Hello Film Lovers!
John Waters returns to his down and dirty form with his latest release, A DIRTY SHAME, which opens this week. Join fellow Chlotrudis members for the raunchy fun at the Coolidge Corner Theatre for the 8:00 p.m. show Monday night for this week’s Chlotrudis Monday Night Movie of the week! Remember, Monday night is Chlotrudis night at the Coolidge Corner Theatre. Show your membership card and get a special discount. Michael will unfortunately be out of town for a Conference, but Scot will be there! Contact him at scolford@chlotrudis.org if you want to meet up beforehand.
John Waters’
A DIRTY SHAME
A return to form for “the bad boy of cinema” John Waters. A DIRTY SHAME is an unapologetically NC-17 comedy (when asked by Waters how he could get it down to an R, the ratings board proclaimed, “We stopped taking notes after fifteen minutes”) that follows a quiet suburban housewife who becomes helplessly addicted’to sex! It all begins when the prudish Sylvia Sickles (Tracey Ullman) suffers a concussion which causes a drastic change in her sexual drive. Suddenly she is overcome with crazy, wild and urgent desires and compulsions. It’s a joy and then a frustration for her husband (Chris Isaak) who has trouble keeping up with her. Meanwhile, Syliva’s more-than-ample-bosomed daughter (Selma Blair) has fallen in with a mystifying cult of sex worshipers, lead by the messianic RayRay (Johnny Knoxville). They are spreading the word of concussion-induced deviancy throughout suburban Baltimore, and soon the whole town is thrust into a world of eccentric sexual addictions, man-babies in diapers, lovable gay “bears”, pornographic foliage, talking vaginas, and miraculous conversions – much to the consternation of the area “neuters”. Raunchy and rude, but with a heart of gold, director John Waters has described this movie as “a cunnilingus comedy for the whole family.”
The Brattle Theatre has a couple of special events happening this week. To start with, it’s the long-awaited return of the Sunday Eye Opener! Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film and The Brattle Film Society join forces once again to bring you another series of special sneak previews on Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m. This year we throw an educational slant into the discussion mix. Each week the introduction of the film will include a brief piece about a different element of cinema. The post-film discussion will recall that element and how it appears in the film viewed. And what a bargain! This ten week series, which costs $50 for the general public, is just $25 if you are a Chlotrudis or Brattle member. If you’re one of those lucky fools who is a member of BOTH organizations, your cost for all ten films is a mere $10! (Okay, so we raised the price… can you think of a better bargain anywhere?) “View films actively” at the Sunday Eye Opener.
This week’s film is a documentary that’s sure to be thought-provoking. The kick-off film for this semester of the Eye Opener is a sneak preview of an uncommon documentary focusing on the idea of faith. Directed by Ulrich Seidl, JESUS YOU KNOW focuses on six faithful Catholics during their private conversations with God. The film shows the subjects in lengthy shots facing each person during these intimate moments. For more information on the director, read this article from the terrific online journal, Senses of Cinema.
Don’t miss the Brattle’s very special fundraising event taking place on Thursday, September 30. More than 50 artists from near and far have put their art where their hearts are, and donated some stunning works for Art House, the Brattle’s first-ever art auction fundraiser! While the seasoned art collector will certainly find great deals at Art House, this event is for the novice art-lover as well, with starting bids between just $50 and $165! Many of the artists will be present at Art House, ready to answer questions about their work. Admission is $10, but buy tickets early since we are limited to 125 guests. There will be a cash bar. Auction bidding will close at 8:15 PM when we will accept payments and hand the work over to the new owners. For a partial online preview of the art being auctioned off, and a link to purchase advance tickets, visit the Art House 2004 page on the Brattle’s website.
This week also features the return of Gerald Peary’s BU Cinematheque. Peary, a big Chlotrudis supporter, Boston Phoenix film critic, and BU film professor, offers free film screenings at Boston University. Filmmakers join the screenings for fascinating discussions in an intimate setting. This is a terrific chance to see true indie films… the kind of films Chlotrudis really needs to pay attention too, and hear how these filmmakers made them. And for that price… how can you pass them by?
This week there are two sessions of BU Cinematheque. On Monday, September 27 at 7 p.m. (if you were planning to skip the Chlotrudis Monday Night at the Movies) join Gerry for an evening with Joanthan Caouette. Caouette concludes his Boston press tour with a sneak screening at BU, just prior to its theatrical opening, of TARNATION, his smashing, edgy, brilliant, autobiographical mosaic which was the hit of Sundance in January and was called, by The Boston Phoenix, “the most impressive American movie at the Cannes Film Festival.” Caouette’s gay-themed cine-collage’-home movies, songs, telephone conversations, Hollywood clips tells of his (and his mother’s) valiant battle back from total dysfunction. Amazingly, the film was made and edited on a computer at a total cost of $218.
On Thursday, September 30 at 7 p.m., the BU Cinemateque invites you to an evening with Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton. Gordon and Hinton, the Brookline-based documentary team behind Long Bow Productions, have made the most comprehensive and important features released about Red China. THE GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE, their masterpiece about the 1989 killings at Tiananmen Square, was followed by MORNING SUN (2003), which they will show at BU, the first American documentary revealing how Mao manipulated the idealistic student-movement Red Guard to purge China of his enemies, real and imagined. Banned in China, these films have a secret life there via tape and internet. Here, MORNING SUN was a major New York hit playing at the Film Forum.
If you make it to the BU Cinematheque, please say hello to Gerry and tell him Chlotrudis sent you. We want to make sure he knows we’re interested!
Finally, if you’re looking for something hilariously different, check out SHAUN OF THE DEAD at the Kendall Square Theatre. Beth caught a sneak preview of this film a few weeks ago and enjoyed it immensely! Go check it out and let us know what you think.
See you at the movies!
Playing this week, September 24 – 30.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge
Restored New 35mm Print!
The Leopard
Midnite Madness!
Big Time (Fri. & Sat.)
Sunday Eye Opener (Sun.)
Arthouse! Special Benefit Art Auction (Thu.)
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline
A Dirty Shame
Hero
Shall We Dance? Sneak Preview! (Sat.)
Kids First Film Club
Beethoven Lives Upstairs (Sat.)
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
Midnites!
Donnie Darko: The Director’s Cut (Fri. & Sat.)
Classic Summer Movies
Blue Velvet (Mon.)
Special Benefit Screening
The World Stopped Watching (Tue.)
Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge
Cold War Chronicles: The Films of Emile de Antonio
Millhouse: a White Comedy (Fri. & Sat.)
American Is Hard to See (Fri. & Sun.)
Painters Painting (Sat. & Wed.)
In the King of Prussia (Tue.)
An Evening with Robert Fenz (Sun.)
Contemporary Hollywood Cinema
Easy Rider (Mon.)
Cin’ Fran’s
Pola X (Mon.)
Film Architectures
Metropolis w/ live pianist (Tue. & Wed.)
Hollywood Hits Theatre, Danvers
Bright Young Things
Criminal
Silver City
Garden State
The Door in the Floor
Fahrenheit 9/11
Napoleon Dynamite
Landmark Theatres
Kendall Square, Cambridge
Bright Leaves Director Russ McElwee in person on Fri!
Shaun of the Dead
A Dirty Shame
Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence
Bright Young Things
Festival Express
Garden State
Maria Full of Grace
Napoleon Dynamite
Embassy Cinema, Waltham
A Head in the Clouds
A Dirty Shame
The Last Short
Silver City
Criminal
Garden State
Before Sunset
Loews Theatres Copley Place, Boston
Merci Docteur Rey
September Tapes
Ghost in the Shell: Innocence
Criminal
Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism
Silver City
Fahrenheit 9/11
Maria Full of Grace
Before Sunset
Napoleon Dynamite
Harvard Square, Cambridge
The Last Shot
Silver City
When Will I Be Loved
Vanity Fair
Hero
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
New England Film Arists Present
Smoke and Mirrors: A Geisha Story (Fri., Sat. & Mon.)
The Films of Nuri Bilge Ceylan
Distant (Fri. & Sat.)
Russian Cinema: A Tribute to Lenfilm Studios
Katka’s Reinette Apples (Sat.)
House in the Snow Drifts (Sat.)
Pre-release Screening
Tarnation (Sun.)
The Newburyport Screening Room, Newburyport
Facing Windows
Gerald Peary’s BU Cinematheque
Filmmakers discuss their films in an intimate setting… for FREE!
Tarnation with director Jonathan Caouette (Mon.) Room 224, 725 Comm. Ave.
Morning Sun with directors Richard Gordon and Carma Hinton (Thu.) Room B-05, 640 Comm. Ave.
Michael R. Colford
Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, President