JANUARY 24 - THE OVERNIGHTERS

 

 

 

JANUARY 24: THE OVERNIGHTERS

Director: Jesse Moss Documentary

With: Pastor Jay Reinke, Andrea Reinke  

Year: 2013 100 mins. USA NR

Filmmaker Jesse Moss spent 18 months in North Dakota as a one-man-documentary-crew intimately capturing extraordinary portraits of broken men and examining the tension between the moral imperative to "love thy neighbor," and the response of one small town congregation and community when confronted by an influx of desperate strangers. In the midst of the struggling economic climate of the United States, the oil business in small town Williston, North Dakota is booming. Thousands of desperate men and women are flocking to the region in search of work with little more than the clothes on their backs or the cars they arrived in. The great demand for housing has overwhelmed the community with many of those who have found employment without a place to live. Pastor Jay Reinke of Concordia Lutheran Church is under fire from the City Council, his community and the local newspapers for his heartfelt desire to open the church's doors to allow the "overnighters" - as he calls them - to stay for a night, a week or sometimes even longer, sleeping on the floor, in the pews and in their cars in the Church parking lot. When the town learns that Reinke is housing men with criminal records, and a mounting controversy peaks within the pastor's personal life, even his diehard quest for humanity can't stop things from spiraling vastly out of control. 

 

 

The trailer:

 

 

FEB 7 - FORCE MAJEURE - rescheduled... it is on!

Feb. 7:

JANUARY 17: FORCE MAJEURE

Dir: Ruben Östlund Sweden/Norway/Denmark/France

2014 Swedish/English/French 118 minutes 14A 

Principal Cast: Johannes Bah Kuhnke, Lisa Loven Kongsli, Clara Wettergren, Vincent Wettergren, Kristofer Hivju, Fanni Metelius 

A Swedish family travels to the French Alps to enjoy a few days of skiing and spend some precious time with each other. The sun is shining and the slopes are spectacular but, during a lunch at a mountainside restaurant, an avalanche turns everything upside down. With diners fleeing in all directions, mother Ebba calls for her husband Tomas as she tries to protect their children. Tomas, meanwhile, is running for his life... Reality returns to embarrassed laughter, the anticipated disaster having failed to occur, and yet the family’s world has been shaken to its core. Tomas’ unexpected action leads them to evaluate their roles and assumptions, a question mark hanging over their father in particular. With the end of the holiday approaching, 

Tomas and Ebba’s marriage hangs in the balance as Tomas struggles desperately to reclaim his role as family patriarch. FORCE MAJEURE is an observational comedy about the role of the male in modern family life. A critical hit at this year's Cannes, winning the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize, this new film from Ruben Östlund (Play) confirms the Swedish director as one of the most daring and audacious filmmakers to emerge in the last decade. 

The trailer:

JANUARY 31 - WE ARE THE BEST!

 JANUARY 31: WE ARE THE  BEST!

Dir: Lukas Moodysson SWEDEN, 2013

Swedish with English subtitles 102 minutes

Principal Cast: Mira Barkhammar, Mira Grosin, Liv LeMoyne

PLEASE NOTE THE CHANGED DATE... THIS MOVIE WILL BE SHOWN ON JANUARY 31ST

Ebullient, raucous and irresistible, this film is set in early 1980s Stockholm, and focuses on three young girls on the verge of puberty who decide to embrace their outcast status by forming an all-girl punk band. The film’s heroines, Bobo, Klara, and Hedvig, don’t have it easy either at home or at school. The adults in their lives are uniformly useless: Bobo’s mother is a serial dater and overaged party girl who seldom knows where her daughter is; Klara’s parents are almost gruesomely happy, except when they’re arguing over ridiculous trivia; and Hedvig’s mom is a devout Christian completely out of touch with the realities of her daughter’s life. At school, the trio’s fierce independence, punk-influenced style and in-your-face bravado make them persona non grata. Mocked for being “different,” the girls defiantly take that difference to centre stage when they start their own three-piece punk band, challenging the unspoken rule that only boys are allowed to play rock ’n’ roll. Based on the semi-autobiographical graphic novel by Moodysson’s wife Coco, this film shows an understanding of how kids behave, the desires and pressures that motivate them, and the strategies they develop for dealing with the oppressions of parents, peers, and social norms. Propelled by winning performances from its three charismatic young leads, We are the Best! is an energetic and affectionate tribute to adolescent rebels who refuse to hide their discontent.

The trailer:

NOVEMBER 29 - LIFE ITSELF

NOVEMBER 29: LIFE ITSELF

Dir: Steve James Documentary

USA 2014    115 mins   With: Roger Ebert, Chaz Ebert, Martin Scorsese, Werner Herzog, Errol Morris

Adapted from his memoir of the same name, Life Itself chronicles the life of legendary film critic Roger Ebert, from his early years in Urbana, Illinois, through his long career in print and television and through the courageous and painful struggles of his final months. Acclaimed documentarian and fellow Chicagoan Steve James began the project with Ebert’s participation, and completed the film after his death in 2013. Ebert’s infectious enthusiasm and the deep, abiding love of movies that emanated from every one of his reviews won him the admiration and respect of everyone from casual moviegoers to dedicated cinephiles to members of the film industry itself. Through archival footage and interviews with many of Ebert’s closest friends and collaborators—as well as such major filmmakers as Errol Morris, Werner Herzog and Martin Scorsese (who served as one of the film’s executive producers)—Life Itself chronicles the many phases of Ebert’s career: his honouring with the Pulitzer Prize (the first ever awarded for film criticism), his television career with long-time friend and sparring partner Gene Siskel, his devoted relationship with his wife Chaz, and the serious health problems that plagued him in his later years, which resulted in the loss of his voice and led him to embrace new technologies in order to communicate, blogging and tweeting constantly until his death. Throughout, Ebert retained his love of film, writing, and life itself.

 

 

The trailer:

 

 

NOVEMBER 22 - IDA

 

 

 

NOVEMBER 22: IDA

Dir: Pawel Pawlikowski POLAND, 2013

Polish with English subtitles 80 minutes

Principal Cast: Agata Kulesza, Agata Trzebuchowska

In Poland, few subjects are as controversial and emotionally charged as the relations between Catholics and Jews during the Nazi occupation. Following his success in England with films like Last Resort and My Summer of Love, director Pawel Pawlikowski has returned to his native country for the first time in his career to address one of his homeland’s most sensitive topics. The result is one of the year’s most powerful and affecting films. In 1960s Poland, Anna is a novitiate nun about to take her vows. Instructed by her Mother Superior to visit her aunt prior to withdrawing into the religious life, the prim Anna meets her mother’s sister Wanda, a raven-haired sensualist and former state prosecutor, who reveals some heretofore unknown information about Anna’s past— including her real name, Ida. 

This launches a remarkable journey into the countryside, where secrets both familial and national are darkly, inextricably intertwined. Shooting in black and white and using the 1.37:1 Academy ratio (the almost-square frame of classic cinema), Pawlikowski crafts a masterful drama which balances the intimate and personal with the world-historical. As the two women unearth ever more details about their family’s painful past, their search illuminates some of the darkest corners of Poland’s history.

 

 

The trailer:

 

 

NOVEMBER 15 - PRIDE

 

 

 

 

NOVEMBER 15: PRIDE

Dir: Matthew Warchus  UK  2014 120 mins 14A 

Principal Cast: Bill Nighy, Imelda Staunton, Paddy Considine, George MacKay, Faye Marsay, Ben Schnetzer, Dominic West

In 1984 Britain, a ragtag band of activists from London’s queer community form an unlikely, anti-Thatcherite alliance with striking Welsh miners, in this hilarious and inspirational comedy-drama. By 1984, new-wave music had taken over the clubs, Thatcher's government was battling mining unions, and London's queer communities were perfecting artful activism. Into that mix walks Mark. Out, proud, and always ready for a righteous battle, he can't accept that any one form of oppression should outrank another. Overcoming the reluctance of his ragtag band of friends — who would mostly rather party than protest — he brings them together to form Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners. But do the miners want this kind of support? Pride is at its most outrageously funny when the LGSM activists crash into small-town South Wales in their brightly painted communal bus. Imelda Staunton is wonderful here as the hard-working Welsh woman whose support group holds the community together, while Paddy Considine plays a forward-thinking union organizer and the inimitable Bill Nighy takes a subtle role as the local pub historian. Their encounters with the misfits and rabble-rousers who make up the LGSM give Pride its comedy and its heart. Some in the mining village have to get over their homophobia. Some of the gay activists have to get over themselves.

 

The trailer:

 

 

FILMS FOR NOVEMBER AND JANUARY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We will have three films in November and three films in January... together they form a series. 

All shows will be in 1-306 at CNC, 7 + 9:30

Passes are $42 for 6 films: they are available at Books and Company and the CNC Bookstore

Single tickets will be at the door: $8 regular; $7 student, senior, and unemployed