| Special Events in November:
ON SET WITH FRENCH CINEMA
November 2 at The Aero Theatre
On Set with French Cinema is a partnership between The American
Cinematheque, Unifrance and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Please join us for a
special evening with Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Largely self-taught, Jeunet began his
collaboration early on with artist/designer, Marc Caro. Their first feature film together
DELICATESSEN (1991) set the absurd, surreal, darkly comic tone of other masterpieces to
follow and won 4 French Cesar Awards. The success of the film enabled them to do their
long-planned CITY OF LOST CHILDREN (1995). After a brief foray into Hollywood directing
ALIEN RESURRECTION (1997), Jeunet returned to France to makie a more personal film. The
result was AMELIE (2000), a picture that broke box office records not only in France but
all over the world. His A VERY LONG ENGAGEMENT (2004) was nominated for a Golden Globe
Award.
Thursday, November 2 – 7:30 PM
Jean-Pierre Jeunet in Person! Double
Feature:
AMELIE, 2001, Miramax, 120 min. Director Jean-Pierre
Jeunet’s marvelous poetic fantasy about a wide-eyed young Parisian waitress
(played by the sensational Audrey Tautou) who manages to influence the destinies of
all who meet her. Filmmaker Mathieu Kassovitz (LA HAINE) co-stars as Amelie’s
would-be boyfriend.
THE CITY OF LOST CHILDREN,
1995, Sony Classics, 112 min. Jeunet and Caro’s second feature is just as
bizarre, sinister and wildly imaginative as DELICATESSEN, mixing elements of Dr. Caligari,
Victor Hugo and Rube Goldberg into the story of a kind-hearted circus strongman (Ron
Perlman) and his coquettish 7-year old side-kick (Judith Vittet) who attempt to
stop a wicked scientist (Daniel Emilfork) from stealing the dreams of little
children. Discussion in between films with director
Jean-Pierre Jeunet.
Friday November 10 – 7:30 PM
SOLD OUT!
Emilio Estevez In-Person Tribute and Sneak
Preview!
Double Feature:
BOBBY, 2006, The Weinstein Company, 120 min.
Written and directed by Emilio Estevez, BOBBY revisits the night Robert F. Kennedy
was gunned down at the Ambassador Hotel in 1968. With an incredible ensemble cast
portraying fictionalized characters from a cross-section of America, the film follows 22
individuals who are all at the hotel for different purposes but share the common thread of
anticipating Kennedy’s arrival at the primary election night party, which would
change their lives forever. This historic night is set against the backdrop of the
cultural issues gripping the country at the time, including racism, sexual inequality and
class differences. The film features Harry Belafonte, Joy Bryant, Nick Cannon, Emilio
Estevez, Laurence Fishburne, Brian Geraghty, Heather Graham, Anthony Hopkins, Helen Hunt,
Joshua Jackson, David Krumholtz, Ashton Kutcher, Shia LaBeouf, Lindsay Lohan, William H.
Macy, Svetlana Metkina, Demi Moore, Freddy Rodriguez, Martin Sheen, Christian Slater,
Sharon Stone, Jacob Vargas, Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Elijah Wood.
THE WAR AT HOME, 1996, Buena
Vista, 119 min. Emilio Estevez stars in and directs this adaptation of James Duff's
play Homefront, the story of a Vietnam veteran forced to confront his past over the
course of one Thanksgiving weekend in 1972. A close-to-the-heart project for Estevez, this
is a gripping and hearty drama, with thoughtful performances by Estevez and, as his
parents, Kathy Bates and real-life dad Martin Sheen. Discussion in between films with director Emilio Estevez.
Saturday November 11 – 10:00 AM
George Miller In-Person Tribute - Sneak
Preview/Family Matinee!
George Miller used his earnings as an emergency room doctor to
finance, MAD MAX, his first big success as a film director. Since then he has not only
given us the MAD MAX Trilogy, but also films like THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK. He was also the
driving force behind BABE and BABE: PIG IN THE CITY. We’re happy to be able to
welcome him In-Person to this one day tribute, which incldes a Sneak Preview of his latest
HAPPY FEET.
HAPPY FEET, 2006, Warner Bros. 98
min. Dir. George Miller. From the writer/producer of BABE, comes this animated
adventure comedy set deep in Antarctica in the land of Emperor Penguins. Each penguin
needs a song to attract a soul mate. But our hero Mumble, son of Memphis and Norma Jean,
is the worst singer in the world . . . however, he is a brilliant tap dancer! Director George Miller to introduce the screening, plus a Penguin Party
with penguin stories and refreshments at Every Picture Tells A Story.
Saturday, November 11 – 7:30 PM
George Miller Tribute
Double Feature:
Australian Version! MAD MAX, 1979, MGM Repertory, 93 min. Dir. George
Miller. 1979 audiences were wowed by this nihilistic road-rage sci-fi actioner about
violent car gangs taking over the highways and impressed by the awesome car chases and the
grim sadistic tone, reminiscent of spaghetti westerns. As with all his fellow players,
future international star Mel Gibson was dubbed at the time of the release because
the American distributor feared that US audiences would not understand Australian accents.
Shown here in all its uncut and undubbed glory, this dark revenge tale still manages to
impress.
MAD MAX II: THE ROAD
WARRIOR, 1981, Warner Bros., 91 min. Dir. George Miller Hockey-mask wearing Lord
Humongous whips his speed-freaks into a frenzy, while Road Warrior Mel Gibson tries
to save the remnants of civilization, in director George Miller’s lean, mean,
thrill machine. Along with James Cameron’s ALIENS, this is the finest action film of
the 1980’s and surely one of the few sequels to honestly equal, if not surpass, the
strengths of its predecessor. Director George Miller will NOT
introduce the screening as was previously announced.
Sunday, November 12 – 6:30 PM
SOLD OUT!
Steven Soderbergh In-Person! Sneak Preview!
Double Feature:
THE GOOD GERMAN, 2006, Warner Bros.,
105 min. Dir. Steven Soderbergh. Based on the novel by Joseph Kanon, this thriller
takes place in the ruins of post-WWII Berlin, where U.S. Army war correspondent Jake
Geismar (George Clooney) becomes embroiled with Lena Brandt (Cate Blanchett),
a former lover who is trying to escape her past in the aftermath of the war. Intrigue
mounts as Jake tries to uncover the secrets Lena may be hiding in her desperation to get
out of Berlin. Tully (Tobey Maguire), a soldier in the American army motor pool
assigned to drive Jake around the city, has black market connections that may be Lena's
way out or lead them all into even darker territory.
CASABLANCA, 1942, Warner Bros., 102
min. Dir. Michael Curtiz. One of the few classic perennials that is as well loved
today as it was upon its initial release. Tough guy Humphrey Bogart is Rick, an
expatriate club owner in Morocco, nursing a broken heart after his cherished sweetheart (Ingrid
Bergman) disappeared from his side in Paris when the Nazis took over. When she
re-enters his life with her fugitive, resistance leader husband (Paul Henreid),
sparks fly. With an incredible cast that also includes Claude Rains, Peter Lorre,
Sydney Greenstreet and Conrad Veidt. Winner of three Oscars for Best Picture,
Best Director and Best Screenplay. 1940’s cinema, especially films like CASABLANCA,
were Soderbergh’s inspiration for THE GOOD GERMAN. At his request, we’re showing
this classic noir love story, one of the most deliriously romantic this side of
Hitchcock’s NOTORIOUS. Steven Soderbergh to introduce the
screening.
Added Screening! In Person Guests!
Tuesday, November 14 – 7:30 PM
LITTLE CHILDREN (2006, New Line
Cinema, 130 min.) Actor-turned-director Todd Field follows up his Oscar-nominated drama,
IN THE BEDROOM, with this ambitious adaptation of Tom Perrotta's celebrated novel. Set in
the imploding minefields of modern suburbia, LITTLE CHILDREN follows several inhabitants
of a small American town as they fumble their way through adulthood. Numb-to-life
housewife and mother Sarah Pierce (Kate Winslet) finds an outlet for her yearning in
gorgeous househusband Brad Adamson (Patrick Wilson), who is crippled with insecurity over
the fact that his perfect wife, Kathy (Jennifer Connelly), is the family breadwinner. When
Sarah and Brad meet at the local playground one afternoon, a passionate affair is sparked.
In a further attempt to reclaim his youthful fire, Brad joins a night football league with
Larry Hedges (Noah Emmerich), a former cop who has begun to harass a convicted sex
offender, Ronnie J. McGorvey (Jackie Earle Haley). These troubled lives eventually
collide, causing each individual to take full responsibility for their not-so-responsible
actions. Adapted for the screen by Field and Perrotta and artfully photographed by Antonio
Calvache, LITTLE CHILDREN is a bitingly funny, and nakedly honest, critique of middle
class dysfunction. Though the cast is universally superb, it is former child actor Haley
(THE BAD NEWS BEARS, BREAKING AWAY) who steals the show. After only two features, Field
proves that he is a truly gifted storyteller. Discussion
following with actors Kate Winslet, Patrick Wilson and director Todd Field.
Thursday, November 16 – 7:30 PM
Sneak Preview!
STRANGER THAN FICTION, 2006,
Sony Pictures, 113 min. Dir. Marc Forster. An inventive comedy about a novelist (Emma
Thompson) struggling to complete her latest, and potentially finest, book — she
only has to find a way to kill off her main character, Harold Crick, and she’ll be
done. Little does she know that Harold Crick (Will Ferrell) is inexplicably alive
and well in the real world and is suddenly aware of her words. Fiction and reality collide
when the bewildered and hilariously resistant Harold hears what she has in mind and
realizes he must find a way to change her (and his) ending. NOT ON DVD.
Wednesday, November 29 – 7:30 PM
Sneak Preview!
BREAKING AND ENTERING, 2006,
The Weinstein Company, 120 min. Dir. Anthony Minghella. Will (Jude Law) and
his friend Sandy (Martin Freeman) run a flourishing landscape architecture firm
that recently relocated to King’s Cross, the center of Europe’s most ambitious
urban regeneration site. Their state-of-the-art studio office repeatedly attracts the
attention of a local gang of thieves and Will, fed up after another break-in, chases one
of the young gang members, Miro (Rafi Gavron), back to the apartment he shares with
his mother Amira (Juliette Binoche), a Bosnian refugee. Will befriends Amira
to further investigate the burglary, but their friendship takes an unexpected turn as they
embark on a passionate journey into the wilder side of both themselves and the city. NOT ON DVD. |
