Featured Films Archives – Page 17 Of 63

In-Person Wim Wenders Q&A for ANSELM 3D Saturday in Glendale; 2D runs this week at other venues; MUST END SOON!

January 10, 2024 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

If you haven’t yet seen Wim Wenders’ 3D documentary Anselm in Glendale, there’s still time! We’ll have this fascinating portrait of painter and sculptor Anselm Kiefer in 3D for at least one more week in the Jewell City and we’ll open 2D engagements this Friday in Santa Monica, Encino, Claremont and Newhall. What’s more the director will participate in an in-person Q&A following the Saturday, January 13 1 pm screening in Glendale. Matt Carey will moderate.

“Anselm offers both a thrilling portrait of the artist at work and, with the aid of terrific archival footage, lets us see what infuses his work with such intensity.” ~ John Powers, NPR

“The director [Wim Wenders] has fashioned a mesmerizing engagement with Kiefer’s art, including just enough face time with the subject to elevate the work’s immersive, bleak majesty, rather than give it an aggrandizing spin.” ~ Robert Abele, Los Angeles Times

“This is a superbly controlled and expressed film and its high seriousness about the nature and purpose of art really is invigorating.” Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“The meditative experience is heightened by Wenders’s innovative use of sound: indistinct whispers flutter like bats through the cavernous spaces.” ~ Wendy Ide, Guardian

Now more than ever: Greg Laemmle on singing along to FIDDLER ON THE ROOF in times like these.

December 19, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

From Greg Laemmle: “I started this as a Christmas Eve event (tradition!) specifically because I wanted to celebrate that as Jews in America, we did not need to hide in our homes. My grandmother hated this time of year because she had memories of her childhood in Tsarist Russia and the frequent episodes of violence (pogroms) against the Jewish communities there around the holiday. The America that I grew up in was open enough that it could accept the diversity of our society, recognizing that Americans of all religious (or non-religious) backgrounds were free to celebrate the end of year period in their own fashion. I’m not sure America is as accepting right now, but I’m not prepared to cede this ground to those pushing for a more restrictive vision of what America is. Now, more than ever, it is important that we not hide. And now, as much as ever, we need to feel the joy of the free association that is a Constitutional right of living in America. Fiddler on the Roof tells a complicated tale about the fragility of living as a minority in an oppressive state. But it also shows the joy and beauty of life, and hints at the potential of modernity to provide a freer world that does not discriminate based on race, religion or gender. LOVE is the force that truly shakes the foundations of Tevye’s world. And LOVE, not HATE, will save us from our current predicaments.”

JOIN US on DEC. 24th for our umpteenth annual alternative Christmas Eve, the Fiddler on the Roof Sing-a-Long! Screening at 7 o’clock at our Claremont, Glendale, Newhall, NoHo, West L.A. and Encino theaters.

Belt out your holiday spirit … or your holiday frustrations. Either way, you’ll feel better as you croon along to all-time favorites like “TRADITION,” “IF I WERE A RICH MAN,” “TO LIFE,” “SUNRISE SUNSET,” “DO YOU LOVE ME?” and “ANATEVKA,” among many others.

We encourage you to come in costume! Guaranteed fun for all. Children are welcome (Fiddler is rated “G”) though some themes may be challenging for young children.

Prices this year start at $16 for General Admission and $13 for Premiere Card holders. Typically, Fiddler sells out … so don’t miss the buggy!

Originally based on Sholem Aleichem’s short story “Tevye and His Daughters,” Norman Jewison’s adaptation of the long-running Broadway musical is set in a Russian village at the beginning of the twentieth century. Israeli actor Topol repeats his legendary London stage performance as Tevye the milkman, whose equilibrium is constantly being challenged by his poverty, the prejudice of non-Jews, and the romantic entanglements of his five daughters. Fiddler was nominated for eight Oscars, including Best Picture, Director and Actor, and won three, for Cinematography, Sound and Score (John Williams).

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “staggeringly heartbreaking” MONSTER opens Friday.

December 13, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Gently devastating in its compassion, Monster, the latest from Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda (After Life, Shoplifters, Broker), is a masterpiece of shifting perspectives that defies expectations. It begins with a mother who confronts a teacher about her child’s behavioral changes. This is the first time Kore-eda has directed a film he did not write in almost 20 years. (The film was the last scoring project by Ryuichi Sakamoto.) We open Monster this Friday at the Laemmle Monica Film Center, Glendale, Town Center/Encino and Claremont 5.

Leading film critics have weighed in:

“Monster is one of the finest films of the year, and its structure — like its circle of characters — carries secrets that can only be unraveled through patience and empathy.” ~ Natalia Winkelman, New York Times

“If possible, watch Monster more than once.” ~ Anthony Lane, New Yorker

“It poetically shows the power of perspective. So well-observed, nuanced, and compassionately told.” ~ Claudia Puig, FilmWeek (KPCC – NPR Los Angeles)

Hirokazu Kore-eda's "staggeringly heartbreaking" MONSTER opens Friday.

“As you’d expect from Kore-eda, it’s all told with the utmost detail and care, and a gentle score from the late Ryuichi Sakamoto only adds to the overarching air of thoughtfulness and empathy.” ~ Dave Calhoun, Time Out

“There is so much beauty in Monster, and so much sadness.” ~ Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic

“What Monster most comes to resemble is a reminder of the rich inner and emotional worlds of children — of their autonomy, even, in the context of a culture reluctant to acknowledge it. ~ Zachary Barnes, Wall Street Journal

“Monster’s three perspectives are not so much in argument with one another as they are pieces of the same puzzle. And once they are locked together, the final portrait is staggeringly heartbreaking.” ~ Barry Hertz, Globe and Mail

“While Monster depends on dramatic irony and revelatory twists, it’s also a showcase for director Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose knack for collaboration brings out the best in his actors, especially his younger cast members.” ~ Simon Abrams, RogerEbert.com

“One of the director’s finest, its thematic scope and emotional power growing with each new revelation.” ~ Nick Schager, The Daily Beast

“Across the film, you can feel the push and pull between a master technician who built his career on the patient, delicate plucking at our heartstrings and his newfound desire to please a wide audience with the broadest of affective strokes.” ~ Kyle Turner, Slant Magazine

“Monster is another striking piece of work from a master, a movie that’s so carefully calibrated that you get lost in these characters, forgetting they’re performers and not people caught up in a genuinely traumatic chapter of life.” ~ Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“Monster keeps its secrets until its final moments, leaving us with the feeling that we have earned its trust and are worthy of the precious, beautiful truths that lie at its heart.” ~ Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, AWFJ.org

“A case of Kore-eda’s incredible felicity in handling child actors, or perhaps the kids challenging and inspiring Kore-eda yet again.” ~ Namrata Joshi, The New Indian Express

“Kore-eda is a master of directing children’s performances, so it’s no wonder that Monster is at its best when there are no adults on screen, the children living in their own world of fantasy and adventure and emotion.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

FANNY AND ALEXANDER 40th Anniversary Holiday Season Screenings of Bergman’s Final Masterpiece December 13.

December 6, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

The Anniversary Classics Series and Laemmle Theatres present 40th anniversary screenings of Ingmar Bergman’s semi-autobiographical masterpiece FANNY AND ALEXANDER (1983) on Wednesday, December 13 at 7:00 PM at four Laemmle locations: the Royal, Newhall, Glendale, and Claremont. The Academy Award-winning film is the last entry of the year of the popular Anniversary Classics Abroad series, and a timely program for the holiday season.

Bergman, one of the greatest and most influential film directors of all time, was a towering figure in international cinema who came to prominence in the mid-twentieth century “golden age of the arthouse” era, with such meditative classics exploring the psyche and soul as ‘The Seventh Seal,’ ‘The Virgin Spring,’ ‘Through a Glass Darkly’ (the latter two winning consecutive Foreign Film Oscars in 1960-61), ‘Persona,’ and expanding into the 1970s with ‘Cries and Whispers,’ a best picture Oscar nominee in 1973, and ‘Scenes from a Marriage’ among others. In the 1980s the Swedish auteur originally planned his memory piece FANNY AND ALEXANDER as his cinematic swan song, with a six-part version for television along with a shortened theatrical release, which premiered internationally first. The theatrical version went onto global acclaim and is widely considered one of Bergman’s finest films.

Set in the first decade of the twentieth century, the film opens with the Ekdahl family’s Christmas celebration, with extended family members and servants gathering for a merry holiday in the town of Uppsala (Bergman’s birthplace). The film unfolds principally through the eyes of ten-year-old Alexander Ekdahl (Bertil Guve) and his younger sister Fanny (Pernilla Allwin) who are soon separated from this warm family after the death of their actor-manager father, and the subsequent marriage of their mother (Ewa Froeling) to a strict, cold bishop (Jan Malmsjo). Familiar themes of religious zealotry, which Bergman explored throughout his career, are reexamined with a ghostly supernatural touch in Bergman’s haunted memories of his own clergyman father.

Plaudits for the film ranged from Variety’s “a sumptuously produced period piece (with) elegance and simplicity,” to Vincent Canby in The New York Times, “a big, dark, beautiful, generous family chronicle,” as a prelude to both the New York Film Critics and L.A. Film Critics naming it the best foreign film of the year. Mick LaSalle in the San Francisco Examiner described it as “an epic family film that revisits Bergman’s favorite subjects—marriage, passion, infidelity, death, God—and yet in ways more generous and less austere than in his other films.” Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian praised “the glorious acting ensemble, an amazing collection of pure performing intelligence,” and summarized the film as “a brilliant—in fact maybe unique—fusion of Shakespeare and Dickens.”

The film went on to garner a record six Academy Award nominations, with directing and writing nods for Bergman, along with four wins: Foreign Language Film (Bergman’s third), Cinematography (Sven Nykvist, his consummate collaborator over two decades and his second win, both with Bergman), Art Direction (Anna Asp), and Costume Design (Marik Vos-Lundh). The four Oscars were the most for an international film in the twentieth century, and a fitting tribute to the legacy of a master filmmaker. Experience FANNY AND ALEXANDER back on the big screen this holiday season for one showing only on December 13.

A “genuinely delightful” movie about a brilliant teacher, RADICAL Opens Friday.

November 29, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Joining the list of inspiring films about brilliant teachers like Stand and Deliver and Dead Poets Society, Radical is set in a Mexican border town plagued by neglect, corruption, and violence. A frustrated teacher (Eugenio Derbez) tries a radical new method to unleash the curiosity and potential of his students… and maybe even their genius. Based on a true story and winner of the Festival Favorite award at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, Radical will make you think about the best teachers you’ve had the good fortune to meet. (Thinking of you, Ray Schaefer!) We open the movie this Friday at the Town Center, Newhall, Claremont and Monica Film Center.

“Christopher Zalla’s truth-based drama is a rarity, a crowd-pleaser about an unorthodox 6th-grade school teacher and his students that actually earns its stand-up-and-cheer status.” Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

“Destined to bring a tear to even the most hardened of viewers, Radical is a genuinely delightful reimagining of a tale we might have mistakenly believed had run its course.” ~ Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, AWFJ.org

“Comes to a stirring close that balances optimism with a side of heartbreak for those kids who lack access to the right resources.” ~ Tomris Laffly, Variety

“Zalla teaches a lesson on how to deliver an affirming, emotional gut punch.” ~ Johnny Oleksinski, New York Post

“Derbez, always a charismatic screen presence, is at his best interacting with young people.” ~ Nell Minow, RogerEbert.com

“Those who inspired Radical deserved to be celebrated, and it’s likely that a mass-appealing filmic interpretation of their against-the-odds accomplishments might function as the farthest-reaching vehicle to disseminate them.” ~ Carlos Aguilar, indieWire

“Thoroughly entertaining, completely unpredictable” Finnish Romantic Comedy FALLEN LEAVES opens Wednesday.

November 20, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

The latest deadpan gem from living legend Aki Kaurismäki is a romantic comedy, but discard any preconceived notions about what that connotes. Fallen Leaves looks, sounds and moves audiences unlike a typical, predictable rom-com or most movies, for that matter. It’s sui generis and will almost certainly make the Oscar shortlist for Best International Film, and rightly so. The nation’s top film critics agree, declaring it one of the best movies of the year:

“Modestly scaled and tonally perfect, Fallen Leaves opens in a fluorescent hell-on-earth and ends with a vision of something like paradise.” ~ Manohla Dargis, New York Times

“[A] weirdly beguiling delight.” ~ Peter Sobczynski, RogerEbert.com

“Aki Kaurismäki’s deadpan dark comedy dips with style and just a hint of weird whimsy into the lives of his working-class characters, and the tableaux he crafts give off the whiff of a Finnish spin on Hopper’s alienated figures.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

“Fallen Leaves is, for all its intended quietness, one of the most trenchant works about modern life to emerge in cinemas, post-pandemic.” ~ David Sims, The Atlantic

“Aki Kaurismäki’s latest is deeply alert to the sensory pleasures of the world.” ~ Carson Lund, Slant Magazine

“Fallen Leaves, short, sweet and utterly delightful, is the kind of movie that’s so charming, you want to run it back the moment it’s over.” Jake Coyle, Associated Press

“Fallen Leaves is thoroughly entertaining, completely unpredictable and one of the best films I’ve seen this year.” ~ Leonard Maltin, leonardmaltin.com

“The key to this movie’s winning emotional delicacy is its formal sturdiness. Every shot has a specific job to do and does it well. The performances are measured and restrained.” ~ Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com

“There’s life boiling under the simple surfaces, which is both Kaurismäki’s aesthetic mantra and his great theme. At their best, these quiet, cool films tear you to pieces. Fallen Leaves already feels like one of his signature works.” ~ Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture

We open the film Wednesday, November 22 at the Royal and December 1 at the Laemmle Glendale, Monica Film Center and Town Center.

THE LION IN WINTER 55th Anniversary Holiday Season Screening with Author-Historian Jeremy Arnold November 29.

November 20, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present the 55th anniversary of The Lion in Winter (1968), the Academy Award-winning historical drama (with comedy undertones) that netted screen legend Katharine Hepburn a third Best Actress Oscar. Hepburn leads a powerhouse cast including acting icon Peter O’Toole, and future major stars Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton in their film debuts. The film plays one night only Wednesday, November 29 at 7:00 PM at the Royal in West Los Angeles, with an introduction by author Jeremy Arnold, who will sign copies of his newly revised book “Christmas in the Movies.”

Set during Christmas 1183, England’s King Henry II (Peter O’Toole) summons a holiday court at Chilon in his continental empire to choose his successor among his three sons: Richard the Lionhearted (Anthony Hopkins), Geoffrey (John Castle), and his favorite, John (Nigel Terry). He releases his wife and the mother of their sons, Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) from imprisonment for the occasion. Also in attendance are Henry’s mistress Alais (Jane Merrow), and her brother, the young King Philip of France (Timothy Dalton). As the principals squabble over the succession, intrigue, one-upmanship, and treachery are unleashed in the ensuing power struggle.

Based on a play by James Goldman (a Broadway flop in 1966), the film adaptation by Goldman and director Anthony Harvey, a former film editor (Lolita, Dr. Strangelove) just two years later proved to be a resounding success at both the box office and with critics of the day. Roger Ebert welcomed “a literate script handled intelligently,” while Renata Adler of The New York Times praised the “dramatic and comic energy” on display by the spirited cast. An effusive Charles Champlin of the Los Angeles Times awarded the film “top honors for the most literate movie of the year, and for the finest and most imaginative and fascinating evocation of an historical time and place.” AMPAS bestowed seven nominations including Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Costume Design, with Oscar wins for Goldman’s screenplay, John Barry’s effective music score, and Hepburn’s Best Actress turn (her third win in an historic tie with Barbra Streisand for Funny Girl).

Hepburn recalled what attracted her to the part of Eleanor of Aquitaine, “I think she had what I’ve always held as important: love of life but without sentimentality. She was something I’ve always tried to be–completely authentic.” O’Toole had the unique opportunity to revisit a character he had previously played (a younger Henry II in 1964’s Becket) and triumphed once again. Hepburn would go on to win a fourth Best Actress Oscar in 1981, while O’Toole had to settle for an Honorary Oscar in 2003 among eight nominations. Hopkins would become one of the most acclaimed actors of his generation, winning two Best Actor Oscars in his lengthy career. Dalton enjoyed decades of success and movie immortality when he inherited the role of James Bond in 1987 for two films as Agent 007. In The Lion in Winter all four have a rousing good time, as the Village Voice noted, “scenery chewing has rarely been so artful.”

Todd Haynes’ MAY DECEMBER and the 35th Anniversary of the Mighty Zeitgeist Films.

November 15, 2023 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

After a couple disappointing features, it was great to see Todd Haynes, one of our finest filmmakers, return to his indie roots with the 2021 documentary The Velvet Underground. And now with May December — which we open May 17 at the Glendale, Monica Film Center, NoHo and Town Center — we have another feature that can stand alongside his masterpieces like Safe, Far from Heaven, I’m Not There and Carol. This is also a moment to remember his first feature, Poison, and the use this as an opportunity to honor New York-based boutique distributor Zeitgeist Films (the distributor of Poison) on their 35th anniversary. Long and successful careers require talent, to be sure. But the role of early supporters is also key. And from Todd Haynes to Atom Egoyan and Francois Ozo to Christopher Nolan, Zeitgeist has championed so many amazing talents. ~ Greg Laemmle

Stephen Saito of The Movable Fest recently spoke with Zeitgeist founders Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo about their company, the ingenuity and drive it took to make it a success, their favorite films, and much more. It’s a fascinating glimpse into the changing world of independent film distribution from two experts. Saito introducers the interview like this:

For much of cinema history, the sight of a big Z slashing across the screen promised the fictional adventures of a sword-wielding caped crusader, but starting in 1988, that big red Z started to stand for something else amongst discerning cinephiles, as real life heroes Nancy Gerstman and Emily Russo believed there was a better way forward for the films they loved. Starting Zeitgeist Films out of a small West Village apartment after working a variety of jobs in film distribution, the two have played an outsized role in shaping film culture in the decades since, taking a quality over quantity approach to making room in a crowded American theatrical marketplace for some of the most daring work from around the world. Limiting their acquisitions to a manageable slate of four to five releases a year where each one would receive their undivided attention, a necessity when championing artists such as Bruce Weber (“Let’s Get Lost”), Peter Greenaway (“The Draughtman’s Contract”), Derek Jarman (“Blue”) and Guy Maddin (“Cowards Bend at the Knee”) without deep pockets, the duo has not only had the foresight to see the enduring nature of the films themselves that they release, but the value of time in how much they put into each film and how it has afforded them the sustainability to keep going.

“We noticed that there were companies that started that spent a lot of money on films and would acquire a lot and those companies went out of business extremely quickly,” Gerstman said recently on the occasion of the company’s 35th anniversary. “And we wanted to stay in business and we were able to.”

Their latest milestone has led the Metrograph in New York to pay Zeitgeist a much-deserved month-long tribute with an in-theater 13-film retrospective, kicking off this Friday with Gerstman and Russo introducing a newly spiffed up 4K restoration of “Sophie Scholl: The Final Days,” Marc Rohemund’s unfortunately all-too-relevant WWII tale of the Munich University student who stood up against the infiltration of Nazi thought at school, and an additional 20 films being made available on the theater’s streaming service Metrograph-At-Home, tilting towards the visionary meta-fiction works from Yvonne Rainer, Atom Egoyan and Jennifer Baichwal that the distributor pushed long before such playful documentaries were in fashion. Guests of the series such as Raoul Peck (“Lumumba”), Christine Vachon (“Poison”) and Astra Taylor (“Examined Life”) reflect the range of Gerstman and Russo’s belief in taking advantage of the big screen’s ability to hold a variety of perspectives, yielding a catalog deep with films where the ordinary becomes extraordinary simply by telling stories that have been overlooked, particularly when it comes to the hidden histories of women and gay life in the 20th century.

With the machinery they’ve built over the years, Gerstman and Russo have celebrated the careers of free-thinking artists and activists as a home to documentary profiles of filmmakers such as Maya Deren (“In the Mirror of Maya Deren”) and Alice Guy Blache (“Be Natural”), photographers Cecil Beaton (“Love Cecil”) and Bill Cunningham (“Bill Cunningham: New York”) and intellectuals Noam Chomsky (“Manufacturing Consent”), Hannah Arendt (“Vita Activa”) and Slavoj Zizek (“The Pervert’s Guide to Ideology”) while helping launch so many others, picking up on the early promise in the work of Todd Haynes (“Dottie Got Spanked”), Laura Poitras (“The Oath”), Chaitanya Tamhane (“Court”), Talya Lavie (“Zero Motivation”), and Andrey Zvyagintsev (“Elena”). (Only they could arrange for a documentary to be made about the stop-motion animation maestros the Brothers Quay made by Christopher Nolan, whose first film “Following” they shepherded to theaters.)

As Gerstman and Russo readily acknowledge, the work has only gotten more difficult as time has gone on, but leaning on good taste and institutional knowledge, they have beaten the odds to become a pillar of arthouse cinema and in having such a hand in bringing important voices into those sacred spaces, it was truly an honor to get to speak to them on the eve of their retrospective at the Metrograph, which may be a short distance from their offices, but involves a journey that cuts across multiple countries and decades as they’ve brought global cinema to the city and beyond.

Click here to read the interview.