9/8
The Band's Visit/Bikur Ha-Tizmoret
(Israel/France/USA; 2007; d. Eran Kolirin)
The debut film
by Israeli director Eran Kolirin takes a warm but not idealized look at the
ongoing cultural conflict between Arabs and Israelis by depicting the interactions
between a group of Egyptian musicians and the inhabitants of the small Israeli
village in which they find themselves stranded while on their way to an invited
performance. Despite mutual suspicion and language barriers, the two groups
begin to interact with one another and forge new, if also unsteady, connections.
Philip Martin of The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette writes that the film
“makes a case for the commonality of the human spirit as a more important
signifier than racial or national identification.”
(PG-13; 87 min.)
9/15
Taxi
to the Dark Side (USA; 2007; d. Alex Gibney)
At the center of
this Oscar-winning film is the story of Dilawar, an Afghani cab driver, detained
in 2002 by American troops on suspicion of being a terrorist, who died five
days later while in American custody. From here director Alex Gibney traces
the spread, through Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo, and Bagram Air Force Base, of the
current policy of allowing “enhanced interrogation techniques,”
with footage of torture, interviews with army personnel involved, and official
justifications. New Yorker reviewer David Denby calls the film “one
of the essential documentaries of the ongoing war.”
(R; 106 min.)
9/29
Little
Caughnawaga (USA/Canada; 2008; d. Reaghan Tarbell) and High
Steel (Canada; 1965; d. Don Owen)***
Reaghan Tarbell
is a first time director from the Kahnawake reserve outside of Montreal. In
this “interesting and beautifully constructed documentary” (Santa
Fe Reporter), which recently screened at the First People’s Festival
in Montreal and the Eighth Annual Native Cinema Showcase in Santa Fe, she “explores
her roots and traces the connections of her family from their Kahnawake community
in Quebec to the 10-square block area in the Brooklyn neighborhood” that
was once home to the Mohawk iron workers who built the Manhattan skyline. Here
“the women kept their feet firmly on the ground—sustaining a vibrant
community far from home.” High Steel, a short film about native
steel workers which Ms. Tarbell says was one of her inspirations, will start
the evening.
***Special Appearance by the director, Reaghan Tarbell***
(NR; 71 min.)
10/6
4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days
(Romania; 2007; d. Cristain Mungiu)
In the Romania of Nicolae Ceausescu, a young woman named Gabita finds she
is pregnant and enlists the help of her roommate Otilia to try to arrange an
abortion. Winner of the Palme d’Or in 2007, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and
2 Days captures profoundly what it takes to survive lifein a dying regime.
Richard Corliss (Time), calls the film a “mini-masterpiece…
tautly,
bravely acted . . . so compelling that it seduces viewers as a fairy tale does
a child.”
(NR; 113 min.)
10/20
Man on Wire (USA/UK; 2008; d.
James Marsh)
This
documentary recounts the breathtaking exploits of French daredevil Philippe
Petit, who stunned the world in 1974 with his thoroughly unsanctioned high-wire
walk between the two towers (still under construction at the time) of the World
Trade Center. A montage of archival materials, selective recreations, and interviews,
the film not only attempts to uncover the psychology behind such a daring stunt,
but also to ask questions about whether or not such deeds are worthy of admiration,
scorn, or both. Christopher Orr of The New Republic calls it a “rare
tale of dangerous obsession rapturously fulfilled, a reminder that even the
most quixotic of undertakings can knock over a windmill now and then.”
(PG-13;
94 min.)
10/27
My Winnipeg (Canada; 2008; d.
Guy Maddin)
Guy Maddin is coming
to be recognized as one of the most innovative and unpredictable filmmakers
working today. My Winnipeg is a collage composed of autobiographical
detail, the history of Winnipeg, and sheer flights of fantasy. Ty Burr of The
Boston Globe praises My Winnipeg as “a splendidly unhinged
diary of loss and anger and love. Maddin tears down modern Winnipeg and rebuilds
the old city according to the psychic blueprint he has had all along.”
(NR;
80 min.)
11/3
Tuya's Marriage (China; 2006;
Quanan Wang)
This award-winning film from rising Chinese director Quanan Wang tells the
bittersweet story of a loving Mongolian couple who are forced by economic circumstance
into divorcing. Tuya (Yu Nan) and her husband Bater are shepherds in the harsh
Mongolian steppes until Bater is injured and can no longer help support the
family. The only seeming option for survival is for Tuya to find a new husband
who will care for her family, including her injured former spouse. The film
chronicles their darkly comic search for a suitable match. G. Allen Johnson
of The San Francisco Chronicle writes that Yu Nan “conveys strength,
emotional subtlety and sharp wit” in a film remisicent of the early work
of legendary director Zhang Yimou (Red Sorghum).
(NR; 86 min.)
11/10
Encounters
at the End of the World (USA; 2007; d. Werner Herzog)
Astral
summer in the Antarctic community of McMurdo Station casts relentless light
on human life in a condition of extreme isolation. Who better to document what
happens in this kind of environment than Werner Herzog, director of Grizzly
Man and Rescue Dawn? Herzog thrives in this kind of marginal,
wild setting, and his sharp eye finds great beauty in the natural and human
landscape. “In this odd and unforgettable place,” writes Moira MacDonald
of The Seattle Times, “Herzog has made his own poetry.”
(G; 99 min.)
11/17
Mongol (Germany/Kazakhstan/Russia;
2007; d. Dergie Bodrov)
Russian director Sergei Bodrov (Prisoner of the Caucasus) has made
his reputation in part by telling stories about the harsh places of the world,
especially those with a direct bearing on Russian history. His newest film,
the first of a planned trilogy, is a coming-of-age story about the transformation
of a young slave named Temudjin (played as a youth by Mongolian actor Odnyam
Odsuren and as an adult by Japanese star Tadanobu Asano) into the legendary
Mongol leader Genghis Khan, who would eventually bring most of Central Asia
under his rule. Roger Moore of The Orlando Sentinel writes that the
film “has the look, scale, story and feel of an old-fashioned epic in
the best and biggest sense of the word.”
(R; 126 min.)
11/24
Brick Lane (UK; 2007; d.
Sarah Gavron)
Based on a highly regarded novel by Monica Ali, this film tells the story
of Nazneen (Tannishtha Chatterjee), a Muslim woman from Bangladesh who moves
to London after an arranged marriage to an older man. Her life in London is
unpleasantly subservient to her husband’s demands until she needs Karim,
a young Bangladeshi immigrant with a broader world-view. Just as Nazneen and
Karim are beginning to discover new joys together in their adopted home, the
9/11 attacks occur and set off a backlash against Muslims in London. Tom Long
of The Detroit News writes that the film “is about instability
in the modern world—personal and political—and transforming uncertainty
into opportunity.”
(PG-13; 102 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 Fran Bailey, Ramachandran Bharath, Holly Chambers, Ed Clark, Milner Grimsled, Viki Levitt, J. Dolores Martin, Derek Maus, Hilary Oak, Celine Philibert, Chris Robinson, Erik Schulz, Donna Smith-Raymond, David Sommerstein, and Jean Thompson.
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