Films & Schedules - E

Repeat the word “fly” long enough and it sounds like “life.” But this doesn’t help Peter, the cranky protagonist of this darkly comic tale. (9 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS I: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Repeat the word “fly” long enough and it sounds like “life.” But this doesn’t help Peter, the cranky protagonist of this darkly comic tale. (9 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS I: INTERNATIONAL TIES to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

The lone voice and sole subject of Rosi’s harrowing film is a nameless former Mexican narco hitman (or sicario) who spent 20 years executing male kidnapping victims, raping and strangling helpless women, setting thieves on fire, and otherwise following the bloody orders of whichever esteemed drug cartel he worked for. His face obscured in a claustrophobic Juárez hotel room, he describes his “career” and the rampant corruption of the Mexican political and law enforcement establishments in matter-of-fact tones salted with machismo. All the while, he illustrates his tales with primitive drawings on a notepad and sometimes reenacts the roles of...

The lone voice and sole subject of Rosi’s harrowing film is a nameless former Mexican narco hitman (or sicario) who spent 20 years executing male kidnapping victims, raping and strangling helpless women, setting thieves on fire, and otherwise following the bloody orders of whichever esteemed drug cartel he worked for. His face obscured in a claustrophobic Juárez hotel room, he describes his “career” and the rampant corruption of the Mexican political and law enforcement establishments in matter-of-fact tones salted with machismo. All the while, he illustrates his tales with primitive drawings on a notepad and sometimes reenacts the roles of killer and victim alike. Adapting a version of the story Bowden wrote for Harper’s Magazine, this chilling testimony of a former college student and police cadet turned murderer—who remains free today—offers a grim portrait of the price of the Mexican-American drug trade. (80 mins.)

Rosi Filmography: Boatman (93), Afterwards (00), Below Sea Level (08).

Winner of the Critics’ Prize at the Venice Film Festival.

In Spanish with English subtitles.

FILM REVIEW

DIGITAL

Interests: Spanish Language, Documentary.

Elena dotes on her selfish, wealthy husband Vladimir and lives a lonely life surrounded by luxury in a sterile, ultra-modern penthouse. But when the aging Vladimir informs Elena that he is altering his will to leave his money to his spoiled, boozy daughter from a previous marriage, she makes a decision to speed Vladimir’s journey to the grave before the will can be changed. Zvyagintsev conjures an uncompromising vision of a Russia in moral disarray in this tautly restrained domestic drama. A literate and chilling take on contemporary class warfare, Elena paints a riveting portrait of decadence and the emptying...

Elena dotes on her selfish, wealthy husband Vladimir and lives a lonely life surrounded by luxury in a sterile, ultra-modern penthouse. But when the aging Vladimir informs Elena that he is altering his will to leave his money to his spoiled, boozy daughter from a previous marriage, she makes a decision to speed Vladimir’s journey to the grave before the will can be changed. Zvyagintsev conjures an uncompromising vision of a Russia in moral disarray in this tautly restrained domestic drama. A literate and chilling take on contemporary class warfare, Elena paints a riveting portrait of decadence and the emptying of the Russian soul. “A wise and impeccably controlled drama that finds director Zvyagintsev in outstanding form.”—Variety (109 mins.)

Filmography: The Return (03), The Banishment (07).

Winner of the Un Certain Regard Special Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Sponsored by Hotel deLuxe.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature.

This catchy edit of the filmmakers’ home movies and astronomic images compares the concepts of birth and arrival. (4 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS VI: MADE IN OREGON to purchase tickets.

This catchy edit of the filmmakers’ home movies and astronomic images compares the concepts of birth and arrival. (4 mins.)

See SHORT CUTS VI: MADE IN OREGON to purchase tickets.

Interests: Short Cuts.

A middle-aged man rides his motorcycle through the silent landscape. He is a ghost who has returned to “walk the footsteps” of his youth. His name is Wit, and he died three days ago. Soon the silence gives way to the sound of a young woman’s laughter. It is now the past and this memory recalls the days when Wit fell in love with Koi, his future wife. He has brought her home to meet his parents, and though she is at first wary of rural life, she soon accepts that this will be her future. Finally the past fades...

A middle-aged man rides his motorcycle through the silent landscape. He is a ghost who has returned to “walk the footsteps” of his youth. His name is Wit, and he died three days ago. Soon the silence gives way to the sound of a young woman’s laughter. It is now the past and this memory recalls the days when Wit fell in love with Koi, his future wife. He has brought her home to meet his parents, and though she is at first wary of rural life, she soon accepts that this will be her future. Finally the past fades and we are back in the present with Koi, now a middle-aged woman. With two young children and her husband gone, she must find the strength to carry on. Poetic, philosophical, spiritual, and uniquely Thai, Eternity won the Rotterdam Film Festival’s Tiger Award. (105 mins.)

First Feature.

Sponsored by Steven Smith Tea.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: New Directors.

The magical Georges Méliès, one of the celebrated heroes of Martin Scorsese’s new movie Hugo, was the creator of one of the most unforgettable images in cinema—the Man in the Moon being poked in the eye by a rocket ship. Now, thanks to one of the most technically sophisticated restorations in film history, the original A Trip to the Moon can thrill audiences once again. This fascinating documentary charts the film’s voyage from production in 1902 to the astonishing rediscovery of a color nitrate print in 2003 and its premiere at Cannes in 2011. (60 mins.)

Presented with the complete hand-painted...

The magical Georges Méliès, one of the celebrated heroes of Martin Scorsese’s new movie Hugo, was the creator of one of the most unforgettable images in cinema—the Man in the Moon being poked in the eye by a rocket ship. Now, thanks to one of the most technically sophisticated restorations in film history, the original A Trip to the Moon can thrill audiences once again. This fascinating documentary charts the film’s voyage from production in 1902 to the astonishing rediscovery of a color nitrate print in 2003 and its premiere at Cannes in 2011. (60 mins.)

Presented with the complete hand-painted color version of A Trip to the Moon, the first outer space adventure in the history of cinema, in which six members of the Astronomers’ Club set off on an expedition to the moon, encounter the Selenites and flee their King, and return home to a triumphant parade. (19 mins.)

Filmography: Inferno (09).

Sponsored by TV5Monde.

FILM REVIEW

DIGITAL

Interests: French Language, Documentary.

“Nacho Vigalondo’s second feature solidifies his status as one of the most creative and exciting young filmmakers around. His first feature Timecrimes told the story of a man who stumbles into a time machine and the improbable events that followed. Vigalondo’s new film takes a similarly high concept premise but veers into wildly different territory. Extraterrestrial begins by announcing the arrival of massive alien spaceships above modern-day Madrid. But instead of a sci-fi space opera, we are treated to a fanciful romantic comedy. The alien invasion is only the catalyst for human deception, betrayal, and suspicion on an intergalactic scale....

“Nacho Vigalondo’s second feature solidifies his status as one of the most creative and exciting young filmmakers around. His first feature Timecrimes told the story of a man who stumbles into a time machine and the improbable events that followed. Vigalondo’s new film takes a similarly high concept premise but veers into wildly different territory. Extraterrestrial begins by announcing the arrival of massive alien spaceships above modern-day Madrid. But instead of a sci-fi space opera, we are treated to a fanciful romantic comedy. The alien invasion is only the catalyst for human deception, betrayal, and suspicion on an intergalactic scale. Glowing with incredible chemistry between lead actors Julián Villagrán and Michelle Jenner, this may be the best comic romance to feature motherships ever made.”—Lane Kneedler (90 mins.)

Filmography: Timecrimes (07).

FILM REVIEW

DIGITAL

Interests: Narrative Feature, Spanish Language.