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Farewell, Chaim Topol.

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The brilliant actor Topol, who so completely embodied the character of Tevye the milkman in Fiddler on the Roof that he went on to play him literally thousands of times – passed away last week in Tel Aviv. Thank you, Sir, for bringing so much joy to the world, for your humanitarian work, and for making our many Christmas Eve Fiddler Sing-Along screenings such memorable and meaningful experiences.
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Margalit Fox ended her New York Times obituary by sharing this 2009 Topol quote about the meaning he got in return from playing the role: “I did Fiddler a long time thinking that this was a story about the Jewish people. But now I’ve been performing all over the world. And the fantastic thing is wherever I’ve been — India, Japan, England, Greece, Egypt — people come up to me after the show and say, ‘This is our story as well.’”
Last year’s fine documentary ‘Fiddler’s’ Journey to the Big Screen is an excellent place to learn more about Topol’s masterpiece. (Did you know Frank Sinatra was considered for the lead role?!)

ONLY IN THEATERS wraps up Bay Area tour, returns to L.A. later this month.

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Greg and Tish Laemmle just finished a tour of the Bay Area with the documentary about the family business, Only in Theatres, participating in nine Q&As over nine days at eight venues; great reviews and word-of-mouth brought out the crowds. Encore Los Angeles screenings are planned on March 30 and April 2 and will include Q&As with filmmaker Raphael Sparge with Greg & Tish.
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“A pity party that has no business being so much fun,” UNA VITA DIFFICLE opens in the U.S. after a 62 year wait.

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The long-awaited U.S. premiere of Dino Risi’s Una Vita Difficile, starring one of the most beloved of all Italian actors, Alberto Sordi (Mafioso, Il Boom, Fellini’s The White Sheik and I Vitelloni, etc.), was greeted with big crowds and admiring reviews when Rialto Pictures opened its restoration in New York last month. Laemmle Theatres opens the film about a resistance fighter-turned-journalist and his wife (Lea Massari) navigating life in post-war Italy on Friday, March 17 at the Royal and Town Center and March 24 at the Monica Film Center and Laemmle Glendale.

The New York Times’ critic A.O. Scott hailed it as “a stellar specimen of commedia all’italiana.” In his review for Air Mail, Michael Sragow proclaimed, “Alberto Sordi triumphs at jet-black comedy…(he’s) Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their prime, rolled into one.”

In Italy, Una Vita Difficile has long been cherished as a highlight of the 1950s and 60s golden age of Italian comedy, which also gave the world Big Deal on Madonna Street, Divorce Italian Style, Mafioso, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, and Risi’s own Il Sorpasso (made the year after Una Vita Difficile). While these and others were major arthouse hits in the U.S., Una Vita Difficile was inexplicably never released here…until now.

 

“A stellar specimen of commedia all’Italiana by a true maestro of the form. Pulsate[s] with the breathlessness and disorientation of a country simultaneously grappling with the past and speeding toward a confusing future…Belongs in the company of Fellini’s La Dolce Vita and Risi’s Il Sorpasso. It also stands by itself as an exuberant bad time, a pity party that has no business being so much fun.” — A.O. Scott, The New York Times

“It sounds absurd to even contemplate: an unreleased 1961 epic romance starring the legendary Alberto Sordi that tackles the decades after WWII — a mixture of sentiment and grand historic sweep that the Italians always did so well — that’s somehow just getting a U.S. release.” — Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine

“Risi’s deft seriocomic panorama, from Mussolini’s fall to the rise of the postwar Roman oligarchy…Alberto Sordi triumphs at jet-black comedy when the antihero fails as an idealist, a husband, even as a sell-out. The closest America has come to Sordi is Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau in their prime, rolled into one.” — Michael Sragow, Air Mail

“John le Carré by way of David Lynch,” PACIFICTION opens Friday at the Royal, March 10 in Glendale.

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The gorgeous political thriller Pacifiction, from Catalan filmmaker Albert Serra (The Death of Louis XIV), was nominated for nine César Awards (winning two, Best Cinematography and Best Actor for Benoît Magimel). It’s set in Tahiti and follows the French government official De Roller (Magimel). A.O. Scott of the New York Times described the character this way:

“Played by Benoît Magimel with shambling delicacy, De Roller is like the French cousin of a character you might find in a Graham Greene novel or a tale by Joseph Conrad. He is a world-weary, somewhat dissolute avatar of colonial power — “a representative of the state” in his own assessment, which sounds both humble and boastful — going to seed in a tropical paradise. He is a diplomat, a fixer, a bon vivant and, thanks to Magimel’s louche charisma, a lost soul whose wandering and dithering carry a hint of pathos.”

Scott goes on to say of the film:

“It suggests John le Carré by way of David Lynch — a feverish and haunting but also wry and meditative rumination on power, secrecy and the color of clouds over water at sunset.”
  

“I can only say I was captivated by the film and its stealthy evocation of pure evil.” ~ Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“A hallucinatory, disquieting, languid epic, Pacifiction willfully disorients. Prosaic plot specifics are ancillary to creating unfading images; it’s concerned more with sensation than sense. What tethers us to the film is Magimel’s superb performance.” Melissa Anderson, 4Columns

“Ultimately, the film’s greatest feat is in providing moments for delightful reverie through its sumptuous visuals while constantly making clear the colonialist reality of the island.” ~ Joshua Minsoo Kim, Chicago Reader

“Pacifiction is not a vicarious experience of luxury; it is an experience of life. Set to its own tidal rhythm, it is one of the most beautiful and rigorously introspective movies of this or any year.” ~ Christian Blauvelt, indieWire

“A magisterial, philosophical three-hour mood piece.” ~ Adam Nayman, The Ringer

Best International Features – Oscar nominees CLOSE & THE QUIET GIRL are finally opening in more theaters.

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Happy to report we are opening Close, the Dutch/Flemish film about the intense friendship of two 13-year-old boys, this Friday in Santa Monica and March 3 in Santa Clarita, Claremont, and Encino. Acclaimed at the most prestigious festivals around the world and now up for an Academy Award, Close is a “sharply observed, heartbreaking masterpiece” (G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle). Other critics have gushed:

“To the pantheon of films about the pains of leaving childhood behind — The 400 Blows, The Spirit of the Beehive, Rocks, The Go-Between, Boyhood et al — we should find a spot for this beautiful elegy of lost innocence from Belgian director Lukas Dhont.” ~ Philip De Semlyen, Time Out

“It features world-wise performances from its cast, a haunting score from composer Valentin Hadjadj and breathtaking cinematography from Malte Rosenfeld. It’s a treasure you’ll never forget.” ~ Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

“A picture which is intimate in scope but which packs a considerable emotional wallop.” ~ Wendy Ide, Screen International

We are also thrilled to open The Quiet Girl, the Irish film about a young girl in foster care, March 3 in Santa Monica and March 10 in Claremont, Encino, Santa Clarita and Glendale.

“Few films explore both the shelter and the solitude of silence with the eloquence of Colm Bairéad’s gently captivating Irish-language drama The Quiet Girl.” ~ David Rooney, Hollywood Reporter

“There may not be a movie more expressive of the season’s benevolent ethos than this hushed work about kith and kindness.” ~ Lisa Kennedy, New York Times

“One of the most exquisitely realised films of the year.” ~ Wendy Ide, Guardian

 

Oscar Doc Features – A HOUSE MADE OF SPLINTERS, NAVALNY & ALL THAT BREATHES

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The already formidable 15 films shortlisted for the Best Feature Documentary Oscar have been whittled down to five, and it’s no exaggeration to say they’re all masterpieces that hit about 100 times harder when seen in a theater. People just had a chance to see Fire of Love on Valentine’s Day, and we’ve been playing All the Beauty and the Bloodshed for weeks (but Thursday is the last day!). We are bringing the remaining three to a big screen near you, so now is your chance.
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We’ll have Navalny at the Monica Film Center for 02/24 – 03/02.
A House Made of Splinters plays weekend shows in Glendale (02/25 – 02/26) and at the Royal (03/04 – 03/05).
And we’ll have All that Breathes on March 1 in Glendale and March 2 at the Royal.

“A startling and uneasy wonder,” RETURN TO SEOUL opens at the Royal this Friday, March 3 in Glendale.

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Acclaimed and honored around the world, Return to Seoul follows a young French-Korean woman whose search for her birth parents takes surprising turns. It’s widely acknowledged as “one of the best films of the year.” (Jason Bailey, The Playlist)
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“Brilliantly muses on the impermanence of everything we know — about ourselves, about others and the world — and points to transformation as the only inevitable constant.” ~ Carlos Aguilar, Los Angeles Times
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“Return to Seoul is a startling and uneasy wonder, a film that feels like a beautiful sketch of a tornado headed directly toward your house.” ~ Amy Nicholson, New York Times
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“Davy Chou’s Return to Seoul quickly blooms as a study in contrasts, sublimely juxtaposing character and culture.” ~ Chris Barsanti, Slant Magazine

“Few movies have ever been more perfectly in tune with their protagonists than Davy Chou’s jagged, restless, and rivetingly unpredictable Return to Seoul.” ~ David Ehrlich, indieWire

“A stone-cold stunner.” ~ Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

“Strange, deep, changeable and wise.” ~ Jessica Kiang, Variety

“Davy Chou’s bittersweet comedy of a Korean adoptee searching for her biological parents is powered by a dazzling lead performance.” ~ David Jenkins, Little White Lies

Brevity is the soul of wit: The 2023 Oscar-nominated short films open February 17.

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One good thing about the Oscars is the attention they bring a genre otherwise confined to film festivals: the short. As well as being enjoyable in their own right, they’re cheaper for budding filmmakers to make and so often democratic springboards to feature filmmaking. François Truffaut, Stanley Kubrick, and Christopher Nolan all got their starts making shorts. Some excellent recent features that started out as shorts include Whiplash, The Babadook, Martha Marcy May Marlene, and Half Nelson. All of which is to say that for the 18th consecutive year, we’ll start screening the animated and live action Oscar nominees next Friday at the Claremont, Glendale and NoHo and the documentary shorts at the Royal!

The documentary nominees are:

The Elephant Whisperers – India, 41 min. Director: Kartiki Gonsalves
Producers: Guneet Monga, Achin Jain
Synopsis: The Elephant Whisperers follows an indigenous couple as they fall in love with Raghu, an orphaned elephant given into their care, and tirelessly work to ensure his recovery and survival.

The Elephant Whisperers.

Haulout – UK, 25 min. Directors: Evgenia Arbugaeva, Maxim Arbugaev
Producers: Evgenia Arbugaeva, Maxim Arbugaev
Synopsis: On a remote coast of the Siberian Arctic in a wind-battered hut, a lonely man waits to witness an ancient gathering. But warming seas and rising temperatures bring an unexpected change, and he soon finds himself overwhelmed.

How Do You Measure a Year? – USA, 29 min. Director: Jay Rosenblatt
Producer: Jay Rosenblatt
Synopsis: For 17 years, filmmaker Jay Rosenblatt filmed his daughter Ella on her birthday in the same spot, asking the same questions. What results is a unique chance to watch time, to see a young woman come into focus physically, mentally and emotionally.

The Martha Mitchell Effect – USA, 39 min. Directors: Anne Alvergue, Debra McClutchy
Producers: Beth Levison, Judith Mizrachy
Synopsis: She was once as famous as Jackie O. And then she tried to take down a President. The Martha Mitchell Effect is an archival documentary portrait of the unlikeliest of whistle-blowers: Martha Mitchell, a Republican cabinet wife who was gas-lighted and at one point literally drugged by the Nixon Administration to keep her quiet. It offers a female gaze on Watergate through the voice of the woman herself.

Stranger at the Gate – USA, 30 min. Directors: Joshua Seftel
Producers: Joshua Seftel, Suzanne Hillinger, Conall Jones
Executive Producer: Malala Yousafzai
Cast: Bibi Bahrami, Saber Bahrami, Richard “Mac” McKinney, Emily McKinney, Dana McKinney & Jomo Williams
Synopsis: After 25 years of service, a U.S. Marine filled with hatred for Muslims plots to bomb an Indiana mosque. When he comes face to face with the immigrants he seeks to kill, the story takes a shocking twist toward compassion, grace, and forgiveness.

The animated nominees:

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse – UK, 35 min. Directors: Peter Baynton, Charlie Mackesy
Producers: Cara Speller, Matthew Freud, Hannah Minghella and J.J. Abrams
Executive Producers: Jony Ive and Woody Harrelson
Synopsis: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse is a story of kindness, courage, and hope in traditional hand-drawn animation, following the unlikely friendship of the title characters as they journey together, in the boy’s search for home. Based on the book of the same name.

The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse.

 The Flying Sailor – Canada, 7 min. Directors: Amanda Forbis, Wendy Tilby
Producer: David Christensen
Synopsis: In 1917, two ships collided in the Halifax Harbour, causing the largest accidental explosion in history. Among the tragic stories of the disaster is the remarkable account of a sailor who, blown skyward from the docks, flew a distance of two kilometers before landing uphill, naked and unharmed. The Flying Sailor is a contemplation of his journey.

Ice Merchants – Portugal/France/UK, 14 min. Director: João Gonzalez
Producer: Bruno Caetano
Synopsis: Every day, a father and his son jump with a parachute from their vertiginous cold house, attached to a cliff, to go to the village on the ground, far away where they sell the ice they produce daily.

An Ostrich Told Me the World is Fake and I Think I Believe It – Australia, 11 min. Director: Lachlan Pendragon
Producer: Griffith Film School
Synopsis: When a young telemarketer is confronted by a mysterious talking ostrich, he learns that the universe is in stop motion animation. He must put aside his dwindling toaster sales and focus on convincing his colleagues of his terrifying discovery.

My Year of Dicks – USA, 25 min. Director: Sara Gunnarsdóttir
Writer: Pamela Ribon
Producer: Jeanette Jeanenne, FX PRODUCTIONS
Synopsis: An imaginative fifteen year-old is stubbornly determined to lose her virginity despite the pathetic pickings on the outskirts of Houston in the early ’90s. Created by Pamela Ribon from her critically acclaimed memoir.

The live action nominees:

An Irish Goodbye – UK, 23 min. Directors: Tom Berkeley, Ross White
Producers: Tom Berkeley, Ross White, Pearce Cullen
Synopsis: On a farm in rural Northern Ireland, estranged brothers Turlough and Lorcan are forced to reunite following the untimely death of their mother.

Ivalu– Denmark, 16 min. Director: Anders Walter
Producers: Rebecca Pruzan / Kim Magnusson
Synopsis: Ivalu is gone. Her little sister is desperate to find her. Her father does not care. The vast Greenlandic nature holds secrets. Where is Ivalu?

Le Pupille – Italy, 37 min. Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Producers: Alfonso Cuarón, Carlo Cresto-Dina, Gabriela Rodriguez
Cast: Alba Rohrwacher, Valeria Bruni Tedeschi, Melissa Falasconi
Synopsis: From writer and director, Alice Rohrwacher, and Academy Award® winning producer, Alfonso Cuarón, Le Pupille is a tale of innocence, greed and fantasy. This live action short is about desires, pure and selfish, about freedom and devotion, and about the anarchy that is capable of flowering in the minds of girls within the confines of a strict religious boarding school at Christmas.

Le Pupille.

Night Ride – Norway, 15 min. Director: Eirik Tveiten
Producer: Gaute Lid Larssen, Heidi Arnesen
Synopsis: It is a cold night in December. As Ebba waits for the tram, an unexpected turn of events transforms the ride home into something she was not expecting.

The Red Suitcase – Luxembourg, 17 min. Director: Cyrus Neshvad
Producer: Cyrus Neshvad
Synopsis: An Iranian girl decides to remove her hijab in a life-changing situation.