Film Series • Spring 2011
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ARTS ARRAY Film Series • Spring 2011 Each film in the series will be shown at 4 p.m. and again at 7:30 p.m. at the Abingdon Cinemall. My Dog Tulip • Nowhere Boy • The Girl Who Played with Fire • Babies • Freakonomics • Oceans • The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest • Tiny Furniture • 127 Hours • The Tempest • Black Swan • The King’s Speech • Somewhere • Sampson and Delilah • Blue Valentine • White Material The Arts Array Film Series is a cultural outreach program sponsored by Virginia Highlands Community College, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, Abingdon Cinemall, Emory & Henry College, Virginia Intermont College, and King College.Students and employees of the sponsoring institutions are admitted free. General admission is $7.50. For more information, contact Ben Jennings, Arts Array Coordinator, at (276) 739-2447 or [email protected]. VHCC is an EEO/AA Institution My Dog Tulip Monday and Tuesday, January 17 and 18 The distinguished British man of letters, J. R. Ackerley, hardly thought of himself as a dog lover when, well into middle- age, he came to adopt Tulip--a beautiful, yet intolerable 18-month-old German shepherd. To his surprise she turned out to be the love of his life, and sharing his home with her for 16 years profoundly changed him. This critically acclaimed, beautifully animated adaptation of Ackerley’s 1956 memoir My Dog Tulip features the voices of Christopher Plummer, Lynn Redgrave, and Isabella Rossellini. (83 minutes) Nowhere Boy Monday and Tuesday, January 24 and 25 Imagine. John Lennon’s childhood. Liverpool 1955: a smart and troubled fifteen-year-old is hungry for experience. In a family full of secrets, two incredible women clash over John--Mimi, the buttoned-up aunt who raised him, and Julia, the prodigal mother. Yearning for a normal family, John escapes into a new and exciting world of rock ‘n’ roll where his fledgling genius finds a kindred spirit in the teenager Paul McCartney. Just as John begins his new life, tragedy strikes. But a resilient young man finds his voice--and an icon explodes into the world. (97 minutes) The Girl Who Played with Fire Monday and Tuesday, January 31 and Feb. 1 In his second film of the world-famous “Millennium Trilogy” by the Swedish writer Stieg Larsson, the troubled computer hacker Lisbeth Sanders returns to Sweden after spending a year abroad. Having returned, she falls under suspicion for having committed the murder of a journalist and his girlfriend. Now disgraced journalist-turned-detective Mikael Blomkvist has to do what he can to reach her before the authorities find her. This is the follow-up to the sensational film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. (127 minutes) Babies Monday and Tuesday, February 7 and 8 The adventure of a lifetime begins. This award-winning French documentary follows four babies around the world— from birth to first steps, capturing on film the earliest stages of the journey of humanity that are at once unique and universal to us all. The babies are Ponjijao, who lives with her family in Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in San Francisco, USA. (79 minutes) Freakonomics Monday and Tuesday, Feburary 14 and 15 This documentary is an adaptation of the bestselling book Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything, written by University of Chicago economist Steven Levitt and journalist Stephen Dubner. The book—and the film—meld pop culture with economics, here exploring the “economic side” of the abortion rate vs the crime rate, giving students incentives to make good grades, exposing ethnic and class stereotypes, and calculating the cheating at Sumo wrestling, among other topics. (85 minutes) Oceans Monday and Tuesday, February 21 and 22 What the French directors of Winged Migration did for birds, they now do in a more ambitious documentary Oceans for the teeming variety of life forms that live in the seas that cover 70% of the earth. Moving from infinitesimal to the gargantuan— from sea urchin larvae to 120-ton blue whales—the filmmakers work tirelessly to parallel the undersea world with the larger universe, offering reminders of our mutual dependence. Teams of photographers spent seven years in more than 70 expedi- tions, using specially developed cameras that allowed them to move intimately among marine life. (104 minutes) The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest Monday and Tuesday, Feb. 28 and March 1 In this final film in Swedish writer Stieg Larsson’s “Millennium Trilogy” (following The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire), Lisbeth Salander lies in the hospital in critical condition, with a bullet wound to her head. She is fighting for her life in more ways than one: if she recovers she will be taken to Stockholm to stand trial for three murders. With the help of her friend, Mikael Blomkvist, she will have to prove her innocence and plot revenge against those who tried to kill her and the corrupt government institutions that have nearly destroyed her life. (148 minutes) Tiny Furniture Monday and Tuesday, March 7 and 8 This extraordinary film debut by 24-year-old filmmaker Lena Durham, who also plays the leading role of Aura, is about the malaise that many recent college graduates feel when they have to return home after graduating and not be able to find a satisfying job. Aura’s mother is a successful artist—and a rock of emotional support—whose work involves photographing miniature items, thus the title. The film seems part a performance piece, part documentary, but it is really a mirror of a young adult’s existence with its highs, lows, solitude and being subjected to forces beyond one’s control. (98 minutes) 127 Hours Monday and Tuesday, March 14 and 15 This new film from Danny Boyle (the director of Slumdog Millionaire), is the visceral and thrilling story of mountaineer Aron Ralston (played by James Franco). In a story that gained nationwide attention, Ralson became trapped in a narrow and isolated canyon when a fallen boulder crashed on his arm. Over the next five days, Ralston examines his life and survives the elements, ultimately making the dramatic and fateful decision to extricate himself from his situation by cutting off his own arm. Ultimately 127 Hours is a story about facing death and choosing life. (93 minutes) The Tempest Monday and Tuesday, March 21 and 22 Experimental film Frida,( Titus, Across the Universe) and theatre director (The Lion King, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark) Julie Taymor focuses her creativity on Shakespeare’s mystical thriller The Tempest, bringing a feminist dynamic to the story by changing the gender of the sorcerer Prospero into the sorceress Prospera (played by Helen Mirren). Prospera’s journey spirals through vengeance to forgiveness as she reigns over a magical island, cares for her daughter Miranda, and unleashes her pow- ers against shipwrecked enemies. Co-stars include Djimon Hounsou as Caliban and Ben Whisaw as Ariel. (110 minutes) Black Swan Monday and Tuesday, March 28 and 29 The newest film by director Darren Aronofsky presents Natalie Portman as Nina, a New York ballerina in a production of Swan Lake. In the ballet director’s vision, Nina is given the roles of both the White Swan as well as the Black Swan. Lily is perfectly cast as the White Swan, all innocence and grace, but seems to lack the ability to convey the guile and sensuality of the Black Swan. A new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis) develops as a rival to Nina, and as the two dancers expand their rivalry into a twisted friendship, Nina begins to get in touch with her dark side with a recklessness that threatens to destroy her. (103 minutes) The King’s Speech Monday and Tuesday, April 4 and 5 Based on the true story of the current Queen of England’s father and his remarkable friendship with maverick speech therapist Lionel Logue, The King’s Speech stars Colin Firth as King George VI. Because of thet terrifying march to war, along with the unprecedented abdication of his popular older brother, Edward VIII had brought back the debilitating stutter that had plagued the king since childhood. Geoffrey Rush stars as Logue, the man who helps the King find a voice with which to lead the nation into war. (118 minutes) Somewhere Monday and Tuesday, April 11 and 12 Sofia Coppola’s new film is a witty, moving and empathetic look into the world of actor Johnny Marco (Stephen Dorff), the stereotypical spoiled young Hollywood actor, living in the legendary Chateau Marmont and cruising around in his Ferrari, with a constant stream of girls and pills. Comfortably numbed, Johnny drifts along until his 11-year-old daughter Cleo (Elle Fanning) from a failed marriage arrives unexpectedly. Their encounters force Johnny to face up to where he is in life and confront the question that everyone must face: which path in life will you take? (98 minutes) Samson & Delilah Monday and Tuesday, April 18 and 19 Winner of the Best First Feature at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, Samson & Delilah has been hailed as the beginning of a new wave of Australian cinema. Set in an isolated community in the desert, the film tracks two Aboriginal teenagers as they fall in love, and faced with a terrible tragedy, have to flee their homes and embark on a journey of survival. Director Warwick Thornton, himself an indigenous Australian, presents the poverty, the petrol sniffing and the near hopelessness of Samson and Delilah’s lives with clarity but also with humor, hope and great compassion.