To all our Film Society members and supporters,
We're proud to present ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD, the new film
by Werner Herzog. This weekend, spontaneous Q&A's and discussions with
David and Tina Pochencko who worked with Herzog in the film.
An important part of Salt Lake Film Society's mission is to foster Utah
filmmakers of tomorrow. Through our Utah Screenwriters Project we work
to create a network of writers that learn the art of storytelling
through the moving image. It is our goal that writers network and form
relationships that foster regional Utah storytelling in cinema. Visiting
guest BARBARA BOYLE will coach the graduating group on moving into the
post-writing phase of being a screenwriter. On behalf of the staff,
volunteers and participants we extend our gratitude to Barbara for her
dedication to Salt Lake Film Society.
Please join us to celebrate writers!
An exciting addition to this years writing graduation will be awarding
one writer with a Short Film Fellowship production grant from Fast Eddie
Productions. This grant will produce a short film based on the chosen
winners' full-length screenplay. The Fellowship short film will premiere
at a Salt Lake Film Society special session of Local Open Mic Nite. This
Short Film Fellowship, in addition to the Writers Fellowship will be
awarded on Thursday, July 31 at 7p.m. at the Broadway Centre Cinemas
during a reading and celebration of the program. The general public is
welcome. Admission is free, and those interested in applying to be
participants in the 2009/2010 Utah Screenwriters Project are urged to
attend. We look forward to celebrating the writer!
This week!
THE WACKNESS
Winner of the Audience Award this year at Sundance this dark comedy
centers around a young drug dealer and his psychiatrist (played
remarkably by Ben Kingsley) in New York City in the summer of '94.
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Legendary filmmaker Werner Herzog directs this stunning portrait that
captures the rarely seen beauty of Antarctica.
**** Roger Ebert-- "It is a poem of oddness and beauty."
Starting at Tower...
BLIND MOUNTAIN
Chinese Cinema Month concludes with this tragic story of a young Chinese
woman sold as the bride of a rural peasant.
***1/2 Los Angeles Times "A beautifully crafted film so compelling as to
make bearable watching the nearly unbearable."
Held Over...
SAVAGE GRACE
Starring Julianne Moore and based on the award-winning novel recounting
the tragic true story of Barbara Daly.
UP THE YANGTZE
**** New York Times "An astonishing documentary of culture clash and the
erasure of history amid China’s economic miracle."
**** Variety "A gloriously cinematic documentary of epic, poetic sadness."
MONGOL
**** New York Times-- "Mongol is a big, ponderous epic, its beautifully
composed landscape shots punctuated by thundering hooves and slow-motion
battle sequences...it is, among other things, a stubborn defense of
old-fashioned, grand-scale moviemaking."
PRICELESS
THE VISITOR
BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER
Ends Thursday 7/24...
WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER?
THE PROMOTION
OPERATION FILMMAKER
Summer of 35mm has is in full swing!
Buy a summer of midnights for one low price of $20 for the young film
lover in your family! Tickets available every Friday and Saturday night
at the Tower!
Our lineup:
July:
THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY
August:
SILENCE OF THE LAMBS
LABYRINTH
DR. STRANGELOVE
CLOCKWORK ORANGE
GOONIES
============================================================
QUICK LOOK at SHOWTIMES -
THIS WEEK:
Thru Thurs July 24
Priceless 7:10, 9:20
Promotion 01:20, 4:25, 9:15
When did You Last See Your Father 01:10, 4:10, 7:05
Savage Grace 01:05, 4:05, 7:15, 9:30
The Visitor 01:15, 4:25, 7:20, 9:35
Up The Yangtze 01:25, 4:15, 7:25, 9:25
Mongol 01:00, 4:00, 7:00, 9:40
Tower Theatre
Operation Filmmaker 4:30, 7:00*(*no 7:00 show on Wed 7/23)
Bigger, Stronger, Faster 9:30
NEXT WEEK
Broadway
FRI 7/25 - THURS 7/31
Priceless 01:20, 4:20, 7:10*, 9:20 (* THU July 31 NO 7:10 PM show
INSTEAD USP Graduation Reading at 7 PM)
Up The Yangtze 01:10, 7:05**(**WED July 30 NO 7:05PM show INSTEAD USP
Pitch Session at 7 PM)
Savage Grace 04:05, 9:30
Wackness 12:55, 3:00, 5:05, 7:10, 9:15
The Visitor 01:15, 4:25, 7:20, 9:35
Encounters at The End of The World 01:05***, 4:10, 7:15, 9:25(***No 1:05
show FRI 7/25)
Mongol 01:00, 4:00, 7:00, 9:40
Tower Theatre
Blind Mountain (2:30 Fri thru Sun only) 4:30, 7:00
Bigger, Stronger, Faster 9:00
MIDNIGHT FRI 7/25 and SAT 7/26 The Good The Bad and The Ugly
=============================================================
TELL ME MORE...PLEASE!
(all star ratings are based on 4 star rating systems)
THE WACKNESS
Written and directed by: Jonathan Levine . Starring: Josh Peck, Sir Ben
Kingsley, Method Man, Mary Kate Olsen, Olivia Thirlby, Famke Janssen,
and Aaron Yoo
The Wackness centers on a troubled high school student named Luke
Shapiro--a teenage pot dealer who forms a friendship with Dr. Jeffrey
Squires, a psychiatrist and kindred lost soul. When the doctor proposes
that Luke trade him weed for therapy sessions, the two begin to explore
both New York City and their own depression.
***1/2 Film Threat
If you have ever experienced the crushing effect of young love, you owe
it to yourself to check out this gem of a dark comedy.
*** USA Today
Both darkly funny and life-affirming, in an offbeat and offhanded way.
ENCOUNTERS AT THE END OF THE WORLD
Directed by: Werner Herzog
Werner Herzog confirms his standing as poet laureate of men in extreme
situations with Encounters at the End of the World. In this visually
stunning exploration, Herzog travels to the Antarctic community of
McMurdo Station, headquarters of the National Science Foundation and
home to eleven hundred people during the austral summer (Oct-Feb). Over
the course of his journey, Herzog examines human nature and Mother
nature, juxtaposing breathtaking locations with the profound, surreal,
and sometimes absurd experiences of the marine biologists, physicists,
plumbers, and truck drivers who choose to form a society as far away
from society as one can get.
**** Roger Ebert
It is a poem of oddness and beauty.
**** New York Times
Like many of Mr. Herzog's movies, fiction and nonfiction, Encounters at
the End of the World itself has the quality of a dream: it's at once
vivid and vague, easy to grasp and somehow beyond reach.
BLIND MOUNTAIN
Written and directed by: Li Yang . Starring: Huang Lu, Yang You'an,
Zhang Yuling, Yunle He, Jia Yinggao, and Zhang Youping
Bax Xuemei is a young college graduate who yearns for a life as a
budding urban capitalist but ends up drugged and sold as the bride of a
rural brute. Beaten and raped by her new husband with the help of his
parents, she tries desperately to escape but is trapped both by the
closed culture and by the very remote location of the village. Unlike
other kidnapped brides, she refuses to accept her fate even when she
becomes pregnant, but her repeated escape attempts lead only to
continuing brutality and betrayal.
***1/2 Los Angeles Times
This is a resolutely tough-minded, beautifully crafted film so
compelling as to make bearable watching the nearly unbearable.
*** New York Times
Blind Mountain is a reminder that art sometimes keeps the truth alive
far better than the news.
SAVAGE GRACE
Directed by: Tom Kalin . Written by: Steven M.L. Aronson (book), Natalie
Robins (book), Howard A. Rodman . Starring: Julianne Moore, Stephen
Dillane, Eddie Redmayne, Unax Ugalde, and Belen Rueda
Savage Grace, based on the award winning book, tells the incredible true
story of Barbara Daly, who married above her class to Brooks Baekeland,
the dashing heir to the Bakelite plastics fortune. Beautiful, red-headed
and charismatic, Barbara is still no match for her well-bred husband.
The birth of the couple's only child, Tony, rocks the uneasy balance in
this marriage of extremes. Tony is a failure in his father's eyes. As he
matures and becomes increasingly close to his lonely mother, the seeds
for a tragedy of spectacular decadence are sown. Spanning 1946 to 1972,
the film unfolds in six acts. The Baekelands' pursuit of social
distinction and the glittering 'good life' propels them across the
globe. We follow their heady rise and tragic fall against the backdrop
of New York, Paris, Cadaques, Mallorca and London.
*** Seattle Post-Intelligencer
...a showcase and offbeat star vehicle for Moore. It's a bravura role
and she brings it off with a chilling malevolence and a strange,
disjointed vulnerability.
UP THE YANGTZE
Written and Directed by: Yung Chang
In China, it is simply known as 'The River.' But the Yangtze—and all of
the life that surrounds it—is undergoing an astonishing transformation
wrought by the largest hydroelectric project in history, the Three
Gorges Dam. Chinese-Canadian director Yung Chang returns to the
gorgeous, now-disappearing landscape of his grandfather’s youth to trace
the surreal life of a “farewell cruise” that traverses the gargantuan
waterway. With a humanist gaze and wry wit Chang’s Upstairs Downstairs
approach captures the microcosmic society of the luxury liner. Below
deck: a bewildered young girl trains as a dishwasher sent to work by her
peasant family, who is on the verge of relocation from the encroaching
floodwaters. Above deck: wealthy international tourists set sail to
catch a last glance of a country in dramatic flux. The teenage employees
who serve and entertain them—tagged with new Westernized names like
“Cindy” and “Jerry” by upper management—warily grasp at the prospect of
a better future. "Up the Yangtze" gives a human dimension to the
wrenching changes facing not only an increasingly globalized China, but
the world at large.
**** Variety
A gloriously cinematic documentay of epic, poetic sadness.
**** New York Times
An astonishing documentary of culture clash and the erasure of history
amid China’s economic miracle.
**** San Francisco Chronicle
Remarkable.
OPERATION FILMMAKER
Written and Directed by: Nina Davenport . Starring: Muthana Mohmed, Liev
Schreiber, Elijah Wood, and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson
When Hollywood gives a young Iraqi film student the opportunity of a
lifetime, nothing goes according to plan, and the result is an engaging,
sometimes comical political parable about do-gooder intentions gone wrong.
***1/2 The Onion
Operation Filmmaker takes a thrilling left turn from its original
conceit, and Davenport does a nice job rolling with the punches.
*** Rolling Stone
This gut punch of a documentary will knock you for a loop.
WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER?
Directed by: Anand Tucker . Written by: Blake Morrison and David
Nicholls . Starring: Colin Firth, Jim Broadbent, Juliet Stevenson, Gina
Mckee, and Sarah Lancashire
When Did You Las See Your Father? is an unflinching exploration of a
father/son relationship, as Blake Morrison deal with his father Arthur’s
terminal illness and imminent death. Blake’s memories of everything
funny, embarrassing and upsetting about his childhood and teen are
interspersed with tender and heartrending scenes in the present, as he
struggles to come to terms with his father and their history of
conflict, and learns to accept that one’s parents are not always
accountable to their children.
***1/2 USA Today
Superbly acted, intelligently written.
***1/2 Chicago Tribune
Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth demonstrate once again the magic and
majesty of finely etched British acting. Backed by a solid support cast,
their performances are deeply felt and cagily detailed.
THE PROMOTION
Written and directed by: Steve Conrad . Starring: ohn C. Reilly, Seann
William Scott, Jenna Fischer, Lili Taylor, Fred Armisen, Gil Bellows,
Bobby Cannavale, and Rick Gonzalez
The Promotion is the story of two mid-level Chicago supermarket
employees – Doug and Richard, a dubious new guy from Canada - who
compete ruthlessly for a coveted managerial post at a new store
location. Doug and Richard could not be more different, but going
head-to-head in a contest of wits and will reveals how they have more in
common than they once suspected. The duo battle toward a hilarious final
showdown that will leave you guessing until the very end.
*** TV Guide
Conrad's script surprises at nearly every turn.
*** ReelViews
It's an enjoyable diversion amidst the big guns of summer.
MONGOL
Written and Directed by: Sergei Bodrov . Starring: Tadanobu Asano
Mongol illuminates the life and legend of Genghis Khan. Based on leading
scholarly accounts and Mongol delves into the dramatic and harrowing
early years of the ruler who was born as Temudgin in 1162. As it follows
Temudgin from his perilous childhood to the battle that sealed his
destiny, the film paints a multidimensional portrait of the future
conqueror, revealing him not as the evil brute of hoary stereotype, but
as an inspiring, fearless and visionary leader. Mongol shows us the
making of an extraordinary man, and the foundation on which so much of
his greatness rested: his relationship with his wife, Borte, his
lifelong love and most trusted advisor.
**** Variety
This Central Asia-set historical epic from Russian helmer Sergei Bodrov
("Nomad") boasts breathtaking landscapes, dazzling cinematography,
bloody battles and unique traditions.
**** New York Times
Mongol -- or, as I prefer to think of it, "Genghis Khan: The Early
Years" -- is a big, ponderous epic, its beautifully composed landscape
shots punctuated by thundering hooves and bloody, slow-motion battle
sequences.
**** Wall Street Journal
I don't know the Mongolian word for panache, but Mongol's got plenty of
it. The battle scenes are as notable for their clarity as their
intensity; we can follow the strategies, get a sense of who's losing and
who's winning. The physical production is sumptuous.
BIGGER, STRONGER, FASTER*
Written and Directed by: Christopher Bell
In America, we define ourselves in the superlative: we are the biggest,
strongest, fastest country in the world. We reward speed, size and above
all else: winning – at sport, at business and at war. Metaphorically we
are a nation on steroids. Is it any wonder that so many of our heroes
are on performance enhancing drugs? Blending comedy and pathos, Bigger,
Stronger, Faster* is a collision of pop culture and first-person
narrative, with a diverse cast including US Congressmen, professional
athletes, medical experts and everyday gym rats. At its heart, this is
the story of director Christopher Bell and his two brothers, who grew up
idolizing muscular giants like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold
Schwarzenegger, and who went on to become members of the
steroid-subculture in an effort to realize their American dream. When
you discover that your heroes have all broken the rules, do you follow
the rules, or do you follow your heroes?
**** Entertainment Weekly
Bigger, Stronger, Faster is a portrait of a culture that claims to hate
steroids but may, by now, be too pumped to do much about it.
**** Variety
More scrupulously reported than your average Michael Moore film but
every bit as entertaining, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is as commercial as
documentaries come.
***1/2 Roger Ebert
This movie is remarkable in that it seems to be interested only in facts.
PRICELESS
Directed by: Pierre Salvadori . Written by: Benoit Graffin Piere
Salvadori . Starring: Gad Elmaleh Audrey Tautou Marie-Christine Adam
Vernon Dobtcheff Jacques Spiesser Annelise Hesme.
Jean, a shy young bartender, is mistaken for a millionaire by a
beautiful, scheming opportunist named Irene. When Irene discovers his
true identity, she abandons him, only to find that love-struck Jean has
no intention of letting her get away. Jean's comical attempts to gain
her affections gradually evolve into setting himself up as a gigolo at a
luxury hotel, until Irene finally starts to warm to her persistent,
persuasive suitor. Against the wildly atmospheric backdrop of the south
of France, Pierre Salvadori directs this sexy and thoroughly charming
romantic comedy, which is a fresh reimagining of the cinema classic
Breakfast at Tiffany's. (Samuel Goldwyn Films)
****The Onion
Unlike Salvadori's previous comedy, 2003's "Après Vous," Priceless is
less preposterous, and more grounded in character.
****Oregonian
It's a fun and attractive ride.
****Los Angeles Times
A cynic is someone who knows the price of everything and the value of
nothing, or so the saying goes, but the unadulterated joy Irène takes in
throwing open the closet door to show Jean how this gold digging is done
is positively infectious.
THE VISITOR
Written and directed by: Thomas McCarthy . Starring: Richard Jenkins,
Oliver Bokelberg, Hiam Abbass, and Maggie Moore
In a world of 6 billion people, it takes only one to change your life.
In actor and filmmaker Tom McCarthy's follow-up to his award-winning
directorial debut "The Station Agent," we get to know Walter Vale, a
disillusioned Connecticut economics professor whose life is transformed
by a chance encounter in New York City. Through newfound connections
with virtual strangers, Walter is awakened to a new world and a new life.
**** Rolling Stone
A heartfelt human drama that sneaks up and floors you.
**** USA Today
It is one of the year's most intriguing dramas, with a quartet of
powerful performances.
**** New York Post
Best movie I've seen so far this year? Hands down, it's Tom McCarthy's
superb The Visitor, which turns Richard Jenkins, one of the best
character actors in the business, into a full-fledged star.
=============================================================
FILMS TO COME
In no particular release order
ROMAN POLANSKI: WANTED AND DESIRED
BRIDESHEAD REVISITED
GONZO
AMERICAN TEEN
BAGHEAD
MY WINNEPEG
THE LAST MISTRESS
And many more....
Our staff here at the Salt Lake Film Society thanks all our supporters.
SLFS takes great care in hiring a staff that has a film history or
knowledge, so feel free to talk with any staff member about up coming
releases and our video collection at the Tower Theatre. They are a
wealth of knowledge and I'm happy to take all e-mail correspondence.
If you would like to volunteer for the Film Society events and earn
passes, please contact Amy Beth Leber at 801-746-0037
We thank you for your continuing support.
Tori Baker
Executive Director
Salt Lake Film Society...film festival all year long!
We do not sell any personal lists or information to any third
party...ever! If you would like to be removed from this list, please
reply to this e-mail. If you could also let us know why we lost you, we
can better serve our community.
Salt Lake Film Society thanks Xmission for their donation of services.
--
Tori Baker
Executive Director
Salt Lake Film Society
tori_baker@???
(801) 364-1088
