Films & Schedules - Friday, February 26, 2010

Loach makes an unexpected leap into romantic comedy in this tale of a lovelorn mailman who receives some unexpected life coaching from Manchester United star Eric Cardona.

Loach and longtime screenwriter/collaborator Paul Laverty shift from their more despondent social-realist meditations to this fanciful romantic comedy, a whimsical, life-affirming nod to the possibility of second chances. Postman Eric Bishop has hit a true low: his two lazy stepsons ignore him, his second marriage is in ruins, a car accident lands him in the hospital—and that’s just the start of his troubles. The lovelorn Eric meanwhile pines for former wife Lily but lacks the confidence to reconnect. While his friends contrive to help him out, often to hilarious effect, the person who finally comes through is another Eric: Manchester United soccer icon Eric Cantona (playing himself), who appears rather unexpectedly in Bishop’s bedroom, offering the sage advice on life and love that Eric needs to turn his life around.

Selected Filmography: Kes (69), Riff-Raff (80), Raining Stones (93), My Name Is Joe (98), The Wind That Shakes the Barley (06).

116 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, French Language, Comedy.

The true story of 17-year-old Sicilian Rita Atria who confessed all she knew about the inner workings of the Palermo Mafia after her father and brother were murdered.

Recounting a major turning point in Sicily’s war against organized crime, The Sicilian Girl is an eloquent, gripping crime drama, inspired by the true story of a young girl who broke ranks to testify against the Mafia. On a November morning in 1991, 17-year-old Rita Atria (Veronica D’Agostino) approached the chief prosecutor of Palermo (Gerard Jugnot), intent on vindicating her father and brother’s mafia-related deaths, and ready to tell all. It was the first time that a daughter of a mafia family openly rebelled against the traditionally male-dominated organization. Repudiated and threatened by her boyfriend, her hometown, and even her mother (Lucia Sardo), Rita is forced to leave Sicily and move to Rome—but she knows that her betrayal must be avenged.

Filmography: One Girl Against the Mafia (04).

Cultural Partner: Italian Cultural Institute, San Francisco.

110 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature.

Urszula Antoniak's Nothing Personal is the intensely personal and engrossing tale of a ferociously independent young woman's involvement with a kind widower in a remote part of Ireland.

Antoniak’s Nothing Personal is an intense, engrossing tale centering on a ferociously independent young Dutch woman’s relationship with a kindly widower in rural Ireland. A vagabond by choice, Anne (Lotte Verbeek) walks the country enjoying her solitude in the austerely beautiful landscape of Connemara. Martin (Stephen Rea) is a man in his prime, living a solitary life in a remote house on a beautiful island. She is radical and uncompromising. He is wise and ironic. What connects them is the exile they both see as freedom. He proposes she work for him in exchange for food. She agrees on one condition: that there will be no personal contact between them. Who will be the first one to break the vow?

First Feature Film.

Antoniak won the award for Best First Film, and Verbeek the Silver Leopard for Best Actress, at the Locarno International Film Festival.

Sponsored by Higgins.

85 Minutes    

Oskar is a devoted family man who, on a whim, decides to cheat on his wife. Thus begins a downward spiral of comedic tragedy that finds him out of a job and in a series of loveless, problematic affairs.

Oskar (Jirí Machácek) is a devoted father, beloved husband, and popular television weatherman. He seems to have it all, but decides that he has fallen out of love with wife Zuzana—mainly because her nose is too big. Oskar cheats on her with the family’s dim Hungarian nanny, his first step on a downward spiral that finds him out of a job and in a series of loveless, problematic affairs. Whatever mid-life quest Oskar is on is not yielding any satisfaction. In the meantime, Zuzana has no problem finding a new partner in divorced single father Matej, aided in no small part by Oskar’s parents. Matej likes her nose just fine. Full of fine details and subtle wit, Hrebejk’s “unromantic” ensemble comedy film skirts tragedy for farce as it explores the mysteries of the male psyche and the tensions between change and stability in a society that manifests both at the same time.

Selected Filmography: Divided We Fall (00), Pupendo (03), Up and Down (04), Beauty in Trouble (06), Teddy Bear (07).

88 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, Comedy.

This coming-of-age story follows a young Eurasian woman in Taipei as she transitions from high-school athlete to aspiring actress.

“Cheng Yu-Chieh has made a vibrantly alive coming-of-age story, combining contemporary energy with a French New Wave vibe. Young Eurasian high schooler Yang Yang is played by Taiwan’s most popular young indie movie muse Sandrine Pinna, whose half-Taiwanese, half-French looks are integrated into the film’s heart. Yang Yang’s best friend, her half sister Xiao-ru, is a rival both on the track and in their love lives. When Xiao-ru’s boyfriend falls for Yang Yang, jealousies explode in an act of shocking betrayal, changing Yang Yang’s life forever. A friendly manager Ming-ren takes her under his wing and her career as a model/actress takes off, thanks to her mixed ancestry and his tender care and training. Visually and thematically, Yang Yang precisely articulates, via sex, scandal, and heartbreak, that shaky, unstable, exhilarating moment between adolescence and adulthood.”—Vancouver Film Festival.

Filmography: Do Over (06).

112 Minutes    

Interests: Narrative Feature, French Language, Asian.

The Misfortunates examines the unconventional adolescence of thirteen year old Gunther and his dysfunctional family. A bawdy film full of pathos and humor that ponders what it takes to raise a child.

Thirteen-year-old Gunther represents the youngest generation of a line of proud, hard-drinking Strobbe men. Told in flashback from Gunther’s perspective as an unsuccessful writer in his early thirties, van Groeningen’s black comedy ruminates over Gunther’s ribald, chaotic adolescence under the “guidance” of three bawdy uncles, an ever-boozing dad, one put-upon grandmother, and unbounded collective dysfunction. Adapted from an acclaimed novel by Dimitri Verhulst and directed with deftness and verve by van Groeningen, The Misfortunates combines equal amounts of heart, soul, and pathos as it ponders whether, in the absence of other virtues, love is enough to raise a child. “Blackout drinking, compulsive gambling, non-stop whoring, and chronic fighting. Not exactly solid citizen types.”—Hollywood Reporter.

Filmography: Steve + Sky (04), With Friends Like These (07).

This year’s Belgian submission for the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar.

108 Minutes    

Interests: Oscar Submissions, Narrative Feature, Comedy.