SUNDAY OCTOBER 3
CINEVARDAPHOTO + 2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER
OT 301
MONDAY OCTOBER 4
SIMPLE MEN
DE NIEUWE ANITA
TUESDAY OCTOBER 5
THE WORLD
CAVIA
Details for all films below….
________________________________________________________
SUNDAY OCTOBER 3
20:30
CINEVARDAPHOTO (2005)
Directed by Agnes Varda
96 minutes
In French with English subtitles
Agnes Varda is the female counterpart of the French New Wave, but her career has largely been overshadowed because she was a woman. Throughout her life she has always been bold and honest and insightful. She is the director of such great films as Cleo from 5 to 7, The Beaches of Agnes, Vagabond and The Gleaners and I, and its great that she is finally getting some of the recognition that she deserves. But before she turned to film she was a photographer, and in this recent film Varda turns to her photographic roots and explores the medium’s ability to preserve a moment for eternity.
Cinevardaphoto is a film assembled in 2005 by Varda in which she collected together short films made at three different points in her career, all of which are essay-meditations exploring the power and mystery of the photograph. In the first film “Ydessa, The Bears and Etc.” (2004, 43 min.), Varda travels to Berlin to document and comment upon a haunting collection of found photographs taken 100 years ago. “Ulysses” (1982, 21 min.), the dreamy and meditative second short, is from 1982 and focuses on a single photograph (of a naked man at the beach) taken by Varda in 1954 and which she is still fascinated by. The last film is“Salut les Cubains” (1962, 28 min.), an exuberant work using still images to capture the spirit of the Cuban revolution of the 60s. I should also mention that this last film was made in collaboration with Chris Marker (Le Jete, Sans Soleil).
+
22:15
2 OR 3 THINGS I KNOW ABOUT HER
(2 ou 3 choses que je sais d’elle) 1967
Directed by Jean-Luc Godard
87 minutes
In French with English subtitles
In Two or Three Things I Know About Her Jean-Luc Godard beckons us ever closer to our modern existence, literally whispering in our ears as narrator. And about what? Money, sex, fashion, the city, love, language, war: in a word, modern life.
Considered by many to be among the legendary French filmmaker’s finest achievements, this film takes as its ostensible subject the daily life of Juliette, a housewife from the Paris suburbs who prostitutes herself for extra money so she can buy consumer products like washing machines and color television sets. Yet this is only a template for Godard to spin off into provocative philosophical tangents and gorgeous images, in which he reflects on how almost everyone today must prostitute themselves in order to simply exist. Two or Three Things I Know About Her is perhaps Godard’s most revelatory look at consumer culture, shot in ravishing widescreen color by Raoul Coutard with some of the most breathtaking cinematography of all Godard’s cinema.
The film is a piece of philosophy. Its a piece of art. Its a meditation. Its a modern form of agit-prop reflecting the changing city of Paris in 1967, a city building up for a tremendous upheaval in 68.
CINEMA DERIVE
OVERTOOM 301
Time: 20:30 (doors open at 20:00)
Membership 4 Euros for the evening
_____________________________________________________
MONDAY OCTOBER 4
SIMPLE MEN (1992)
Directed by Hal Hartley
107 minutes
In English
Simple Men opens with a robber, Bill (Robert Burke) asking a bound and blindfolded Hispanic security guard if he can take the guard’s Virgin Mary medallion. “Be good to her and she’ll be good to you,” says the guard. From there, Bill and his younger brother Dennis go off in search of their father, an anarchist who committed a bombing many years ago. The only clue is an old phone number on Long Island. So begins this oddball narrative about the strangeness of how fate unfolds.
But plot is never really the point in Hal Hartley movies (Trust, Amateur, Henry Fool)…. it’s just a frame on which to hang odd, beautifully quirky scenes….moments like the two brothers trying to imitate Elina Löwensohn’s dance movements to a Sonic Youth song (see trailer below), or a half-drunken conversation about pop music and self-exploitation. Hartley’s deliberately stilted dialogue and stylized performances are the work of precision. Like David Lynch and Jim Jarmusch he is one of the few independent filmmakers to create their own well-defined cinematic poetry. Its just a shame that unlike Lynch and Jarmusch, Hartley’s films are never really seen these days. This is certainly great, unique and totally un-stereotypical filmmaking at its best.
And once again Hartley assembles a cast of unknown actors who give authenticity to his eccentric characters. The performances of Robert Burke and Martin Donovan (Trust) are riveting, and the Romanian actress Elina Lövensohn (Nadja) shines. Hope to see you there!
The trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7kbD_RaGag
CINEMANITA @ De Nieuwe Anita
Frederik Hendrikstraat 111
Doors open at 19:30
Film starts at 20:30 sharp
Membership- 2.50
_____________________________________________________
TUESDAY OCTOBER 5
THE WORLD ( 世界) 2004
Directed by Jia Zhangke
143 minutes
In jin chinese/mandarin with English subtitles
This film is the fourth feature film from Chinese director Jia Zhangke, and was his international break-out success. One of 2004’s most highly praised pictures, this ravishing epic opens in a rush of color and sound and enthusiasm. Here is the young, new China in action, optimistic and bursting with dreams of freedom.
In this film Jia Zhangke casts a compassionate eye on the young people from China’s remote provinces who come to live and work at Beijing’s World Park….a bizarre cross-cultural mix of Asia and Las Vegas. World Park features lavish shows presented amid surreal replicas of the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, St. Mark’s Square, the Pyramids and even the Twin Towers…..and serves as the backdrop for the central love story which reflects the rapid changes which China is going through.
In this film Globalization is seen in two lights, the first being the hope and thrill of different continents and cultures being able to communicate with each other, the second being the intrinsic danger of social control and the loss of identity. The film is full of poetic flourishes….from its sudden shifts to animation to its clever use of text-messaging and a rapturous electronic music score.
The World is enthralling, with sweeping panoramic landscapes and tragic subplots….in this work acclaimed Chinese director Jia Zhangke surpasses his previous three films with what many consider to be his finest- and most cynical- film to date.
Ciné Interzone
Filmhuis Cavia- Van Hallstraat 52-B
Time: 20:30
Membership for the evening: 3 Euros