“Phenomenal action abominable passion (we give it to ya)
You don’t want a fraction of friction (we give it to ya)
Fact not fiction, can’t stand the heat (we give it to ya)
Then get out the kitchen (we give it to ya)
If not then step up and get some! (we give it to ya)”
– from ‘Act Phenom’ by Bay Area emcee Pep Love (A.K.A. Film Series Anthem, ’06-’07)
THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
(USA, 2006, D: Jason Reitman)
Friday, Sept. 22 8 p.m. $4
Go on zombie, puff that toxic smoke. You look so goddamn awesome blackening those lungs. You seem so chic and fatalistic waging jihad on those sperm cells. You’re so tantalizingly hip, subjecting your friends to your second-hand cancer shrapnel and gagging your lovers with your nasty yellow teeth and your nauseating odor. Fellow Wesleyan student, “Thank You For Smoking” offers you a much needed opportunity to laugh at yourself, to revel in the darkly comic status quo that you will maintain later in the evening as your festering death-stick habit lines the coffers of the corporate fat cats who played you like a fiddle. A hysterical satire that targets big tobacco spinsters, “Thank You For Smoking” is powered by a fantastic cast and a fast-paced plot that will give you an even better buzz than the quaint little mouth-cancer lollipops they’ve got you raising to your lips like a trained monkey. Unlike the last 151 words you’ve just read, the film’s greatest strength is that it manages to go beyond ridicule, making for a genuinely fun film with a political message worthy of consideration.
SPEEDY
(USA, 1928, D: Tod Wilde)
Saturday, Sept. 23 8 p.m. FREE
The great Harold Lloyd ranks alongside Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton as one of the most popular and influential film comedians of the silent film era. In “Speedy,” Lloyd lets loose as the title character, and NYC is his playground. Times Square, Yankee Stadium, Coney Island and other iconic spots serve as set pieces in this lively and hilarious celebration of a New York so brimming with excitement that you may start to understand, if not fully accept, the references your New Yorker friends’ make to “The City” (subtitle: “your hometown sucks”). Though Speedy’s sweetie needs his help, his path to love and success is blocked by cops, hoods, and (Yankees fans take note) none other than the Great Bambino.
CACHÉ
(France, 2005, D: Michael Haneke)
Wednesday, Sept. 27 8 p.m. $4
In “Caché,” a study of domestic terror and one of the most talked-about foreign releases of the past year, Georges and his bourgeois Parisian family start to receive packages containing disturbing videos and drawings. As the skeletons in Georges’ family closet start to pile up, “Caché” offers stunning insight into the fragile nature of middle-class affluence and security, as well as the haunting legacy of racism that plagues French society. Released within months of last year’s French riots, “Caché” is worth seeing for its topicality alone. Director Michael Haneke is one of the most devastatingly powerful filmmakers in the world today, and the arresting images and inspired acting that define his work are on full display in this remarkable, award-winning film. Not to be missed.
BLACK ORPHEUS
(Brazil, 1958, D: Marcel Camus)
Thursday, Sept. 28 8 p.m. FREE
A buoyant, searingly colorful retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth set in Rio de Janiero, writer-director’s Marcel Camus’s Academy award-winning movie is considered one of the greatest musicals ever made. Filmed in dazzling Technicolor and pulsing with Antonio Carlos Jobim’s exhilarating score, “Black Orpheus” is alive with the transcendent power of music.
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