THE NB FILM CO­OP PRESENTS THE MONDAY NIGHT FILM SERIES SCHEDULE FOR JANUARY­APRIL, 2013 Half‐year memberships (Jan – April 2013) are $20 regular and $12 (students, seniors, NB film co‐op members) General Admission is $7.00 Website and info: www.nbfilmcoop.com/fs.htm January 7, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus MIDNIGHT’S CHILDREN Director: Deepa Mehta Cast: Satya Bhabha, Shahana Goswami, Rajat Kapoor Runtime: 148 minutes Country: Canada, Year: 2012 Language: English, Hindi with English subtitles A Gala Presentation at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival®, this momentous collaboration between Academy Award®–nominated director Deepa Mehta (the trilogy Fire, Earth and Water, Heaven on Earth) and celebrated novelist Salman Rushdie is an epic saga that spans borders, generations, wars and fragile peace as it chronicles a pivotal time in India’s history. Rushdie’s inspired adaptation of his own Booker Prize–winning novel follows the destinies of a pair of children born at the stroke of midnight on August 15, 1947, the very instant that India claimed its independence from Great Britain—and which, in Rushdie’s brilliant magic realist conceit, endows the children born on the same night as their country’s liberation with supernatural abilities ranging from flight to invisibility, with those born closest to midnight possessing the most powerful gift. “Handcuffed to history,” and switched at birth by a nurse in a Bombay hospital, Saleem Sinai (Satya Bhabha), the son of a poor single mother, and Shiva (Siddharth), scion of a wealthy family, are condemned to live out the fate intended for the other. Imbued with mysterious telepathic powers, their lives become strangely intertwined and inextricably linked to their country’s careening journey through the tumultuous twentieth century. An irreverent epic of Shakespearean proportions, shot through with moments of arresting intimacy, Midnight’s Children is a production of truly impressive scope, featuring state‐of‐the‐art computer graphics, impressive production design by the director’s brother Dilip Mehta, and sixty‐two locations. A luxurious feast of a film brimming with romance, spectacle, intrigue, sly social commentary and uplifting optimism, Midnight’s Children is as vast and beguiling as the great country to which it pays homage. January 14, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus THE MASTER Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern Run Time: 138 minutes Country: USA Year: 2012 Language: English In just five feature films, Paul Thomas Anderson has commanded a position at the very pinnacle of American cinema. His work is debated, studied and adored for its narrative innovation, its dynamism, and most of all for its sheer cinema. To watch the work of Paul Thomas Anderson is to watch movies at their most alive. For The Master, he has chosen a provocative premise which he pursues with patience rather than sensationalism. In an arresting return to the big screen, Joaquin Phoenix plays a troubled soldier in post–World War II America. Stripped of every common civility, he rages through life like an animal, unable to keep a job, to attract a woman, to live in his own skin. By chance one night he jumps on board a docked ship and stows away as it sets sail. He soon discovers that the ship belongs to one Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the charismatic founder of a new religion. With his wife (Amy Adams), Dodd probes the unconscious minds of his subjects, driving them to reveal hidden vulnerabilities. The cerebral Dodd and his feral stowaway appear to be complete opposites, but they strike up a surprising friendship. In scenes of sometimes shocking soul‐baring, the two forge a primal bond — until the disciple begins to question his master. Like all of Anderson’s films to date, The Master is a study of masculine power: the risks men take, the control they seek, the wars they wage with one another. The context of a twentieth‐century, man‐made religion is a potent one, allowing Anderson to illuminate new aspects of his recurring themes. Hoffman, Phoenix and Adams give the film the depth only great actors can bring, and the spare score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood (who also scored Anderson’s There Will Be Blood) amplifies the film’s ability to unsettle. So too does Anderson’s decision to use the cinephile’s ultimate visual palette — 70mm film. Flying in the face of the rapid shift to digital cinema, The Master was filmed in that high‐resolution widescreen format, and will be presented in 70mm at the Festival. The effect is cumulative, and ultimately shattering. January 21, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus INESCAPABLE Director: Ruba Nadda Cast: Alexander Siddig, Marisa Tomei, Joshua Jackson, Oded Fehr, Saad Siddiqui Runtime: 90 minutes Canada /South Africa Year: 2012 Language: English, Arabic with English subtitles Three years ago, director Ruba Nadda won over cinema‐goers around the world with the touching romance Cairo Time, a Film Circuit People’s Choice Award winner in 2009. This year, she reteams with her Cairo Time star Alexander Siddig for the highly anticipated political thriller Inescapable, which premiered as a Gala Presentation at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival®. Successful Syrian‐ Canadian businessman Adib (Siddig, Miral, Syriana) lives a comfortable life in Toronto with his loving wife and two college‐aged daughters. On a typical afternoon at work, he receives a devastating piece of news: while vacationing in Greece, his eldest daughter secretly took a detour to Damascus — and vanished. Frantic, Adib immediately makes plans to return to Syria after more than thirty years. As Adib places a series of covert phone calls and makes secret rendezvous with former contacts, it gradually becomes clear that he was once a major player in the Syrian resistance movement. Aided by the ex‐fiancée he left behind (Marisa Tomei, The Ides of March, The Wrestler) and a dubious Canadian embassy official (Joshua Jackson, TV’s Fringe, One Week), Adib wades through vague clues, government subterfuge, and a web of conspiracies that stand between him and his daughter. When the regime discovers his former identity and accuses his daughter of being a spy, Adib must once again take up arms and fight for what he holds most dear. Nadda spent four years as a teenager living in Damascus, which surely inform her convincing evocation of the climate of paranoia that is cultivated by totalitarian regimes. Along with its chillingly authentic atmosphere, Inescapable poses a series of vital, ethically charged questions. What happens if the past won’t stay in the past? What desperate lengths could someone go to if their former life threatens the new life they’ve spent decades painstakingly building? Expertly building the tension to a fever pitch, Nadda withholds her answers until the final, nail‐biting minutes. “An old‐fashioned nail‐biter set in the up‐tothe‐minute turmoil of Damascus.” — Johana Schneler, The Globe and Mail January 28, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus THE WELL­DIGGER’S DAUGHTER Director: Daniel Auteuil Cast: Daniel Auteuil, Astrid Bergès‐Frisbey, Kad Merad Sabine Azema, Jean‐Pierre Darroussin, Nicolas Duvauchelle, Emile Cazenave, Marie‐ Anne Chazel Run Time: 105 minutes Country: France Year: 2011 Language: French with English Subtitles Twenty‐five years after rising to international acclaim in Jean de Florette and Manon of the Spring, Daniel Auteuil returns to the world of Marcel Pagnol for his first work as director with this celebrated remake of the 1940s classic. Auteuil stars as the eponymous well‐digger Pascal, a widower living with his six daughters in the Provence countryside at the start of World War I. His eldest, Patricia (the luminous Astrid Bergès‐Frisbey), has returned home from Paris to help raise her sisters, and Pascal dreams of marrying her off to his loyal assistant Felipe (Kad Merad). But when she's impregnated by a wealthy young pilot (Nicolas Duvauchelle) who promptly abandons her for the frontlines, Pascal is left to contend with the consequences. An exquisitely crafted, sun‐drenched melodrama, set to a score by Academy Award‐nominee Alexandre Desplat (The King's Speech), The Well‐Digger's Daughter captures all the warmth and humanist spirit of Pagnol's original work. “In his directorial debut, famed actor Daniel Auteuil fills THE WELL‐DIGGER'S DAUGHTER with grand romance, light comedy and superb performances, making a "love story of surprising joy" ‐ (Minneapolis Star Tribune). February 4, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus CELESTE AND JESSE FOREVER Director: Benh Zeitlin Cast: Rashida Jones) , Andy Samberg Run Time: 90 minutes Country: USA Year: 2012 Language: English Celeste (Rashida Jones) and Jesse (Andy Samberg) met in high school, married young and are growing apart. Now thirty, Celeste is the driven owner of her own media consulting firm, Jesse is once again unemployed and in no particular rush to do anything with his life. Celeste is convinced that divorcing Jesse is the right thing to do ‐‐ she is on her way up, he is on his way nowhere, and if they do it now instead of later, they can remain supportive friends. Jesse passively accepts this transition into friendship, even though he is still in love with her. As the reality of their separation sets in, Celeste slowly and painfully realizes she has been cavalier about their relationship, and her decision, which once seemed mature and progressive, now seems impulsive and selfish. But her timing with Jesse is less than fortuitous... ‐‐ (C) Sony