Ondine
June 4, 2010 7:00 PM
111 Minutes
For all his flirting with mega-stardom, Colin Farrell has always been a fine character actor, perhaps best evidenced in the role of nervy hitman, Ray, in in Bruges (2008). In Neil Jordan’s affable Ondine, he gives another impressively unstarry performance as the fisherman Syracuse, an embittered, semi-alcoholic loner, alienated from his former wife and daughter, Annie, whose fragile health has her confined to a wheelchair. When his catch of the day nets a mysterious half-dead girl, Ondine, he revives, cares for, and starts to fall in love with her. Annie, who is a dreamer and believes in folklore, is convinced that Ondine is a selkie, a mythical creature reputed to be half woman, half seal. Wherever the truth lies, Syracuse is in no hurry to throw Ondine back, and under her spell Syracuse and Annie’s relationship is magically transformed. Suddenly their drab existence is full of hope and possibilities. Jordan’s beautifully wrought re-imagining of the dreary life of the working man, ably assisted by Chris Doyle’s ravishing cinematography, is imbued with a palpable sense of the rhythms of Irish life. Newcomer Alicia Bachleda also shines as the ethereal Ondine in this charming mixture of small-town comedy and fantasy in which a final slap of cold, salty spray only adds to the poignancy of the daydream.
K-20: The Fiend with 20 Faces
June 4, 2010 9:30 PM
137 Minutes
Japan, 1949. Having averted World War II by signing treaties with the United States and the United Kingdom, the country is now in the midst of a technological golden age while being ruled by aristocratic elite. And yet, all is not well, as a mysterious masked thief known only as K-20 steals priceless objects from the ruling class. Police inspector Kogoro Akechi relentlessly pursues the fiend at every turn, but has yet to capture him. Enter circus acrobat Hekichi Endo, framed by K-20 after his most daring heist to date—the theft of a device designed by Nicola Tesla capable of harnessing and transmitting vast electrical power across locations without the use of cables. Having narrowly escaped from prison and unable to return to his beloved circus, Endo realizes his only hope for clearing his name is to assume K-20’s identity in order to draw the bandit out of hiding. With the aid of the city’s thieves’ guild, high society princess Yoko Hashiba, and her fiancé Inspector Kogoro, Endo embarks on his swashbuckling quest for absolution. Filled with plenty of two-fisted thrills and steampunk set pieces, K-20: The Fiend With 20 Faces is pure pulp-adventure fun.
Carlitos and the Chance of a Lifetime
June 5, 2010 1:00 PM
107 Minutes
Carlitos has a talent for playing soccer and getting into trouble. When the nasty director of his orphanage, Hipolito, forbids Carlitos from attending the Spanish national junior soccer team tryouts, he is heartbroken. Undeterred by the bitter director, Carlitos steals away during a field trip and not only gets his chance to try out, but he also realizes his dream of making the national team. Now, with the help of his friends and Diego, an orphanage employee who happens to be the team soccer coach, must maintain good grades and keep his daily training a secret. Carlitos and the Chance of a Lifetime brims with energy throughout, employing all manner of zany antics to aid Carlitos in evading Hipolito, including a sequence in which the kids plan a Mission:Impossible scenario to get Carlitos outside of the orphanage’s perimeter fence. Featuring effervescent performances from its young cast and building with intensity to a goosebump-filled finale, Carlitos will set your dreams en route to the nearest soccer ball. In Spanish with English subtitles, recommended for all ages.
Princess Lillifee
June 6, 2010 1:00 PM
70 Minutes
Join the adventures of Princess Lillifee, a fairy tale princess who rules over the kingdom of Pinkovia. Accompanied by her pet pig, Pupsi, life is all glitter and full plates of pancakes. Each fairy in the kingdom has a unique power and recently, some of them have been abusing those powers, making the Farmer Pixies and Fisher Elves very unhappy. Princess Lillifee is so frustrated by the conflict that her bad thoughts replace her glittery happy powers with black, unhappy moths. To regain her powers she will have to learn to think positively and convince all of the fairies to put aside their differences in order to show the townspeople they can live together in happiness. Based on a series of books that has been published in more than 20 countries, this English-language feature is a treasure for children who revel in fantasy worlds. Filled with fun songs, vibrantly colorful animation, and universal lessons about positive thinking and working together, Princess Lillifee will make everyone leave the theater smiling. All ages.
Khargosh
June 6, 2010 3:00 PM
94 Minutes
Sparse in dialogue but rich in visuals, Khargosh centers around a small-town boy in a remote Indian village who accidentally enters into the adult adventure of love. Ten-year-old Bantu loves to be with his older friend Avneesh as they fly kites and explore the local bazaar. One day he sees Avneesh near a particular girl, his “Death” as Avneesh calls her. Young Bantu, thinking that’s really her name, becomes the go-between messenger for the budding relationship, delivering love letters and arranging rendezvous. Yet somehow he’s always missing something. Eventually he stumbles into situations he can’t even begin to understand. Director Paresh Kamdar combines both the real and imaginary world into the unforgettable images and sounds of the mysterious awakenings of love through the eyes of a child. It is a delicate portrait of what it means to grow up.
Bride Flight
130 minutes
June 6, 2010 5:15 PM
A sweeping melodrama loosely based on the lives of three young women who traveled on the KLM flight that won the 1953 great air race from London to Christchurch, New Zealand. Dubbed the “Bride Flight,” many of its passengers were young Dutch women on their way to join their already-settled fiancés. Shy country girl Ada, sensible Marjorie, and sophisticated fashion designer Esther are from different backgrounds and have different motivations for emigrating, but quickly become friends as they adjust to their new lives, with all the usual heartaches and drama. Fifty years later, at the funeral of another fellow “Bride Flight” passenger, Frank, they learn just how intertwined their lives have really been. Flitting lightly between past and present, director Ben Sombogaart (Twin Sisters) skillfully keeps the nostalgia factor well clear of soap opera in this absorbing tale of female bonding over decades in which past and present are inextricably linked.
Every Day
June 11, 2010 7:00 PM
93 Minutes
With his life at a crossroads, Ned (Liev Schreiber) wonders where all his ordinary days are headed. He is unsatisfied with his job writing scripts for a salaciously disturbing TV show. His marriage to Jeannie (Helen Hunt) is rocky, a situation that is only made worse when his verbally abusive father-in-law (played with appealing gruffness by Brian Dennehy) has to move in with the family after an illness. And even though Ned is a devoted father, his children are proving hard to understand: his 15-year-old insists that he is gay and his 11-year-old is filled with morbid curiosity. First time director Richard Levine graduated from the pioneering television series “Nip/Tuck” and has assembled a truly eclectic cast, including Carla Gugino as a sexy, cosmopolitan co-worker and Eddie Izzard as a hot-tempered television producer. Delicately mixing comedy and drama, Every Day is about just that, an uncompromising yet droll story of a man and his family dealing with life's transformations.
Eleanor's Secret
June 12, 2010 1:00 PM
76 Minutes
Academy-Award®-nominated French animator Dominique Monfery celebrates the joy of reading in his imaginative new English-language feature. Seven-year-old Nat can’t read, making his inheritance of Aunt Eleanor’s collection of books immensely disappointing. Despite his love of having Eleanor read to him, his disinterest encourages his parents to sell the collection to a greedy collector. Once sold, Nat discovers that the library contained only first editions and even more, that the fictional characters come to life. If the books leave the library, the characters will fade into oblivion and leave the world without stories forever. After he is magically shrunken to the size of the storybook characters, Nat joins Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and other classic literary friends in a race against time to return the books to the library. Unfortunately, even if the books get back to the library, Nat is the only one who can read a secret incantation that will save his tiny friends. With its creative narrative using literary icons, colorful animation, and an uplifting musical score, Eleanor’s Secret will quickly win the hearts and imaginations of avid readers and film lovers alike. In English, recommended for all ages.
Ginny Ruffner: A Not So Still Life
June 12, 2010 3:00 PM
96 Minutes
Seattle artist, Ginny Ruffner, can’t be summed up in one word, but the most commonly used term is “inspiring”. This conscious cliché is in keeping with Ruffner’s own rejection of irony, pretension, and the high and lowbrow dichotomy. Choosing lamp working as her initial artistic medium, Ruffner revolutionized popular and critical opinions about this formally “kitsch” platform for her unique and globally acclaimed art form. Adding to Ruffner’s extraordinary story is her astounding recovery from a near-fatal car accident in 1991. As an established artist at the age of 39, she was hit by an uninsured teenage driver, leaving her in a coma for five weeks and confined to a hospital for five months. Doctors were convinced that she would never walk or talk again, but true to her indomitable spirit, Ginny Ruffner transformed a potentially tragic accident into a career of even more imaginative creations. From pop-up books, to room-sized installation pieces, to public works, Ruffner’s art has blossomed and continues to expand. Ginny Ruffner: A Not So Still Life marks ShadowCatcher Entertainment’s first feature-length documentary, and one sure to challenge you to see the world from a new and unexpected perspective.
Au Revoir Taipei
June 12, 2010 6:00 PM
85 Minutes
In his debut film, California-raised Arvin Chen ditches the prevailing cinematic image of Taipei as a city of disaffected youth, instead invoking a lively metropolis full of human warmth populated by endearing oddballs. When his girlfriend Faye moves to Paris, Kai dreams of following her and, when not forced to work in his parents’ backstreet noodle shop, spends his time dabbling in the French section of a large bookstore. After Faye calls off the relationship, Kai plans to fly to Paris to win her back and a lowlife connection from the neighborhood fortuitously offers him an air ticket in return for “courier services.” This precipitates a turbulent night during which a bunch of hapless crooks kidnaps Kai’s best friend and Kai starts to have second thoughts about Paris when another love interest, much closer to home, rears her pretty head. Chen directs with a finely tuned balance of slapstick and romance, suspense and comedy to produce a hugely enjoyable film in which everyone concerned undergoes some kind of catharsis as they crisscross the bustling streets of one of Asia’s most exciting cities.
For the Good of Others
June 12, 2010 8:30 PM
102 Minutes
A breathlessly-paced medical drama with supernatural overtones, For the Good of Others is also a contemporary morality tale. Our hero, Diego, is a doctor so used to dealing with critical situations that he has become immune to the suffering of others. He has distanced himself from his work, his wife Pilar, and his duties as a father. During a highly-charged confrontation with the lover of a patient who has overdosed, Diego is threatened with a gun. Hours later, he remembers nothing but the sound of a firearm going off and the strange sensation of having been hit by more than a bullet, but there’s no wound on him. When his patients begin to emerge from comas and their cancers start to go into remission, Diego starts to believe he can heal the sick with the touch of his hands. However, he soon discovers that his gift comes at enormous cost and he must make an irrevocable decision that affects both his own life and the lives of those he loves. Unfolding mostly in an ultra-modern Emergency Room, the often-hyperactive camerawork renders the chilly, blue tones of the hospital, fitting for a film about emotional alienation. Produced by Alejandro Amenábar (Agora, The Others), the film reflects his interest in the psychological and phantasmagorical.
From Time To Time
June 13, 2010 1:00 PM
92 Minutes
When young Tolly visits his grandmother’s mansion during World War II, he discovers an ability to see his ancestors’ ghosts. Tolly (perfectly played by Alex Etel from Millions) shares his ancestral sightings with his grandmother (Maggie Smith) who identifies each of the occupants from the past 150 years. Soon Tolly finds himself traveling through time to the early 1800s where the other youth can sometimes see him as well. Becoming more than just a passive observer, Tolly learns of a jewel heist that uncovers an antique secret and threatens to upset the balance of history. Julian Fellowes (Academy Award® winner for Gosford Park) wrote and directed this stirring adaptation of the 1954 British classic “The Chimneys of Green Knowe.” Delicately weaving the historical and WWII storylines, Fellowes builds the film to a thrilling climax and an unexpectedly poignant denouement. From Time to Time is a rare treat for audiences with an eye for intelligent family fare, evading expectation while keeping its foot entrenched in the history of quality British cinema. Recommended for ages 5+ for ghostly presences and some intense sequences.
Angel at Sea
June 13, 2010 3:30 PM
86 Minutes
Life is charmed for 12-year-old Louis in this debut feature from Belgian writer/director Frédéric Dumont, who tells the compelling story solely from a child’s perspective. Sumptuous camerawork evokes images of an idyllic and carefree childhood, the sea just outside the family’s front door; Quentin, Louis’ older brother and companion; and soccer games with friends. His beloved father Bruno, an overworked European bureaucrat based at the nearby lighthouse, is severely depressed and cannot hide it from his family. One evening he shares his deepest, darkest secret with Louis, shattering, in an instant, the boy’s innocence and the world as he once loved it. With a thematic twist on father-son relationships, the film focuses on the newfound emotional depths Louis discovers as he bears the burden of responsibilities he never could have imagined. Through subtle shifts, the film visually evolves toward the impressionistic, conveying Louis’ and his brother’s struggle to cope and understand through symbols revealed in their once safe and sheltering surroundings. The nuanced lens work and superb all-around performances invite us, beguilingly, into this interior world.
Born to Suffer
June 13, 2010 8:30 PM
112 Minutes
A gentle, bittersweet dramatic comedy of female solidarity and subterfuge set in rural Spain, Born to Suffer centers on 72-year-old Flora (magnificently played by Petra Martinez), wily and fox-like in both appearance and disposition. Flora's sister has just died, and her three ungrateful nieces, whom she raised—Mariana, Mari Carmen, and nun Marta—gather like vultures with the idea of sending her to the nursing home where Marta works. Flora is having none of it and heads off with her faithful housekeeper, Purita, to change her will. Flora stipulates the nieces can have the house only on the condition that Purita stays with her until her death. To guarantee this—and to the horror of all—Flora, in the film’s boldest stroke, marries Purita. The film skillfully raises issues such as the stifling dynamics of family relationships in traditional communities, and marriage and power. As Pedro Almodóvar has shown, the lives of women in Spain's pueblos, where the menfolk are either dead or on the sidelines, is a rich source of material.
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