Films & Schedules - K

The Dardennes’ latest film centers on Cyril, a restless 11-year-old boy placed in a children’s home after being abandoned by his father. Unwilling to face the fact that parents are imperfect people, Cyril runs away to his former apartment block in search of both Dad and his abandoned bicycle. Rebuffed by his father, he meets Samantha, a kind hairdresser who helps to retrieve his bike and eventually agrees to become his weekend guardian. But literally and figuratively, Cyril isn’t out of the woods just yet. Shooting once more in the Belgian seaport town of Seraing, the Dardennes have created another...

The Dardennes’ latest film centers on Cyril, a restless 11-year-old boy placed in a children’s home after being abandoned by his father. Unwilling to face the fact that parents are imperfect people, Cyril runs away to his former apartment block in search of both Dad and his abandoned bicycle. Rebuffed by his father, he meets Samantha, a kind hairdresser who helps to retrieve his bike and eventually agrees to become his weekend guardian. But literally and figuratively, Cyril isn’t out of the woods just yet. Shooting once more in the Belgian seaport town of Seraing, the Dardennes have created another poetic, universally resonant drama about parents, children, and moral responsibility. (87 mins.)

Selected Filmography: The Sons (92), La Promesse (96), Rosetta (99), The Child (05), Lorna’s Silence (08).

Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

In French with English subtitles.

Sponsored by Southpark Seafood Grill.

FILM REVIEW

Interests: Narrative Feature.

A truly unique crime thriller that unravels into terrifying horror. Jay, a retired hitman, is trying his hand at a normal family life. But when the money starts to dry up and he can’t keep up with his wife’s spending, he decides to take on one last high-paying job and enlists his old partner Gal. The mysterious client only gives them a short list of names, no whys, and they set out to execute the “kill list.” It doesn’t take long before they realize that they are involved in something far more sinister than simple assassinations. The increasingly bizarre job...

A truly unique crime thriller that unravels into terrifying horror. Jay, a retired hitman, is trying his hand at a normal family life. But when the money starts to dry up and he can’t keep up with his wife’s spending, he decides to take on one last high-paying job and enlists his old partner Gal. The mysterious client only gives them a short list of names, no whys, and they set out to execute the “kill list.” It doesn’t take long before they realize that they are involved in something far more sinister than simple assassinations. The increasingly bizarre job begins to create confusion and paranoia, until the pair are plunged into a horrific world of violent terror. What starts out as a “normal,” even lightly humorous thriller about two bad hired killers slowly, masterfully reveals that they have no idea what bad means. (95 mins.)

Filmography: Down Terrace (09).

FILM REVIEW

Interests: After Dark.

This gripping true story of an uprising in a brutally run Norwegian reform school in 1915 is told in an epic style that won the Best Film Prize at the Norwegian Film Awards. Located on a remote island in the Oslo fjord, the Bastoy Boys’ Home was established as a place to reform wayward teenagers—using beatings, manual labor, and rigid discipline to keep the youngsters subdued. But when newcomer Erling arrives on the island and starts to question the authority of the abusive “housefathers,” he finds more than a murmur of support from his fellow inmates. Determined both to escape...

This gripping true story of an uprising in a brutally run Norwegian reform school in 1915 is told in an epic style that won the Best Film Prize at the Norwegian Film Awards. Located on a remote island in the Oslo fjord, the Bastoy Boys’ Home was established as a place to reform wayward teenagers—using beatings, manual labor, and rigid discipline to keep the youngsters subdued. But when newcomer Erling arrives on the island and starts to question the authority of the abusive “housefathers,” he finds more than a murmur of support from his fellow inmates. Determined both to escape and to reveal the institution’s corruption, Erling has to choose between himself and the friends he has won. Starring Stellan Skarsgård as the school governor. (120 mins.)

Selected Filmography: Cross My Heart and Hope to Die (94), Dragonfly (97), Blodsbånd (07).

Sponsored by Grieg Lodge, Scandinavian Heritage Foundation, and the Norwegian Consulate General, San Francisco.

DIGITAL

“Love can blossom at the most inopportune moments—and that’s what happens to Mia and Frida, two thirty-something professionals who meet at a party celebrating the engagement of Frida’s mother and Mia’s father. As future stepsisters—not to mention the fact that Mia is herself engaged—theirs will not be an easy path. From this beginning, Keining fashions a nuanced and deeply felt drama that does not avoid confronting the barriers—both personal and social—faced by her same-sex couple. For the heretofore-hetero Mia, her attraction to Frida—a lesbian very comfortable in her own skin—is a shock. But as their relationship develops emotionally and sexually,...

“Love can blossom at the most inopportune moments—and that’s what happens to Mia and Frida, two thirty-something professionals who meet at a party celebrating the engagement of Frida’s mother and Mia’s father. As future stepsisters—not to mention the fact that Mia is herself engaged—theirs will not be an easy path. From this beginning, Keining fashions a nuanced and deeply felt drama that does not avoid confronting the barriers—both personal and social—faced by her same-sex couple. For the heretofore-hetero Mia, her attraction to Frida—a lesbian very comfortable in her own skin—is a shock. But as their relationship develops emotionally and sexually, the film’s most impressive feat comes through showing just how organic their growing love for each other is. That love knows no boundaries is confirmed in a fresh and thoroughly involving way.”—Palm Springs Film Festival (107 mins.)

Filmography: Hot Dog (03).

Sponsored by Celia Lyon, Principal Broker, Meadows Group Inc. Realtors.

FILM REVIEW

DIGITAL

Interests: Narrative Feature, Queer.