News

Hello Everyone,

Not too much new opening this weekend, and it’s Labor Day weekend to boot, so it’s a good time to play catch-up. I know some of you have seen this film already, but I just don’t want to miss Werner Herzog’s new documentary, GRIZZLY MAN. Join us Monday night for the 7:20 screening at the Kendall Square Cinema. Herzog chronicles life and studies of Timothy Treadwell who tried to live among grizzlies in the Alaska wilderness. Herzog’s films are always fascinating, so don’t miss a chance to see this one.

Director Werner Herzog’s latest documentary explores the life of Timothy Treadwell, an activist who thought he could live safely among the grizzly bears of the Alaskan wilderness while he studied them. But Treadwell was eventually killed’along with his partner Amie Huguenard’by one of the very animals to whom he had devoted years of research. Using Treadwell’s own video footage, Herzog examines the emotions and mind of an intriguing, infuriating and perhaps even tragic figure. Original music by Richard Thompson. Winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize at 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
Director: Werner Herzog
Cast: Timothy Treadwell (archival footage), Amie Huguenard (archival footage), Franc G. Fallico

It’s still playing at the Kendall and the Embassy, but sububanites take notice: Wong Kar Wai’s rhapsodic 2046 expands this week to Hollywood Hits in Danvers. Fans of his gorgeous IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE won’t want to miss this sequel, and even if you haven’t seen that film, you should check out 2046. Tony Leung stars with able assistance by the revelatory Zhang Zhiyi, Gong Li, Faye Wong and many more. Get swept away by 2046.

The Brattle Theatre begins a two-week retrospective on the works of Stanley Kubrick this week. Friday night kicks things off with two lesser seen films, THE KILLING and KILLER’S KISS. If you want to get caught up on the works of a filmmakers whose films include 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY and DR. STRANGELOVE, OR HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE THE BOMB, this is your chance. There aren’t many theatres in the country that provide this kind of programming. Support the Brattle Film Foundation!

Next Thursday I fly to Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival. Keep track of what Chlotrudis is up to in Toronto at Chlotrudis Mewsings, the new film blog by members of the Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film. Stop by and check it out. I’ve been blogging about the build-up to Toronto, and Chris has supplied some info on the many films being released this coming fall. Others will be posting as well, so do drop by. As for next week’s listings, I will try to get them sent out by Thursday morning before I leave. Beth Caldwell has offerred to organize the Chlotrudis Monday Night at the Movies on September 12, so watch for the announcement!

That’s it for this week.
See you at the movies!

Playing this week, September 2 – 8.

Brattle Theatre, Cambridge
The Complete Kubrick
The Killing (Fri. & Sat.)
Killer’s Kiss (Fri. & Sat.)
2001: A Space Odyssey (Sun. & Mon.)
Barry Lyndon (Tue.)
The Shining (Wed. & Thu.)

Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline
Broken Flowers
A State of Mind
Murderball
March of the Penguins
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Midnite Movies!
The Warriors (Fri. & Sat.)
Celebrating the 70’s
Jaws w/ pre-show Beach Party & Introduction by a Shark Expert! (Mon.)

FEI Theatres
Capitol Theatre, Arlington
Mad Hot Ballroom
Ladies in Lavender

Somerville Theatre, Somerville
Murderball
Mad Hot Ballroom
Bombay Cinema Presents
Mangal Pandey (Sat. – Mon.)
No Etnry (Sat. – Mon.)

Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge
Screenings Resume September 9.

Hollywood Hits Theatre, Danvers
Grizzly Man
Broken Flowers
March of the Penguins
2046

Landmark Theatres
Kendall Square, Cambridge
The Constant Gardener
The Memory of a Killer
The Tunnel
2046
Grizzly Man
Junebug
The Aristocrats
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Me and You and Everyone We Know

Embassy Cinema, Waltham
Pretty Persuasion
2046
Asylum
Broken Flowers
Murderball
Mad Hot Ballroom
March of the Penguins

Loew’s Harvard Square, Cambridge
Pretty Persuasion
Broken Flowers
March of the Penguins
An Unfinished Life (Sat. & Sun.)

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Music on Film
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Fri., Sat., Wed., & Thu.)
Accordian Tribe (Sun.)
The Films of Louis Malle
The Lovers (Fri. & Thu.)
Zazie in the Metro (Sat)
The Fire Within (Sat.)
Elevator to the Gallows (Sun.)
Lancombe Lucien (Sun. & Wed.)
Murmur of the Heart (Thu.)
Croation Cinema
Witnesses (Sat.)
Argentinian Theatre
Felicidades

The Newburyport Screening Room, Newburyport
Broken Flowers

West Newton Cinema, West Newton
The Aristocrats
The Constant Gardener
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Grizzly Man
Paper Clips
The Memory of a Killer
Ladies in Lavender

COMING SOON!

September Events from The Boston Jewish Film Festival

We are very pleased to copresent Louis Malle’s classic LACOMBE, LUCIEN in retrospective of the director’s work,September 4 and September 7 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

ReelPass Video Bash kicks off our new programming for 20s and 30s, September 8 at Tonic Bar!’

Be sure you receive your 2005 Boston Jewish Film Festival brochure!’Update your address NOW.

See www.bjff.org for details on our upcoming events

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Two films in the Louis Malle Retrospective presented by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge

Sun, Sep 4, 3:15 pm
Wed, Sep 7, 7:30 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
LACOMBE, LUCIEN
Louis Malle
France/West Germany/Italy, 1974, 137 min., French with English subtitles

Few films about the German Occupation of France have had the moral force and clarity of LACOMBE, LUCIEN, a disquieting portrait of a young peasant, desperate for social acceptance, who is rejected by the Resistance for his lack of commitment. He turns to the Nazis, who find his casual amorality and instinct for survival useful and attractive. Soon an expert in hunting down and torturing people for the Gestapo, he falls in love with a Jewish girl, failing to recognize the moral dilemma this incurs. “A knockout. Without ever mentioning the subject of innocence and guilt, LACOMBE, LUCIEN, in its calm leisurely way, addresses it on a deeper level than any other movie I know” (Pauline Kael).

Tickets are $8 for MFA and BJFF members, seniors, and students; $9 for general admission.’Tickets may be purchased in advance at 617-369-3306 or atwww.mfa.org/film

Next week in this series:

Sun, Sep 11, 1:30 pm, with an introduction by Chloe Malle, daughter of the director Thu, Sep 15, 6 pm Museum of Fine Arts, Boston AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS

For details on the full Malle Retrospective series, see www.mfa.org/film

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Especially for audiences in their 20s and 30s:

ReelPass Video Bash
Come party with the Boston Jewish Film Festival!
September 8, 2005, 6:30-9pm
The Tonic Bar, 1316 Commonwealth Ave. Allston, MA (This event is 21+)

Join us for a night of cocktails, hors d’oeurves, giveaways, film shorts, music, and more, as we introduce our new ReelPass!

$40:’Gets you admission to the Tonic party and 1 drink ticket PLUS your ReelPass -a flexible 3-film pass that includes an exclusive invitation to a cocktail reception during the 2005 Boston Jewish Film Festival (November 2-13).

$15 in advance/$20 at the door: Gets you admission to the Tonic party and 1 drink ticket (ReelPass may be purchased separately at the party for an additional $25)

Buy online at http://www.ticketweb.com/user/?region=ma&query=detail&event=627514&interface= or Call 617-244-9899 for more information and to reserve your space NOW.

Not in your 20s or 30s?’Send this notice to someone who is.’And don’t worry ‘ we’ve got plenty of programming for you, too!

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Make sure you receive your Festival brochure!

The 2005 Boston Jewish Film Festival brochure will be available in early October.’Make sure you receive yours ‘ if you’ve moved in the last year, update your address with us by calling 617-244-9899, or email us at info@bjff.org

Know someone who should receive our brochure that’s not on our list?’Let them know to contact us now to sign up!

The schedule will also be available at our website starting October 3.

Michael R. Colford
Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, President

It’s an exciting day when the schedule for the Toronto International Film Festival is announced. That day was yesterday, and I have already put together my master schedule for the week. Each year, while planning the trip to the festival, we always have to decide how long we want to stay. This is our longest stay for the festival, leaving Boston on Thursday morning, September 8, and returning on Thursday evening, September 15. A week seems like a good length of time. We are usually okay with missing the last two days of the festival (which wraps on Saturday, September 17) because, after all, it’s just two days. Well this year, I am greatly disappointed.

Perhaps the single film I was most excited about seeing in Toronto was Tsai Ming Liang’s THE WAYWARD CLOUD. The master director of WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? and GOOD BYE DRAGON INN returns with a surreal musical about a porn star. Does it get any better? I wonder what it would take to extend the trip an additional couple of days? We’ll have to ponder that.

(And if you’re wondering if this blog is going to discuss anything other than the Toronto International Film Festival; don’t worry, there are 6 other posters/writers for this blog and they’ll start posting soon!)

Twelve days to go before the Opening Night of the Toronto International Film Festival. Last Tuesday the list of films was published on the website. This is one of a series of ever-escalating little thrills until I plant my butt in the first movie theatre in Toronto. The list of films isn’t all that useful as a planning tool; it merely lists titles and directors, no synopses, dates or times. The real pre-Toronto jackpot comes next Tuesday when the complete schedule is released. That’s when the brief mania of seeing what I want to see when occurs. It’s also the time when films directed and starring people I’ve never heard of become contenders after reading synopses. Still, this year I’m borrowing a trick from my ever-organized Scot, and creating my own spreadsheet of potential films to see.

My list consists of 37 films in this early stage. A very reasonable list for a festival that will be screening over 350 films total. This list will surely grow when next Tuesday’s schedule is released, before being brutally whittled down to something slightly resembling a workable schedule. Of course, all this planning is tossed out the window once we arrive.

Here are some of the highlights that I’m very excited about. I have a general rule that I don’t see Galas. Those a the big, splashy premieres with red carpets, lots of stars, 600+ seat theatres, etc. Gala films sell out fairly quickly, and they are the type of film that are often released soon after the festival. This year, Atom Egoyan‘s latest work, WHERE THE TRUTH LIES, is a gala screening. A few years ago I missed ARARAT, which was the opening night film. This is my opportunity to see Atom & Arsinee (photo left) to introduce the film and hold a Q&A afterwards. WHERE THE TRUTH LIES is struggling with an NC-17 rating in ths states, and this could be a rare opportunity to see the film uncut. Atom Egoyan is my favorite filmmaker, so if there’s ever a gala I should attempt, it’s this one. Atom’s gala will be held on Tuesday, September 13 at 9:30, and tickets are available online beginning today. I think I’ll try to get me some.

Almost more exciting is THE WAYWARD CLOUD, the new film by Tsai Ming Liang, who is close behind Egoyan in terms of filmmakers whose work I won’t miss. Tsai will be in attendance, which is very exciting, and THE WAYWARD CLOUD, in addition to starring his two regulars from WHAT TIME IS IT THERE? is a musical. Wowee! Who could possibly resist?

Other favorite filmmakers whose films will be screened include: Majid Majidi (BARAN), Zhang Yang (QUITTING), Wan Xiaoshuai (BEIJING BICYCLE), Jim McKay (OUR SONG), Michael Haneke (THE PIANO TEACHER), Thom Fitzgerald (THE HANGING GARDEN), Guay Maddin (THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD) and so many more.

Recently someone asked me how I chose from the enormous list of films. As I was looking through this year’s list it became fairly evident. My first criteria is filmmaker. There are certain filmmakers whose work I will always try to see. Cast members are usually next in line. Certain actors are a draw to seeing a film despite the subject matter. Synopses are important, of course, (although not as important as the filmmaker) and an intriguing story will often influence my decision to see a film. (This is often the only factor when deciding upon Documentaries.) Finally, when I am in Toronto, country of origin becomes a factor. I do my best to see as many Canadian films as possible at the festival, then fill out the rest of my choices with a list that is as international as possible given the other criteria.

Of course, Toronto also means seeing some of our friends in Toronto. I’m looking forward to seeing Marilyn (Phil’s new film CAPOTE will be screened), Wiebke, Kish, and possibly Daniel (who will be appearing in a film called WHOLE NEW THING that he also wrote.) Also part of the fun this year will be sharing the experience with good friends and family, especially those who have never been to the festival!

More festival news to come!

Hello Everyone,

How ironic that one of the last Chlotrudis Monday Night at the Movies films that I will see before heading off to Toronto is a film that I missed at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival and has just now been released. Join us for the 8:10 screening of Jia Zhangke’s THE WORLD at the Kendall Square Cinema. Rest up for this one as it starts a little later than usual, but it also means we can take our time having dinner! We’ll have a relaxed evening of dining at Doyle’s Irish Pub beginning at 6 p.m. Plenty of time to eat and chat before the film!

A beautiful young dancer (Zhao Tao) and her security-guard boyfriend (Cheng Taisheng) work at World Park, a bizarre cross-pollination of Las Vegas and Epcot Center where visitors can interact with famous international monuments without ever leaving the Bejing suburbs. Lavish shows are performed daily amongst replicas of the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, St. Mark’s Square, Big Ben and the Pyramids. Working beyond the theme park kitsch, acclaimed filmmaker Jia Zhangke’s (Unknown Pleasures) funniest, most inventive film to date casts a compassionate eye on the daily loves, friendships and desperate dreams of these provincial workers. (Fully subtitled)
Director: Jia Zhangke

Cast: Chen Taisheng, Jiang Zhong-wei, Jing Jue, Wang Yi-qun, Zhao Tao

If ever there was a classic films to see at the Brattle, Bernardo Bertollucci’s THE CONFORMIST is the one. It has long been unavailable on video or DVD, and the Brattle is playing it all next week! I will be doing my best to catch that some time this week, so watch your e-mail. Or go when you get a chance! It comes in at #141 on the Chlotrudis 200 for 2000 list, and that’s with limited availability!

Finally, having just finished Wong Kar Wai’s DAYS OF BEING WILD on DVD and loving it, I must remind you again to catch 2046 at the Kendall Square Cinema while it’s there! Remember, Wong Kar Wai’s IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE tied for Best Movie several years ago, and 2046 is a sequel. Don’t you want to revisit that world?

That’s it for this week.
See you at the movies!

Playing this week, August 26 – September 1.

Brattle Theatre, Cambridge
Special Engagement
The Conformist

Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline
Broken Flowers
Murderball
March of the Penguins
Me and You and Everyone We Know
Midnite Movies!
Shaft (Fri. & Sat.)
SCUL: Operation Super Posi (Fri.)
An Evening with PUPPETMASTER JAKE (Sat.)
Cedlebrating the 70’s
The French Connection (Mon.)
Special One Year Anniversary Show
THE BEST OF OPEN SCREEN (Tue.)

FEI Theatres Capitol Theatre, Arlington
Mad Hot Ballroom
Crash (ineligible)

Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge
Screenings Resume September 9.

Hollywood Hits Theatre, Danvers
Grizzly Man
Broken Flowers
March of the Penguins

Landmark Theatres
Kendall Square, Cambridge
Bomb the System
The World
2046
Grizzly Man
Junebug
The Aristocrats
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Me and You and Everyone We Know

Embassy Cinema, Waltham
2046
Asylum
Broken Flowers
Junebug
Murderball
Mad Hot Ballroom
March of the Penguins

Loew’s Harvard Square, Cambridge
The Brothers Grimm
Asylum
Broken Flowers
March of the Penguins

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Music on Film
Brass on Fire (Fri. & Sat.)
M’ Cubana (Sat.)
Paraiso (Sun.)
Accordion Tribe (Wed.)
Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Thu.)
Croation Cinema
Witnesses (Fri. – Sun. & Wed.)
Cinema India
Hari Om (Sun.)
The Films of Louis Malle
Elevator to the Gallows (Thu.)
Argentinian Cinema
Lost Embrace (Sun. & Thu.)

The Newburyport Screening Room, Newburyport
March of the Penguins

West Newton Cinema, West Newton
The Aristocrats
My Date with Drew
The Beat That My Heart Skipped
Finding Home
Grizzly Man
Paper Clips
My Summer of Love
Ladies in Lavender
Walk on Water

COMING SOON!

September Events from The Boston Jewish Film Festival

We are very pleased to copresent the classic films LACOMBE, LUCIEN’and’AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS’in a retrospective of films by Louis Malle, September 1-October 4 at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge

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Two films in the LOUIS MALLE Retrospective presented by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and the Harvard Film Archive in Cambridge Sun, Sep 4, 3:15 pm
Wed, Sep 7, 7:30 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
LACOMBE, LUCIEN
Louis Malle
France/West Germany/Italy, 1974, 137 min., French with English subtitles

A film of moral force and clarity set during the German Occupation of France, LACOMBE, LUCIEN is a disquieting portrait of a young peasant, desperate for social acceptance, who is rejected by the Resistance for his lack of commitment. He turns to the Nazis, who find his casual amorality and instinct for survival useful and attractive. Soon an expert in hunting down and torturing people for the Gestapo, he falls in love with a Jewish girl, failing to recognize the moral dilemma this incurs. “A knockout. Without ever mentioning the subject of innocence and guilt, LACOMBE, LUCIEN , in its calm leisurely way, addresses it on a deeper level than any other movie I know” (Pauline Kael).

‘
Sun, Sep 11, 1:30 pm
Thu, Sep 15, 6 pm
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
AU REVOIR LES ENFANTS
Louis Malle
France, 1987, 104 min., French with English subtitles

Few films have more effectively revealed the day-to-day atmosphere of the Nazi occupation of France, the suspicions and fears and misplaced glances that can suddenly bring on disaster. This moving tour de force takes place in the winter of 1944 as Julien and his schoolmates prepare for a new semester at their Catholic boarding school. Three new students are admitted, and one of them, Jean, becomes Julien’s roommate. Circling each other warily, the boys become friends; Jean is bright and talented but seems to be harboring a secret. The eventual revelation of that secret’surely one of the most powerful sequences in Malle’s entire body of work’will not only rob Julien of his childhood but, the film implies, will decisively shape the man he will
eventually become.

Tickets are $8 for MFA and BJFF members, seniors, and students; $9 for general admission.’Tickets may be purchased in advance at 617-369-3306 or at www.mfa.org/film

For details on the full Malle Retrospectivve series, see www.mfa.org/film

Series co-presented by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy, working with the Film Society at Lincoln Center. Special thanks to Sarah Finklea, Janus Films and Paul Ginsburg, Universal Films.

Michael R. Colford
Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, President

Around this time, I start to get very excited about the impending Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). In just 18 days, Scot and I will be flying to my favorite country in the world to spend a week immersed in film. Every few days a new press release is issued from TIFF listing additional films that will be playing during the fest’s 11 day event. Already new films by Atom Egoyan, Tsai Ming Liang, Deepa Mehta, Daniel MacIvor, and Zhang Yang have been announced, and the list just keeps growing longer. In two short days, the complete list of films will be revealed, and one week after that, the schedule will be revealed. That’s when the real mania takes over.

After a day or two of excitement bordering on panic, I will reach the zen stage, knowing that everything will work out, I have done the festival many times in the past, and it always goes very smoothly. This year Chlotrudis is travelling with a group of nearly 20, taking over the Jarvis House Bed & Breakfast. Besides seeing a large amount of international films, there are two things that I know I will be doing. One is queueing up each morning at the main box office to get our group’s tickets for the day, something I really enjoy doing. That’s me (see photo left) in line at an amazingly early hour on a Sunday morning waiting for the main box office to open. The other thing I am going to try my best to do, is to blog here each day with what’s going on at TIFF. Whether that be hanging out in the Four Seasons lobby picking out celebrities with Marilyn, or having lunch with writer/director Wiebke von Carolsfeld, you’ll read about it here. Who knows, I might get some other Chlotrudis members to share their impressions as well.