The People’s Choice
Here’s how Cape Breton Island Film Series patrons rated the movies we screened last fall:
SENNA was the surprise winner, followed by WIN WIN and THE INTERRUPTERS. The least popular fall movie was TREE OF LIFE, edging out MEEK’S CUTOFF for the dubious distinction. The average rating for all 14 movies was 3.9 out of 5.0.
Thanks to all who took part in the on-line surveys. My plan is to simplify the surveys for the winter season,and I hope everyone will participate.
Christmas break
Our fall season ended December 1 with our screening of Miranda July’s THE FUTURE. Please take a moment to rate that movie.
We’ll be back this winter with another 13-week season of great independent movies, starting January 26. To view the winter lineup, please click on the Winter Schedule tab above.
Season passes for the winter series will go on sale the week before Christmas, at the Cape Breton Curiosity Shop.
Dec 1 — THE FUTURE
The much-talked-about Miranda July — filmmaker, New Yorker fiction author, performance artist — wrote, directed, and stars in our last feature of 2011: THE FUTURE.
July made a splash with her 2005 directoral debut, ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW, a charmingly offbeat and observant film about people looking for love. It won the Palme d’Or at Cannes, and Roger Ebert declared it the fifth best film of the decade.
Reviews for THE FUTURE are all over the map, because the film is much harder to categorize. It’s pushes quirkiness to new heights with magic realist elements some find viewers find endearing, others off-putting.
The plot revolves around a low energy couple who foster a sick cat — hey, is this timely in Cape Breton, or what? — in hopes that it will prepare them for deeper commitments. The results are alternately amusing and heartbreaking. Or as the New York Times called it, “a blend of whimsy and difficult emotion.”
“This is a comedy of inertia, laced with whimsical gestures, but its sense of fun is shadowed by desperation,” writes Anthony Lane in the New Yorker. “The couple plans great things for a month of freedom—after that, the cat will enter and fill their lives—but Sophie seems only to find further loneliness, rather than comfort or thrills, by using the time to start an affair with a man she barely knows.”
Among the smart young women of our era, July is a hugely admired cultural icon. If only to find out what all the fuss is about, you owe it to yourself to see this movie.
THE FUTURE plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, December 1, at the Empire Theatre Studio 10, Sydney. It is the last film of our Fall 2011 season.
Nov 24 — THE INTERRUPTERS
An epic tale of courage and hope, THE INTERRUPTERS is a new movie from the Oscar-nominated Chicago director Steve James (HOOP DREAMS).
Every city needs its heros. THE INTERRUPTERS follows a year in the life of Chicago as it grapples with a plague of urban violence. At the heart of the story are three ex-cons who have credibility on the street because of their own personal histories. With gumption, wisdom, and wit, they work to protect their Chicago communities from the violence they themselves once employed.
These “Violence Interrupters” work for CeaseFire, a Chicago organization whose guiding principle is that the spread of violence mimics the spread of infectious diseases, and so respond with similar treatment: go after the most infected, and stop the infection at its source.
Watch the trailer and read the reviews.
THE INTERRUPTERS plays one show only, 7 p.m., Thursday, November 24 at the Empire Theatre, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. It is the second to last movie of our fall season.
Nov 17 — WIN WIN
From the director of THE STATION AGENT comes another charming New Jersey comedy starring Paul Giamatti as a sad sack lawyer and inept part-time wrestling coach who suddenly has the Sidney Crosby of high school wrestling fall into his hands.
Mike Flaherty (Giamatti) thinks he’s discovered the perfect loophole to keep his practice going: acting as legal caretaker for an elderly but wealthy client. His plan hits a snag when the client’s troubled grandson Kyle Timmons (Alex Shaffer) shows up looking for a place to stay.
When Kyle turns out to be a budding superstar, Flahery’s chicanery kicks into high gear. The stage is set for a double payday Kyle’s mother shows up — fresh from rehab, flat broke, and threatening to derail everything.
WIN WIN plays one show only, 7 p.m., November 17, at the Empire Theatre, 325 Prince Street, Sydney. Admission: $12; Students: $7.
It was a double-barrelled week at the film series, and that means two movies to rate. Please take a moment and tell us how you liked last week’s feature: THE TREE OF LIFE (click for survey) and our l’Arche Benefit movie: SENNA (click for survey).
