Time and Tide |
Divided We Fall Thursday, September 6 at 7:00 pm Thursday, September 6 at 9:30 pm Friday, September 7 at 7:00 pm Friday, September 7 at 9:30 pm At first blush, it seems we're in all too familiar territory: a rapid succession of scenes depicting the deportation of Jews in wartime Central Europe; then a quick cut to the terror in an occupied Czech town during the closing years of the war. As it gradually gathers momentum, though, director Jan Hrebejk's Divided We Fall (an Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign-language Film) far transcends the World War II genre and taps into unexpected dimensions. Based on true stories and filmed with an antic élan, it delivers an entertaining and provocative tale of ordinary people who suddenly find themselves heroes.Divided We Fall is a bracing meditation, without hectoring or ideology, on the nature of heroism. It demythologizes the heroic act. With Mittel-European knowingness, it recognizes that motives are seldom pure, that courage and cowardice often overlap, and that decency can flower in the most barren soil.-Erica Abeel, Film Journal International Czech Republic, 2000, Color, Czech/German w/English subtitles, 123 min., 35mm, rated PG-13. |
Me You Them Saturday, September 8 at 7:00 pm Saturday, September 8 at 9:15 pm Sunday, September 9 at 3:00 pm Sunday, September 9 at 7:00 pm The heroine of Andrucha Waddington's Me You Them is a force of nature who holds men in her thrall and deftly reshapes them to suit her life. Without knowing it, they fall prey to her charms, her spirit, her very scent. Darlene's strength, like any earth mother's, resides in mystery. When first we see her she's perched on the back of a donkey in a dusty rural hamlet, wearing a smudged bridal dress and obviously pregnant. Director Waddington, a 30-year-old veteran of music videos, TV commercials, and one feature film, set the film to some of the most gorgeous music on the planet -- written by the Brazilian master Gilberto Gil. Written by a young woman named Elena Soarez, this wry and extremely witty tale of practical polygamy could stand happily on its own as a kind of rustic feminist fantasy, set to the infectious rhythms of bossa nova, even though it is based on an actual person. This lovely movie, simply and beautifully shot in Brazil's northeastern countryside by cinematographer Breno Silveira, is satisfying from start to finish.-Bill Gallo, New Times Los Angelas. Brazil, 2000, Color, Portuguese w/English subtitles, 106 min., 35mm, rated PG-13. |
Once Upon a Time in the West Wednesday, September 12 at 7:00 pm In Sergio Leone's epic western, a revenge story becomes an epic contemplation of the Western past. To get his hands on prime railroad land in Sweetwater, crippled railroad baron Morton (Gabriele Ferzetti) hires killers, led by blue-eyed sadist Frank (Henry Fonda), who wipe out property owner Brett McBain (Frank Wolff) and his family. McBain's newly arrived bride Jill (Claudia Cardinale), however, inherits it instead. Both outlaw Cheyenne (Jason Robards) and lethally mysterious Harmonica (Charles Bronson) take it upon themselves to look after Jill and thwart Frank's plans to seize her land. As alliances and betrayals mutate, it soon becomes clear that Harmonica wants to get Frank for another reason. Leone transforms the standard Western plot through the visual impact of widescreen landscapes and the figures who populate them, as Harmonica appears out of nowhere and Frank chillingly commands the center of the frame. Once Upon a Time in the West is Leone's operatic masterwork, worthy of its legend-making title.-Lucia Bozzola, All Movie Guide Italy/USA, 1969, Technicolor, Italian w/English subtitles, 165 min., 35mm, rated PG. |
The Road Home Thursday, September 13 at 7:00 pm Thursday, September 13 at 9:00 pm Friday, September 14 at 7:00 pm Friday, September 14 at 9:00 pm In the touching The Road Home, a man returns to the village of his birth after his father's death. His mother insists on following ancient custom: She wants men from the village to carry the body home from the hospital on foot so the soul of the departed is shown the way back home. This Chinese film, directed by Zhang Yimou, (Raise the Red Lantern) has a novelistic structure and feel. At first the viewer expects the story to focus on the son and his return home at this difficult time. But, in a long flashback, he tells how his parents met and fell in love. Zhang Ziyi (CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON) portrays the mother as a teen-ager who falls in love with the village's first permanent schoolteacher. Theirs is a difficult courtship, hampered by barely glimpsed politics and class expectations. The film is laced with gentle humor, and its simple story is built on a sure foundation of humaneness. There is no trumped-up drama, no mustache-twirling bad guys. There are no bad guys at all. We come to love these characters. We care what happens to them. That is enough to make us want to take this journey with them.-Eric Harrison, Houston Chronicle China, 1999, b&w/color, Mandarin w/English subtitles, 89 min., 35mm, rated G. |
The Taste of Others Saturday, September 15 at 7:00 pm Saturday, September 15 at 9:30 pm Sunday, September 16 at 3:00 pm Sunday, September 16 at 7:00 pm The Taste of Others does what the French do best-craft romantic dramas that ring true and offer wisdom and insight into the relationships between men and women. Chief among them are Castella (Jean-Pierre Bacri), a likable boor who finds himself attracted to Clara (Anne Alvaro), a 40-year-old actress who has given up on ever finding love. At the same time, her friend Manie (Agnes Jaoui) begins a relationship with Castella's tough bodyguard, Moreno (Gerard Lanvin), who has vowed to never settle down with any woman. Then there's Castella's neurotic wife, Beatrice (Brigitte Catillon), who prefers animals to people, and his driver, Deschamps (Alain Chabat), who has romantic problems of his own. The linkages between the characters are never forced and the performances are uniformly pleasurable. Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, this sweet comedy will leave you smiling.-Shlomo Schwartzberg, Boxoffice Reviews France, 2001, Color, French w/English subtitles, 112 min., 35mm, not rated. |
For a Few Dollars More Wednesday, September 19 at 7:00 pm |
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Butterfly Thursday, September 20 at 7:00 pm Thursday, September 20 at 9:15 pm Friday, September 21 at 7:00 pm Friday, September 21 at 9:15 pm Is she spiritual kin to Gandhi? Brave sister to Rosa Parks? Or is she simply a rebellious, self-righteous post-adolescent reveling in an outpouring of attention? The 20-something woman in question is Julia Hill, whose Warholian 15 minutes of fame derived from the more than two years she lived in a 6-by-8-foot platform 180 feet high in a Northern California redwood to save the 1,000-year-old tree she called Luna from Pacific Lumber Company loggers. Like Joan of Arc, she says she hears voices. The tree, she says, speaks to her. Her prayers are answered. Giddy in her rapport with Mother Nature, she is impelled to poetry, and her guitar-plucking supporters celebrate her in folk songs. Ms. Hill, who acquired the middle name Butterfly, is the subject of Doug Wolens' provocative documentary Butterfly. Ms. Hill, whose stubborn crusade inspired vigils, demonstrations and hostility, resulted in an agreement establishing a 200-foot buffer zone around Luna to preserve it.-Lawrence van Gelder, NY Times USA, 2000, Color, English, 79 min., 16mm, not rated. |
The Princess and the Warrior Saturday, September 22 at 7:00 pm Saturday, September 22 at 9:30 pm Sunday, September 23 at 3:00 pm Sunday, September 23 at 7:00 pm Once upon a time in a stone castle on an ocean bluff, a woman wrote a letter. Its content was almost incidental. What's important, however, is that, once delivered, the letter set off an unexpected chain of events. Although it is often fantastic and absurd, the chronicle of these events, The Princess and the Warrior is no fairy tale. Rather, it is a love story about how chance and coincidence change the lives of two traumatized people. The theme is a recurring one in the films of German director Tom Tykwer, best known for his international hit Run Lola Run which starred Franka Potente. A blond Potente stars this time as a psychiatric nurse walking mannequin-like through life, barely registering events around her. A gaunt, wispy-bearded Benno Furmann is a thief, sleepwalking and self-destructively while awake. Princess is a dreamlike, formless creation, but is just as intricately plotted and intelligently imagined as LOLA. The result is a trance-like puzzle whose pieces mesh together like the gears on a time machine. It is a ghostly, lyrical portrait of things happening accidentally on purpose.-Duane Dudek, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Germany, 2001, Color, German w/English subtitles, 130 min., 35mm, rated R. |
The Decline of Western Civilization I Wednesday, September 26 at 7:00 pm A document of Los Angeles' high-energy punk rock scene at tis most furious, during the tailend of the 70's. Combining interviews with promoters and fanzine publishers with in-the-pit concert footage worthy of a combat photographer, the film showcases X, Black Flag, The Circle Jerks, the Germs, Fear, the Alice Bag Band and Catholic Discipline. USA, 1981, Color, English, 100 min., 35mm, rated R. |
Decline of Western Civilization III
Wednesday, September 26 at 9:00 pm Delving into the underside of their subculture, a look into the lives of the hard-core fans of present day punk rock in Los Angeles, focusing on the lifestyles and backgrounds of the fans, many of whom are homeless and alcoholic. USA, 1998, Color, English, 86 min., 35mm, not rated. |
Calle 54 Thursday, September 27 at 7:00 pm Thursday, September 27 at 9:15 pm Friday, September 28 at 7:00 pm Friday, September 28 at 9:15 pm Jazz is just a four-letter word to some listeners, but the focus on Latin Jazz in Calle 54 just might make a believer out of you. A sort of musical/documentary hybrid, Calle 54 consists of a dozen musical vignettes set in a New York recording studio. The artists featured include the late Tito Puente, Chano Dominguez, Brazilian pianist Eliane Elias, elusive tenor sax king Gato Barbieri, father/son Cuban pianists Bebo and Chucho Valdes, Michel Camilo, Paquito D'Rivera, Chico O'Farill, Jerry Gonzalez and a whole heck of a lot of brilliant backup musicians. The filmmaker, Fernando Trueba, narrates parts of the film and voices over introductions to each musician. The players are from Spain, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Brazil, Argentina and the Dominican Republic, and they all have stories to tell. Mostly, they play, and the music is transporting. The only tough part about Calle 54 is that most of the music inspires a need to dance and leads to flights of fancy involving rum drinks and sensual behavior, none of which are activities welcomed at theaters.-Liz Braun, Toronto Sun Spain/France/Italy, 2000, Color, French/Spanish/English w/English subtitles, 105 min., 35mm, rated G. |
Down From the Mountain Saturday, September 29 at 7:00 pm Saturday, September 29 at 9:00 pm Sunday, September 30 at 3:00 pm Sunday, September 30 at 7:00 pm Shot by famed documentarians D. A. Pennebacker (Don't Look Back) and Chris Hegedus (his wife, with whom he collaborated on The War Room), Down From the Mountain chronicles last year's magnificent Ryman Auditorium concert by the musicians who performed on the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. The musicians behind the Soggy Bottom Boys, which is the name of the fictional bluegrass band in the Coen Brothers' movie, are featured in this documentary, which centers on a bluegrass concert in Nashville, Tennessee given by the bands that contributed to O BROTHER's soundtrack, and provides a brief history of folk and bluegrass music. Featured performers include Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Allison Krauss and Union Station, John Hartford and Ralph Stanley. USA, 2000, Color, English, 98 min., 35mm, rated G. |
Dr. Strangelove Wednesday, October 10 at 7:00 pm Wednesday, October 10 at 9:00 pm Given U.S. President Eisenhower's famous address during which he warned of the pernicious and carnivorous nature of the "Military Industrial Complex," I wonder if he appreciated the ebony-black humour of Stanley Kubrick's film Dr. Strangelove. Nothing Eisenhower said could hope to match the effectiveness of Kubrick's irreverent approach to his film's apocalyptic visions. Dr. Strangelove is one of the most hilarious and desperate satires in the history of cinema. Based on the thriller novel Red Alert, this could have been a serious movie, as was Stanley Kramer's film of the same year, Fail Safe. However, Kubrick found that it would be more effective to spare us heavy-handed moralizing and stretch his feather toward our funny bone. The script is unflaggingly hilarious and wonderfully acted. Sterling Hayden's cigar chewing jingoism; Peter Seller's seamless disappearance into three very different roles; Slim Pickens as Major Kong, the cowboy hat-wearing good ol' boy who makes one of cinema's most famous exits; and the revelatory performance of George C. Scott. -Dan Jardine, Apollo Guide UK, 1964, b&w, English, 93 min., 35mm, rated PG. |
The Vertical Ray of the Sun Thursday, October 11 at 7:00 pm Thursday, October 11 at 9:30 pm Friday, October 12 at 7:00 pm Friday, October 12 at 9:30 pm The Vertical Ray of the Sun (A La Verticale de L'Ete) is an exquisitely enchanting story that completely envelops the audience in its subtle mystique. Tran Anh Hung (The Scent of Green Papaya) tells the story of three sisters who meet on the anniversary of their mother's death. They share many intimate secrets, but don't realize that there are many secrets being kept from them. Part of the pleasure of watching The Vertical Ray of the Sun is that the director lets this beautifully shot tale unfold as if the characters were waking from a nap in the hot summer rain. The film examines the difficulty of keeping up appearances when your own life can't measure up to the idealized one you've created about your parents. There are times when viewers might find themselves weeping without quite knowing the reason why. Tran Anh Hung's exquisite film is not only great cinema, it also has moments when it is an unforgettable painting or an indelible piece of music capable of provoking an uncontrollable emotional response.-Kevin Courrier, Boxoffice Magazine France/Germany/Vietnam, 2000, Color, Vietnamese w/English subtitles, 112 min., 35mm, rated PG-13. |
Frank Lloyd Wright Saturday, October 13 at 7:00 pm The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visiting Artist Committee present: Free video presentations to prepare for Ken Burns' in-person appearance on Tuesday. FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT by Ken Burns. Admission: Free Sunday o October 14 Oct. 13 Saturday The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visiting Artist Committee present: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT by Ken Burns Admission: Free USA, English, 150 min., VHS, not rated. |
The Brooklyn Bride/The Statue of Liberty
Sunday, October 14 at 7:00 pm The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visting Artist Committee present: THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE (USA, 1981, 58 min.) and THE STATUE OF LIBERTY (USA, 1985, 60 min.) at 7pm Admission: FREE |
Thomas Hart Benton
Sunday, October 14 at 9:30 pm The World Affairs Athenaeum and the Roser Visting Artist Committee present: Thomas Hart Benton (USA, 1989, 90 min.) |
Ken Burns films Tuesday, October 16 at 7:00 pm Important Note: Ken Burns is unable to attend this showing as previously planned. We will still be showing his works but without his presense. We apologize for the last-minute cancellation. Ken Burns has been making documentary films for more than twenty years. Since the Academy Award-nominated Brooklyn Bridge, he has gone on to direct and produce some of the most acclaimed historical documentaries ever made, including The Civil War and Baseball. Burn's films have ranged from two-part biographies of some of America's most important men and women, including Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery and Not For Ourselves Alone: The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Susan B. Anthony, to multi-episodic films like The Civil War and JAZZ. Burn's epics have received numerous accolades. The Civil War was the highest rated series in the history of American public television. The series was honored with more than 40 major film and television awards. Mr. Burns will screen an excerpt from his latest project. Doors open at 6pm. Seats cannot be saved - you must be present to get a seat. This event will be full. Seats are not guaranteed and are taken purely on a first-come, first-serve basis. |
Denver International Film Festival |