MC: 66
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkwEFKdTckk
Censored upon its original release in Korea due to scenes of extreme violence, director Kim Jee-Woon's uncompromising meditation on the morality of revenge tells the story of a special agent who sets out to give the serial killer who murdered his wife a taste of his own medicine. Lee Byung-hun (The Good, the Bad, and the Weird) and Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) star.
In A Better World – drama - Susanne Bier
RT: 80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ava0Rn8nrVs
Two Danish schoolchildren -- one meek and unassertive, the other angry and vengeance-prone -- forge a friendship with ugly consequences in this cautionary tale from director Susanne Bier. The story opens with physician Anton (Mikael Persbrandt, working abroad in a Kenyan hospital, where he's routinely treating female victims of a psychotic thug known as Big Man (Evans Muthini). Anton himself suffers from a dysfunctional home life, given his emotional estrangement from his wife (Trine Dyrholm), and his desire to set a positive example for son Elias (Markus Rygaard) -- the physician longs to mend both relationships but finds this difficult given his frequent absenteeism. Meanwhile, another family suffers from equally grave issues: Claus (Ulrich Thomsen) and his son, Christian (William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen), move from London back to their home country of Denmark; Claus is still reeling from his late wife's recent death from cancer, and father and son find it more and more difficult to connect with another. But Christian has much deeper issues than simple filial alienation -- an almost pathological addiction to retribution that manifests itself in a knife-wielding attempt to protect new friend Elias from a local bully. Elias and Christian become fast companions, but as they do, it draws out a level of rage in both boys that threatens to culminate in shocking, terroristic levels of violence.
Incendies – drama - Denis Villeneuve
RT: 100
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDf-XuYid1A
Director Denis Villeneuve adapts Wajdi Mouawad's play concerning a pair of twins who make a life-altering discovery following the death of their mother. Upon learning that their absentee father is still very much alive and they also have a brother they have never met, the pair travels to the Middle East on a mission to uncover the truth about their mystery-shrouded past.
Jane Eyre – drama - Cary Fukunaga
RT: 86 MC: 78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8J6Cjn06kA
Charlotte Brontë's classic romance is revived once again with this Ruby Films production directed by Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) and adapted by screenwriter Moira Buffini. Raised by her aunt Sarah (Sally Hawkins) after her parents die of typhus, young Jane Eyre (Amelia Clarkson) is later shipped off to a stark boarding school as the result of her perceived insolence, and suffers greatly at the hands of the cold, unusually strict administration. Upon turning 18 and completing her education, Jane (Mia Wasikowska) finds work as a governess for the daughters of Edward Fairfax Rochester (Michael Fassbender), master of Thornfield Hall. It doesn't take long for Rochester's impressionable young girls to warm to Jane, and upon returning home the charming father, too, falls under the spell of his modest yet captivating governess. Later, Rochester ends his courtship with the beautiful Blanche Ingram (Imogen Poots) in favor of proposing to Jane, who excitedly accepts. On what was supposed to be the happiest day of Jane's life, however, a scandalous secret is revealed, and the emotionally shattered governess takes flight. Subsequently taken in by kindly clergyman St. John (Jamie Bell) and his two sisters, Jane begins a new life as a teacher under an assumed name. But her passion for Rochester still burns bright, prompting Jane to make a life-altering decision after learning a crucial secret about her own family.
Kaboom – comedy - Gregg Araki
RT: 57 MC:67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu9NkMCElMk
Writer and director Gregg Araki revisits the day-glo universe of sex, drugs, and random perversity that informed his early films in this over-the-top dark comedy. Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year-old film student who is bisexual and has a ravenous erotic appetite; his best friend is Stella (Haley Bennett), who prefers the company of women but is just as enthusiastic about pursuing new lovers. Smith has been haunted by a series of recurring dreams featuring two beautiful women, one dark and enigmatic, the other similarly spectral with flaming red hair. This wouldn't bother him, except that the women from his dreams have begun appearing in real life -- Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), Stella's new partner, is a magic aficionado who's a dead ringer for the dark-haired woman, and the red-haired girl (Nicole LaLiberte) is being pursued by a gang of masked assassins. Has Smith stumbled into a plot with possible world-changing consequences? Or is this all just the product of some hallucinogenic cookies he was served at a party? Kaboom received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Making the Boys – documentary - Crayton Robey
RT: 100 MC: 63
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8WS1D_WwQ
The Gay Liberation Movement was still in its embryonic stages, the Stonewall riots were a year away, and homosexuality was rarely treated as anything more than a joke in popular culture (if it was acknowledged at all) when Mart Crowley's play The Boys in the Band opened off-Broadway in the spring of 1968. The Boys in the Band concerned a handful of gay men who gathered for a birthday party on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where the celebration turns sour after alcohol loosens the tongues of some of the guests and they share opinions they had previously kept hidden. While some critics felt some of the characters reflected negative stereotypical views of homosexuals, many others praised it for dealing openly and honestly with the gay community in a way that was unprecedented in mainstream entertainment. The play enjoyed a run of over a thousand performances, and in 1970 William Friedkin adapted the play for the cinema, using the complete original cast in his film version. Filmmaker Crayton Robey offers an insiders' look at how Mart Crowley's drama became a groundbreaking event in both theater and cinema in the documentary Making the Boys, which includes interviews with Crowley; actor Laurence Luckinbill (who played Hank in the original production); playwrights Edward Albee, Michael Cunningham, Paul Rudnick, and Tony Kushner; and Robert Wagner, who worked with Crowley on the television series Hart to Hart. Making the Boys received its world premiere as a work in progress at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
Marwencol – documentary - Jeff Malmberg
RT: 92 MC: 81
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsGGNiZ8OU
After a night of drinking at a bar in his hometown of Kingston, NY, Mark Hogancamp got in a fistfight and was beaten so badly he went into a coma. When Hogancamp regained consciousness, he was diagnosed with brain damage and struggled to return to a normal life. As he tried to put his life back together, Hogancamp came up with an unusual hobby -- using G.I. Joe action figures and Barbie dolls, Hogancamp created an elaborate scale model community in his backyard that he calls Marwencol (named for three characters he's dubbed Mark, Wendy, and Colleen). Marwencol is supposed to be a village in Belgium during World War II, and the scene is full of intrigue and military violence; several of the characters also represent his friends and relatives, and one is based on a married neighbor with whom he's infatuated. Marwencol provides Hogancamp with a fantasy world he can retreat into as he deals with the realities of his life following the beating, but the parallels into his real life are troubling to some people he knows, and when a gallery in New York City offers to present Hogancamp's project as an art installation, he has to decide if he's really willing to share Marwencol with the world at large. Filmmaker Jeff Malmberg profiles Mark Hogancamp and the world he created from toys and his imagination in the documentary Marwencol, which received its world premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival.
Meek's Cutoff – western - Kelly Reichardt
RT: 75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rhNrz2hX_o
A braggart meets his match in a courageous woman in this period drama from independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt. It's 1845, and Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) is a boastful, rough-hewn wilderness guide who has been hired by three families who want to start new lives on the other side of Oregon's Cascade Mountains. Meek constantly tells his charges that he knows the Oregon Trail like the back of his hand, but when they veer off for a shortcut he says is foolproof, they soon find themselves in forbidding territory, without water and with Indians on the horizon. While the men of the party travel with Meek, their wives are made to follow them in a separate wagon, and Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams), the strong-willed wife of Solomon Tetherow (Will Patton), begins openly questioning Meek's competence among the other women, especially her friend Millie Gately (Zoe Kazan). While making their way through the wilderness, the party happens upon a Cayuse Indian (Rod Rondeaux); Meek captures the Indian and proposes they kill him, but Emily bravely speaks up for him, believing he has the right to live and perhaps the knowledge to lead them safely over the mountains. Meek's Cutoff was an official selection at the 2010 New York Film Festival.
Miral – drama - Julian Schnabel
RT: 20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t8E6_S9f4k
A naïve Palestinian teen gradually awakens to her people's plight after being raised in an orphanage opened to care for children rendered homeless following the partitioning of Palestine in 1948. Shortly after the state of Israel was created, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) was on her way to work when she noticed more than 50 Palestinian children wandering aimlessly through the streets. Concerned for their well-being, she vowed to ensure that the children were sheltered and well-fed. By the time six months had passed, Husseini had taken in nearly 2,000 orphaned children, and created the Dar Al-Tifel Institute, which operated under the philosophy that peace can only be achieved through education. Enter seven-year-old Miral (Freida Pinto), who was sent by her father to live in the Dar Al-Tifel Institute following her mother's death in 1978. Far too young to comprehend the ongoing struggle between the Jews and Palestinians at the time she entered the institute, Miral remained blissfully ignorant of the conflict taking place just outside her walls until she accepted a teacher's position at a refugee camp at the age of 17. As the reality of the ongoing conflict comes into focus for Miral, she enters into a romance with Hani (Omar Metwally), an outspoken political activist intent on taking back Palestine by force. Seduced by Hani's passion yet uncertain that violence is the answer, Miral begins to weigh the benefits of direct action against the more peaceful and deliberate approach to independence favored by her longtime mentor.
Monogamy – drama - Dana Adam Shapiro
RT: 44 MC: 46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVpy9cunZAQ
Dana Adam Shapiro, Academy Award-nominated director of Murderball, returns with his first narrative feature, a tense tale of voyeurism and lust concerning a New York City wedding photographer who dabbles in surveillance on the side. When Theo (Chris Messina) isn't shooting couples on their happy day, he's catching people in compromising positions. Approached by a mysterious woman (Meital Dohan) with a lucrative job offer, Theo bites despite the vocal objections of his fiancée (Rashida Jones), who senses trouble on the horizon.
Nenette – documentary - Nicolas Philibert
RT: 60 MC: 62
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgflSGVPbs&feature=related
Born in the jungles of Borneo, Nénette is a 40-year-old orangutan — and the oldest (and most beloved) inhabitant at the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The latest film by legendary French documentarian Nicolas Philibert (To Be And To Have), Nénette is a captivating study of an enigmatic animal and our relationship to her.
Of Gods and Men – drama - Xavier Beauvois
RT: 90 MC: 86
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xXBoWQMnOU
Men of faith find their pacifist beliefs put to the test in this drama from filmmaker Xavier Beauvois, inspired by a true story. Christian (Lambert Wilson) is the leader of an order of Trappist monks living in the hills outside Algiers. The community outside the monastery is almost exclusively Muslim, and the monks have worked to foster understanding between themselves and their neighbors; they observe Muslim traditions, are well versed in the Koran, and provide medical and charitable assistance to the townspeople. The monastery is an oasis of calm and peace as Algeria is caught up in a civil war, with forces led by Muslim extremists leading a bloody campaign against the nation's rulers. Christian and his monks do not wish to take sides in a conflict they believe is immoral; they refuse the protection of the military while also denying aid and comfort to the insurgents. The monks' efforts to remain outside the war, however, have ugly consequences when they're taken hostage by a band of Islamic revolutionaries. Des Hommes et des Dieux (aka Of Gods and Men) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Orgasm Inc. – documentary - Liz Canner
RT: 92 MC: 67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZeHDKRa1y8
When independent filmmaker Liz Canner landed an unusual assignment -- editing a stack of porn films into a "highlight reel" for a pharmaceutical company -- she found the inspiration for this project, a documentary on "female sexual dysfunction" and the business that has sprung up behind it. "Female sexual dysfunction" is roughly defined as a woman's lack of desire for sexual contact and/or her inability to have an orgasm, and after Viagra made treating male impotence into a growth industry, a number of pharmaceutical firms are working to formulate a similar drug for women. But is "female sexual dysfunction" a real medical condition? Research has determined that 70% of women don't regularly reach orgasm through intercourse (usually due to inattention by their partners), and a lack of enthusiasm for lovemaking can stem from anything from a bad day at work to a husband's bad breath. Are drug companies attempting to convince women they need treatment for a malady that doesn't actually exist? Orgasm, Inc. takes a look at the disinformation that has been spread about female sexuality through the ages up to the present day, including a woman who collects antique vibrators and turn-of-the-century literature on "female hysteria," as well as behind-the-scenes footage of researchers attempting to formulate a female orgasm in pill form. Orgasm, Inc. was an official selection at the 2009 Hot Docs International Film Festival.
Peep World – comedy - Barry W. Blaustein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Att6tLpHbHA
A family's dirty laundry get aired out in public, and not everyone is happy about it in this dark comedy from director Barry W. Blaustein. Nathan (Ben Schwartz) is a writer who has recently published a bestselling novel that's being made into a major motion picture. Nathan is feeling very good about himself, but his siblings aren't so happy for him -- the book is a very thinly disguised version of his family's wildly dysfunctional history, and nearly everyone close to him can see themselves in its key characters. Nathan's older sister Cheri (Sarah Silverman), a struggling actress, is so outraged she's considering taking her brother to court, especially since the film version of the book is being shot outside her apartment and her father's new (and much younger) girlfriend (Alicia Witt) has been cast in the role patterned after her. Nathan's book has also become a thorn in the side of wildly irresponsible Joel (Rainn Wilson), who is on the run from loan sharks, and Jack (Michael C. Hall), whose career as an architect is crumbling almost as quickly as his marriage to Laura (Judy Greer). When the family gathers to celebrate the seventieth birthday of their father (Ron Rifkin), with their mother (Lesley Ann Warren) and her new husband (Nicolas Hormann), it makes for an evening with explosive potential. Peep World also features narration by comedian Lewis Black.
Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune – documentary - Kenneth Bowser
RT: 100 MC: 70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbS4ruKw2OQ
Documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser profiles American folk singer Phil Ochs, who rose to fame in the 1960s and whose hopeful, incisive ballads were written to inspire positive change in an era of profound social turbulence. Equally critical of the left and the right -- not to mention the politically apathetic -- Ochs penned countless songs and released seven albums, ultimately growing a sizable following thanks to his positive message and talent for songwriting. In 1976, following the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, and in the wake of the tragedy at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ochs was so overcome with hopelessness that he turned to alcohol and ultimately committed suicide. He was just 35 years old. Though the FBI would later admit to singling Ochs out as a traitor for questioning American policy during wartime, this film aims to offer a comprehensive overview of a deeply complex artist through archival footage and interviews with such outspoken fans as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Sean Penn.
Plastic Planet – documentary - Werner Boote
RT: 56 MC: 55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X-J1DhfjE
Director Werner Boote takes an up close look at the plastics industry in order to explore whether the ubiquitous man-made material is a danger to human health. The grandson of a once-prominent plastics magnate, Boote became aware early on that the material we rely on to make our lives easy could also be poisoning our planet. Not only because a piece of plastic takes up to 500 years to deteriorate in the ground or water system, but also because studies indicate that frequent exposure can also lead to a variety of health problems in humans. In this film, Boote speaks with scientists, manufacturers, consumers, and government officials in 14 countries about the dangers of continued reliance on plastics, as well as alternatives that could lead to a cleaner world, and a healthier population.
Poetry – Drama - Chang-dong Lee
RT: 100 MC: 87
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo2dfY317-k
A woman in the autumn of her years is prompted by art and circumstance to reexamine her life in this drama from director Lee Chang-dong. Yang Mija (Yun Jung-hee) is a charming and well-preserved woman in her mid-sixties who stays busy looking after her teenage grandson, Wook (Lee David), and helping keep house for an older gentleman friend. Yang Mija has been having trouble with her memory and has developed a new curiosity about creative self-expression, so she signs up for a class in writing poetry at a neighborhood community center, even though she's never written verse before. Mija's simple, contented existence is thrown into disarray by a pair of events -- she learns from her doctor that her memory troubles are the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and Wook is believed to be part of a gang of thugs who severely beat and raped a girl who responded by committing suicide. As Mija faces a grim future, she's uncertain about the notion of turning her grandson in to the police or raising money for a settlement that would keep him out of prison, and suddenly the beauty of the world seems a far more elusive concept. Shi (aka Poetry) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Pom Wonderful Presents: the Greatest Movie Ever Sold – documentary - Morgan Spurlock
Director Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days) examines the increased proliferation of branding in every aspect of our lives while attempting to persuade big-name brands to sponsor his irreverent exposé. Companies love to push their products, and it seems like everywhere we go, someone is trying to sell us something. But have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors at some of the biggest advertising agencies in the world? In this eye-opening documentary, viewers follow Spurlock as he convinces a variety of high-profile sponsors to let him pitch their products as "The Greatest," while still maintaining complete control over his creative vision -- an arrangement that's become increasingly rare in the high-stakes entertainment industry.
Queen to Play - drama - Caroline Bottaro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RcBGcMJY7Y
A middle-aged maid with few prospects before her finds a new lease on life via the game of chess, in this unusual tale that marked the first directorial go-round of acclaimed scriptwriter Caroline Bottaro (Les Aveux de l'innocent). French screen siren Sandrine Bonnaire (À Nos Amours) stars as Hélène, a Frenchwoman employed as a housekeeper in a posh Corsican hotel. Though devoted and diligent as a wife and mother, she lacks any real passion in her life. That changes in a single, defining instant when Helene espies a mysterious couple (the female played by Jennifer Beals) exchanging erotic glances and seductive gestures over a chessboard, on a nearby balcony. Feeling sexual arousal, Hélène misguidedly tries to parlay this into her own personal life by giving her boatworker husband an electronic chessboard, but the connection between this and a need for greater intimacy eludes him. Hélène's curiosity about chess nonetheless endures, and when she fails to teach herself to play sans assistance, she turns to an eccentric, reclusive American whose house she cleans, Dr. Kroger (Kevin Kline) and asks him to mentor her in the game. In time, her expertise outstrips Kroger's and she begins to live and breathe chess, but this very passion also threatens to alienate the woman's family, who perceive a form of infidelity in this new obsession.
Strange Case of Angelica – drama - Manoel de Oliveira
RT: 88 MC: 79
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVwnpN8HRA4
In this stylish exercise in magic realism, Isaac (Ricardo Trepa) is a photographer who is contacted during a stormy night with an urgent assignment. Isaac is escorted to the estate of a wealthy family, where he's told of a recent tragedy -- the beautiful daughter of the household, Angelica (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), died shortly after her wedding, before her bridal portrait could be taken. Her parents want a final photograph of Angelica, and they've brought Isaac to their home to take the pictures. Angelica has been laid out on a sofa in the living room, still wearing her wedding gown, and as Isaac looks at her through his viewfinder, he's struck by her beauty and thinks she looks as if she's just sleeping. Isaac is so effected by Angelica that he quickly falls in love with her, and when he looks at her through his camera, she comes to life, with her spirit as lively as ever in the photos he prints though her body stubbornly stays lifeless. O Estranho Caso de Angelica (aka The Strange Case of Angelica) was the ninth directorial project in five years from filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, a workload all the more remarkable given his age -- he was 101 years old when O Estranho Caso de Angelica made its debut at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
The Company Men – drama - John Wells
RT: 65 MC: 81
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPohmhNFwi4
A high-powered sales executive struggles with his own dwindling sense of self-worth after becoming a victim to corporate downsizing. Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) has a big house, a new Porsche, a beautiful wife, and two adoring kids. When he's not in the office, he can usually be found on the golf course, perfecting his game or clinching an important business deal. But when the axe falls, Bobby and his colleagues Phil (Chris Cooper) and Gene (Tommy Lee Jones) find their necks on the chopping block, and their futures looking bleak. In order to stay afloat, Bobby reluctantly goes to work as a carpenter for his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner). But building houses is a far cry from the boardroom, and just as Bobby starts to wonder if he'll ever taste success again, he realizes that true prosperity doesn't come in the form of a paycheck, but through the satisfaction of knowing that his family will always be there to support him. Maria Bello, Craig T. Nelson, and Rosemarie DeWitt co-star in a drama from writer/director John Wells (ER).
The Other Woman - comedy/drama - Don Ross
RT: 39 MC: 37
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTLRdWKah8
The story to this drama is about as original as its title. Nevertheless, the cast is first-rate. Eleanor Gates (Peggy Hyland) comes to Greenwich Village to study art. As her career takes off, she meets Harrington (Milton Sills), a man from back home. He is unhappily married -- his wife (Anna Lehr) is an uninteresting homebody. Their friendship warms into something more romantic and soon Harrington is never home. When the couple's baby dies, it seems like the marriage is headed for certain failure. But then Mrs. Harrington comes to Eleanor and asks her to paint a miniature of her dead infant. She also tells Eleanor the whole story about her unfaithful husband. Eleanor is horrified that she is the one causing Mrs. Harrington so much misery. While Harrington is out West on business, his wife discovers who the other woman is. She angrily denounces Eleanor, who proceeds to lecture her on the finer points of how to keep a husband. When Harrington returns, Eleanor sends him back to his wife. Then she leaves New York and returns to her sweetheart who has been waiting for her back home.
The Tree of Life – drama - Terrence Malick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02gnYmDpU4&feature=fvst
The eldest son of a 1950s-era Midwestern family sets out on an existential journey that leads him to question his faith while seeking the answers to life's most challenging mysteries in this evocative drama from celebrated director Terrence Malick. Meanwhile, as Jack's (Sean Penn) innocence slowly erodes, his turbulent relationship with his father (Brad Pitt) becomes the specter that hangs over his every thought and action.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives – comedy - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
RT: 87 MC: 89
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlPRe9peigI
The recipient of the prized Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's hypnotic drama tells the haunting story of a Thai man suffering from kidney failure who retreats to the countryside to die in the company of his loved ones. As Uncle Boonmee nears the end of his life, the spirit of his late wife returns to guide him into the unknown, and his estranged son reappears in the form of a jungle spirit. Later, the ailing man leads his family on a journey to a hilltop cave where he first came into this world.
Win Win – comedy - Thomas McCarthy
RT: 86 MC: 85
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbe33D59euY
Paul Giamatti headlines writer/director Tom McCarthy's comedy drama centering on a beleaguered attorney and part-time wrestling coach who schemes to keep his practice from going under by acting as the legal caretaker of an elderly client. Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) thinks he has discovered the perfect loophole to keep his practice in business. But his brilliant plan hits an unexpected hitch when his client's troubled grandson shows up looking for a place to stay. With his home life in turmoil and both of his careers in jeopardy, Mike quickly realizes that he'll have to get creative in order to find a way out of his current predicament.
Winter in Wartime – drama - Martin Koolhoven
RT: 75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrtnYwQXr6Y
As helmed by Martin Koolhoven (Het Zuiden), the Dutch-language saga Oorlogswinter stars Martijn Lakemeier as Michiel van Beusekom, a young man who becomes involved in the Dutch resistance during the final winter of World War II. Though this represents a heroic move on the boy's part, the experience ultimately leads to complete disillusionment, as it brings Michiel face to face with the realization that during times of war, good and evil are actually intertwined.
RT: 86 MC: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU6gCTpe3g&feature=related
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the People's Party of Pakistan and the patriarch of one of the nation's most powerful political dynasties, and when he fell from power after a spell as Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister, he made a surprising decision -- he groomed his daughter Benazir Bhutto to move into Pakistan's political arena rather than his son. Benazir was bright (she studied at Harvard and Oxford), personable, and had a campaigner's instincts, but it was anyone's guess how successful any woman could be in a Muslim nation where the authority of women was still questioned. In 1988, Benazir was voted prime minister of Pakistan, but was removed from office in 1990 under allegations of corruption she insisted were politically motivated; she was voted back into office in 1993, but further scandals once again drove her from office in 1996, and she eventually fled the country despite her popularity with voters. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, hoping to run for office and reassert the power of democracy at a time when Muslim fundamentalist leadership threatened to move political progress backward, but her assassination in December 2007 put an end to that dream. Filmmakers Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O'Hara tell the story of the first woman elected to lead a Muslim nation in the documentary Bhutto, which explores the history of Pakistani politics, Benazir's relationship with her controversial family, the scandals that surrounded her, and her tragic death. Bhutto received its North American premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Bill Cunningham New York – documentary - Richard Press
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yu6YoshWd_A
Bill Cunningham is a fashion photographer, but unlike most in his profession, he rarely spends a day in a photo studio. Cunningham's work has been a long-time fixture in The New York Times; in his "Evening Hours" column, he presents pictures he's snapped of the wealthy and influential and what they're wearing to social events, while "On the Street" documents bold and individual looks worn by everyday people on the sidewalks of New York City. Cunningham captures the glamorous lives of others and has been hailed as one of the most important men in New York fashion, yet he prefers to live a simple life -- he rides a bicycle around town, makes his home in a modest apartment, has his film processed at a corner store, and keeps his personal life to himself. Filmmaker Richard Press offers a look into the life and art of this influential and enigmatic figure in the documentary Bill Cunningham New York, which follows him as he works and tries to reveal what makes this unique artist tick. Bill Cunningham New York was an official selection at the 2010 Silverdocs Documentary Film Festival.
Blue Valentine – drama - Derek Cianfrance
RT: 91 MC: 80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgr_iGATB4
A relationship is charted from its promising beginning to its sad collapse in this independent drama from Derek Cianfrance. Dean (Ryan Gosling) meets Cindy (Michelle Williams) when they're in their late teens; he's working for a moving company, she's a college student visiting her elderly grandmother at a home for the elderly. Cindy is dating Bobby (Mike Vogel), her boyfriend from high school, but as she gets to know Dean better, a mutual attraction grows between them. Years later, Dean and Cindy are married and have a daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka), but they're clearly not as happy as they once were; Dean loves his daughter but feels distant from his wife, they have to look after an elderly relative (John Doman), and when Cindy bumps into Bobby while running errands, it's clear he still holds a grudge against her. Dean and Cindy go away for a weekend together at a hotel, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the magic isn't coming back. Blue Valentine received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Cedar Rapids – comedy - Miguel Arteta
RT: 84 MC: 69
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9VspqcwtJQ
Ed Helms stars as a down-and-out insurance salesman who goes to bat for his fellow employees at a trade conference in this Miguel Arteta-directed comedy co-starring John C. Reilly and Sigourney Weaver. Sideways' Alexander Payne produces the Fox Searchlight pic, with scripting duties handled by Phil Johnston.
Ceremony – comedy - Max Winkler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcrrZ0ixTEI
Sam Davis (Michael Angarano) convinces his former best friend to spend a weekend with him to rekindle their friendship at an elegant beachside estate owned by a famous documentary filmmaker (Lee Pace). But it soon becomes clear that Sam is secretly infatuated with the filmmaker's fiancée, Zoe (Uma Thurman), and that his true intention is to thwart their impending nuptials. As Sam's plan begins to unravel, he is forced to realize how complicated love and friendship can be.
Certified Copy - drama - Abbas Kiarostami
RT: 89 MC:84
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nM_8TPLMCOU
A British author and a French art-gallery owner form an intimate bond after a chance meeting in a quaint Southern Tuscany village in director Abbas Kiarostami's dialogue-driven drama.
Circo – documentary - Aaron Schock
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNCqOzkuZ2Q
A man's loyalties are tested under the big top in this documentary from director Aaron Schock. Circo Mexico is a small family-run carnival that's been making its way through small towns in the Mexican countryside for years. While the show was never quite a spectacular, its circumstances are far shabbier than they once were, and Tino Ponce, who runs Circo Mexico, struggles to keep it afloat. Ponce's parents trusted him to carry on the family's performing tradition, and he's brought his own children into the show as he tries to keep the dream alive. But Ponce's wife is no longer convinced that the show should go on, and he's caught between following the dream instilled in him by his folks or following his wife's wishes and moving on to a career with a more stable future. Circo follows Ponce and his carnival as they travel the back roads, offering a bit of tarnished showbiz glamour at each stop while struggling to keep the tradition from fading out. Circo was an official selection at the 2010 Los Angeles Film Festival.
Cracks – drama - Jordan Scott
RT: 36
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6Xf1BdWbik
A teacher who prides herself on being different meets a student who matches her nonconformist nature in this period drama. It's 1934, and Miss G (Eva Green) is a teacher at a private school for girls near the eastern coastline of England. While most of the teachers at the school are severe and straight-laced women who reinforce its reputation as a repressive environment, Miss G is more youthful and glamorous than her colleagues, and enjoys dropping hints of a free-spirited past to her young charges. Miss G encourages her students to challenge conventional norms of the day, and organizes a diving team at the school, which she oversees with great interest. Miss G also sees a danger in the cliques that dominate the school, and she tries to undermine them, much to the annoyance of Di (Juno Temple), who holds a high place in the school's pecking order. But things change for both Miss G and her students when Fiamma (Maria Valverde) enrolls at the school. Fiamma is from Spain and has a strong independent streak; she doesn't look to her peers for approval and insists on doing things her own way, which makes her all the more exotic and appealing to the other students. Fiamma also earns the approval of Miss G, but before long rumors begin to spread that the teacher's interest in her new student is more than academic. Cracks was the first feature film from director Jordan Scott, whose father is the noted filmmaker Ridley Scott.
Hanna – drama - Joe Wright
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugireeCoYyU
A teenage assassin raised in remote Finland is dispatched on a dangerous mission by her father, an ex-CIA operative, in this innovative action thriller from director Joe Wright (Atonement, Pride & Prejudice). Hanna (Saoirse Ronan) may look like your typical teenage girl, but she's a trained killer who has spent her entire life preparing for one mission. Schooled in the arts of survival and killing by her mysterious father (Eric Bana), Hanna finally reaches the age when she must put her skills to the test, and sets out across Europe on a collision course with a cunning intelligence operative (Cate Blanchett) who has been awaiting her arrival for years. Later, as agents close in from all sides and Hanna finally gets her target in the crosshairs, the trained assassin uncovers some secrets from the past that stir the conscience she never knew she had, and cause her to question everything she has ever known.
Happythankyoumoreplease – comedy - Josh Radnor
RT: 41 MC: 44
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG3qBqtX50o
Actor Josh Radnor makes his debut as a writer and director with this independent comedy drama in which a handful of people riding the gap between their late twenties and early thirties navigate the sometimes tricky path of adulthood in New York City. Sam (Radnor) is a struggling writer who has trouble with long-term relationships; one day while on the subway, he meets Rasheen (Michael Algieri), a young boy who has been abandoned by his parents. Sam takes the boy in, which gives him a preview of parenthood but also proves to be more complicated than he expected. Sam is infatuated with Mississippi (Kate Mara), a bartender with a dream of making it as a musician; tired of one-night stands, she agrees to move in with Sam for a few days to see how she feels about a "real" relationship, but Rasheen's presence makes things awkward. Another of Sam's sometime girlfriends is Annie (Malin Akerman), who suffers from a rare medical condition that prevents her from having any hair. Though she's beautiful, Annie's lack of hair has caused her to have a dire self-image and she jumps from one relationship to another with a handful of men, some of whom treat her poorly. And Mary Catherine (Zoe Kazan) and Charlie (Pablo Schreiber) are a couple whose relationship is teetering on the brink as he considers a lucrative job offer in Los Angeles while she refuses to budge. Happythankyoumoreplease received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the audience award for Best Dramatic Feature.
Heartbeats - drama/romance - Xavier Dolan
RT: 75 MC: 70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znpU_Aup-Bg
Two friends compete for the affections of the same man in this romantic drama from Canada. Marie (Monia Chokri) is a woman living in Montreal who has frequently been let down in her relationships with men, while her close friend Francis (Xavier Dolan) is a gay man who hasn't been faring much better in his love life. When Marie meets Nicolas (Niels Schneider), a good-looking man who is new in town, she's immediately attracted to him and tries to use her feminine allure to win him over. However, Francis is equally drawn to Nicolas, and the new man hasn't revealed his sexual preferences strongly enough for either Marie or Francis to be certain where they stand. The two friends each begin taking bolder steps in hopes of earning Nicolas' attention until their rivalry threatens to destroy their friendship. Heartbeats (aka Les Amours Imaginaires) was directed, written, and edited by Xavier Dolan, who also co-stars as Francis; the film was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Housemaid – thriller - Sang-soo Im
RT: 76 MC: 67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CvZowWUNRh4
A young woman becomes both benefactor and victim of a wealthy family's world of privilege and power in this drama from South Korea. Eun-yi (Jeon Do-yeon) is a beautiful but naïve young woman who is hired by a wealthy family as a housekeeper when their long-time domestic, Byung-sik (Youn Yuh-jung), needs help keeping up with her responsibilities. Hoon (Lee Jung-jae) shares his opulent home with his lovely wife, Hae-ra (Seo Woo), who is expecting a baby, and their daughter. While all seems to be happy between Hoon and Hera, the man of the house is clearly attracted to Eun-yi, and after he seduces her they begin having an affair. Hoon's indiscretion becomes obvious when Eun-yi gets pregnant, but he and his family believe Eun-yi is the one who made a mistake, not Hoon, and before long Hae-ra's mother (Park Ji-young) pays a visit to help the family take care of their dirty laundry. A re-imagining of Kim Ki-young's classic 1960 thriller, Hanyo (aka The Housemaid) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
I Saw the Devil - drama horror - Jee-woon Kim
RT: 79 MC: 66
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkwEFKdTckk
Censored upon its original release in Korea due to scenes of extreme violence, director Kim Jee-Woon's uncompromising meditation on the morality of revenge tells the story of a special agent who sets out to give the serial killer who murdered his wife a taste of his own medicine. Lee Byung-hun (The Good, the Bad, and the Weird) and Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) star.
In A Better World – drama - Susanne Bier
RT: 80
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ava0Rn8nrVs
Two Danish schoolchildren -- one meek and unassertive, the other angry and vengeance-prone -- forge a friendship with ugly consequences in this cautionary tale from director Susanne Bier. The story opens with physician Anton (Mikael Persbrandt, working abroad in a Kenyan hospital, where he's routinely treating female victims of a psychotic thug known as Big Man (Evans Muthini). Anton himself suffers from a dysfunctional home life, given his emotional estrangement from his wife (Trine Dyrholm), and his desire to set a positive example for son Elias (Markus Rygaard) -- the physician longs to mend both relationships but finds this difficult given his frequent absenteeism. Meanwhile, another family suffers from equally grave issues: Claus (Ulrich Thomsen) and his son, Christian (William Jøhnk Juels Nielsen), move from London back to their home country of Denmark; Claus is still reeling from his late wife's recent death from cancer, and father and son find it more and more difficult to connect with another. But Christian has much deeper issues than simple filial alienation -- an almost pathological addiction to retribution that manifests itself in a knife-wielding attempt to protect new friend Elias from a local bully. Elias and Christian become fast companions, but as they do, it draws out a level of rage in both boys that threatens to culminate in shocking, terroristic levels of violence.
Incendies – drama - Denis Villeneuve
RT: 100
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YDf-XuYid1A
Director Denis Villeneuve adapts Wajdi Mouawad's play concerning a pair of twins who make a life-altering discovery following the death of their mother. Upon learning that their absentee father is still very much alive and they also have a brother they have never met, the pair travels to the Middle East on a mission to uncover the truth about their mystery-shrouded past.
Jane Eyre – drama - Cary Fukunaga
RT: 86 MC: 78
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8J6Cjn06kA
Charlotte Brontë's classic romance is revived once again with this Ruby Films production directed by Cary Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) and adapted by screenwriter Moira Buffini. Raised by her aunt Sarah (Sally Hawkins) after her parents die of typhus, young Jane Eyre (Amelia Clarkson) is later shipped off to a stark boarding school as the result of her perceived insolence, and suffers greatly at the hands of the cold, unusually strict administration. Upon turning 18 and completing her education, Jane (Mia Wasikowska) finds work as a governess for the daughters of Edward Fairfax Rochester (Michael Fassbender), master of Thornfield Hall. It doesn't take long for Rochester's impressionable young girls to warm to Jane, and upon returning home the charming father, too, falls under the spell of his modest yet captivating governess. Later, Rochester ends his courtship with the beautiful Blanche Ingram (Imogen Poots) in favor of proposing to Jane, who excitedly accepts. On what was supposed to be the happiest day of Jane's life, however, a scandalous secret is revealed, and the emotionally shattered governess takes flight. Subsequently taken in by kindly clergyman St. John (Jamie Bell) and his two sisters, Jane begins a new life as a teacher under an assumed name. But her passion for Rochester still burns bright, prompting Jane to make a life-altering decision after learning a crucial secret about her own family.
Kaboom – comedy - Gregg Araki
RT: 57 MC:67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xu9NkMCElMk
Writer and director Gregg Araki revisits the day-glo universe of sex, drugs, and random perversity that informed his early films in this over-the-top dark comedy. Smith (Thomas Dekker) is an 18-year-old film student who is bisexual and has a ravenous erotic appetite; his best friend is Stella (Haley Bennett), who prefers the company of women but is just as enthusiastic about pursuing new lovers. Smith has been haunted by a series of recurring dreams featuring two beautiful women, one dark and enigmatic, the other similarly spectral with flaming red hair. This wouldn't bother him, except that the women from his dreams have begun appearing in real life -- Lorelei (Roxane Mesquida), Stella's new partner, is a magic aficionado who's a dead ringer for the dark-haired woman, and the red-haired girl (Nicole LaLiberte) is being pursued by a gang of masked assassins. Has Smith stumbled into a plot with possible world-changing consequences? Or is this all just the product of some hallucinogenic cookies he was served at a party? Kaboom received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Making the Boys – documentary - Crayton Robey
RT: 100 MC: 63
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eI8WS1D_WwQ
The Gay Liberation Movement was still in its embryonic stages, the Stonewall riots were a year away, and homosexuality was rarely treated as anything more than a joke in popular culture (if it was acknowledged at all) when Mart Crowley's play The Boys in the Band opened off-Broadway in the spring of 1968. The Boys in the Band concerned a handful of gay men who gathered for a birthday party on Manhattan's Upper East Side, where the celebration turns sour after alcohol loosens the tongues of some of the guests and they share opinions they had previously kept hidden. While some critics felt some of the characters reflected negative stereotypical views of homosexuals, many others praised it for dealing openly and honestly with the gay community in a way that was unprecedented in mainstream entertainment. The play enjoyed a run of over a thousand performances, and in 1970 William Friedkin adapted the play for the cinema, using the complete original cast in his film version. Filmmaker Crayton Robey offers an insiders' look at how Mart Crowley's drama became a groundbreaking event in both theater and cinema in the documentary Making the Boys, which includes interviews with Crowley; actor Laurence Luckinbill (who played Hank in the original production); playwrights Edward Albee, Michael Cunningham, Paul Rudnick, and Tony Kushner; and Robert Wagner, who worked with Crowley on the television series Hart to Hart. Making the Boys received its world premiere as a work in progress at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.
Marwencol – documentary - Jeff Malmberg
RT: 92 MC: 81
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsGGNiZ8OU
After a night of drinking at a bar in his hometown of Kingston, NY, Mark Hogancamp got in a fistfight and was beaten so badly he went into a coma. When Hogancamp regained consciousness, he was diagnosed with brain damage and struggled to return to a normal life. As he tried to put his life back together, Hogancamp came up with an unusual hobby -- using G.I. Joe action figures and Barbie dolls, Hogancamp created an elaborate scale model community in his backyard that he calls Marwencol (named for three characters he's dubbed Mark, Wendy, and Colleen). Marwencol is supposed to be a village in Belgium during World War II, and the scene is full of intrigue and military violence; several of the characters also represent his friends and relatives, and one is based on a married neighbor with whom he's infatuated. Marwencol provides Hogancamp with a fantasy world he can retreat into as he deals with the realities of his life following the beating, but the parallels into his real life are troubling to some people he knows, and when a gallery in New York City offers to present Hogancamp's project as an art installation, he has to decide if he's really willing to share Marwencol with the world at large. Filmmaker Jeff Malmberg profiles Mark Hogancamp and the world he created from toys and his imagination in the documentary Marwencol, which received its world premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival.
Meek's Cutoff – western - Kelly Reichardt
RT: 75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rhNrz2hX_o
A braggart meets his match in a courageous woman in this period drama from independent filmmaker Kelly Reichardt. It's 1845, and Stephen Meek (Bruce Greenwood) is a boastful, rough-hewn wilderness guide who has been hired by three families who want to start new lives on the other side of Oregon's Cascade Mountains. Meek constantly tells his charges that he knows the Oregon Trail like the back of his hand, but when they veer off for a shortcut he says is foolproof, they soon find themselves in forbidding territory, without water and with Indians on the horizon. While the men of the party travel with Meek, their wives are made to follow them in a separate wagon, and Emily Tetherow (Michelle Williams), the strong-willed wife of Solomon Tetherow (Will Patton), begins openly questioning Meek's competence among the other women, especially her friend Millie Gately (Zoe Kazan). While making their way through the wilderness, the party happens upon a Cayuse Indian (Rod Rondeaux); Meek captures the Indian and proposes they kill him, but Emily bravely speaks up for him, believing he has the right to live and perhaps the knowledge to lead them safely over the mountains. Meek's Cutoff was an official selection at the 2010 New York Film Festival.
Miral – drama - Julian Schnabel
RT: 20
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t8E6_S9f4k
A naïve Palestinian teen gradually awakens to her people's plight after being raised in an orphanage opened to care for children rendered homeless following the partitioning of Palestine in 1948. Shortly after the state of Israel was created, Hind Husseini (Hiam Abbass) was on her way to work when she noticed more than 50 Palestinian children wandering aimlessly through the streets. Concerned for their well-being, she vowed to ensure that the children were sheltered and well-fed. By the time six months had passed, Husseini had taken in nearly 2,000 orphaned children, and created the Dar Al-Tifel Institute, which operated under the philosophy that peace can only be achieved through education. Enter seven-year-old Miral (Freida Pinto), who was sent by her father to live in the Dar Al-Tifel Institute following her mother's death in 1978. Far too young to comprehend the ongoing struggle between the Jews and Palestinians at the time she entered the institute, Miral remained blissfully ignorant of the conflict taking place just outside her walls until she accepted a teacher's position at a refugee camp at the age of 17. As the reality of the ongoing conflict comes into focus for Miral, she enters into a romance with Hani (Omar Metwally), an outspoken political activist intent on taking back Palestine by force. Seduced by Hani's passion yet uncertain that violence is the answer, Miral begins to weigh the benefits of direct action against the more peaceful and deliberate approach to independence favored by her longtime mentor.
Monogamy – drama - Dana Adam Shapiro
RT: 44 MC: 46
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KVpy9cunZAQ
Dana Adam Shapiro, Academy Award-nominated director of Murderball, returns with his first narrative feature, a tense tale of voyeurism and lust concerning a New York City wedding photographer who dabbles in surveillance on the side. When Theo (Chris Messina) isn't shooting couples on their happy day, he's catching people in compromising positions. Approached by a mysterious woman (Meital Dohan) with a lucrative job offer, Theo bites despite the vocal objections of his fiancée (Rashida Jones), who senses trouble on the horizon.
Nenette – documentary - Nicolas Philibert
RT: 60 MC: 62
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgflSGVPbs&feature=related
Born in the jungles of Borneo, Nénette is a 40-year-old orangutan — and the oldest (and most beloved) inhabitant at the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The latest film by legendary French documentarian Nicolas Philibert (To Be And To Have), Nénette is a captivating study of an enigmatic animal and our relationship to her.
Of Gods and Men – drama - Xavier Beauvois
RT: 90 MC: 86
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xXBoWQMnOU
Men of faith find their pacifist beliefs put to the test in this drama from filmmaker Xavier Beauvois, inspired by a true story. Christian (Lambert Wilson) is the leader of an order of Trappist monks living in the hills outside Algiers. The community outside the monastery is almost exclusively Muslim, and the monks have worked to foster understanding between themselves and their neighbors; they observe Muslim traditions, are well versed in the Koran, and provide medical and charitable assistance to the townspeople. The monastery is an oasis of calm and peace as Algeria is caught up in a civil war, with forces led by Muslim extremists leading a bloody campaign against the nation's rulers. Christian and his monks do not wish to take sides in a conflict they believe is immoral; they refuse the protection of the military while also denying aid and comfort to the insurgents. The monks' efforts to remain outside the war, however, have ugly consequences when they're taken hostage by a band of Islamic revolutionaries. Des Hommes et des Dieux (aka Of Gods and Men) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Orgasm Inc. – documentary - Liz Canner
RT: 92 MC: 67
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZeHDKRa1y8
When independent filmmaker Liz Canner landed an unusual assignment -- editing a stack of porn films into a "highlight reel" for a pharmaceutical company -- she found the inspiration for this project, a documentary on "female sexual dysfunction" and the business that has sprung up behind it. "Female sexual dysfunction" is roughly defined as a woman's lack of desire for sexual contact and/or her inability to have an orgasm, and after Viagra made treating male impotence into a growth industry, a number of pharmaceutical firms are working to formulate a similar drug for women. But is "female sexual dysfunction" a real medical condition? Research has determined that 70% of women don't regularly reach orgasm through intercourse (usually due to inattention by their partners), and a lack of enthusiasm for lovemaking can stem from anything from a bad day at work to a husband's bad breath. Are drug companies attempting to convince women they need treatment for a malady that doesn't actually exist? Orgasm, Inc. takes a look at the disinformation that has been spread about female sexuality through the ages up to the present day, including a woman who collects antique vibrators and turn-of-the-century literature on "female hysteria," as well as behind-the-scenes footage of researchers attempting to formulate a female orgasm in pill form. Orgasm, Inc. was an official selection at the 2009 Hot Docs International Film Festival.
Peep World – comedy - Barry W. Blaustein
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Att6tLpHbHA
A family's dirty laundry get aired out in public, and not everyone is happy about it in this dark comedy from director Barry W. Blaustein. Nathan (Ben Schwartz) is a writer who has recently published a bestselling novel that's being made into a major motion picture. Nathan is feeling very good about himself, but his siblings aren't so happy for him -- the book is a very thinly disguised version of his family's wildly dysfunctional history, and nearly everyone close to him can see themselves in its key characters. Nathan's older sister Cheri (Sarah Silverman), a struggling actress, is so outraged she's considering taking her brother to court, especially since the film version of the book is being shot outside her apartment and her father's new (and much younger) girlfriend (Alicia Witt) has been cast in the role patterned after her. Nathan's book has also become a thorn in the side of wildly irresponsible Joel (Rainn Wilson), who is on the run from loan sharks, and Jack (Michael C. Hall), whose career as an architect is crumbling almost as quickly as his marriage to Laura (Judy Greer). When the family gathers to celebrate the seventieth birthday of their father (Ron Rifkin), with their mother (Lesley Ann Warren) and her new husband (Nicolas Hormann), it makes for an evening with explosive potential. Peep World also features narration by comedian Lewis Black.
Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune – documentary - Kenneth Bowser
RT: 100 MC: 70
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbS4ruKw2OQ
Documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser profiles American folk singer Phil Ochs, who rose to fame in the 1960s and whose hopeful, incisive ballads were written to inspire positive change in an era of profound social turbulence. Equally critical of the left and the right -- not to mention the politically apathetic -- Ochs penned countless songs and released seven albums, ultimately growing a sizable following thanks to his positive message and talent for songwriting. In 1976, following the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, and in the wake of the tragedy at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ochs was so overcome with hopelessness that he turned to alcohol and ultimately committed suicide. He was just 35 years old. Though the FBI would later admit to singling Ochs out as a traitor for questioning American policy during wartime, this film aims to offer a comprehensive overview of a deeply complex artist through archival footage and interviews with such outspoken fans as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Sean Penn.
Plastic Planet – documentary - Werner Boote
RT: 56 MC: 55
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X-J1DhfjE
Director Werner Boote takes an up close look at the plastics industry in order to explore whether the ubiquitous man-made material is a danger to human health. The grandson of a once-prominent plastics magnate, Boote became aware early on that the material we rely on to make our lives easy could also be poisoning our planet. Not only because a piece of plastic takes up to 500 years to deteriorate in the ground or water system, but also because studies indicate that frequent exposure can also lead to a variety of health problems in humans. In this film, Boote speaks with scientists, manufacturers, consumers, and government officials in 14 countries about the dangers of continued reliance on plastics, as well as alternatives that could lead to a cleaner world, and a healthier population.
Poetry – Drama - Chang-dong Lee
RT: 100 MC: 87
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo2dfY317-k
A woman in the autumn of her years is prompted by art and circumstance to reexamine her life in this drama from director Lee Chang-dong. Yang Mija (Yun Jung-hee) is a charming and well-preserved woman in her mid-sixties who stays busy looking after her teenage grandson, Wook (Lee David), and helping keep house for an older gentleman friend. Yang Mija has been having trouble with her memory and has developed a new curiosity about creative self-expression, so she signs up for a class in writing poetry at a neighborhood community center, even though she's never written verse before. Mija's simple, contented existence is thrown into disarray by a pair of events -- she learns from her doctor that her memory troubles are the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease, and Wook is believed to be part of a gang of thugs who severely beat and raped a girl who responded by committing suicide. As Mija faces a grim future, she's uncertain about the notion of turning her grandson in to the police or raising money for a settlement that would keep him out of prison, and suddenly the beauty of the world seems a far more elusive concept. Shi (aka Poetry) was an official selection at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Pom Wonderful Presents: the Greatest Movie Ever Sold – documentary - Morgan Spurlock
Director Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me, 30 Days) examines the increased proliferation of branding in every aspect of our lives while attempting to persuade big-name brands to sponsor his irreverent exposé. Companies love to push their products, and it seems like everywhere we go, someone is trying to sell us something. But have you ever wondered what goes on behind closed doors at some of the biggest advertising agencies in the world? In this eye-opening documentary, viewers follow Spurlock as he convinces a variety of high-profile sponsors to let him pitch their products as "The Greatest," while still maintaining complete control over his creative vision -- an arrangement that's become increasingly rare in the high-stakes entertainment industry.
Queen to Play - drama - Caroline Bottaro
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4RcBGcMJY7Y
A middle-aged maid with few prospects before her finds a new lease on life via the game of chess, in this unusual tale that marked the first directorial go-round of acclaimed scriptwriter Caroline Bottaro (Les Aveux de l'innocent). French screen siren Sandrine Bonnaire (À Nos Amours) stars as Hélène, a Frenchwoman employed as a housekeeper in a posh Corsican hotel. Though devoted and diligent as a wife and mother, she lacks any real passion in her life. That changes in a single, defining instant when Helene espies a mysterious couple (the female played by Jennifer Beals) exchanging erotic glances and seductive gestures over a chessboard, on a nearby balcony. Feeling sexual arousal, Hélène misguidedly tries to parlay this into her own personal life by giving her boatworker husband an electronic chessboard, but the connection between this and a need for greater intimacy eludes him. Hélène's curiosity about chess nonetheless endures, and when she fails to teach herself to play sans assistance, she turns to an eccentric, reclusive American whose house she cleans, Dr. Kroger (Kevin Kline) and asks him to mentor her in the game. In time, her expertise outstrips Kroger's and she begins to live and breathe chess, but this very passion also threatens to alienate the woman's family, who perceive a form of infidelity in this new obsession.
Strange Case of Angelica – drama - Manoel de Oliveira
RT: 88 MC: 79
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVwnpN8HRA4
In this stylish exercise in magic realism, Isaac (Ricardo Trepa) is a photographer who is contacted during a stormy night with an urgent assignment. Isaac is escorted to the estate of a wealthy family, where he's told of a recent tragedy -- the beautiful daughter of the household, Angelica (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), died shortly after her wedding, before her bridal portrait could be taken. Her parents want a final photograph of Angelica, and they've brought Isaac to their home to take the pictures. Angelica has been laid out on a sofa in the living room, still wearing her wedding gown, and as Isaac looks at her through his viewfinder, he's struck by her beauty and thinks she looks as if she's just sleeping. Isaac is so effected by Angelica that he quickly falls in love with her, and when he looks at her through his camera, she comes to life, with her spirit as lively as ever in the photos he prints though her body stubbornly stays lifeless. O Estranho Caso de Angelica (aka The Strange Case of Angelica) was the ninth directorial project in five years from filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, a workload all the more remarkable given his age -- he was 101 years old when O Estranho Caso de Angelica made its debut at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
The Company Men – drama - John Wells
RT: 65 MC: 81
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPohmhNFwi4
A high-powered sales executive struggles with his own dwindling sense of self-worth after becoming a victim to corporate downsizing. Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) has a big house, a new Porsche, a beautiful wife, and two adoring kids. When he's not in the office, he can usually be found on the golf course, perfecting his game or clinching an important business deal. But when the axe falls, Bobby and his colleagues Phil (Chris Cooper) and Gene (Tommy Lee Jones) find their necks on the chopping block, and their futures looking bleak. In order to stay afloat, Bobby reluctantly goes to work as a carpenter for his brother-in-law (Kevin Costner). But building houses is a far cry from the boardroom, and just as Bobby starts to wonder if he'll ever taste success again, he realizes that true prosperity doesn't come in the form of a paycheck, but through the satisfaction of knowing that his family will always be there to support him. Maria Bello, Craig T. Nelson, and Rosemarie DeWitt co-star in a drama from writer/director John Wells (ER).
The Other Woman - comedy/drama - Don Ross
RT: 39 MC: 37
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTLRdWKah8
The story to this drama is about as original as its title. Nevertheless, the cast is first-rate. Eleanor Gates (Peggy Hyland) comes to Greenwich Village to study art. As her career takes off, she meets Harrington (Milton Sills), a man from back home. He is unhappily married -- his wife (Anna Lehr) is an uninteresting homebody. Their friendship warms into something more romantic and soon Harrington is never home. When the couple's baby dies, it seems like the marriage is headed for certain failure. But then Mrs. Harrington comes to Eleanor and asks her to paint a miniature of her dead infant. She also tells Eleanor the whole story about her unfaithful husband. Eleanor is horrified that she is the one causing Mrs. Harrington so much misery. While Harrington is out West on business, his wife discovers who the other woman is. She angrily denounces Eleanor, who proceeds to lecture her on the finer points of how to keep a husband. When Harrington returns, Eleanor sends him back to his wife. Then she leaves New York and returns to her sweetheart who has been waiting for her back home.
The Tree of Life – drama - Terrence Malick
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R02gnYmDpU4&feature=fvst
The eldest son of a 1950s-era Midwestern family sets out on an existential journey that leads him to question his faith while seeking the answers to life's most challenging mysteries in this evocative drama from celebrated director Terrence Malick. Meanwhile, as Jack's (Sean Penn) innocence slowly erodes, his turbulent relationship with his father (Brad Pitt) becomes the specter that hangs over his every thought and action.
Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall Past Lives – comedy - Apichatpong Weerasethakul
RT: 87 MC: 89
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlPRe9peigI
The recipient of the prized Palme d'Or at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, director Apichatpong Weerasethakul's hypnotic drama tells the haunting story of a Thai man suffering from kidney failure who retreats to the countryside to die in the company of his loved ones. As Uncle Boonmee nears the end of his life, the spirit of his late wife returns to guide him into the unknown, and his estranged son reappears in the form of a jungle spirit. Later, the ailing man leads his family on a journey to a hilltop cave where he first came into this world.
Win Win – comedy - Thomas McCarthy
RT: 86 MC: 85
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbe33D59euY
Paul Giamatti headlines writer/director Tom McCarthy's comedy drama centering on a beleaguered attorney and part-time wrestling coach who schemes to keep his practice from going under by acting as the legal caretaker of an elderly client. Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) thinks he has discovered the perfect loophole to keep his practice in business. But his brilliant plan hits an unexpected hitch when his client's troubled grandson shows up looking for a place to stay. With his home life in turmoil and both of his careers in jeopardy, Mike quickly realizes that he'll have to get creative in order to find a way out of his current predicament.
Winter in Wartime – drama - Martin Koolhoven
RT: 75
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrtnYwQXr6Y
As helmed by Martin Koolhoven (Het Zuiden), the Dutch-language saga Oorlogswinter stars Martijn Lakemeier as Michiel van Beusekom, a young man who becomes involved in the Dutch resistance during the final winter of World War II. Though this represents a heroic move on the boy's part, the experience ultimately leads to complete disillusionment, as it brings Michiel face to face with the realization that during times of war, good and evil are actually intertwined.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
January Advisory Meeting Candidates
127 hours - adventure/biography - Danny Boyle
Rotten Tomatoes: 93 Metacritc: 82
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ
Filmmaker Danny Boyle adapts the true-life story of Aron Ralston with this Fox Searchlight production detailing the hiker's harrowing quest for survival after losing an arm to a fallen rock and the grueling five-day ordeal that finally ended with his rescue. James Franco steps into the role of the unfortunate climber.
Another Year - comedy/drama - Mike Leigh
RT: 90 MC: 77
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDVJwhj5EgA" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDVJwhj5EgA
British filmmaker Mike Leigh delivers another emotionally honest portrait of ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives in this comedy drama. Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) are a couple who are drifting past middle age into their sixties; he's a geologist and she's a psychotherapist. Tom and Gerri have a stable and happy marriage and a grown son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), an activist lawyer who hasn't settled down yet, much to his mother's chagrin. One of Gerri's co-workers and close friends is Mary (Lesley Manville), who puts up a facade of desperate good cheer despite the fact she's been very lonely since her husband left her and has been drowning her anxieties in wine. Gerri has unsuccessfully tried to fix Mary up with Tom's sloppy but good natured pal Ken (Peter Wight), and she's startled when Mary begins openly flirting with Joe, more than 20 years her junior. Mary's troubles only grow worse when she stops by Tom and Gerri's place only to be introduced to Katie (Karina Fernandez), Joe's new girlfriend. Another Year received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Barney's Version – drama - Richard Lewis
RT: 76 MC: 64
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCufeuu21pw" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCufeuu21pw
This seriocomic adaptation of Mordecai Richler's award-winning 1997 novel stars Paul Giamatti as Barney Panofsky, who meets the great love of his life, Miriam (Rosamund Pike), at the most inopportune time imaginable: his marriage to his second wife (Minnie Driver), a wealthy Jewish Princess and compulsive shopper. Narrated by Barney as a confessional, the film covers thirty years of his unusual journey - from his first marriage to the chronically unfaithful free spirit Clara (Rachelle LeFevre) and their life in Italy together, through his third marriage to Miriam, with whom he has two children. Standing in the wings is Barney's father, Izzy (Dustin Hoffman), who continues to stick by him, as his loyal right-hand-man. Through it all, Barney experiences numerous highs and lows, but manages to consistently surprise everyone with unforeseen acts of altruism and kindness that turn him into the quintessential modern hero.
Bhutto – documentary - Duane Bachman
RT: 86 MC: 68
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU6gCTpe3g&feature=related" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU6gCTpe3g&feature=related
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the People's Party of Pakistan and the patriarch of one of the nation's most powerful political dynasties, and when he fell from power after a spell as Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister, he made a surprising decision -- he groomed his daughter Benazir Bhutto to move into Pakistan's political arena rather than his son. Benazir was bright (she studied at Harvard and Oxford), personable, and had a campaigner's instincts, but it was anyone's guess how successful any woman could be in a Muslim nation where the authority of women was still questioned. In 1988, Benazir was voted prime minister of Pakistan, but was removed from office in 1990 under allegations of corruption she insisted were politically motivated; she was voted back into office in 1993, but further scandals once again drove her from office in 1996, and she eventually fled the country despite her popularity with voters. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, hoping to run for office and reassert the power of democracy at a time when Muslim fundamentalist leadership threatened to move political progress backward, but her assassination in December 2007 put an end to that dream. Filmmakers Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O'Hara tell the story of the first woman elected to lead a Muslim nation in the documentary Bhutto, which explores the history of Pakistani politics, Benazir's relationship with her controversial family, the scandals that surrounded her, and her tragic death. Bhutto received its North American premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Biutiful – drama - Alejandro González Iñárritu
RT: 64 MC: 53
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_OrqZQV8p8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_OrqZQV8p8
A man tries to reconcile his desire to be good with his lawless ways in this dark drama from Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu. Uxbal (Javier Bardem) is a man with a bright side and a dark side. Uxbal is a caring father who is strong but affectionate toward his two children, Ana (Hanaa Bouchaib) and Mateo (Guillermo Estrella), and he struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with their mother, Marambra (Maricel Álvarez), despite her problems with alcohol and instability. But Uxbal is also a criminal who oversees a small underground empire alongside fellow crime boss Hai (Taisheng Cheng) and Uxbal's impulsive brother, Tito (Eduard Fernández). Uxbal's dealings range from drugs to construction, but unlike his partners in crime, he tries to treat those around him with dignity even as he trades in human misery. Uxbal's precarious world begins to collapse when he's diagnosed with a serious illness and told he has only a few weeks left to live; he tries to put his affairs in order in the time he has left, but realizes that few around him have any sense of responsibility. Biutiful receives its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Blue Valentine – drama - Derek Cianfrance
RT: 91 MC: 80
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgr_iGATB4" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgr_iGATB4
A relationship is charted from its promising beginning to its sad collapse in this independent drama from Derek Cianfrance. Dean (Ryan Gosling) meets Cindy (Michelle Williams) when they're in their late teens; he's working for a moving company, she's a college student visiting her elderly grandmother at a home for the elderly. Cindy is dating Bobby (Mike Vogel), her boyfriend from high school, but as she gets to know Dean better, a mutual attraction grows between them. Years later, Dean and Cindy are married and have a daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka), but they're clearly not as happy as they once were; Dean loves his daughter but feels distant from his wife, they have to look after an elderly relative (John Doman), and when Cindy bumps into Bobby while running errands, it's clear he still holds a grudge against her. Dean and Cindy go away for a weekend together at a hotel, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the magic isn't coming back. Blue Valentine received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Cool It – Documentary - Ondi Timoner
RT: n/a MC: 61
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZR3gsY98VU&playnext=1&list=PL806AEDCD47CF04B2&index=11" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZR3gsY98VU&playnext=1&list=PL806AEDCD47CF04B2&index=11
Inspired by The Skeptical Environmentalist author Bjørn Lomborg's cautionary, nonfiction book of the same name, Dig! director Ondi Timoner's provocative documentary examines the intense debate over global warming and the developing technologies that could prove our saving grace should planet Earth truly begin to overheat.
A Film Unfinished – documentary - Yael Hersonski
RT: 94 MC: 87
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khut0kKn-c8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khut0kKn-c8
In 1942, more than two years after Nazi troops herded Poland's Jews into a ghetto in Warsaw, where they were to be held until they were sent to extermination camps, a handful of cameramen were sent into the ghetto to shoot material that was intended for a German propaganda film. The images they captured ran the gamut from blasé scenes of day-to-day life to horrific moments of death and despair. The film was never completed, but after the war, the unedited footage, running roughly an hour, was discovered in a German archive. Yael Hersonski's documentary Shtikat Haarchion (aka A Film Unfinished) presents the surviving footage of the Warsaw ghetto in full for the first time; along with the archival images, Hersonski includes interviews with five survivors of the ghetto, who talk about what was captured on film and their lives under the Nazis, as well as a member of the camera crew who offers a perspective on the original intended slant of the film (which was, at least in part, meant to reveal the class differences between Jews of different economic status). A Film Unfinished received its world premiere at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival.
Hemingway's Garden of Eden – drama - John Irvin
RT: 5 MC: 28
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9IvqPtqTKc" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9IvqPtqTKc
Penned between 1946 and 1961, Ernest Hemingway's novel The Garden of Eden remained incomplete at the time of its author's suicide, but finally appeared in 1986, as the second posthumously published Hemingway novel following the 1970 Islands in the Stream. As directed by John Irvin (Turtle Diary) and scripted by James Scott Linville, this screen adaptation faithfully adheres to the original story. The tale takes place in the 1920s, on the Côte d'Azur of the French Riviera, where David Bourne (Jack Huston), a youngish American writer, and his gorgeous wife, Catherine (Mena Suvari), spend a tranquil honeymoon. Tranquil, that is, until Catherine grows restless and dissatisfied, and brings into their midst Marita (Caterina Murino), an Italian girl to whom they both feel magnetically attracted. In seemingly no time at all, her sensual presence threatens to tear the marriage asunder.
I Love You Philip Morris - comedy/drama - Glenn Ficarra
RT: 71 MC: 65
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dljIcgiMw" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dljIcgiMw
Bad Santa co-screenwriters Glenn Ficara and John Requa re-team for this fact-based black comedy starring Jim Carrey as a Texas police officer-turned-con man who makes the leap to white-collar criminal after being sent to prison and falling in love with his sensitive cellmate. Steve Russell (Carrey) is a small-town cop. Bored with his bland lifestyle, Russell turns to fraud as a means of shaking things up. Before long, Russell's criminal antics have landed him behind bars, where he encounters the charismatic Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). Smitten, Russell devotes his entire life to being with Morris regardless of the consequences -- which could well include a life sentence.
The Illusionist – animation - Sylvain Chomet
RT: 86 MC: 81
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrwh0rOJ0DI&feature=fvsr" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrwh0rOJ0DI&feature=fvsr
A down-on-his-luck illusionist befriends a pretty admirer, and finds that his constant quest to impress her may be his ultimate downfall in this animated fable based on an original screenplay by Jacques Tati and directed by Sylvain Chomet. Now that the theaters and large performance venues have been taken over by rock bands and pop singers, the illusionist has been forced to ply his trade at small gatherings in bars, cafés, and basements in order earn a living. One day, while performing in a small Scottish pub located on a remote island which has only recently been wired for electricity, the illusionist encounters a young girl named Alice who is captivated by his otherworldly abilities. Alice believes the downtrodden performer possesses genuine supernatural powers, and agrees to accompany him on a trip to Edinburgh, where he's scheduled to perform at a modest, out-of-the-way theater. Her affection and enthusiasm inspire the illusionist, who in turn uses his talent to lavish her with a series of extravagant gifts. Unable to muster the courage to tell his starry-eyed admirer the truth about his trade, the illusionist continues giving until he's got nothing more to offer. This picture marked Chomet's first following the 2003 arthouse smash The Triplets of Belleville.
King's Speech – drama - Tom Hooper
RT: 95 MC: 88
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aS4hoOSlzo" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aS4hoOSlzo
Emmy Award-winning director Tom Hooper (John Adams) teams with screenwriter David Seidler (Tucker: A Man and His Dreams) to tell the story of King George VI. When his older brother abdicates the throne, nervous-mannered successor George "Bertie" VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly dons the crown. Though his stutter soon raises concerns about his leadership skills, King George VI eventually comes into his own with the help of unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Before long the king and Lionel have forged an unlikely bond, a bond that proves to have real strength when the United Kingdom is forced to flex its international might.
Leaving - foreign/drama - Catherine Corsini
RT: 78 MC: 53
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTrVyWKIwQ" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTrVyWKIwQ
A woman who has grown tired of her marriage falls into a relationship that leads her to a dangerous place in this drama from director Catherine Corsini. Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is in her mid-forties and married to Samuel (Yvan Attal), a successful doctor who is the father of their two teenage children (Alexandre Vidal and Daisy Broom). The love between Suzanne and Samuel is dead and their marriage is largely a matter of formalities, so to ease her boredom Suzanne has decided to resume her former career as a therapist. Samuel has agreed to foot the bill for building an office for Suzanne in their home, and he hires Ivan (Sergi López) to help with the work. Ivan is a ruggedly handsome illegal immigrant, and Suzanne is immediately attracted to him; she promptly jumps head-first into an affair with him, and while their hunger for one another is clearly just physical, she decides to leave her family behind to live with Ivan. Even though Samuel doesn't much care for Suzanne, he's furious at the notion of her leaving him for another man, leading to an ugly conflict between the husband, the wife, and the lover. Partir (aka Leaving) was an official selection at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival.
Made in Dagenham - comedy/drama - Nigel Cole
RT: 79 MC: 65
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ509hHkHO8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ509hHkHO8
As produced by heavyweight Stephen Woolley (The Crying Game) and headlined by Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Bob Hoskins (The Long Good Friday), this period docudrama brings to life a pivotal event from British history. In 1968, women's rights took a broad leap forward when workers at the Ford Dagenham automobile plant -- buckling beneath deplorable working conditions rightly perceived as gender discrimination -- suddenly stormed out into the streets and began to strike in protest of the unfair treatment levied at them. Little could they have foreseen the ramifications that this courageous and noble act would engender in successive years. Christopher Smith directs.
Marwencol – documentary - Jeff Malmberg
RT: 92 MC: 82
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsGGNiZ8OU" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsGGNiZ8OU
After a night of drinking at a bar in his hometown of Kingston, NY, Mark Hogancamp got in a fistfight and was beaten so badly he went into a coma. When Hogancamp regained consciousness, he was diagnosed with brain damage and struggled to return to a normal life. As he tried to put his life back together, Hogancamp came up with an unusual hobby -- using G.I. Joe action figures and Barbie dolls, Hogancamp created an elaborate scale model community in his backyard that he calls Marwencol (named for three characters he's dubbed Mark, Wendy, and Colleen). Marwencol is supposed to be a village in Belgium during World War II, and the scene is full of intrigue and military violence; several of the characters also represent his friends and relatives, and one is based on a married neighbor with whom he's infatuated. Marwencol provides Hogancamp with a fantasy world he can retreat into as he deals with the realities of his life following the beating, but the parallels into his real life are troubling to some people he knows, and when a gallery in New York City offers to present Hogancamp's project as an art installation, he has to decide if he's really willing to share Marwencol with the world at large. Filmmaker Jeff Malmberg profiles Mark Hogancamp and the world he created from toys and his imagination in the documentary Marwencol, which received its world premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival.
Mesrine: Killer Instinct - action/bio - Jean-Fracois Richet
RT: 83 MC: 70
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TnmWfOvW0" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TnmWfOvW0
"This tough and gritty French-language crime drama represents the premier installment in a two-part series of features on the life and doings of notorious Gallic hood Jacques Mesrine (1936-1979). Mesrine is played, in both installments, by actor Vincent Cassel, who reportedly underwent massive weight gain and weight loss to convincingly portray the volatile Mesrine at various periods of his life. Director Jean-François Richet begins in 1979, with Mesrine's uncommonly violent death, whereby he and a beautiful young woman are suddenly (and fatally) ambushed by Parisian police not far from Mesrine's place of birth. Richet then flashes back to the Franco-Algerian War of the late '50s and a brutal interrogation undergone by Mesrine. Following a military discharge, Mesrine returns to his parents' suburb of Clichy, where his dad has arranged a pathetic job for him in a lace-making factory. Never one to take humiliation lying down, Jacques perceives burglary, larceny, and racketeering as much-superior options and decides to pursue a life of crime via a ""business partnership"" with childhood buddy Paul (Gilles Lellouche), who works for mobster Guido (Gérard Depardieu). As the years pass, Jacques works his way up through the ranks of the underworld; via Paul, he also meets and falls hard for two women: Pigalle streetwalker Sarah (Florence Thomassin), and Sofia (Elena Anaya), a beautiful Spanish woman with whom he cohabitates after doing time in a French prison. Following a brief and unsuccessful attempt to ""go straight,"" Jacques reconnects with Guido, then finds it necessary to escape from France to Canada with his new mistress, Jeanne (Cécile De France). Unfortunately, another prison sentence is waiting for him there, replete with brutal solitary confinement, but the possibility of a daring escape beckons. The second half of the Mesrine saga, entitled Mesrine: L'Énnemi Public No. 1 for French release, followed immediately after and picks up where this installment wraps."
Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 - action/bio - Jean-Fracois Richet
RT: 83 MC: 72
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armiLlbxwlY" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armiLlbxwlY
The true story of one of Europe's most infamous and charismatic criminals comes to a close in this drama based on the life and crimes of Jacques Mesrine. Picking up where L'Instinct de Mort left off, L'Ennemi Public No. 1 begins as Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) returns to France after an exile in Canada. Teaming up with gunman Michel Ardouin (Samuel Le Bihan), Mesrine masterminds a series of armed robberies, and while he's able to stay one step ahead of the law most of the time, eventually he finds himself back in prison, where he makes friends with the clever François (Mathieu Amalric). With François' help, Mesrine breaks out of prison and becomes something of a celebrity, penning an autobiography, hob-nobbing with the wealthy and trying to paint himself as a political radical with the help of leftist spokesman Charlie (Gérard Lanvin). Mesrine also renews his relationship with his girlfriend, Sylvia (Ludivine Sagnier), but he also turns his back on some of his old friends and underestimates the determination of the French police to stop him once and for all. L'Ennemi Public No. 1 (aka Public Enemy No. 1, Part 2) went into release in late 2008, while the wildly successful L'Instinct de Mort was still playing in French theaters.
Nenette – documentary - Nicolas Philibert
RT: 60 MC: 62
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgflSGVPbs&feature=related" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgflSGVPbs&feature=related
Born in the jungles of Borneo, Nénette is a 40-year-old orangutan — and the oldest (and most beloved) inhabitant at the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The latest film by legendary French documentarian Nicolas Philibert (To Be And To Have), Nénette is a captivating study of an enigmatic animal and our relationship to her.
Night Catches Us – drama - Tanya Hamilton
RT: 78 MC: 65
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgtAhGOLC-Y" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgtAhGOLC-Y
A man comes home to find some of the demons of his past waiting for him in this independent drama from writer and director Tanya Hamilton. Marcus (Anthony Mackie) was born and raised in Philadelphia, but hasn't been there for years when he comes back in 1976 to attend the funeral of his father, a local minister. Marcus came of age during the late '60s and was a member of the Black Panther Party when revolution and black power were hot topics in Philly's African-American community. After a key figure in the local Black Panther organization was assassinated, many suspected someone inside the group had informed on them to the police, and more than a few were certain Marcus was the rat as he walked out on the Panthers and left town shortly after the murder. As Marcus visits his old neighborhood, he has to deal with strained relationships in his family and the distrust of old friends convinced he betrayed a close friend; he also spends some time with Patricia (Kerry Washington), a fellow activist he used to love who was also married to the man Marcus is said to have betrayed. As Marcus wrestles with the shadows of another era, he's shadowed by Jimmy (Amari Cheatom), Patricia's disturbed and homeless cousin who still believes in the Panthers' cause. Featuring an original score by the Roots, Night Catches Us received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Orgasm Inc. – documentary - Liz Canner
RT: N/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZeHDKRa1y8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZeHDKRa1y8
When independent filmmaker Liz Canner landed an unusual assignment -- editing a stack of porn films into a "highlight reel" for a pharmaceutical company -- she found the inspiration for this project, a documentary on "female sexual dysfunction" and the business that has sprung up behind it. "Female sexual dysfunction" is roughly defined as a woman's lack of desire for sexual contact and/or her inability to have an orgasm, and after Viagra made treating male impotence into a growth industry, a number of pharmaceutical firms are working to formulate a similar drug for women. But is "female sexual dysfunction" a real medical condition? Research has determined that 70% of women don't regularly reach orgasm through intercourse (usually due to inattention by their partners), and a lack of enthusiasm for lovemaking can stem from anything from a bad day at work to a husband's bad breath. Are drug companies attempting to convince women they need treatment for a malady that doesn't actually exist? Orgasm, Inc. takes a look at the disinformation that has been spread about female sexuality through the ages up to the present day, including a woman who collects antique vibrators and turn-of-the-century literature on "female hysteria," as well as behind-the-scenes footage of researchers attempting to formulate a female orgasm in pill form. Orgasm, Inc. was an official selection at the 2009 Hot Docs International Film Festival.
Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune – documentary - Kenneth Bowser
RT: 100 MC: 70
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbS4ruKw2OQ" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbS4ruKw2OQ
Documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser profiles American folk singer Phil Ochs, who rose to fame in the 1960s and whose hopeful, incisive ballads were written to inspire positive change in an era of profound social turbulence. Equally critical of the left and the right -- not to mention the politically apathetic -- Ochs penned countless songs and released seven albums, ultimately growing a sizable following thanks to his positive message and talent for songwriting. In 1976, following the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, and in the wake of the tragedy at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ochs was so overcome with hopelessness that he turned to alcohol and ultimately committed suicide. He was just 35 years old. Though the FBI would later admit to singling Ochs out as a traitor for questioning American policy during wartime, this film aims to offer a comprehensive overview of a deeply complex artist through archival footage and interviews with such outspoken fans as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Sean Penn.
Plastic Planet – documentary - Werner Boote
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X-J1DhfjE" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X-J1DhfjE
Director Werner Boote takes an up close look at the plastics industry in order to explore whether the ubiquitous man-made material is a danger to human health. The grandson of a once-prominent plastics magnate, Boote became aware early on that the material we rely on to make our lives easy could also be poisoning our planet. Not only because a piece of plastic takes up to 500 years to deteriorate in the ground or water system, but also because studies indicate that frequent exposure can also lead to a variety of health problems in humans. In this film, Boote speaks with scientists, manufacturers, consumers, and government officials in 14 countries about the dangers of continued reliance on plastics, as well as alternatives that could lead to a cleaner world, and a healthier population.
Somewhere – drama - Sofia Coppola
RT: 76 MC: 67
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVQtL8GQPFA" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVQtL8GQPFA
Roguish Hollywood star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) finds his debauched life of excess unexpectedly interrupted when his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) shows up at the Chateau Marmont Hotel for an unscheduled visit. Later, as father and daughter reconnect, Johnny begins to reassess his sordid lifestyle. Writer/director Sofia Coppola teams with brother Roman to produce a film executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and released by Focus Features.
Strange Case of Angelica – drama - Manoel de Oliveira
RT: 88 MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVwnpN8HRA4" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVwnpN8HRA4
In this stylish exercise in magic realism, Isaac (Ricardo Trepa) is a photographer who is contacted during a stormy night with an urgent assignment. Isaac is escorted to the estate of a wealthy family, where he's told of a recent tragedy -- the beautiful daughter of the household, Angelica (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), died shortly after her wedding, before her bridal portrait could be taken. Her parents want a final photograph of Angelica, and they've brought Isaac to their home to take the pictures. Angelica has been laid out on a sofa in the living room, still wearing her wedding gown, and as Isaac looks at her through his viewfinder, he's struck by her beauty and thinks she looks as if she's just sleeping. Isaac is so effected by Angelica that he quickly falls in love with her, and when he looks at her through his camera, she comes to life, with her spirit as lively as ever in the photos he prints though her body stubbornly stays lifeless. O Estranho Caso de Angelica (aka The Strange Case of Angelica) was the ninth directorial project in five years from filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, a workload all the more remarkable given his age -- he was 101 years old when O Estranho Caso de Angelica made its debut at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
The Other Woman - comedy/drama - Don Ross
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTLRdWKah8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTLRdWKah8
The story to this drama is about as original as its title. Nevertheless, the cast is first-rate. Eleanor Gates (Peggy Hyland) comes to Greenwich Village to study art. As her career takes off, she meets Harrington (Milton Sills), a man from back home. He is unhappily married -- his wife (Anna Lehr) is an uninteresting homebody. Their friendship warms into something more romantic and soon Harrington is never home. When the couple's baby dies, it seems like the marriage is headed for certain failure. But then Mrs. Harrington comes to Eleanor and asks her to paint a miniature of her dead infant. She also tells Eleanor the whole story about her unfaithful husband. Eleanor is horrified that she is the one causing Mrs. Harrington so much misery. While Harrington is out West on business, his wife discovers who the other woman is. She angrily denounces Eleanor, who proceeds to lecture her on the finer points of how to keep a husband. When Harrington returns, Eleanor sends him back to his wife. Then she leaves New York and returns to her sweetheart who has been waiting for her back home.
Vision: From the life of Hildegard von Bingen – drama - Margarethe von Trotta
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEI1QrZINeg" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEI1QrZINeg
Margarethe von Trotta, one of the most celebrated female directors in the German cinema, pays homage to another remarkable woman in this screen biography of 12th century Renaissance woman Hildegard von Bingen. Hildegard (Barbara Sukowa) came to live at the Disibodenberg abbey when she was a youngster, and grew up under the watchful but compassionate eye of Jutta the Holy (Mareile Blendl). In her teens, Hildegard became a nun and was known among her peers for her generous nature and desire to help others; she developed a talent for formulating herbal medicine as well as gift for composing music, and after three decades she was selected to become a magistra at the abbey. Hildegard was born during a time when women were expected to serve and not to preach, but she fearlessly began speaking to others about her religious visions, which she used as a vehicle to share lessons in faith in a manner that circumvented the rules. Hildegard also fearlessly denounced the violent self-abasement that was common among holy men and women of her day, believing that a faith born of kindness and devotion was more valuable than that which came from fear and pain. While Hildegard won may friends through her work, she also gained more than a few enemies, and while some denounced her for not restricting herself to the traditional role of a woman in the church, others contended that her holy visions were not the work of the Lord, but of the Devil. Vision was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
Rotten Tomatoes: 93 Metacritc: 82
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OlhLOWTnVoQ
Filmmaker Danny Boyle adapts the true-life story of Aron Ralston with this Fox Searchlight production detailing the hiker's harrowing quest for survival after losing an arm to a fallen rock and the grueling five-day ordeal that finally ended with his rescue. James Franco steps into the role of the unfortunate climber.
Another Year - comedy/drama - Mike Leigh
RT: 90 MC: 77
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDVJwhj5EgA" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDVJwhj5EgA
British filmmaker Mike Leigh delivers another emotionally honest portrait of ordinary people trying to make sense of their lives in this comedy drama. Tom (Jim Broadbent) and Gerri (Ruth Sheen) are a couple who are drifting past middle age into their sixties; he's a geologist and she's a psychotherapist. Tom and Gerri have a stable and happy marriage and a grown son, Joe (Oliver Maltman), an activist lawyer who hasn't settled down yet, much to his mother's chagrin. One of Gerri's co-workers and close friends is Mary (Lesley Manville), who puts up a facade of desperate good cheer despite the fact she's been very lonely since her husband left her and has been drowning her anxieties in wine. Gerri has unsuccessfully tried to fix Mary up with Tom's sloppy but good natured pal Ken (Peter Wight), and she's startled when Mary begins openly flirting with Joe, more than 20 years her junior. Mary's troubles only grow worse when she stops by Tom and Gerri's place only to be introduced to Katie (Karina Fernandez), Joe's new girlfriend. Another Year received its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Barney's Version – drama - Richard Lewis
RT: 76 MC: 64
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCufeuu21pw" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCufeuu21pw
This seriocomic adaptation of Mordecai Richler's award-winning 1997 novel stars Paul Giamatti as Barney Panofsky, who meets the great love of his life, Miriam (Rosamund Pike), at the most inopportune time imaginable: his marriage to his second wife (Minnie Driver), a wealthy Jewish Princess and compulsive shopper. Narrated by Barney as a confessional, the film covers thirty years of his unusual journey - from his first marriage to the chronically unfaithful free spirit Clara (Rachelle LeFevre) and their life in Italy together, through his third marriage to Miriam, with whom he has two children. Standing in the wings is Barney's father, Izzy (Dustin Hoffman), who continues to stick by him, as his loyal right-hand-man. Through it all, Barney experiences numerous highs and lows, but manages to consistently surprise everyone with unforeseen acts of altruism and kindness that turn him into the quintessential modern hero.
Bhutto – documentary - Duane Bachman
RT: 86 MC: 68
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU6gCTpe3g&feature=related" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKU6gCTpe3g&feature=related
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was the founder of the People's Party of Pakistan and the patriarch of one of the nation's most powerful political dynasties, and when he fell from power after a spell as Pakistan's first democratically elected prime minister, he made a surprising decision -- he groomed his daughter Benazir Bhutto to move into Pakistan's political arena rather than his son. Benazir was bright (she studied at Harvard and Oxford), personable, and had a campaigner's instincts, but it was anyone's guess how successful any woman could be in a Muslim nation where the authority of women was still questioned. In 1988, Benazir was voted prime minister of Pakistan, but was removed from office in 1990 under allegations of corruption she insisted were politically motivated; she was voted back into office in 1993, but further scandals once again drove her from office in 1996, and she eventually fled the country despite her popularity with voters. In 2007, Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan, hoping to run for office and reassert the power of democracy at a time when Muslim fundamentalist leadership threatened to move political progress backward, but her assassination in December 2007 put an end to that dream. Filmmakers Jessica Hernandez and Johnny O'Hara tell the story of the first woman elected to lead a Muslim nation in the documentary Bhutto, which explores the history of Pakistani politics, Benazir's relationship with her controversial family, the scandals that surrounded her, and her tragic death. Bhutto received its North American premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Biutiful – drama - Alejandro González Iñárritu
RT: 64 MC: 53
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_OrqZQV8p8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_OrqZQV8p8
A man tries to reconcile his desire to be good with his lawless ways in this dark drama from Mexican auteur Alejandro González Iñárritu. Uxbal (Javier Bardem) is a man with a bright side and a dark side. Uxbal is a caring father who is strong but affectionate toward his two children, Ana (Hanaa Bouchaib) and Mateo (Guillermo Estrella), and he struggles to maintain a healthy relationship with their mother, Marambra (Maricel Álvarez), despite her problems with alcohol and instability. But Uxbal is also a criminal who oversees a small underground empire alongside fellow crime boss Hai (Taisheng Cheng) and Uxbal's impulsive brother, Tito (Eduard Fernández). Uxbal's dealings range from drugs to construction, but unlike his partners in crime, he tries to treat those around him with dignity even as he trades in human misery. Uxbal's precarious world begins to collapse when he's diagnosed with a serious illness and told he has only a few weeks left to live; he tries to put his affairs in order in the time he has left, but realizes that few around him have any sense of responsibility. Biutiful receives its world premiere at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Blue Valentine – drama - Derek Cianfrance
RT: 91 MC: 80
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgr_iGATB4" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYgr_iGATB4
A relationship is charted from its promising beginning to its sad collapse in this independent drama from Derek Cianfrance. Dean (Ryan Gosling) meets Cindy (Michelle Williams) when they're in their late teens; he's working for a moving company, she's a college student visiting her elderly grandmother at a home for the elderly. Cindy is dating Bobby (Mike Vogel), her boyfriend from high school, but as she gets to know Dean better, a mutual attraction grows between them. Years later, Dean and Cindy are married and have a daughter, Frankie (Faith Wladyka), but they're clearly not as happy as they once were; Dean loves his daughter but feels distant from his wife, they have to look after an elderly relative (John Doman), and when Cindy bumps into Bobby while running errands, it's clear he still holds a grudge against her. Dean and Cindy go away for a weekend together at a hotel, but it doesn't take long for them to realize that the magic isn't coming back. Blue Valentine received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Cool It – Documentary - Ondi Timoner
RT: n/a MC: 61
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZR3gsY98VU&playnext=1&list=PL806AEDCD47CF04B2&index=11" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZR3gsY98VU&playnext=1&list=PL806AEDCD47CF04B2&index=11
Inspired by The Skeptical Environmentalist author Bjørn Lomborg's cautionary, nonfiction book of the same name, Dig! director Ondi Timoner's provocative documentary examines the intense debate over global warming and the developing technologies that could prove our saving grace should planet Earth truly begin to overheat.
A Film Unfinished – documentary - Yael Hersonski
RT: 94 MC: 87
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khut0kKn-c8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Khut0kKn-c8
In 1942, more than two years after Nazi troops herded Poland's Jews into a ghetto in Warsaw, where they were to be held until they were sent to extermination camps, a handful of cameramen were sent into the ghetto to shoot material that was intended for a German propaganda film. The images they captured ran the gamut from blasé scenes of day-to-day life to horrific moments of death and despair. The film was never completed, but after the war, the unedited footage, running roughly an hour, was discovered in a German archive. Yael Hersonski's documentary Shtikat Haarchion (aka A Film Unfinished) presents the surviving footage of the Warsaw ghetto in full for the first time; along with the archival images, Hersonski includes interviews with five survivors of the ghetto, who talk about what was captured on film and their lives under the Nazis, as well as a member of the camera crew who offers a perspective on the original intended slant of the film (which was, at least in part, meant to reveal the class differences between Jews of different economic status). A Film Unfinished received its world premiere at the 2010 Berlin International Film Festival.
Hemingway's Garden of Eden – drama - John Irvin
RT: 5 MC: 28
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9IvqPtqTKc" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9IvqPtqTKc
Penned between 1946 and 1961, Ernest Hemingway's novel The Garden of Eden remained incomplete at the time of its author's suicide, but finally appeared in 1986, as the second posthumously published Hemingway novel following the 1970 Islands in the Stream. As directed by John Irvin (Turtle Diary) and scripted by James Scott Linville, this screen adaptation faithfully adheres to the original story. The tale takes place in the 1920s, on the Côte d'Azur of the French Riviera, where David Bourne (Jack Huston), a youngish American writer, and his gorgeous wife, Catherine (Mena Suvari), spend a tranquil honeymoon. Tranquil, that is, until Catherine grows restless and dissatisfied, and brings into their midst Marita (Caterina Murino), an Italian girl to whom they both feel magnetically attracted. In seemingly no time at all, her sensual presence threatens to tear the marriage asunder.
I Love You Philip Morris - comedy/drama - Glenn Ficarra
RT: 71 MC: 65
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dljIcgiMw" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01dljIcgiMw
Bad Santa co-screenwriters Glenn Ficara and John Requa re-team for this fact-based black comedy starring Jim Carrey as a Texas police officer-turned-con man who makes the leap to white-collar criminal after being sent to prison and falling in love with his sensitive cellmate. Steve Russell (Carrey) is a small-town cop. Bored with his bland lifestyle, Russell turns to fraud as a means of shaking things up. Before long, Russell's criminal antics have landed him behind bars, where he encounters the charismatic Phillip Morris (Ewan McGregor). Smitten, Russell devotes his entire life to being with Morris regardless of the consequences -- which could well include a life sentence.
The Illusionist – animation - Sylvain Chomet
RT: 86 MC: 81
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrwh0rOJ0DI&feature=fvsr" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xrwh0rOJ0DI&feature=fvsr
A down-on-his-luck illusionist befriends a pretty admirer, and finds that his constant quest to impress her may be his ultimate downfall in this animated fable based on an original screenplay by Jacques Tati and directed by Sylvain Chomet. Now that the theaters and large performance venues have been taken over by rock bands and pop singers, the illusionist has been forced to ply his trade at small gatherings in bars, cafés, and basements in order earn a living. One day, while performing in a small Scottish pub located on a remote island which has only recently been wired for electricity, the illusionist encounters a young girl named Alice who is captivated by his otherworldly abilities. Alice believes the downtrodden performer possesses genuine supernatural powers, and agrees to accompany him on a trip to Edinburgh, where he's scheduled to perform at a modest, out-of-the-way theater. Her affection and enthusiasm inspire the illusionist, who in turn uses his talent to lavish her with a series of extravagant gifts. Unable to muster the courage to tell his starry-eyed admirer the truth about his trade, the illusionist continues giving until he's got nothing more to offer. This picture marked Chomet's first following the 2003 arthouse smash The Triplets of Belleville.
King's Speech – drama - Tom Hooper
RT: 95 MC: 88
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aS4hoOSlzo" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aS4hoOSlzo
Emmy Award-winning director Tom Hooper (John Adams) teams with screenwriter David Seidler (Tucker: A Man and His Dreams) to tell the story of King George VI. When his older brother abdicates the throne, nervous-mannered successor George "Bertie" VI (Colin Firth) reluctantly dons the crown. Though his stutter soon raises concerns about his leadership skills, King George VI eventually comes into his own with the help of unconventional speech therapist Lionel Logue (Geoffrey Rush). Before long the king and Lionel have forged an unlikely bond, a bond that proves to have real strength when the United Kingdom is forced to flex its international might.
Leaving - foreign/drama - Catherine Corsini
RT: 78 MC: 53
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTrVyWKIwQ" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=giTrVyWKIwQ
A woman who has grown tired of her marriage falls into a relationship that leads her to a dangerous place in this drama from director Catherine Corsini. Suzanne (Kristin Scott Thomas) is in her mid-forties and married to Samuel (Yvan Attal), a successful doctor who is the father of their two teenage children (Alexandre Vidal and Daisy Broom). The love between Suzanne and Samuel is dead and their marriage is largely a matter of formalities, so to ease her boredom Suzanne has decided to resume her former career as a therapist. Samuel has agreed to foot the bill for building an office for Suzanne in their home, and he hires Ivan (Sergi López) to help with the work. Ivan is a ruggedly handsome illegal immigrant, and Suzanne is immediately attracted to him; she promptly jumps head-first into an affair with him, and while their hunger for one another is clearly just physical, she decides to leave her family behind to live with Ivan. Even though Samuel doesn't much care for Suzanne, he's furious at the notion of her leaving him for another man, leading to an ugly conflict between the husband, the wife, and the lover. Partir (aka Leaving) was an official selection at the 2009 BFI London Film Festival.
Made in Dagenham - comedy/drama - Nigel Cole
RT: 79 MC: 65
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ509hHkHO8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZ509hHkHO8
As produced by heavyweight Stephen Woolley (The Crying Game) and headlined by Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky) and Bob Hoskins (The Long Good Friday), this period docudrama brings to life a pivotal event from British history. In 1968, women's rights took a broad leap forward when workers at the Ford Dagenham automobile plant -- buckling beneath deplorable working conditions rightly perceived as gender discrimination -- suddenly stormed out into the streets and began to strike in protest of the unfair treatment levied at them. Little could they have foreseen the ramifications that this courageous and noble act would engender in successive years. Christopher Smith directs.
Marwencol – documentary - Jeff Malmberg
RT: 92 MC: 82
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsGGNiZ8OU" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRsGGNiZ8OU
After a night of drinking at a bar in his hometown of Kingston, NY, Mark Hogancamp got in a fistfight and was beaten so badly he went into a coma. When Hogancamp regained consciousness, he was diagnosed with brain damage and struggled to return to a normal life. As he tried to put his life back together, Hogancamp came up with an unusual hobby -- using G.I. Joe action figures and Barbie dolls, Hogancamp created an elaborate scale model community in his backyard that he calls Marwencol (named for three characters he's dubbed Mark, Wendy, and Colleen). Marwencol is supposed to be a village in Belgium during World War II, and the scene is full of intrigue and military violence; several of the characters also represent his friends and relatives, and one is based on a married neighbor with whom he's infatuated. Marwencol provides Hogancamp with a fantasy world he can retreat into as he deals with the realities of his life following the beating, but the parallels into his real life are troubling to some people he knows, and when a gallery in New York City offers to present Hogancamp's project as an art installation, he has to decide if he's really willing to share Marwencol with the world at large. Filmmaker Jeff Malmberg profiles Mark Hogancamp and the world he created from toys and his imagination in the documentary Marwencol, which received its world premiere at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival.
Mesrine: Killer Instinct - action/bio - Jean-Fracois Richet
RT: 83 MC: 70
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TnmWfOvW0" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3TnmWfOvW0
"This tough and gritty French-language crime drama represents the premier installment in a two-part series of features on the life and doings of notorious Gallic hood Jacques Mesrine (1936-1979). Mesrine is played, in both installments, by actor Vincent Cassel, who reportedly underwent massive weight gain and weight loss to convincingly portray the volatile Mesrine at various periods of his life. Director Jean-François Richet begins in 1979, with Mesrine's uncommonly violent death, whereby he and a beautiful young woman are suddenly (and fatally) ambushed by Parisian police not far from Mesrine's place of birth. Richet then flashes back to the Franco-Algerian War of the late '50s and a brutal interrogation undergone by Mesrine. Following a military discharge, Mesrine returns to his parents' suburb of Clichy, where his dad has arranged a pathetic job for him in a lace-making factory. Never one to take humiliation lying down, Jacques perceives burglary, larceny, and racketeering as much-superior options and decides to pursue a life of crime via a ""business partnership"" with childhood buddy Paul (Gilles Lellouche), who works for mobster Guido (Gérard Depardieu). As the years pass, Jacques works his way up through the ranks of the underworld; via Paul, he also meets and falls hard for two women: Pigalle streetwalker Sarah (Florence Thomassin), and Sofia (Elena Anaya), a beautiful Spanish woman with whom he cohabitates after doing time in a French prison. Following a brief and unsuccessful attempt to ""go straight,"" Jacques reconnects with Guido, then finds it necessary to escape from France to Canada with his new mistress, Jeanne (Cécile De France). Unfortunately, another prison sentence is waiting for him there, replete with brutal solitary confinement, but the possibility of a daring escape beckons. The second half of the Mesrine saga, entitled Mesrine: L'Énnemi Public No. 1 for French release, followed immediately after and picks up where this installment wraps."
Mesrine: Public Enemy #1 - action/bio - Jean-Fracois Richet
RT: 83 MC: 72
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armiLlbxwlY" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=armiLlbxwlY
The true story of one of Europe's most infamous and charismatic criminals comes to a close in this drama based on the life and crimes of Jacques Mesrine. Picking up where L'Instinct de Mort left off, L'Ennemi Public No. 1 begins as Mesrine (Vincent Cassel) returns to France after an exile in Canada. Teaming up with gunman Michel Ardouin (Samuel Le Bihan), Mesrine masterminds a series of armed robberies, and while he's able to stay one step ahead of the law most of the time, eventually he finds himself back in prison, where he makes friends with the clever François (Mathieu Amalric). With François' help, Mesrine breaks out of prison and becomes something of a celebrity, penning an autobiography, hob-nobbing with the wealthy and trying to paint himself as a political radical with the help of leftist spokesman Charlie (Gérard Lanvin). Mesrine also renews his relationship with his girlfriend, Sylvia (Ludivine Sagnier), but he also turns his back on some of his old friends and underestimates the determination of the French police to stop him once and for all. L'Ennemi Public No. 1 (aka Public Enemy No. 1, Part 2) went into release in late 2008, while the wildly successful L'Instinct de Mort was still playing in French theaters.
Nenette – documentary - Nicolas Philibert
RT: 60 MC: 62
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgflSGVPbs&feature=related" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgflSGVPbs&feature=related
Born in the jungles of Borneo, Nénette is a 40-year-old orangutan — and the oldest (and most beloved) inhabitant at the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes in Paris. The latest film by legendary French documentarian Nicolas Philibert (To Be And To Have), Nénette is a captivating study of an enigmatic animal and our relationship to her.
Night Catches Us – drama - Tanya Hamilton
RT: 78 MC: 65
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgtAhGOLC-Y" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgtAhGOLC-Y
A man comes home to find some of the demons of his past waiting for him in this independent drama from writer and director Tanya Hamilton. Marcus (Anthony Mackie) was born and raised in Philadelphia, but hasn't been there for years when he comes back in 1976 to attend the funeral of his father, a local minister. Marcus came of age during the late '60s and was a member of the Black Panther Party when revolution and black power were hot topics in Philly's African-American community. After a key figure in the local Black Panther organization was assassinated, many suspected someone inside the group had informed on them to the police, and more than a few were certain Marcus was the rat as he walked out on the Panthers and left town shortly after the murder. As Marcus visits his old neighborhood, he has to deal with strained relationships in his family and the distrust of old friends convinced he betrayed a close friend; he also spends some time with Patricia (Kerry Washington), a fellow activist he used to love who was also married to the man Marcus is said to have betrayed. As Marcus wrestles with the shadows of another era, he's shadowed by Jimmy (Amari Cheatom), Patricia's disturbed and homeless cousin who still believes in the Panthers' cause. Featuring an original score by the Roots, Night Catches Us received its world premiere at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.
Orgasm Inc. – documentary - Liz Canner
RT: N/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZeHDKRa1y8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZeHDKRa1y8
When independent filmmaker Liz Canner landed an unusual assignment -- editing a stack of porn films into a "highlight reel" for a pharmaceutical company -- she found the inspiration for this project, a documentary on "female sexual dysfunction" and the business that has sprung up behind it. "Female sexual dysfunction" is roughly defined as a woman's lack of desire for sexual contact and/or her inability to have an orgasm, and after Viagra made treating male impotence into a growth industry, a number of pharmaceutical firms are working to formulate a similar drug for women. But is "female sexual dysfunction" a real medical condition? Research has determined that 70% of women don't regularly reach orgasm through intercourse (usually due to inattention by their partners), and a lack of enthusiasm for lovemaking can stem from anything from a bad day at work to a husband's bad breath. Are drug companies attempting to convince women they need treatment for a malady that doesn't actually exist? Orgasm, Inc. takes a look at the disinformation that has been spread about female sexuality through the ages up to the present day, including a woman who collects antique vibrators and turn-of-the-century literature on "female hysteria," as well as behind-the-scenes footage of researchers attempting to formulate a female orgasm in pill form. Orgasm, Inc. was an official selection at the 2009 Hot Docs International Film Festival.
Phil Ochs: There but for Fortune – documentary - Kenneth Bowser
RT: 100 MC: 70
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbS4ruKw2OQ" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zbS4ruKw2OQ
Documentary filmmaker Kenneth Bowser profiles American folk singer Phil Ochs, who rose to fame in the 1960s and whose hopeful, incisive ballads were written to inspire positive change in an era of profound social turbulence. Equally critical of the left and the right -- not to mention the politically apathetic -- Ochs penned countless songs and released seven albums, ultimately growing a sizable following thanks to his positive message and talent for songwriting. In 1976, following the deaths of Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, and in the wake of the tragedy at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, Ochs was so overcome with hopelessness that he turned to alcohol and ultimately committed suicide. He was just 35 years old. Though the FBI would later admit to singling Ochs out as a traitor for questioning American policy during wartime, this film aims to offer a comprehensive overview of a deeply complex artist through archival footage and interviews with such outspoken fans as Joan Baez, Pete Seeger, and Sean Penn.
Plastic Planet – documentary - Werner Boote
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X-J1DhfjE" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7X-J1DhfjE
Director Werner Boote takes an up close look at the plastics industry in order to explore whether the ubiquitous man-made material is a danger to human health. The grandson of a once-prominent plastics magnate, Boote became aware early on that the material we rely on to make our lives easy could also be poisoning our planet. Not only because a piece of plastic takes up to 500 years to deteriorate in the ground or water system, but also because studies indicate that frequent exposure can also lead to a variety of health problems in humans. In this film, Boote speaks with scientists, manufacturers, consumers, and government officials in 14 countries about the dangers of continued reliance on plastics, as well as alternatives that could lead to a cleaner world, and a healthier population.
Somewhere – drama - Sofia Coppola
RT: 76 MC: 67
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVQtL8GQPFA" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVQtL8GQPFA
Roguish Hollywood star Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff) finds his debauched life of excess unexpectedly interrupted when his 11-year-old daughter (Elle Fanning) shows up at the Chateau Marmont Hotel for an unscheduled visit. Later, as father and daughter reconnect, Johnny begins to reassess his sordid lifestyle. Writer/director Sofia Coppola teams with brother Roman to produce a film executive produced by Francis Ford Coppola, and released by Focus Features.
Strange Case of Angelica – drama - Manoel de Oliveira
RT: 88 MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVwnpN8HRA4" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVwnpN8HRA4
In this stylish exercise in magic realism, Isaac (Ricardo Trepa) is a photographer who is contacted during a stormy night with an urgent assignment. Isaac is escorted to the estate of a wealthy family, where he's told of a recent tragedy -- the beautiful daughter of the household, Angelica (Pilar Lopez de Ayala), died shortly after her wedding, before her bridal portrait could be taken. Her parents want a final photograph of Angelica, and they've brought Isaac to their home to take the pictures. Angelica has been laid out on a sofa in the living room, still wearing her wedding gown, and as Isaac looks at her through his viewfinder, he's struck by her beauty and thinks she looks as if she's just sleeping. Isaac is so effected by Angelica that he quickly falls in love with her, and when he looks at her through his camera, she comes to life, with her spirit as lively as ever in the photos he prints though her body stubbornly stays lifeless. O Estranho Caso de Angelica (aka The Strange Case of Angelica) was the ninth directorial project in five years from filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira, a workload all the more remarkable given his age -- he was 101 years old when O Estranho Caso de Angelica made its debut at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
The Other Woman - comedy/drama - Don Ross
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTLRdWKah8" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uzTLRdWKah8
The story to this drama is about as original as its title. Nevertheless, the cast is first-rate. Eleanor Gates (Peggy Hyland) comes to Greenwich Village to study art. As her career takes off, she meets Harrington (Milton Sills), a man from back home. He is unhappily married -- his wife (Anna Lehr) is an uninteresting homebody. Their friendship warms into something more romantic and soon Harrington is never home. When the couple's baby dies, it seems like the marriage is headed for certain failure. But then Mrs. Harrington comes to Eleanor and asks her to paint a miniature of her dead infant. She also tells Eleanor the whole story about her unfaithful husband. Eleanor is horrified that she is the one causing Mrs. Harrington so much misery. While Harrington is out West on business, his wife discovers who the other woman is. She angrily denounces Eleanor, who proceeds to lecture her on the finer points of how to keep a husband. When Harrington returns, Eleanor sends him back to his wife. Then she leaves New York and returns to her sweetheart who has been waiting for her back home.
Vision: From the life of Hildegard von Bingen – drama - Margarethe von Trotta
RT: n/a MC: n/a
HYPERLINK "http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEI1QrZINeg" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEI1QrZINeg
Margarethe von Trotta, one of the most celebrated female directors in the German cinema, pays homage to another remarkable woman in this screen biography of 12th century Renaissance woman Hildegard von Bingen. Hildegard (Barbara Sukowa) came to live at the Disibodenberg abbey when she was a youngster, and grew up under the watchful but compassionate eye of Jutta the Holy (Mareile Blendl). In her teens, Hildegard became a nun and was known among her peers for her generous nature and desire to help others; she developed a talent for formulating herbal medicine as well as gift for composing music, and after three decades she was selected to become a magistra at the abbey. Hildegard was born during a time when women were expected to serve and not to preach, but she fearlessly began speaking to others about her religious visions, which she used as a vehicle to share lessons in faith in a manner that circumvented the rules. Hildegard also fearlessly denounced the violent self-abasement that was common among holy men and women of her day, believing that a faith born of kindness and devotion was more valuable than that which came from fear and pain. While Hildegard won may friends through her work, she also gained more than a few enemies, and while some denounced her for not restricting herself to the traditional role of a woman in the church, others contended that her holy visions were not the work of the Lord, but of the Devil. Vision was an official selection at the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.
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