Film Reviews & Previews
E-TEAM follows the high-stakes work of four fiercely intrepid human rights investigators who are the first on the ground in war torn countries like Syria and Libya to record and expose human rights violations in the midst of devastating wars.
E-TEAM filmmakers Ross Kauffman and Katie Chevigny will participate in Q&A’s at the Royal after the 7:45 screenings on Friday and Saturday, October 24 and 25. On Friday they will be joined by two of the film’s subjects, Anna and Ole.
What’s it like to try to get to know a flying dinosaur? In PELICAN DREAMS, Sundance and Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Judy Irving (“The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill”) follows a wayward California brown pelican from her “arrest” on the Golden Gate Bridge into care at a wildlife rehabilitation facility, and from there explores pelicans’ nesting grounds, Pacific coast migration, and survival challenges. Ms. Irving will attend several screenings on opening weekend to do Q&A’s: after the 7:30 PM screening Friday, November 7 at the Royal and after the 5:30 show Saturday, November 8 at the Playhouse.
HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR is the late Alain Resnais’ seminal debut film. A pillar of the French New Wave, long unavailable for exhibition in the United States due to rights issues, HIROSHIMA has been spectacularly restored. We open the film on October 17 at the Royal, Playhouse and Town Center.
Employing a radical use of voice-over narration and quickly-flashbacked scenes, the film tells the story of a brief relationship in post-war Japan between a French actress, played by Oscar nominee Emmanuelle Riva (Amour), and a Japanese architect, played by Eiji Okada (Woman in the Dunes). The Oscar-nominated screenplay was written by Marguerite Duras, who in novels like The Lover, often dealt with European/Asian relationships. Twenty fourteen marks Duras’ centennial. Don’t miss this very special chance to see this gem of world cinema as it was meant to seen, in a dark room, on a big screen, with an audience!
Teodora Ana Mihai, the filmmaker of the wonderful new documentary WAITING FOR AUGUST, will participate in Q&A’s at the Royal after the 7:50 PM screening on Friday, October 3 and after the 5:30 PM screening on Saturday, October 4.
On Sunday the Newark Star-Ledger published a very good piece by film critic Stephen Whitty about actor Viggo Mortensen and his excellent new thriller THE TWO FACES OF JANUARY. It provides a glimpse into his unusual history and thoughts on acting, including what he likes about his latest role: “What’s great about this kind of story, it leaves a lot of questions unanswered. It provokes conjectures about meaning and motivation. It’s always great as an actor to play someone with a secret, but here you have secrets inside secrets… all the characters are lying to some degree, at least to themselves, and that makes for some very interesting roles.”
PUMP, a galvanizing new doc about alternative energy, opens this weekend at the Royal. The producers will be at the Royal for Q&A’s after the 5:40 and 8 PM screenings on Friday and Saturday, September 19 and 20.
I AM ELEVEN filmmaker Genevieve Bailey visited KCAL 9 for an interview recently:
I AM ELEVEN filmmaker Genevieve Bailey will participate in Q&A’s at the Royal after the 7:50 PM screenings Friday-Sunday, September 19-21 and after the 1 PM screenings on Saturday and Sunday. If the Playhouse 7 is your theater, Ms. Bailey will be there for Q&A’s after the 4:20 PM screenings on Saturday and Sunday.
