Cape Breton Island Film Series » 13 thursdays; 13 great films

Oct 13 — LIFE, ABOVE ALL

Parker — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 02:18:46 +0000

This week’s movie (7 p.m., Thursday, October 13) is an emotional drama about a South African girl who battles the fear and shame that have poisoned her township community.

Stunningly performed by first-time-actress Khomotso Manyaka, Chanda, age 12, bears more responsibility than most adults ever shoulder. When her newborn sister dies, she must shop for a coffin, locate her stepfather, and get to the root of her mother’s mysterious sickness.

Her small, dust-ridden village near Johannesburg is superstitious and rife with gossip. A rumor spreads like wildfire, destroying her family and forcing her mother to flee. Sensing that the gossip stems from prejudice and superstition, Chanda leaves home and school in search of her mother and the truth.

Gorgeously shot, buoyed by a strong musical score, and driven by a fierce narrative realism, LIFE, ABOVE ALL captures the enduring strength of loyalty, and a courage powered by the heart. Directed by South African filmmaker Oliver Schmitz (Mapantsula; Paris, je t-aime), it is based on the international award winning novel Chanda’s Secrets by Allan Stratton.

Please take 30 seconds and rate last week’s movie, THE TRIP.

LIFE, ABOVE ALL plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, October 13, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. Admission $11; Students $7.

Oct 6 — THE TRIP

Parker — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 21:00:04 +0000

London’s Observer newspaper has asked Steve Coogan to tour the country’s finest restaurants, and naturally, he accepts the assignment, expecting his girlfriend to come along. But when Mischa backs out on him, Steve is forced to take along his best friend, Rob Brydon, source of eternal aggravation.

The result is a classic British comedy road trip, which the New Yorker magazine’s Anthony Lane calls “a weirdly addictive joy.”

“Think THE ODD COUPLE with sartorial style and more bickering,” writes the Toronto Star. “Add hints of truisms about middle age, sex, family, mortality and the limits of friendship and The Trip reveals itself to be more than it initially appears.”

THE TRIP plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, October 6, at the Empire Theatres Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. Admission $11, students $7.

And don’t forget to rate last week’s movie, PAGE ONE – A Year in the Life of the New York Times.

Sep 29 — PAGE ONE

Parker — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 21:57:08 +0000

The Internet has surpassed print as our main source of news, and newspapers are going bankrupt everywhere. Against this background, the producers of Page One gained unprecedented access to The New York Times newsroom. Their documentary follows Times reporters, editors, and web geeks as they work to transform the paper at the newspaper industry’s time of greatest turmoil.

Writers like Brian Stelter, Tim Arango, and the salty but brilliant David Carr describe their own paper’s struggle to stay vital and solvent. Meanwhile, their editors and publishers grapple with existential challenges from players like WikiLeaks, new platforms ranging from Twitter to tablet computers, and readers’ expectations that online news should be free.

Page One gives us an up-close look at the vibrant cross-cubicle debates and collaborations, tenacious jockeying for on-the-record quotes, and skillful page-one pitching that produce the “daily miracle” of a great news organization.

PAGE ONE plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, September 29, at the Empire Theatres Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney, Nova Scotia.

Sept 22 – JANE EYRE

Parker — Tue, 20 Sep 2011 13:22:14 +0000

After her parents die of typhus, Jane Eyre (first Amelia Clarkson, then Mia Wasikowska) falls under the care of her heartless and duplicitous aunt Sarah (Sally Hawkins), who ships her off to a brutal boarding school run with lavish Christian hypocrisy. Jane finally fetches up as a governess in Thornfield Hall, a remote house in the Yorkshire Peak District, teaching precocious Adle Varens (Romy Settbon Moore), ward of Thornfield’s master, Edward Fairfax Rochester (Michael Fassbender).

Young Adle quickly warms to Jane, and the charming Rochester, too, falls under her luminous spell. On what was supposed to be the happiest day of Jane’s life, however, a scandalous secret spills out, and the emotionally shattered governess takes flight.

Charlotte Bronte’s celebrated Gothic novel has seen upwards of 20 big- and small-screen adaptations. Director Cary Joji Fukunaga (Sin Nombre) shoots this one in available light, giving the film a gorgeously gloomy cast offset by Fukunaga’s snappy pacing. Wasikowska, whom we saw last fall in THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT, is a sure-fire Oscar nominee.

JANE EYRE plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, Sydney. Admission $11. Season pass for the remaining 11 movies in the fall season, $80.

Film series patrons gave our season opener, BEGINNERS, 4.2 out of five stars. There’s still time to rate last week’s movie, PROJECT NIM.

Sept 15 — PROJECT NIM

Parker — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 22:16:24 +0000

In the 1970s, Columbia University Prof. Herbert Terrace wanted to debunk linguist Noam Chomsky’s claim that humans–and only humans–are hard-wired to learn language. So he asked an attractive grad student to raise an infant chimpanzee exactly as she would a human baby, using sign language to communicate.

For a year or so, the experiment seemed to go well. Nim Chimpsky (the name was a dig at Chomsky) learned 125 words. He seemed to produce simple sentences. He got adoring press coverage. Prof. Terrace basked in the company of comely co-eds.

But no one stopped to consider what would happen when Nim got big and strong and easily upset. In the end, the experiment revealed more about narcissistic humans than it did about chimpanzees or language acquisition. Director James Marsh, who brought us the stunning film series hit MAN ON WIRE, pulls the story together with stunning force.

SURVEY: How did you like BEGINNERS, last week’s movie. Please take a moment and let us know with this short survey.

PROJECT NIM plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, September 15, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, 325 Prince Street, Sydney.