9/18
Wordplay (2006, USA, d. Patrick
Creadon)
In the tradition
of such films as Spellbound and Mad Hot Ballroom, director
Patrick Creadon takes on what might seem material not likely to translate well
to cinema--writing and solving crossword puzzles. He does so not only by focusing
on the work and personality of Will Shortz, the acclaimed editor of the New
York Times crossword puzzle, but also through interviews with crossword aficionados
and gripping--yes, gripping--footage from the 2005 American Crossword Puzzle
Tournament. The result is “a film so crammed with characters and quirks
that you'll smile all the way home.” (Michael Booth, Denver Post)
(PG; 94
min.)
9/25
The Child/L'Enfant (Belgium; 2005;
d. Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne)
While the title seems to refer to the nine-day-old child who is introduced
in the film's opening moments, it applies equally well to the film's protagonist,
a 20 year-old street hustler named Bruno (Jérémie Renier). Bruno
may be charming, but he is also a schemer whose response to being presented
with his son by his girlfriend Sonia (Déborah Francois) is to sell the
infant on the black market. This is a “deeply moral film that never gives
in to moralizing. Deceptively simple, stripped to the bare necessities, it quietly
dramatizes the consequences of lying, cheating and stealing in a way that takes
your intelligence for granted.” (Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News)
(R; 100 min.)
10/2
Look Both Ways (Australia; 2005; d.
Sarah Watt)
Sarah Watt's
debut feature film is “poetic and unforgiving, romantic and stark,”
says Roger Ebert (Chicago Sun Times). In Adelaide, Australia, a man
is struck and killed by a train, and the lives of the people who witness the
event are profoundly affected. This “moving, thought provoking, and eventually
uplifting” film has won numerous awards, including Best Director and Best
Film from the Australian Film Institute and the San Francisco Film Festival's
audience award. Watt's often funny film is enhanced by her audacious and innovative
use of animation to explore the inner thoughts of her protagonist. “Somehow,
even amid the movie's gloom, the fingerprints of joy are visible and the message
is incredibly hopeful,” says Jessica Reeves (Chicago Tribune).
(PG-13; 100 min.)
10/9
Water (Canada/India; 2005; d. Deepa
Mehta)
The
third in Mehta's controversial film trilogy, also including Fire and
Earth, Water had to be completed in Sri Lanka because of protests
in India. The film is set in 1930s India and begins with the journey of eight-year-old
Chuyia, who is sent to an ashram after the death of her husband. This ashram
is a community of widows ostracized by society and left to subsist through begging
and prostitution. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert describes Water
as “lovely in the way Satyajit Ray's films are lovely. It sees poverty
and deprivation as a condition of life, not an exception to it, and finds beauty
in the souls of its characters." (PG-13; 117 min.)
10/16
Mongolian Ping Pong/Lü cao di
(China; 2006; d. Hao Ning)
Hao Ning's
film complements films such as Himalaya or The Story of the Weeping
Camel in depicting what Stephen Hunter of The Washington Post
calls “that odd twilight zone between civilization and primitivism.”
When seven year-old Bilike finds a strange round object--an object the audience,
unlike the film's characters, recognizes as a ping-pong ball--in a Mongolian
river one day, a process of integrating the unfamiliar object begins that examines
the assumptions of both children and adults. Michael Atkinson of The Village
Voice says this is “a sneaky comedy and, to boot, one of the most
breathtaking cinematic records of landscape and sky ever filmed.” (NR;
102 min.)
10/23 The Other Side (US; 2006; d. Bill Brown) and Buffalo Common (US; 2001; d. Bill Brown)
Guest Appearance by the Director, Bill Brown 
Chronicling Brown's two-year 2000-mile journey along the US-Mexican border, The Other Side reveals a post 9/11 geography of struggle and insecurity that “sticks in the imagination like a series of sun-bleached postcards, complete with scribblings on the back.” (SXSW Film Festival Guide) “Brown shows us where the idea of America is up for grabs and explores the vicissitudes of the politics and activism behind U.S. immigration policies. We ride in the cars of activists protecting the rights of migrants, set up water stations, listen to the tales of crossing attempts, learn the history of the land, and watch the shadows creep across the fixtures of life isolated in the desert.” (Brooklyn Underground Film Festival Guide) In Buffalo Common, Brown examines the decommissioning of nuclear missile silos in North Dakota. (NR; 66 min.)
10/30
Three Times/Zui Hao De Shi Guang (France/Taiwan;
2005; d. Hsaio-hsien Hou)
Three
Times is an exploration of love through three separate stories set in 1911,
1966, and 2005. The main characters are played by the same actors, Chang Chen
(Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, 2046) and Shu Qi (Transporter,
Millenium Mambo). Each of the stories turns on the clarity
of vision and honesty both demanded and obscured by love. Johnathan Rosenbaum
of The Chicago Reader calls Hou “Asia's greatest living film
master” and Three Times, “one of the peaks of his career.”
(NR; 120 min.)
11/6
Watermarks (France/Israel/US;
2004; d. Yaron Zilberman)
Watermarks is the story of the champion women swimmers
of Hakoah Vienna, the legendary Jewish sports club (founded in 1909 at a time
when Austrian Jews were excluded from sports clubs by the infamous Aryan Paragraph,
a regulation designed to keep Jews from joining clubs, political parties, and
other social organizations). Sixty-five years after the club was shut down in
the wake of Austria's takeover by Germany, the surviving members of the swim
team reunite to tell their stories of survival, their love of sport, and the
bonds of friendship tempered by experiences of victory and persecution. Stephen
Holden of The New York Times calls Watermarks “a
moving documentary that approaches the Holocaust from a fresh, intimate perspective.”
(NR; 80 min.)
11/13
The World According to Shorts (Various
countries, years and directors)
This
is the most recent edition of the film series created by Jonathan Howell, bringing
together the best short films from across the globe. Showcasing a diverse range
of film and storytelling techniques, the six films in this collection include
a satire from Chile, a study in ritual and religion from Australia, a political
allegory from Norway, an examination of charisma from Poland, a simple and moving
story of a grandmother's love for her grandson from Brazil, and, from Germany,
a tale of innocence lost. “For audiences exhausted by today's bloated
extravaganzas, The World According to Shorts is an eclectic palate
cleanser,” writes Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times.
(NR; 95 min.)
11/27
Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul
(Germany/Turkey; 2005; d. Fatih Akin)
The bridge referred to
in the title of Fatih Akin's film about Turkish music is both the literal and
metaphorical linkage between Europe and Asia represented by the city of Istanbul.
We follow German musician Alexander Hacke on a journey through the variety of
musical styles, both traditional and contemporary, that flourish in this historic
cultural crossroads. The effect of the film's sights and sounds is such that
Manohla Dargis of The New York Times writes, “If life were fair
and film exhibition better, you could watch [it] while standing up, or, more
ideally, while swaying, spinning and shimmying.” (NR; 90 min.)
Cinema 10 is a non-profit, volunteer group which presents alternative film programming. We work to bring the best in American independent and foreign films to North Country audiences. If you have a suggestion or would like to get involved, please e-mail Holly Chambers. The Cinema 10 Board members are Chris Affre, Fran Bailey, Holly Chambers, Ed Clark, Viki Levitt, Anne Malone, Hilary Oak, Celine Philibert, Chris Robinson, Eric Schultze, David Sommerstein, Christino Tamon, and Donna Williamson.
Cinema 10 is made possible with funds from
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