Hello Everyone,
As is often the case, we follow up a week where little of interest is released with a week where several new releases are calling out for attention. I must beg your indulgence once again as we swap next week’s movie of the week to Tuesday. Join Chlotrudis members Tuesday night at the Coolidge Corner Theatre, 7:30 p.m. for Mike Mills’ THUMBSUCKER. Enjoy supporting performances from Tilda Swinton, Vince Vaughn, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Keanu Reaves while lead actorLou Taylor Pucci plays Justin who throws himself and everyone around him into chaos when he attempts to break free from his addiction to his thumb. Pucci won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance for his performance.
THUMBSUCKER
dir. Mike Mills w/Lou Taylor Pucci, Tilda Swinton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Vince Vaughn, Benjamin Bratt, Keanu Reeves, 1h35m
The first feature film from acclaimed designer and video director Mike Mills (his work defined the look of the indie band Air) is based on the novel by Walter Kirn and features a stunning cast that includes Tilda Swinton, Vincent D’Onofrio, Benjamin Bratt, and Vince Vaughn. But the real casting coup wasn’t Keanu Reeves as a New Age dentist (though it is certainly an inspired performance!), it was newcomer Lou Pucci, who steals the film as the title character.
At 17, teenager Justin Cobb is still a habitual thumb-sucker, a habit that is beginning to disturb his family and disrupt his social life. Then his orthodontist helps him change his behavior through hypnosis therapy. Finally, Justin feels “normal” – but his troubles are really just beginning. He begins to spiral into manic behavior, is afraid his mother (Swinton) is about to leave the family, develops a newfound crush, and without really wanting to becomes the best member of the school’s debate team.
THUMBSUCKER is an honest and funny look at the struggles of those who yearn to be someone else (or to be “normal”) ‘ only to realize that their flaws are what make them human and loveable.
The other big releases opening at the Kendall Square Cinema this week screened along with THUMBSUCKER at the Toronto International Film Festival. Beth saw EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, Liev Schreiber’s directorial debut starring Elijah Wood. Schreiber also adapted the screenplay from Jonathan Safran Foer’s best-selling novel. I also heard good things about Thomas Vinterberg’s DEAR WENDY, which boasts a original screenplay by Lars Von Trier
and stars Jamie Bell (so good in UNDERTOW) and Bill Pullman. These releases along with PROOF, starring Gwyneth Paltrow, are just the tip of the iceberg as the fall flood of movie releases begins. There should be plenty to chose from in the coming weeks. However, if you’re looking to play catch up this week, the Brattle Theatre offers two well received Chlotrudis options in their Recent Raves series. On Monday night (if you just have to see a movie) don’t miss Gregg Araki’s MYSTERIOUS SKIN another triumphant literary adaptation. Doc fans will want to take advantage of another chance to catch MURDERBALL on Wednesday night. Both have a good chance at being contenders for next year’s Chlotrudis Awards!
Next Thursday is your chance to go out and have good time socializing, get your hands on some inexpensive, original artwork, and do your part in supporting the Brattle Film Foundation at the 2nd Annual ArtHouse Silent Auction at the Brattle Theatre! Enjoy wine, beer and some yummy food while perusing donated artwork from local artisans. Bid on your favorites and you just might end up with an original hanging on your wall. You can get a preview of some of the works that will be auctioned off at the Brattle’s ArtHouse page. Admission is only $15 and I can guarantee you’ll have a good time.
This week also marks the return of Gerry Peary’s BU CINEMATHEQUE, a terrific and free opportunity for Chlotrudis members to see filmmakers talking about their work each week. Obstensibly for BU film students, Gerry has kindly opened up this series to Chlotrudis members. The screenings take place on Thursdays or Fridays weekly. Tonight the BU Cinematheque teams up with the Harvard Film Archive to show student films from the archives. See early student films by such internationally known directors such as Mira Nair and Darren Aronofsky. Next Thursday I hope to attend to see Robert Patton-Spruill’s finished film TURNTABLE. You may recall that a select group of Chlotrudis members had the opportunity to see a rough cut of TURNTABLE and offer their input on the finished product. I hope someone from that group attends this screening so we can hear how the film was changed! Check out the September schedule at the end of this post.
That’s it for this week.
See you at the movies!
Playing this week, September 23 – 29.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge
Special Engagement – New 35 mm Print
Cobra Woman (Fri. – Sun.)
The Goethe Institut Boston Presents an Evening With Andreas Dresen
Grill Point (Sun.)
Willenbrock (Sun.)
Recent Raves
Mysterious Skin (Mon.)
Land of the Dead (Tue.)
The Devil’s Rejects (Tue.)
Murderball (Wed.)
Harvard Bookstore Presents
Iraq War Panel
Special Event!
Art House: A Silent Art Auction To Benefit The Brattle Film Foundation (Thu.)
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline
Thumbsucker
Broken Flowers
The Aristocrats
Muddy River Environmental Film Series
Slow Food Revolution (Fri.)
The Future of Food (Fri. & Sat.)
Kids Shorts (Sat. & Sun.)
The Lorax (Sat. & Sun.)
Portrait of a Coastline (Sat.)
Turning Down the Heat (Sat.)
Blue Vinyl (Sat.)
Thirst (Sun.)
The Next Industrial Revolution (Sun.)
Bike Like You Mean It (Sun.)
Lost Pond (Mon.)
The Greatest Good (Tue.)
Muddy River Watershed Event (Tue.)
The End of Suburbia (Wed.)
Pale Male (Thu.)
Gotham Fish Tales (Thu.)
Chain (Thu.)
Midnite Movies!
Firefly Marathon (Sat. – Sun. @ noon)
Brookline Booksmith Presents
Zadie Smith (Tue.)
Film Class
Prisoners of Circumstance (Thu.)
FEI Theatres
Capitol Theatre, Arlington
An Unfinished Life
Mad Hot Ballroom
Me and You and Everyone We Know
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge
Too Human: The Films of Louis Malle
Vanya on 42nd Street (Fri. & Sun.)
My Dinner with Andre (Fri. & Sun.)
May Fools (Sat. & Tue.)
Damage (Sat. & Wed.)
Contemporary French Cinema
My Sex Life… Or How I Got Into An Argument (Mon.)
Film Architectures
Metropolis w/ live piano accompaniment (Tue.)
Imagine the City
Paris qui dort w/ live piano accompaniment (Wed.)
Hollywood Hits Theatre, Danvers
Proof
Broken Flowers
March of the Penguins
The Thing About My Folks
Landmark Theatres
Kendall Square, Cambridge
Dear Wendy
Thumbsucker
Everything is Illuminated
The Constant Gardener
Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress
2046
Grizzly Man
Junebug
The Aristocrats
Embassy Cinema, Waltham
Thumbsucker
The Thing About My Folks
2046
An Unfinished Life
Broken Flowers
March of the Penguins
Loew’s Harvard Square, Cambridge
Proof
The Thing About My Folks
Broken Flowers
March of the Penguins
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Music on Film
I’ll Sing for You (Fri. & Sat.)
Starring Daniel Br’>
Honolulu (Sat.)
Elephant Heart (Sat.)
Ladies in Lavendar (Sun.)
Muddy River Film Festival
Darwin’s Nightmare (Sat.)
Mikio Naruse
When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (Wed.)
New England Film Artists Present
Mutual Appreciation (Wed.)
The Newburyport Screening Room, Newburyport
The Aristocrats
BU CINEMATHEQUE RETURNS
Screenings are at 7 pm in room B-05 of the Communication Building, 640 Comm.Ave., Boston. Public transportation: the “B” Boston College Green Line, one stop beyond Kenmore Square.
Thursday, September 22-STUDENT FILM CLASSICS FROM THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE. Julie Buck, Head Film Conservator for the mammoth Harvard film collection, has put together a special first-time show for BU of 16mm classic films made by now-famous directors when they were students at Harvard. Among these are novice works by Mira Nair (MONSOON WEDDING, VANITY FAIR), Darren Arnofsky (PI, REQUIEM FOR A DREAM), Kevin Rafferty (ATOMIC CAFE)…plus some unannounced surprises!
Thursday, September 29-AN EVENING WITH ROBERT PATTON-SPRUILL. It’s a BU legend, how Patton-Spruill, a then recent BU filmmaking graduate
student, sold his first feature, SQUEEZE (1997), to Miramax instantly after its Sundance screening. Tonight, Patton-Spruill offers the world premiere sneak preview of his just-completed new feature, TURNTABLE! As with SQUEEZE, it’s a subtle, complex gangland story set in an African-American milieu, yet influenced by the French classic cinema of the 1960s. Also attending: the producer of TURNTABLE, Patty Marino, also a BU graduate.
Friday, September 30-AN EVENING WITH MONIKA TREUT. Making features and documentaries since 1985, the Hamburg-based director is probably the most important German woman filmmaker in the last two decades, certainly the most versatile and wittiest. Treut’s films always explore protean sexual identity, endorsing outrageous gender-twisting and role-switching, whether her film subject is Camille Paglia or a “B” Mexican movie star turned New York dominatrix. Treut will show at BU her 2005 documentary, TIGERWOMEN GROW WINGS, a major hit at this year’s Berlin Film Festival. It’s Treut’s take on Asian gender roles, a tale of three couragous, sexually adventurous Taiwanese women who defy the deeply sexist culture in which they were born.
Michael R. Colford
Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, President