We have reached the final week of this calendar of the Wesleyan Film Series, and boy, did it go fast! We’re feeling very caught off-guard with how quickly this time has come around. With midterms swiftly approaching you can bet your bottom dollar that we’ll be finding refuge in the plush seats of the Goldsmith Family Theater. We hope you too will find solace in an upcoming study break in this week’s film picks—right alongside us!

 

“Shaolin Soccer”

2001. Hong Kong. Dir: Stephen Chow. With Chow, Vicki Zhao. 87 min.

Wednesday, Feb. 28. 8 p.m. Free.

Before Jay Chou’s Kung Fu Dunk ruined the union of martial arts and basketball in 2008, Stephen Chow was perhaps the first to come up with the brilliant idea of combining sports and Kung Fu in a comedy. In the creation of this far-fetched absurdist film, Chow demonstrates his unprecedented talents of making viewers laugh through never-seen-before character constructions and visual expressions. Here, Chow himself plays the leading character, a former Shaolin monk who wishes to promote Shaolin Kung Fu to the public. Approached by a former Hong Kong soccer legend who believes in the potential of martial arts’ application on soccer fields, Chow forms a team of former Shaolin monks, aiming at the top prize of Hong Kong Open Cup.

 

“Scaffolding”

2017. Israel. Dir: Matan Yair. With Asher Lax, Ami Smolartchik. 95 min.

Thursday, March 1. 8 p.m. Free.

A coming-of-age story specifically focused on singular character, “Scaffolding” brings to light the life track of a troubled student, Asher, who has to deal with his own anger management issues and his troubles with reading. Growing up in a blue-collar single-parent family, Asher, and his future, seem inevitably convergent with his father and the scaffolding business. Yet in his interactions with his charismatic literature teacher, Asher discovers an aspect of himself that he did not know existed before. Navigating through the challenges in his life, Asher wishes to find stability under the changing circumstances in his life, until an unexpected accident takes place. Largely inheriting the cool color palette from Eastern Europe, Matan Yair delivers a touching and educational teen drama.

 

“Donnie Darko”

2001. USA. Dir: Richard Kelly. With Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone. 113 min.

Friday, March 2. 8 p.m. $5.

Did this film have a profound and disturbing impact on your adolescence? An impact that carries through to your young adulthood in the form of deep existential fear and an unrelenting crush on Jena Malone? Surely we can’t be the only ones. Come relive your time-travel apocalyptic fantasies complete with angsty Jake Gyllenhaal and a giant bunny. Richard Kelly’s cult classic “Donnie Darko” takes us through the suburban hellscape that is Donnie Darko’s high school existence as he attempts to reconcile his visions of doom with his coming-of-age woes, a new girlfriend, and an unidentifiable airplane engine. If you’ve never seen this dark comic-teenage romance/end of the world film, then take the opportunity to view it in all its late ’80s throwback glory this Friday. You’ll struggle to rid your head of that spooky, spacey soundtrack.

 

“Casablanca”

1942. USA. Dir: Michael Curtiz. With Ingrid Bergman. 102 min. 35mm print.

Saturday, March 3. 8 p.m. Free.

Join us for a night of glamour, sultry stares, and old-fashioned fun! Alongside the feature event of the evening, we will be screening some shorts from the era and a newsreel, so you can experience what it was like to go to the movies in 1943! Get dressed up, bring a fellow cinephile, or that friend who doesn’t even like movies that much—you’re in for a treat! Few films hold as much cultural capital as this Micahel Curtiz classic, but even more importantly few of those films are as witty and genuinely enjoyable to watch. Follow Rick Blaine and Ilsa Lund’s iconic romance in luscious black-and-white film and come learn about what ’40s Hollywood cinema was all about.