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TOKYO SONATA
SHOW DATE: May 3rd.
SPEAKER(S): TBA
Here's some information about the film:
This Cannes Festival prize-winner is a gripping portrait of a seemingly ordinary Japanese family and its disintegration when the father abruptly loses his job. Unable to face reality, he hides it from his wife and two sons, pretending to go to work daily. The elder son, a tall slacker, drifts aimlessly until he decides to enlist in the military; the younger son, a bright misfit at school, takes piano lessons in secret after his father forbids it. The mother, a traditional Japanese wife and the warm heart of the family, attempts to hold the family together but fails. Director/co-writer Kiyoshi Kurosawa, known for thriller and suspense movies like Cure and Kairo (Pulse), probes the dark side of human nature and the social problems that confront contemporary Japan. His use of light and dark to express a sense of simultaneous hope and horror verges on awe-inspiring, and the ending will leave you enthralled. (Fully subtitled)
LYMELIFE
SHOW DATE: April 26th.
SPEAKER(S): TBA
Here's some information about the film:
Profoundly funny and deeply moving, Lymelife looks at first love and family dynamics during a time of drastic economic and cultural change in the late 1970s. Scott (Rory Culkin) is an awkward, sensitive 15-year-old boy whose family life is turned upside-down after an outbreak of Lyme disease hits the community, spreading illness and paranoia. Scott's parents—a workaholic father (Alec Baldwin) and an overprotective mother (Jill Hennessy)—are on the verge of a divorce as his older brother (Kieran Culkin) is about to ship off for war. Complicating matters, Scott has fallen in love with his next door neighbor, Adrianna (Emma Roberts). Adrianna seems to be the only person in the world who understands Scott, demonstrated by her equally troubled, less-affluent family: an uptight mother (Cynthia Nixon) carrying on a not-so-clandestine love affair, and a father (Timothy Hutton) slowly slipping away from the effects of Lyme disease. Directed by Derick Martini, who wrote the script with his brother Steven (based on their experiences growing up on suburban Long Island), Lymelife is a funny, biting and loving tribute to the American family.
Goodbye Solo
SHOW DATE: April 19th
SPEAKER(S): Matt Porterfield
Here's some information about the film:
On the lonely roads of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, two men forge an improbable friendship that will change both of their lives forever. Solo is a Senegalese cab driver working to provide a better life for his young family. William is a tough Southern good ol' boy with a lifetime of regrets. One man's American dream is just beginning, while the other's is quickly winding down. But despite their differences, both men soon realize they need each other more than either is willing to admit. Through this unlikely but unforgettable friendship, GOODBYE SOLO deftly explores the passing of a generation as well as the rapidly changing face of America.
Fados
SHOW DATE: April 12th
SPEAKER(S): TBA
Here's some information about the film:
Fados completes the musical trilogy of award-winning Carlos Saura (Flamenco, 1995; Tango, 1998). Using Lisbon as a backdrop, he explores Portugal’s most emblematic musical genre (fado) and its haunting spirit of saudade (melancholy). Tracing its African and Brazilian origins up to the new wave of modern faudistas, he ingeniously deploys mirrors, back projections, lighting effects, and lush colors to frame each song, ranging from a campfire ringed by sinuous dancers to a balletic catfight between two jealous women to a thrilling desgarrada (musical duel) in a fado café. The result is a ravishing fusion of cinema, song, dance and instrumental numbers.
Fados contains homages to such legends as Maria Severa and Amália Rodrigues, as well as stunning turns by modern stars like Mariza and Camané; but Saura also expands the songs (which traditionally involve just a singer and a guitarist) with dance and encompasses other nationalities (with a special emphasis on performers of color from Portugal’s former colonies) and idioms (such as hip hop, flamenco and reggae). This inclusive, non-purist approach conveys a grand vision of music’s power to break down boundaries: between Iberian neighbors Spain and Portugal, Old World and New, white and black, young and old, rich and poor - a celebration of fado as World Music in the fullest sense of the term. Under the musical supervision of Carlos do Carmo, Fados features one of the finest “World Music” soundtracks to date.
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