Wednesday, November 15, 2023
France  2022
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 9:00 pm

Director: Marie Castille Mention-Scharr
Cast:  Oulaya Amamra, Nina El Arabi, Niels, Arestrup
Running time:  110 minutes
Language: French with English Subtitles 

Awards: Stony Brook Film Festival: Special Recognition; Nomination: Odesa International Film Festival: Golden Duke Award, Marie Castille Mention-Scharr

Based on a true story, “Divertimento” tells the tale of how talented twin sisters, musical prodigies, challenged the norms of the French cultural society, to establish an orchestra for young musicians regardless of backgrounds in their home town of Stains, a working class district of Paris.

It’s 1995. Zahia, a viola player and Fettouma Ziouani, a cellist, are accepted in Lycée Racine in Paris where they are immediately confronted by class inequality and sexism. Having graduated from the Conservatoire de Pantin where their school mates were working class from diverse backgrounds, the girls encounter fellow students who are well off and Caucasian, sporting lineage of famous musicians. The girls don’t fit in easily.  

Zahia harbours ambitions of becoming a conductor, an unlikely goal for a working class female, creating her own hill to climb. Anything the girls do, including introducing diverse musical compositions, is met with derision, led by the taunting Lambert, the school’s star conductor. 

Zahia is relieved to be taken under of the wing of maestro Sergiu Celibidache, whom she’s dreamed of studying under. However, his socialist sympathies do not extend to women’s rights. In front of the class, he tells Zahia that conducting isn’t a profession for women. But seeing her potential and drive, he takes her in his private class, along with her sister.

The girls remain ostracized. In defiance of this, the 17-year-olds attempt to set up a symphony in Stains, despite the dismissive mayor. Several students from both the girls’ schools join up. Zahia cultivates a collaborative environment as opposed to the competitiveness of Lycée. 

An upcoming competition may determine the validity of Zahia’s vision, as they try to make a defining statement about race, gender and class in French culture.  

Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Canada  2022
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Carly Stone
Cast:  Sarah Gadon, Amanda Fix, River Price-Maenpaa, Robert Carlyle, Janet Porter
Running time:  90 minutes
Language: English 

Nominations: Calgary International Film Festival: Emerging Artist, Carly Stone; The Joey Awards Vancouver: Best Leading Performer in a Feature Film, River Price-Maenpaa; Windsor International Film Festival: WIFF Prize in Canadian Film, Carly Stone; CAFTCAD Awards: Best Costume Design.

“A lovely and engaging film elevated by strong performances.”—Kim Hughes, Original Cin

Based on Cea Sunrise Person’s memoir, Carly Stone’s accomplished “North of Normal” recounts the author’s tumultuous, unconventional childhood. In the 1970s, Cea’s hippie grandparents, Grandpa Dick (Robert Carlyle) and Grandma Jeanne (Janet Porter), flee the repressive climes of the United States for the untrammeled wilds of Alberta and British Columbia with Cea and her teenage mother, Michelle (Sarah Gadon), in tow. 

Surrounded by perma-stoned adults acting with little regard for any conventions (especially sexual ones), Cea lives a blissfully ignorant, near idyllic life. But when Michelle tires of her father’s criticisms, mother and daughter find themselves living nomadically on the margins of society.

Caught between her desire to lead a more conventional life (possibly with heat and running water) and her deep but troubled attachments to her mother and grandparents, Cea struggles to relate to more hidebound human beings.

Michelle’s relationship with her parents has poisoned her romantic pursuits, and she’s often appallingly oblivious to how her bad romances impact Cea. Meanwhile, despite his anti-establishment rhetoric, Grandpa Dick doesn’t hold to the loftiest concepts. He hooks up with almost every woman who joins his commune, ostensibly to educate them in the group’s values. Still, the film observes the family members’ affection for one another, even when it’s marred by fully baked ideology, selfishness, insecurity, or psychological damage.

Stone directs with energy and compassion, eliciting fine performances from her excellent cast, especially Gadon, whose Michelle invariably and often perilously wears her heart on her sleeve, and River Price-Maenpaa and Amanda Fix who play Cea as child and teenager, respectively. Exuberant and empathetic, “North of Normal” explores how principles and family can lead you astray and can also provide long-lasting succor.

Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Ireland  2023
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Colm Bairéad
Cast:  Carrie Crowley, Andrew Bennett, Catherine Clinch
Running time: 95 minutes
Language: English 

London Critics Circle Awards: Best Foreign Language Film; Berlin International Film Festival: Best Feature Film; Dublin International Film Festival: Discovery Award-Director, Audience Award; Denver International Film Festival: Best Narrative Film; 21 other wins; Academy Award Nomination: Best International Feature, 31 other nominations; 

“The first Irish language film to be nominated for a foreign language Academy Award, "The Quiet Girl" is a small, humane gem.”—James Verniere, Boston Herald

“The Quiet Girl” marks an impressive debut by director and scriptwriter Colm Bairéad.  
Based on the novel, ‘Foster’ the 2010 novel by award-winning Irish author Claire Keegan, the film is told through the eyes of a nine-year-old Cáit (extraordinary Catherine Clinch), “The Quiet Girl” is coming-of-age tale set in rural Ireland in 1981, spoken almost entirely in the Irish language. 

Cáit lives a rundown farm with her drinker/womanizing dad, harried mum and two older sisters and baby brother. Upon the expected birth of yet another sibling, Cáit is sent away to live with a distant cousin, Eibhlín (Carrie Crowley), and her husband Séan (Andrew Bennett). They are also farmers but they are far more industrious than Cáit’s ne’er-do-well Da. 

While chatting with Cáit Eibhlín, declares, “There are no secrets in this house;” Cáit will indeed stumble upon something disturbing, no thanks to a meddling neighbour.  By summer’s end, Cáit’s mom has given birth. The now changed ‘quiet girl’ has to return to her unhappy home.
​
“The Quiet Girl” is a remarkable first film, comprised of small moments and gradual awakenings. Momentous occurrences do happen, minus melodramatic flourishes. Much of the film is shot from the child’s point of view so in some scenes adults are obscured by car seats etc. Cáit witnesses other scenes she doesn’t understand, so we aren’t privy to the context of the shot. This is Bairéad’s method of illustrating how a child interprets what happens around her. Aside from amazing young Clinch, Carrie Crowley and Andrew Bennett are excellent as a lovely but quietly despairing people. Despite life’s bruises, they have managed to keep faith and hope alive.

“The Quiet Girl” is a profoundly moving film. It is a rare thing: a movie that manages to impart a great deal of emotion and understanding while not saying very much at all. 
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Wednesday, October 11, 2023
United Kingdom 2023
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Thaddeus O’Sullivan
Cast:  Maggie Smith, Kathy Bates, Agnes O’Casey, Laura Linney, Stephen Rea
Running time: 91 minutes
Language: English 

“The film succeeds mainly because of a flawless ensemble, among whom viewers can put their faith in the eternally dependable Smith stealing the movie.”—David Stratton, The Australian

The setting is Ballygar, a working class suburb of Dublin, 1967. Lily (Maggie Smith) and Eileen (Kathy Bates) are lifelong friends. It is a close community where gossip reigns, and grudges go on for generations. Beneath the surface lies a yearning for relief from day to day drudgeries. 

One day, good fortune smiles upon Lily, Eileen, and their younger friend Dolly (Agnes O’Casey) when, through a talent contest, they win tickets to Lourdes, the pilgrimage site in France, a place the women have all been longing to visit. 

Each woman is looking for a miracle. Eileen has found a lump in her breast, but tells nobody. Her husband (Stephen Rea) and a batch of children provide wearying burdens. Lily can't get over the death of her son Declan, who drowned many years before. Dolly's young son cannot (or won't?) speak, and Dolly hopes for a cure.

Tension arises when Chrissie (Laura Linney) returns to town for her mother’s funeral. She's been gone from the town for decades, but some bad blood seems to be simmering among the women. Through various coincidences, Chrissie joins the trio in going off to Lourdes, praying for personal, physical, and spiritual saviours.

Director O’Sullivan directs in an unhurried fashion, in keeping with the pace of life in a small town. The cinematography offers beautiful landscapes with towering cliffs and jagged rocks contrasted against the cozy blocks of village homes. The buildings all look authentic, weathered but warm, conjuring a palpable, homey atmosphere. .  

At Lourdes, secrets and grudges come to a head. Some plot predictability is forgiven by watching these actresses at work. Smith is in typically fine form, confronting her personal demons. Miracles may be found in a higher entity or in relationships or in one’s own personal resolve. Minor miracles may come but in ways each lady never anticipated.    

Wednesday, September 27, 2023
South Korea 2023
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director:  Celine Song
Cast:  Greta Lee, Teo Yoo, John Magaro
Running time: 106 minutes
Language: Korean with English subtitles

Hollywood Critics Awards: Best Independent Film, Best Actress (Greta Lee), Best Screenplay (Celine Song); Golden Trailer Awards: Best Romance. Eight other nominations

“Past Lives is quietly powerful – an understated examination of longing, connection, and unconsummated love.”—James Berardinelli, Reelviews

Two deeply connected childhood friends, Nora (Greta Lee) and Hae Sung (Teo Yoo), fatefully reunite in New York City after being wrested apart 20 years ago, in this decades-spanning romance from writer-director Celine Song. 

The story begins in South Korea, where 12-year-old Nora is preparing to emigrate with her family to Canada. But she is leaving someone dear behind: Hae Sung, her closest friend. Twelve years later, Nora (Greta Lee) has relocated from Toronto to New York to pursue her dreams of being a playwright. 

Eventually, with the help of the internet, Nora finds Hae Sung and rekindles their friendship over Skype. But with 6,000 miles persistently separating them, they lose their connection again as they once did as children. More time passes, and the two friends — now in their 30s — reunite in person in New York. 

By this time, Nora is married to a writer named Arthur (John Magaro) and Hae Sung is newly out of a long-term relationship. Nora shows Hae Sung the city as they elegantly dance around their past and the fated nature of their relationship. 

The ties between two people over the course of their lives are expressed beautifully and succinctly in a single Korean word: in-yeon. “Past Lives” is a delicately layered triptych that confronts destiny, love, and the choices that shape a life. Song’s graceful romance is about the acceptance of loss that becomes a defining part of adulthood.

Wednesday, April 12, 2023
Living    United Kingdom
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director:  Oliver Hermanus
Cast: Bill Nighy, Amy Lou Wood, Alex Sharp
Running Time: 102 minutes
Language: English 

Awards: British Independent Film Awards: Best Production Design; Hollywood Music in Media Awards:  Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards: Best Actor (Bill Nighy);  Cameriaimage Awards: Best Cinematography; National Board of Review: Top 10 Independent Films; Palm Springs International Film Festival: Best Actor (Bill Nighy); Virginia Film Festival: Best Narrative Feature.  38 nominations

“Bill Nighy delivers a master class in acting as a stifled Brit bureaucrat who decides to seize the day before it's too late. Working in miniature to achieve major truths, this deeply human drama has the power to sneak up and knock you sideways.”—Peter Travers, ABC News 

In this exquisitely realized remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 film Ikiru, director Oliver Hermanus teams with Nobel- and Booker Prize–winning author Kazuo Ishiguro to renew a classic.

Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy) is a buttoned-down, pinstripe- and-bowler hat–clad stereotypical English gentleman in 1952, with a mid-level bureaucratic job in a postwar London county council. Through his taciturn manner, Mr. Williams lets his staff (which includes Aimee Lou Wood, Sex Education) know that maintaining the status quo on files is more important than progress.

One day Williams receives a dire diagnosis from his doctor and soon the tightly held reins of his very prosaic life begin to loosen. We discover he is a widower, estranged from his only son, with few friends and fewer interests. Williams realizes that he isn’t facing death; he’s been living it. And so, in the clumsy manner of one who is unpracticed in these things, he begins putting work aside for new experiences. 

In charmingly awkward sequences, Nighy beautifully captures that specific lead-up to the end of life and the inevitably accompanying questions: did I accomplish anything? Will I leave anything behind?

While the heart of the film is Nighy’s understated lead performance, equally as masterful is the profound sense of time and place created by the craft elements, notably production design by Helen Scott and costume design by the multiple Oscar–winning Sandy Powell. 

It’s all captured on screen by cinematographer Jamie Ramsay (Mothering Sunday), who deeply impresses with his creation of beautiful images filled with light. Mr. Williams would be pleased.

Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Close   Belgium, Netherlands, France, 2022
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director:  Lukas Dhont
Cast: Eden Dambrine, Gustav De Waele, Émile Dequenee, Lėa Drucker 
Running Time: 105 minutes
Language: French with English subtitles 

Awards: Academy Award Nomination, Best International Feature; Cannes Grand Prize: Lukas Dhont; Chicago International Film Festival: Director’s Award, Best Feature Award; 
Monclair Film Festival: Performance, Eden Dambrine; Morelia International Film Festival: Best International Film; National Board of Review: Best International Film; Seville European Film Festival: Best Actor (Eden Dambrine), Grand Jury Award:  29 other wins, 62 other nominations.

“Dhont tells a familiar story in what feels like a fresh and urgently new way, with sensitivity, sadness and promising glimmers of hope.”—Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

In rural Belgium, two 13-year-old boys, Léo (Eden Dambrine) and Rémi (Gustav De Waele), are best friends who exhibit a deeply intimate affection for one another. They have a habit of sleeping next to each other in the same bed in Rémi's bedroom, though nothing sexual occurs. 

Rémi's parents, Sophie and Peter, accept this without judgment and love Léo like a second child. Léo's family also helps run agricultural work at a flower farm, where Léo and Rémi also like to play together.

After a carefree summer together, the two boys start high school and find themselves in the same class. But soon taunts are directed towards the boys by classmates who notice their intimacy. 

Wanting to avoid being ostracized, Leo begins new friendships and takes up ice hockey, from which he deliberately excludes Rémi. Over the school year, Léo becomes progressively distant from Rémi, despite Rémi's attempts at interaction. 

The chasm widens between the boys, leaving Remi immensely upset. As young teenagers, they don’t understand their feelings or comprehend why they even have them. Confused and distraught, Remi confronts Leo. A physical confrontation ensues, further widening the gulf between the two friends.

The movie is heartbreaking precisely because it proves that even teenagers are capable of intense emotional feelings even if they don’t know what those feelings are. 

There is loss, leaving families to mourn and share in grief, and a coming to terms. 

Director Lukas Dhont carefully and thoughtfully examines physical and emotional closeness between boys, and the role of fragility in masculinity, in this touching coming-of-age portrait of friendship, heartbreak, and healing.  Young Dambrine and de Waele give credible, touching performances that will not be easily forgotten.

Wednesday, March 8, 2023
Aftersun    United Kingdom
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director:  Charlotte Wells
Cast: Paul Mescal, Frankie Corio, Celia Rowlson-Hall
Running Time: 99 minutes
Language: English 
Rating:  R

Awards: Boston Society of Film Critics Awards: Best New Filmmaker, Best Editing; National Society of Film Critics: Best Director; Palm Springs International Film Society: Directors to Watch award; Toronto Film Critics Association Awards: Best Picture, Director, Actor.  47 wins  127 nominations

“Aftersun cuts you in two with such emotional intensity, such impressive dramatic force, that I could only sit and fight back the inevitable tears.”—Barry Hertz, Globe and Mai

Brimming with warmth and the ache of cherished memory, Scottish writer-director Charlotte Wells’ feature debut is a quiet revelation. Recalling a father–daughter journey to a Turkish seaside resort some 20 years after the fact, Aftersun employs the gentlest touch yet leaves an indelible mark.

Though Calum (Paul Mescal, Carmen) is 30 and his daughter Sophie (Frankie Corio) just 11, they occasionally get mistaken for siblings. This is because of Calum’s baby face, but also his playful attitude: the pair really get along. Having split from Sophie’s mum, and having left their Edinburgh home for England, Calum knows how precious their time together is. 

Whether hanging by the pool, taking excursions on the sea, or shopping for carpets, Calum encourages Sophie’s abundant curiosity… until he doesn’t. Every now and then, with their Mini-DV camera in hand, Sophie makes enquiries that Calum won’t accommodate.

Fleeting glimpses of adult Sophie (Celia Rowlson-Hall) remind us whose perspective animates Aftersun, something underlined by Wells’ elegant weave of Sophie’s DV footage and the film’s gorgeous 35mm imagery.

So much about Wells’ approach to sound and image feels intimate, yet never intrusive — the inner life of her characters remains mysterious without being portentous. In this regard, Aftersun is a showcase not only for Wells, but also for her actors. Corio’s Sophie is wondrously alert to everything going on around her, and Mescal, so memorable in his recent roles in The Lost Daughter and Normal People, is magnetic in his first big-screen lead. It won’t be his last.

Wednesday, February 22, 2023
Decision to Leave      South Korea
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 9:15 pm

Director: Park Chan-Wook
Cast: Park Hae-il, Tang Wei, Lee Jung-hyun
Running Time: 138 minutes
Language: Korean with English subtitles

Awards: Austin Film Critics Association: Best International Film; Cannes Film Festival: Best Director; Chicago Film Critics Association Awards: Best Foreign Language Film, Best Cinematography; National Board of Review: Top 5 International Awards; Korean Association of Film Critics Awards: Best Actress, Tang Wei. 34 wins, 188 nominations

“Every frame is like a painting, with hints to character motivation and plot twists.” Peter Howell, Toronto Star

After his dazzling Vengeance Trilogy (Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy, and Lady Vengeance) drew genre film fans into a world of graphic hyper-violence and powerful dark passions, Park Chan-wook elevated the tone and style of his suspense thrillers with The Handmaiden. He’s brought that same refined elegance to his latest seductive masterwork, and we can only be grateful.

Decision to Leave is an exceptional love story and a sublime noir thriller that invites the audience not to seek a culprit or a solution to the riddles proposed by the plot but to get lost in a mesmerizing tangle of tension, slow-burning desire and subtle emotions. The resulting experience is a personal and highly satisfying immersion in pure cinema.

Everything starts with a fall. A man who was climbing a mountain is found dead, crashed on the ground. Tragedy? Suicide? Homicide? Handsome detective Hae-jun (Park Hae-il) investigates the mystery. He is a gentle man, happily married and devoted to his work, the youngest inspector in Busan, a city of unsolved cases where crime rides high.

Making the case even smokier is Seo-rae (Tang Wei), the elusive, charismatic, and impossibly attractive Chinese wife of the deceased, whose charm creeps under Hae-jun’s skin. In ways he could have never envisioned, their broken conversations — deciphered through smart phone translations, her composed gestures, and mysterious allure — upset his life little by little, making him fall mentally and emotionally.

Wei’s performance intrigues and captivates, her black-widow role seemingly tailored to her magnetic personality, shining in the splendid work of indisputable Korean master Park.

Wednesday, February 8, 2023
The Inspection    USA
Location: SilverCity
Showtimes: 6:30 & 8:30 pm

Director: Elegance Bratton
Cast: Jeremy Pope, Gabrielle Union, Raúl Castillo
Running Time: 95 minutes
Language: English

Advisory: themes of homophobia, violence, sexually suggestive scenes, coarse language

Awards: African-American Film Critics Association (AAFCA), Best Actor, Jeremy Pope; National Board of Review: Top 10 Independent Films; Palm Springs International Film Festival: Directors to Watch. Santa Barbara International Film Festival: Virtuoso Award; Jeremy Pope. Two other wins, 31 nominations

“Jeremy Pope gives a searing performance as the young man lacking direction, with Gabrielle Union a powerful force as the mother who initially disowns him.”---Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

At war with his sense of belonging, Ellis French (Jeremy Pope) is a sensitive young Black man who enlists in the Marine Corps to pull himself out of homelessness and gain the love of his dogged and combatant mother (played by scene-stealing Gabrielle Union). 

While the film takes place in the age of America’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Pursue” policy, which directed that applicants to the military not be asked about sexual orientation, homophobia is deeply entrenched in all aspects of service, from boot camp to battle. 

Once enlisted, French struggles to conceal his sexual identity — as well as his invading attraction to his drill instructor (Raúl Castillo) — while under the watchful eye of the belligerent and hard-lining unit commander (Bokeem Woodbine).

The Inspection is writer-director Elegance Bratton’s retelling of his own incredible story. After being kicked out of his mother’s New Jersey home at the age of 16 for being gay and subsequently living in housing precariously for a decade, he joined the Marines, where he served as a combat cameraman. 

Bratton is ably assisted by his director of photography Lachlan Milne (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Minari, Stranger Things). Emmy and Tony nominee Pope (One Night in Miami) portrays French with exquisite aplomb. Bratton’s powerful fiction debut is a heartfelt love letter to survival and staying true to oneself despite adversity on all fronts.