Here’s a little game for you to play: Never Have I Ever….
Ditched my Wednesday night TA session to go with friends to the Film Series. Asked that cutie who sits next to me in class to go see the hot foreign film Thursday night. Walked out of the CFS with a new and potentially dangerous obsession with Catherine Deneuve or Steve McQueen. Smoked out before going to see a glorious Technicolor film with the colors dancing off the screen. Experienced the most cathartic, heartfelt tears while watching an old classic on Saturday night.
If you still have fingers down (or raised), then it’s high time you head on over to the Film Series this year and get some awesome experiences under your belt. You can start (or continue) this week by checking out some wonderfully eclectic films from all over the world with completely different styles and tones.
A PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION Friday, Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. $4
So did you hear Lindsay Lohan was sporting a Harry Winston while in the company of hottie Harry Morton? Have you checked out the pantyless pic of Lohan’s not-so-firecrotch online? If your answer to both of these questions is yes, then maybe it’s time to put down those tabloids and come see the famed redhead in “A Prairie Home Companion” this Friday. If your answer is no, then congratulations are in order, and you should definitely come see “A Prairie Home Companion” this Friday.
The presence of Lohan in a film based on Garrison Keillor’s long running radio show is, well, a bit unusual to say the least. Keillor’s folksy show is probably more of your parents’ cup of Earl Grey, but despite any aversion to the saccharinely old-fashioned broadcast, or to teen queen Lohan, this film is worth seeing. Directed by the great Robert Altman, this star-studded film follows the last broadcast of the public radio show as musical acts perform throughout the evening. “Companion” boasts rich performances from top-notch actors, including Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, Tommy Lee Jones, Lily Tomlin, and show-stealers John C. Reilly and Woody Harrelson.
Altman is one of the great contemporary American directors, continuing the art cinema tradition in Hollywood as he brings an idiosyncratic style rarely seen in American films today. In his films, which include “M*A*S*H” and “Nashville,” Altman relies on improvised performances, documentary-like camera movement, and abrupt cutting. His camera watches outside of the characters’ actions, looking on from a distance that bestows the viewer with a critical eye. After watching this delightful and nuanced film, it’s hard not to wonder how someone like Lohan ever managed to understand what the hell was going on, let alone stay off her Sidekick long enough to watch the whole thing.
THE RED SHOES Saturday, Sept. 16 at 8 p.m. FREE
You know that feeling of giddy ecstasy when you taste that forbidden piece of calorie-packed but oh-so-delicious fudge cake? Or during the awkward but butterfly-inducing caresses of a first date? Well, get ready for giddy when you go see “The Red Shoes” this Saturday night at the Film Series.
Together, English director Michael Powell and Hungarian-born writer Emeric Pressburger worked to create some of the most rich and textured film in the history of British cinema. Their films are infused with a passionate sensuality and vivid beauty that often wavers between a fine line of art and kitsch. Their stunning success, “The Red Shoes,” follows young dancer Victoria Page on her path to becoming a prima ballerina under the guidance of an authoritarian impresario. When she falls in love with the composer of The Red Shoes, the ballet put on to catapult her to superstardom, Vicky is torn between the dreams of her career and those of her heart. This surreal and tender romance has influenced such filmmakers as Martin Scorsese and Brian De Palma and builds up to a fifteen-minute sequence of the ballet. A gorgeously stylized Technicolor wet dream from a filmmaker’s ripe imagination, this picture has an ornate emotionalism that will be sure to overwhelmingly take hold of you.
TSOTSI Wednesday, Sept. 21 at 8 p.m. $4
Winner of Best Foreign Film at this past year’s Academy Awards, “Tsotsi” is a fresh and vibrant film from South Africa that is both disquieting and incredibly moving. Filmed with an immediate and raw style that draws parallels to “City of God,” the film follows a gang leader whose daily activities involve stealing, killing, and destruction. Tsotsi is confronted with an unusual dilemma when he murders a woman and steals her car only to later realize he has accidentally kidnapped a small infant. It is through this child that Tsotsi discovers humanity within the harsh world around him, and within himself, as he embarks upon the road to transformation and redemption. Even though this film shows a very harsh and brutal reality, it is the glimpses of compassion and hope that ultimately shine through.
THE PASSENGER Thursday, Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. FREE
On paper, this film sounds like any classic thriller – there are car chases, forged identities, assassinations, and romantic intrigue. A small disclaimer before you see this film: “The Passenger” is not a typical thriller; we may even call it an anti-thriller. My advice is this: before going into the theater, put your Michelangelo Antonioni hat on – the one with the aesthetically pleasing fringe, but which is very uncomfortable to wear.
Antonioni’s films are extremely stimulating, though often elusive in meaning, posing difficult questions that resist simple answers. “The Passenger” is no exception to his predilection for ambiguous narrative and the constant feeling of stasis. Jack Nicholson stars as a reporter covering guerilla warfare in North Africa who ends up switching identities with an acquaintance he finds dead in an adjacent hotel room. Little character motivation is provided as he travels incognito throughout Europe. Instead, Antonioni asks his viewers to rely on the abstractions of ideas and moods. “The Passenger” is one of those films that makes you feel really smart and intellectual for going to see, but leaves you in cloud of utter confusion as you actually watch it. In other words, you may leave the theater trying to grapple with what it is you just saw, but it is this confounding wonderment, provoking an imaginative and individual response, that makes Antonioni so marvelous.
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