Only one more week to go folks. If you've been putting off the festival, now's your last chance. Go now before it's too late!
•Friday
Top Pick -- The Arbor; 5:00
This pick is a bit of a gamble (oh wait, all my past picks were gambles as I never saw any of them beforehand). It's especially true this time around as this is by a newcomer, and also features a style of performance called verbatim theater, "a form of documentary theatre in which plays are constructed from the precise words spoken by people interviewed about a particular event or topic." This film is the story of playwright Andrea Dunbar, and won the director Clio Barnard Best New Documentary Filmmaker at Tribeca. I've seen reviews that love the film, and I've seen some that absolutely trash it. But festivals are about bold choices, so why not make one tonight?
Also, there's a Godard film playing tonight, if you're up for that.
•Saturday
Top Pick -- Viva Riva; 7:45
I like this pick because you probably won't see many films like it. Coming from the Congo, this fiction film is about a con man on the run from an old boss, a corrupt church, and a Kinshasa warlord. If you use the word "raw" to describe only one film this year, make it this one. Hollywood Reporter writes, "Where Viva makes a strong mark is not with erotic scenes that are flamingly explicit (and acrobatic) even by western standards, or the brutality and gore that are equal matches for Korean revenge films. It is the way he exposes his society’s well-oiled corruption machine with such candor."
It couldn't hurt to also check out Romanian film If I Want To Whistle, I Whistle, which I actually have seen and it is an enjoyable film as far as Romanian films are concerned. In the same way, The Imperialists Are Still Alive!, a film that played at Sundance, is also engaging. Although you have to wade through some pretentious and snobby culture blab for the first 30 minutes.
•Sunday
Oh this is really a toss-up. This is probably of no help to anyone, but I'll just throw out three films and you can see which sticks:
My Perestroika -- Doc on the generation born after the end of the USSR. Won the Silverdocs Jury award.
The Bengali Detective -- Kolkata police corruption doc. It's got social commentary and detective mysteries!
Men in Rut -- Farce featuring the international deer-calling championship in a Czech village that doesn't even appear on any Czech maps.
Friday, April 29, 2011
mpls movie screenings: weekend of apr 29
Because there are other things to watch besides screenings at MSPIFF...
The last screening in the Bernard Herrmann series features the last film score the man ever created. Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver features a few jazzy numbers from Herrmann, not to mention all star performances from De Niro, Keitel, and Jodie Foster. There was an article in MinnPost today that makes some bold claims about the film:
R-r-rreeeaaaaalllyyy. Can't say I agree with that. That would've probably ruined the whole film for me. Jazz adds the right subtle touch and complexity to the movie; punk rock is simply too straightforward for this movie. Judge for yourself, though, folks.
MSPIFF picks will be up in a few hours, but here's the rest of the cities' film offerings:
St Anthony:
Heights:
Riverview:
Parkway:
Landmark:
The last screening in the Bernard Herrmann series features the last film score the man ever created. Martin Scorsese's 1976 film Taxi Driver features a few jazzy numbers from Herrmann, not to mention all star performances from De Niro, Keitel, and Jodie Foster. There was an article in MinnPost today that makes some bold claims about the film:
I also think it's the wrong score — it's classically cinematic in a way the film isn't, feeling like it might be right playing behind a 1940s detective film. But the soundtrack that would have been right for it was still to be invented when the film came out, and was inspired by "Taxi Driver": punk rock. |
Tonight and tomorrow night the Riverview is hosting a BlkMrktCinema screening of the film Riki-Oh. I'm not entirely sure who this film group is, but I look forward to posting more of their screenings in the future. As for the film:
Taxi Driver
The Trylon
Fri Apr 29 7:00 9:20
Sat Apr 30 7:00 9:20
Sun May 01 4:40 7:00
(1976, Martin Scorsese, 35mm, 113m)SPECTACULAR NEW 35mm RESTORATION OF MARTIN SCORSESE'S SEMINAL MASTERPIECE!
A young man with superhuman strength is incarcerated at a prison run by corrupt officials and seeks to use his martial arts to clean up the system.Lastly, there's a Mimosa Movie screening of When Harry Met Sally at Loring Theater this Sunday at 2pm. And if the weather on Sunday is as crappy as it's been the last few weeks, there might not be a better way to ring in the new month than with a mimosa and Meg Ryan.
April 29 & 30 at 11:30pm
Admission is $7
MSPIFF picks will be up in a few hours, but here's the rest of the cities' film offerings:
St Anthony:
| For the week of April 29 - May 5 | |
| Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival (NR) runtime 0 hr 0 mins | Visit Website for details |
| Ticket Prices $8.50 General $6.00 Student/Senior/Children $6.00 Matinees 7 days a week all films before 6pm |
Heights:
| Friday April 29 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM, 9:15 PM |
| Saturday April 30 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 2:50 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM, 9:15 PM |
| Sunday May 1 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 2:50 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM |
| Monday May 2 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM |
| Tuesday May 3 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM "TIBET IN SONG" 7:00 PM |
| Wednesday May 4 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM |
| Thursday May 5 | "CAT PEOPLE" (PG) 7:30 PM |
Riverview:
- Gnomeo and Juliet
3:00PM - Blue Valentine
4:45PM - The King's Speech
7:00PM - The Adjustment Bureau
9:15PM - Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky
11:30PM
Parkway:
Company Men (R)
Apr 22, 2011 - May 5, 2011
Thu: 5:45, 7:45
Fri: 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
Sat: 2:00, 4:00, 6:00
Sun: 7:45
Mon: 8:30
Tue - Thu: 5:45, 7:45
Fri: 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
Sat: 2:00, 4:00, 6:00
Sun: 7:45
Mon: 8:30
Tue - Thu: 5:45, 7:45
Landmark:
Monday, April 25, 2011
my mspiff picks: week of apr 25
•Monday
Top Pick -- If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle; Mon 9:30 and Sat Apr 30 5:30
I haven't watched enough Romanian new wave films to talk about them at length, but this one seems to have come out right at the end of the genre's main creative outburst. Nonetheless, this film is an intriguing and perplexing one about a young prisoner concerned for the fate of his younger brother. It's hard to understand what motivates this young man, but it only helps in maintaining audience interest in the story.
Also, if you haven't seen them already, check out Le Quattro Volte (5:00) Exporting Raymond (7:00) or The Interrupters (7:30), which will feature a Q&A with director Steve James (that's where I'll be).
•Tuesday
Top Pick -- MN Shorts: Docs and Animation; 7:00
There are a lot of great filmmakers in the state here working in animation and documentary work, and this is the best of the best. This program usually sells out pretty fast, so you should probably pick up your ticket today.
And don't forget that the final showing of Bill Cunningham New York is screening at 9:45.
•Wednesday
Top Pick -- A Screaming Man; 4:45
This is the second screening of this film, but I didn't write about it first time around and I need to get the word out. This Chadian film essentially won third place at last year's Cannes film festival, and it's one I've been looking forward to most. It's the story of a man who loses his job to his son, and, in an effort to get that job back, enlists his son in the war. Of the film, Roger Ebert said, "In a way, it was Murnau's "The Last Laugh" transplanted to an African nation in recent times, torn by civil war. I respond warmly to films that closely observe a few people and how they work and live, and this one supplied a human context for year after year of news about war and unease in remote places."
•Thursday
I don't have a top pick for this day, so I'll just point out a few that look interesting. There's a film on the illegal falcon trade in the Persian Gulf (Feathered Cocaine @ 5:00), A new film from Catherine Breillat about the fairy tales The Snow Queen and Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty @ 9:45), and a documentary on the capture of a Nazi living in 1950's Argentina (Eichmann's End @ 5:15).
Top Pick -- If I Want to Whistle, I Whistle; Mon 9:30 and Sat Apr 30 5:30
I haven't watched enough Romanian new wave films to talk about them at length, but this one seems to have come out right at the end of the genre's main creative outburst. Nonetheless, this film is an intriguing and perplexing one about a young prisoner concerned for the fate of his younger brother. It's hard to understand what motivates this young man, but it only helps in maintaining audience interest in the story.
Also, if you haven't seen them already, check out Le Quattro Volte (5:00) Exporting Raymond (7:00) or The Interrupters (7:30), which will feature a Q&A with director Steve James (that's where I'll be).
•Tuesday
Top Pick -- MN Shorts: Docs and Animation; 7:00
There are a lot of great filmmakers in the state here working in animation and documentary work, and this is the best of the best. This program usually sells out pretty fast, so you should probably pick up your ticket today.
And don't forget that the final showing of Bill Cunningham New York is screening at 9:45.
•Wednesday
Top Pick -- A Screaming Man; 4:45
This is the second screening of this film, but I didn't write about it first time around and I need to get the word out. This Chadian film essentially won third place at last year's Cannes film festival, and it's one I've been looking forward to most. It's the story of a man who loses his job to his son, and, in an effort to get that job back, enlists his son in the war. Of the film, Roger Ebert said, "In a way, it was Murnau's "The Last Laugh" transplanted to an African nation in recent times, torn by civil war. I respond warmly to films that closely observe a few people and how they work and live, and this one supplied a human context for year after year of news about war and unease in remote places."
•Thursday
I don't have a top pick for this day, so I'll just point out a few that look interesting. There's a film on the illegal falcon trade in the Persian Gulf (Feathered Cocaine @ 5:00), A new film from Catherine Breillat about the fairy tales The Snow Queen and Sleeping Beauty (Sleeping Beauty @ 9:45), and a documentary on the capture of a Nazi living in 1950's Argentina (Eichmann's End @ 5:15).
mpls movie screenings not at mspiff: week of apr 25
•Tuesday
--The Anchorage @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). The 2nd and final screening of this Swedish film that won the top prize for emerging filmmakers at Locarno.
--Don Quixote @ The Heights; 7:15. This is HD Ballet coming to you from the Bolshoi Ballet.
•Wednesday
--Fire and Ice @ Trylon; 7:30 (Trash Film Debauchery). More ridiculous 80's fantasy animation (in all the good ways, of course). We got ice queens, lava, bikinis, and everything else you've come to expect from TFD.
•Thursday
--The Promise: The Making of Darkness at the Edge of Town @ The Heights; 7:15 & 9:00. Fans of The Boss will no doubt love the never-before-seen footage of Bruce and the E Street Band during the making of this classic record, and film fans will no doubt want to see a favorite at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. I should also mention that 50% of ticket sales go to The Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park.
--The Searchers @ Riverview; 7:00 (John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns). It's one of the greatest westerns ever made, with John Wayne as the anti-hero, former confederate Ethan Edwards. Will he rescue Natalie from her captors or let his hatred for all things Native American cloud his judgment?
--The Anchorage @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). The 2nd and final screening of this Swedish film that won the top prize for emerging filmmakers at Locarno.
--Don Quixote @ The Heights; 7:15. This is HD Ballet coming to you from the Bolshoi Ballet.
•Wednesday
--Fire and Ice @ Trylon; 7:30 (Trash Film Debauchery). More ridiculous 80's fantasy animation (in all the good ways, of course). We got ice queens, lava, bikinis, and everything else you've come to expect from TFD.
•Thursday
--The Promise: The Making of Darkness at the Edge of Town @ The Heights; 7:15 & 9:00. Fans of The Boss will no doubt love the never-before-seen footage of Bruce and the E Street Band during the making of this classic record, and film fans will no doubt want to see a favorite at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival. I should also mention that 50% of ticket sales go to The Museum of Broadcasting in St. Louis Park.
--The Searchers @ Riverview; 7:00 (John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns). It's one of the greatest westerns ever made, with John Wayne as the anti-hero, former confederate Ethan Edwards. Will he rescue Natalie from her captors or let his hatred for all things Native American cloud his judgment?
Saturday, April 23, 2011
my mspiff picks: weekend of apr 23
I'm a little late on this, I understand, but better late than never.
•Saturday
Top Pick -- Le Quattro Volte; Sat Apr 23 @ 5pm, Mon Apr 25 @ 5pm
This film definitely isn't for everyone, as there's no talking and in fact at one point we follow the life of a sack of charcoal. This Italian film follows the journey of one soul from one being to the next. A.O Scott in the New York Times says, "information is conveyed with a clarity and directness that mask Mr. Frammartino’s extraordinary formal sophistication. Using the sweeping perspectives afforded by the precipitously hilly terrain, he composes frames with the skill of a painter and the wit of a silent-film maestro."
•Sunday
Top Pick -- The Interrupters; Sun Apr 24 @ 4:30, Mon Apr 25 @ 7:30 (Director Present)
Director Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, creates another compelling documentary centering on impoverished neighborhoods in Chicago. This time around we follow the members of the anti-violence group CeaseFire, which recruits former gang members to spread their message. Here's a story on the group by NPR's Morning Edition.
•Saturday
Top Pick -- Le Quattro Volte; Sat Apr 23 @ 5pm, Mon Apr 25 @ 5pm
This film definitely isn't for everyone, as there's no talking and in fact at one point we follow the life of a sack of charcoal. This Italian film follows the journey of one soul from one being to the next. A.O Scott in the New York Times says, "information is conveyed with a clarity and directness that mask Mr. Frammartino’s extraordinary formal sophistication. Using the sweeping perspectives afforded by the precipitously hilly terrain, he composes frames with the skill of a painter and the wit of a silent-film maestro."
•Sunday
Top Pick -- The Interrupters; Sun Apr 24 @ 4:30, Mon Apr 25 @ 7:30 (Director Present)
Director Steve James, director of Hoop Dreams, creates another compelling documentary centering on impoverished neighborhoods in Chicago. This time around we follow the members of the anti-violence group CeaseFire, which recruits former gang members to spread their message. Here's a story on the group by NPR's Morning Edition.
Monday, April 18, 2011
my mspiff picks: the week of apr 18
Just like last time, I actually haven't seen any of these films. These just happen to be the ones I want to see.
This is a documentary on fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, a reclusive man who very reluctantly agreed to have the camera turned on him for this movie. Carina Chocano in The New York Times writes, "If the film suggests that there’s something bittersweet about a life dedicated to a single pursuit cultivated with an almost religious fervor, it also stands in awe of its subject’s seemingly inexhaustible, self-abnegating capacity to remain attuned to the expression of others."
2nd Choices -- Nostalgia For The Light (8:45) and We Are What We Are (9:30). And don't forget to check out the Work-in-Progress film (free screening!) All Over The Walls. And I'm not just plugging that cause my good friends worked on it- it's a good film, and I'll certainly be there.
•Tuesday
Top Pick -- Jess + Moss; Tue Apr 19 @ 7:15, Thu Apr 28 @ 4:45
A bit of an experimental film, where the story of two teens in the hot Kentucky summer is told through old video and audio recordings. The Hollywood Reporter says, "Experimental films at Sundance are not unlike the flu bugs that run rampant through the festival’s many crowded venues: They’re inevitable but to be avoided if possible. First-time writer-director Clay Jeter’s Jess + Moss proves an exception... Jess + Moss represents a bracing jolt from the usual film experience while at the same time lacking the pretension that accompanies so many experimental films."
2nd Choices -- Haru's Journey (8:30) and The White Meadows (6:30). And also check out the MN Shorts program at 7pm. MN shorts collections always sell out fast, and seeing as this one if the "narrative" portion, this certainly won't be any different.
•Wednesday
Top Pick -- On The Ice; Wed Apr 20 @ 6:45, Fri Apr 22 @ 9:15 (Director Present)
In a small Alaskan town, a drunken fight leads two teenagers to covering up the death of a friend. John Horn in the LA Times wrote, "Much like "Winter's Bone" a year ago, "On the Ice" takes audiences into a part of the country -- and a way of life -- that most moviegoers have never seen or even considered...The film went through the Sundance Institute's screenwriting and producing workshops, and because founder Robert Redford has made Native American projects a Sundance staple, "On the Ice" was in many ways a perfect dramatic competition entry. The movie hasn't yet been picked up.
2nd Choices -- The Light Thief (9:00), Green Wave (5:15), and Position Among The Stars (7:15)
•Thursday
Top Pick -- Applause; Thu Apr 21 @ 7:15, Sun Apr 24 @ 9:00
This film is all about Paprika Steen's performance as the recovering alcoholic stage actress Thea. When reading about this Danish film, the names Cassavetes and Agnes Varda come up a lot. Diego Costa writes in Slant, "Steen's performance is so mesmerizingly nuanced, her face so overwhelmed, almost twitching with complexity, it's like watching a volcanic explosion inside a small, very delicate flask. Her skin, which Thea calls "human packaging," works to camouflage the fractured structure inside her that is always about to collapse. Is she going to flee? Is she going to claw somebody's face? Or lick her lips before coyly exiting the frame? Hers is the body of the hysteric, as Freud would have said, steeped in jewelry and makeup, anything to cover up the sick corpse that lies beneath."
2nd Choices -- A Useful Life (5:30), The Stoker (9:15) and Louder Than A Bomb (9:15)
•Monday
Top Pick -- Bill Cunningham New York; Mon Apr 18 @ 7:00, Wed Apr 27 @ 9:30
This is a documentary on fashion photographer Bill Cunningham, a reclusive man who very reluctantly agreed to have the camera turned on him for this movie. Carina Chocano in The New York Times writes, "If the film suggests that there’s something bittersweet about a life dedicated to a single pursuit cultivated with an almost religious fervor, it also stands in awe of its subject’s seemingly inexhaustible, self-abnegating capacity to remain attuned to the expression of others."
2nd Choices -- Nostalgia For The Light (8:45) and We Are What We Are (9:30). And don't forget to check out the Work-in-Progress film (free screening!) All Over The Walls. And I'm not just plugging that cause my good friends worked on it- it's a good film, and I'll certainly be there.
•Tuesday
Top Pick -- Jess + Moss; Tue Apr 19 @ 7:15, Thu Apr 28 @ 4:45
A bit of an experimental film, where the story of two teens in the hot Kentucky summer is told through old video and audio recordings. The Hollywood Reporter says, "Experimental films at Sundance are not unlike the flu bugs that run rampant through the festival’s many crowded venues: They’re inevitable but to be avoided if possible. First-time writer-director Clay Jeter’s Jess + Moss proves an exception... Jess + Moss represents a bracing jolt from the usual film experience while at the same time lacking the pretension that accompanies so many experimental films."
2nd Choices -- Haru's Journey (8:30) and The White Meadows (6:30). And also check out the MN Shorts program at 7pm. MN shorts collections always sell out fast, and seeing as this one if the "narrative" portion, this certainly won't be any different.
•Wednesday
Top Pick -- On The Ice; Wed Apr 20 @ 6:45, Fri Apr 22 @ 9:15 (Director Present)
In a small Alaskan town, a drunken fight leads two teenagers to covering up the death of a friend. John Horn in the LA Times wrote, "Much like "Winter's Bone" a year ago, "On the Ice" takes audiences into a part of the country -- and a way of life -- that most moviegoers have never seen or even considered...The film went through the Sundance Institute's screenwriting and producing workshops, and because founder Robert Redford has made Native American projects a Sundance staple, "On the Ice" was in many ways a perfect dramatic competition entry. The movie hasn't yet been picked up.
2nd Choices -- The Light Thief (9:00), Green Wave (5:15), and Position Among The Stars (7:15)
•Thursday
Top Pick -- Applause; Thu Apr 21 @ 7:15, Sun Apr 24 @ 9:00
This film is all about Paprika Steen's performance as the recovering alcoholic stage actress Thea. When reading about this Danish film, the names Cassavetes and Agnes Varda come up a lot. Diego Costa writes in Slant, "Steen's performance is so mesmerizingly nuanced, her face so overwhelmed, almost twitching with complexity, it's like watching a volcanic explosion inside a small, very delicate flask. Her skin, which Thea calls "human packaging," works to camouflage the fractured structure inside her that is always about to collapse. Is she going to flee? Is she going to claw somebody's face? Or lick her lips before coyly exiting the frame? Hers is the body of the hysteric, as Freud would have said, steeped in jewelry and makeup, anything to cover up the sick corpse that lies beneath."
2nd Choices -- A Useful Life (5:30), The Stoker (9:15) and Louder Than A Bomb (9:15)
mpls movie screenings: week of apr 18
Happy tax day everyone!
•Monday
Vertigo @ Riverview; 7:00 (Bernard Herrmann: Eight Themes in the Key of Suspense). The best Hitchcock movie.
•Tuesday
Anchorage @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). Winner of the Golden Leopard for best filmmaker of the present at the 2009 Locarno International Film Festival.
•Thursday
Rio Bravo @ Riverview; 7:00 (John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns). Nothing says classic western like John Wayne, Dean Martin and- Ricky Nelson?
Windfall @ Bell Museum; 7:00 (Sustainability Film Series). The darker side of the wind turbine industry, including potential for financial fraud, is exposed in this documentary.
On Coal River @ Trylon; 7:00 (Do Something Reel Film Festival). Documentary on strip mining in West Virginia.
Bag It @ Trylon; 9:00 (Do Something Reel Film Festival). Non-environmentalist Jeb Berrier takes a look at the world of plastics.
And don't forget about MSPIFF. I've got more recommendations for you later today, so stay tuned!
•Monday
Vertigo @ Riverview; 7:00 (Bernard Herrmann: Eight Themes in the Key of Suspense). The best Hitchcock movie.
•Tuesday
Anchorage @ Trylon; 7:00 & 9:00 (Trylon Premiere Tuesdays). Winner of the Golden Leopard for best filmmaker of the present at the 2009 Locarno International Film Festival.
•Thursday
Rio Bravo @ Riverview; 7:00 (John Wayne and Clint Eastwood Westerns). Nothing says classic western like John Wayne, Dean Martin and- Ricky Nelson?
Windfall @ Bell Museum; 7:00 (Sustainability Film Series). The darker side of the wind turbine industry, including potential for financial fraud, is exposed in this documentary.
On Coal River @ Trylon; 7:00 (Do Something Reel Film Festival). Documentary on strip mining in West Virginia.
Bag It @ Trylon; 9:00 (Do Something Reel Film Festival). Non-environmentalist Jeb Berrier takes a look at the world of plastics.
And don't forget about MSPIFF. I've got more recommendations for you later today, so stay tuned!
Friday, April 15, 2011
my mspiff picks: weekend of apr 15
Here are a couple of picks for what I think are the best bets this weekend at MSPIFF. I should point out that I haven't seen any of these films, so I could be off base on some off this stuff. But that just adds to the excitement, right? Come back on Monday for what I'm excited for next week.
•Friday, early evening
Top Pick -- Kinshasa Symphony; Fri Apr 15 - 6:45, Sat Apr 16 - 5:30 (Actor present)
A capital city for a country ravaged by war is probably the last place you'd expect to find a symphony orchestra. Overcoming such nuisances as musicians without training and instruments without strings, conductor Armand Diangienda has been leading the Kimbanguiste Symphony Orchestra since 1993. Writing in Der Spiegel, Elke Schmitter says, "Kinshasa Symphony doesn't omit the hardships. An orchestra that replaces broken violin strings with bicycle brake cables and constructs a bell out of scrap metal will never sound exactly like the Berlin Philharmonic.... The film doesn't try to lecture. Instead, it relies on the impressions made by images, music and the stories of the people involved." The film won the Audience Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff; Fri Apr 15 - 7:15, Sat Apr 16 - 1:15 (Director present)
This documentary tells the story of one of the most influential cinematographers to ever work in Hollywood. He boldly embraced color filming early, landing him jobs with Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston. The movie screened at the Cannes Classics program in 2010.
•Friday, late evening
Top Pick -- We Are What We Are; Fri Apr 15 - 10pm, Mon Apr 18 - 9:30
This film is part of MSPIFF's "Late Night" series for a good reason: It's an unusual family drama from Mexico where the death of their patriarch leaves the members struggling to continue their cannibalistic lifestyle. The film played at the 2010 Cannes Film Market, the business side of the film festival. In the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw writes that director Jorge Michel Grau shows, "how violence and madness are the genesis of a ritual designed to create, not redemption exactly, but rather a Black Mass of effacement, one that locks the celebrant into a hell of guilt and fear."
2nd choice -- Curling; Fri Apr 15 - 9:30, Sat Apr 16 - 8:00 (Director present)
A quiet Canadian picture from Denis Cote, who will be present at the screening. It's the story of a father keeping his daughter in complete isolation, so to shelter her from the scarring nature of the outside world. This film played at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival.
•Saturday, afternoon
Top Pick -- Happy, Happy; Sat Apr 16 - 3:45, Sun Apr 17 - 5:00
This Norwegian film presents an honest portrayal of infidelity, along with stellar acting from its lead Agnes Kittelsen. But this story of affairs isn't a downer, as the Sundance website says, "Set in the dead of winter in the middle of nowhere, the locale of Happy, Happy is crucial to balancing the film as both sex comedy and drama." The movie won World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for a drama at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy; Sat Apr 16 - 2:45, Fri Apr 29 - 6:45
I like a good documentary on influential cultural figures that I've never heard of, and this movie certainly fits the bill. Before dying in 2009, Liam Clancy's career in music spanned 50 years and influenced the likes of Bob Dylan and U2. The review in Tiny Mix Tapes states, "The artist's natural gift for storytelling sets the pace of The Yellow Bittern, which thankfully never drags or becomes tedious throughout its two-hour runtime, which is quite a feat considering the fact that it’s essentially a monologue."
•Saturday, evening
Top Pick -- How To Start Your Own Country; Sat Apr 16 - 5:15, Mon May 2 - 9:30
My interest is always peaked when I see the name Guy Maddin. He's not attached to this documentary, but the director, Jody Shapiro, has produced many of his films and was the cinematographer for My Winnipeg. Shapiro visits some truly bizarre micronations, including the Republic of Molossia, which is in Nevada and bans everything that originates from Texas. The film played at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- The Light Thief; Sat Apr 16 - 7:30, Wed Apr 20 - 9:00
This Krygzystan film has a bit of a messy structure, I'm told, but it's charming enough for audiences to overlook that. Despite rampant government corruption, one man attempts to bring electricity to his valley during the 2005 Tulip Revolution. The characters, portrayed by amateur actors, are endearing, as Natasha Senjanovic writes in The Hollywood Reporter, "Never portrayed as yokels, the villagers may be cut off from the world but they are astutely aware of their position in society. This is not how the West sees the East, but how someone from the East views the downward spiral of his country." This played at the Cannes program "Directors' Fortnight."
•Sunday
Top Pick -- A Useful Life; Sun Apr 17 - 2:30, Thu Apr 21 - 5:30
When a film theater in Uruguay shuts down, an elderly man is forced to live his own life without the shelter films provided him. Slant Magazine writes, "[Director] Veiroj is fixated on cinema as an instructive and maternal presence in our lives—a force that often shields us from the very truths it frequently represents." The film played at the Toronto International Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- Modra; Sun Apr 17 - 2:30, Mon Apr 25 - 4:45
It's a coming-of-age story, but, before that spooks you too much, I should say it's in a way that's genuine and easily relatable. A Canadian teenager brings her testosterone-fueled schoolmate to summer with her and her Slovakian family before going to college. This is the film's US premiere.
•Friday, early evening
Top Pick -- Kinshasa Symphony; Fri Apr 15 - 6:45, Sat Apr 16 - 5:30 (Actor present)
A capital city for a country ravaged by war is probably the last place you'd expect to find a symphony orchestra. Overcoming such nuisances as musicians without training and instruments without strings, conductor Armand Diangienda has been leading the Kimbanguiste Symphony Orchestra since 1993. Writing in Der Spiegel, Elke Schmitter says, "Kinshasa Symphony doesn't omit the hardships. An orchestra that replaces broken violin strings with bicycle brake cables and constructs a bell out of scrap metal will never sound exactly like the Berlin Philharmonic.... The film doesn't try to lecture. Instead, it relies on the impressions made by images, music and the stories of the people involved." The film won the Audience Award at the Vancouver International Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff; Fri Apr 15 - 7:15, Sat Apr 16 - 1:15 (Director present)
This documentary tells the story of one of the most influential cinematographers to ever work in Hollywood. He boldly embraced color filming early, landing him jobs with Alfred Hitchcock and John Huston. The movie screened at the Cannes Classics program in 2010.
•Friday, late evening
Top Pick -- We Are What We Are; Fri Apr 15 - 10pm, Mon Apr 18 - 9:30
This film is part of MSPIFF's "Late Night" series for a good reason: It's an unusual family drama from Mexico where the death of their patriarch leaves the members struggling to continue their cannibalistic lifestyle. The film played at the 2010 Cannes Film Market, the business side of the film festival. In the Guardian, Peter Bradshaw writes that director Jorge Michel Grau shows, "how violence and madness are the genesis of a ritual designed to create, not redemption exactly, but rather a Black Mass of effacement, one that locks the celebrant into a hell of guilt and fear."
2nd choice -- Curling; Fri Apr 15 - 9:30, Sat Apr 16 - 8:00 (Director present)
A quiet Canadian picture from Denis Cote, who will be present at the screening. It's the story of a father keeping his daughter in complete isolation, so to shelter her from the scarring nature of the outside world. This film played at the Toronto International Film Festival and the Vancouver International Film Festival.
•Saturday, afternoon
Top Pick -- Happy, Happy; Sat Apr 16 - 3:45, Sun Apr 17 - 5:00
This Norwegian film presents an honest portrayal of infidelity, along with stellar acting from its lead Agnes Kittelsen. But this story of affairs isn't a downer, as the Sundance website says, "Set in the dead of winter in the middle of nowhere, the locale of Happy, Happy is crucial to balancing the film as both sex comedy and drama." The movie won World Cinema Grand Jury Prize for a drama at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- Yellow Bittern: The Life and Times of Liam Clancy; Sat Apr 16 - 2:45, Fri Apr 29 - 6:45
I like a good documentary on influential cultural figures that I've never heard of, and this movie certainly fits the bill. Before dying in 2009, Liam Clancy's career in music spanned 50 years and influenced the likes of Bob Dylan and U2. The review in Tiny Mix Tapes states, "The artist's natural gift for storytelling sets the pace of The Yellow Bittern, which thankfully never drags or becomes tedious throughout its two-hour runtime, which is quite a feat considering the fact that it’s essentially a monologue."
•Saturday, evening
Top Pick -- How To Start Your Own Country; Sat Apr 16 - 5:15, Mon May 2 - 9:30
My interest is always peaked when I see the name Guy Maddin. He's not attached to this documentary, but the director, Jody Shapiro, has produced many of his films and was the cinematographer for My Winnipeg. Shapiro visits some truly bizarre micronations, including the Republic of Molossia, which is in Nevada and bans everything that originates from Texas. The film played at the 2010 Toronto International Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- The Light Thief; Sat Apr 16 - 7:30, Wed Apr 20 - 9:00
This Krygzystan film has a bit of a messy structure, I'm told, but it's charming enough for audiences to overlook that. Despite rampant government corruption, one man attempts to bring electricity to his valley during the 2005 Tulip Revolution. The characters, portrayed by amateur actors, are endearing, as Natasha Senjanovic writes in The Hollywood Reporter, "Never portrayed as yokels, the villagers may be cut off from the world but they are astutely aware of their position in society. This is not how the West sees the East, but how someone from the East views the downward spiral of his country." This played at the Cannes program "Directors' Fortnight."
•Sunday
Top Pick -- A Useful Life; Sun Apr 17 - 2:30, Thu Apr 21 - 5:30
When a film theater in Uruguay shuts down, an elderly man is forced to live his own life without the shelter films provided him. Slant Magazine writes, "[Director] Veiroj is fixated on cinema as an instructive and maternal presence in our lives—a force that often shields us from the very truths it frequently represents." The film played at the Toronto International Film Festival.
2nd Choice -- Modra; Sun Apr 17 - 2:30, Mon Apr 25 - 4:45
It's a coming-of-age story, but, before that spooks you too much, I should say it's in a way that's genuine and easily relatable. A Canadian teenager brings her testosterone-fueled schoolmate to summer with her and her Slovakian family before going to college. This is the film's US premiere.
mpls movie screenings: the weekend of apr 15
Bang a gong, get it on... Something like that anyway.
The Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival kicked off last night at St Anthony with three film screenings, a Q&A, and a chilly outdoor after party. Don't worry if you missed out on last night's ceremonies, cause there's roughly 200 films screening at the fest between now and May 5th. If you find the number overwhelming check back here where I'll highlight the best of the fest.
In the meantime, here's what else is playing in the cities:
Take-Up's series on composer Bernard Herrmann continues with its fifth showing. At the Trylon you can catch the 1991 Scorsese film Cape Fear, a remake of the 1962 Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum vehicle. Herrmann's music is only heard in the title, however, while the rest of the score is based off Herrmann's original work made for the original film. A little confusing, but the movie isn't so don't sweat it.
Sat Apr 16 7:00 9:30
Sun Apr 17 4:30 7:00
If that's not for you, try Uptown for their midnight screenings of Rear Window, the Jimmy Stewart classic that finds him spying on his potentially murder-happy neighbors. There's no Herrmann score in this Hitchcock feature, though. Just unadulterated voyeurism, Hitchcock-style.
Sat Apr 16 11:59
Sunday's got a lot of screenings for you to take in, so I'm just gonna give it to you straight:
•St. Elmo's Fire is playing at 2pm at Loring Theater
•The opera The Girl of the Golden West is at the Heights at 1pm
•The documentary Troubled Waters is playing at the Parkway at 3pm for free!
Here's what's happening at the rest of the theaters, and come back later today for my top picks for MSPIFF screenings this weekend.
St Anthony
Heights
Riverview
Parkway
Landmark
The Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival kicked off last night at St Anthony with three film screenings, a Q&A, and a chilly outdoor after party. Don't worry if you missed out on last night's ceremonies, cause there's roughly 200 films screening at the fest between now and May 5th. If you find the number overwhelming check back here where I'll highlight the best of the fest.
In the meantime, here's what else is playing in the cities:
Take-Up's series on composer Bernard Herrmann continues with its fifth showing. At the Trylon you can catch the 1991 Scorsese film Cape Fear, a remake of the 1962 Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum vehicle. Herrmann's music is only heard in the title, however, while the rest of the score is based off Herrmann's original work made for the original film. A little confusing, but the movie isn't so don't sweat it.
Cape Fear
The Trylon
Fri Apr 15 7:00 9:30Sat Apr 16 7:00 9:30
Sun Apr 17 4:30 7:00
If that's not for you, try Uptown for their midnight screenings of Rear Window, the Jimmy Stewart classic that finds him spying on his potentially murder-happy neighbors. There's no Herrmann score in this Hitchcock feature, though. Just unadulterated voyeurism, Hitchcock-style.
Rear Window
The Uptown
Fri Apr 15 11:59Sat Apr 16 11:59
•St. Elmo's Fire is playing at 2pm at Loring Theater
•The opera The Girl of the Golden West is at the Heights at 1pm
•The documentary Troubled Waters is playing at the Parkway at 3pm for free!
Here's what's happening at the rest of the theaters, and come back later today for my top picks for MSPIFF screenings this weekend.
St Anthony
| For the week of April 15 - April 21 | |
| Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival (NR) runtime 0 hr 0 mins | Visit Website for details |
| Ticket Prices $8.50 General $6.00 Student/Senior/Children $6.00 Matinees 7 days a week all films before 6pm |
Heights
| Friday April 15 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM, 9:15 PM |
| Saturday April 16 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 2:50 PM, 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM, 9:15 PM |
| Sunday April 17 | "THE GIRL OF THE GOLDEN WEST" (NR) 1:00 PM "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM |
| Monday April 18 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM |
| Tuesday April 19 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM |
| Wednesday April 20 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM, 7:10 PM |
| Thursday April 21 | "CEDAR RAPIDS" (R) 5:00 PM |
Riverview
- Gnomeo and Juliet
10:15AM
1:35PM
5:10PM - Tangled
11:45AM - True Grit
3:10PM - The King's Speech
7:00PM - Unknown
9:15PM - Black Swan
11:05PM
Parkway
Company Men (R)
Apr 15, 2011 - Apr 21, 2011
Fri: 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
Sat: 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
Sun: 7:00, 9:00
Mon - Wed: 5:45, 7:45
Sat: 3:00, 5:00, 7:00, 9:00
Sun: 7:00, 9:00
Mon - Wed: 5:45, 7:45
Landmark
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