The just-released Only in Theaters DVD is now available for sale at all seven of our theaters. In his recent Film Factual review of the release, Brent Simon described the film as “a rich and fortifying watch, and it thankfully isn’t fanciful enough to peddle easy solutions, or clear skies on the horizon. It’s funny and sad and at times emotionally piercing, but most of all it’s honest — a quality we should all want more of in movies, big and small.”
Hirokazu Kore-eda’s “staggeringly heartbreaking” MONSTER opens Friday.
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
“There is so much beauty in Monster, and so much sadness.” ~ Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic
“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.
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.
“Sometimes the best reason to watch a movie is because Isabelle Huppert is in it.” LA SYNDICALISTE Opens December 8 at the Royal.
La Syndicaliste is the stunning true story of Maureen Kearney (Isabelle Huppert), the head union representative of a French multinational nuclear powerhouse. She became a whistleblower, denouncing top-secret deals that shook the French nuclear sector. Alone against the world, she fought government ministers and industry leaders tooth and nail to bring the scandal to light and to defend more than 50,000 jobs. Her life was turned upside down when she was violently assaulted in her own home and the investigation is carried out under pressure: the subject is sensitive. Suddenly, new elements create doubt in the minds of the investigators. At first a victim, Maureen becomes a suspect. We open La Syndicaliste this Friday, December 8 at the Royal.
“A politically tinged back room drama of shifting power hierarchies…[Huppert] taps into a level of vulnerability rarely seen throughout her vast filmography.” – Nicholas Bell, IONCINEMA
“Derives its power from the knowledge that this shocking story actually happened.” – Lee Marshall, Screen Daily
“Maureen Kearney’s story is unbelievable. Played with an electric stillness by the great Isabelle Huppert…this is the story of one individual. A heroine, in fact.” – Stephanie Bunbury, Deadline
“Sometimes the best reason to watch a movie is because Isabelle Huppert is in it.” ~ Manohla Dargis, New York Times
“Salomé’s film pivots from itchy whistleblower thriller to irate courtroom drama, with institutional misogyny as its binding thread.” ~ Guy Lodge, Variety
“At no point is a link made between this narrative and The Scarlet Letter, but both the book and the film induce shivers by exposing the gross misogyny of so-called respectable establishment figures.” ~ Charlotte O’Sullivan, London Evening Standard
“This is a truly shocking story that is told with precision and sensitivity.” ~ Linda Marric, The Jewish Chronicle
REVOLUTION ON CANVAS Q&As at the Royal
Revolution on Canvas Q&A schedule:
THURSDAY DEC 7 • 7:00 PM
Directors Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder and protagonist Nicky Nodjoumi
in-person for Q&A hosted by Houman Sarshar & Farhang Foundation
FRI DEC 8 • 7:20 PM
Directors Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder and protagonist Nicky Nodjoumi
in-person for Q&A
SAT DEC 9 • 4:20 & 7:20 PM
Directors Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder and protagonist Nicky Nodjoumi
in-person for Q&A moderated by Marjan Safinia
Reception & Art Opening of Nicky Nodjoumi’s work to follow at ADVOCARTSY West Hollywood
434 N La Cienega Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90048
MON Dec 10 • 7:20 PM
Directors Sara Nodjoumi and Till Schauder and protagonist Nicky Nodjoumi
in-person for Q&A moderated by Freida Lee Mock
Documentary classic THE WILD PARROTS OF TELEGRAPH HILL 20th Anniversary Release with the Filmmaker in Person for Q&As.
An uncommon bond between man and nature is the focus of Judy Irving’s wonderful and informative documentary, The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill. The film follows Mark Bittner, an unemployed aging hippie, who lives off the kindness of strangers in the titular San Francisco neighborhood. His life takes on new meaning when he starts feeding a flock of wild Conures, a breed of parrot noted for its green body and cherry-red head. Native to Argentina, the birds soon feel comfortable enough to feed while perched all over Mr. Bittner. Being outcasts who yearn to remain free, a mutual respect is born between them. Daily routine soon leads to growing crowds of curious passersby, as Bittner becomes something of a local celebrity. Based on his up-close observations, Bittner gains some keen insight into the behavior of individual birds, giving them names. The resulting portraits of Connor, Mingus, Olive, Pushkin, Picasso, Sophie, and Tupelo prove that these amazing creatures deserve star credit in their own right.
Wild Parrots features some incredible close-ups, rare in-depth glimpses into the unique and often amusing habits and activities of one flock of parrots, and also a surprise ending.
We’re screening the film tonight at the NoHo, tomorrow at the Royal, and December 1-7 in Glendale. Irving will participate in Q&As tonight at the NoHo, tomorrow at the Royal, and after the December 2 & 3 screenings at the Glendale. Joe Lindner, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Preservation Officer, will moderate the Q&As on Nov. 29th and 30th. Screenwriter Elliott DiGuiseppi will moderate the Q&As on Dec. 2 and 3.
Irving recently wrote a piece about her film for Talkhouse. A key passage about her method:
NEW WILD PARROTS TRAILER from Judy Irving on Vimeo.
A “genuinely delightful” movie about a brilliant teacher, RADICAL Opens Friday.
“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.
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:
*
“[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
“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.
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