The Real Dirt On Farmer John
SYNOPSIS:
The beguiling true story of an eccentric farmer who invites his friends to help him farm while they create an artists' commune during the 1970's, arousing the suspicions and prejudices of his neighbors. After nearly losing the farm during the debt crisis, he finally triumphs after pioneering organic, community-supported agriculture.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"... outstanding documentary ..." --Kevin Crust, LOW ANGELES TIMES
"Inspiring, instructive, humorous, dramatic and moving, The Real Dirt on Farmer John is something special". --URBAN CINEFILE CRITICS
"Don't be surprised if, by the finish, you wind up fantasizing about your own rural homestead". --Elizabeth Weitzman, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
"What a blessing this film is, for everyone who's chosen the road less taken, and even perhaps for anyone who's stood in their way". --Jan Stuart, NEWSDAY
"This is a loving, moving, inspiring, quirky documentary that was made while the lives it records were being lived". --Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"Unbelievably special!"--AL GORE
AWARDS:
2005: Won Special Jury Award (Best documentary), Newport International Film Festival 2005: Won Best Documentary Feature Award, Nashville Film Festival 2005: Won Audience Award and Jury Prize, Bend film Festival 2005: Won Audience Award, Slamdance Film Festival DETAILS: 83 min. No MPAA rating. In English. 2005 release. TRAILER AVAILABLE here.
¡Salud!
SYNOPSIS:
A timely film about conflicting values and the urgency of ensuring the universal right to health care, ¡SALUD!, examines the remarkable case of Cuba, a cash-strapped country that has established what the BBC calls "one of the world’s best health systems," and helps other developing countries do the same. Beautifully filmed in Cuba, South Africa, The Gambia, Honduras and Venezuela, ¡SALUD! reveals the human dimension of the world-wide health crisis, and the central role of international cooperation in addressing glaring inequalities. ¡SALUD! accompanies some of the 28,000 Cuban health professionals now serving in 68 countries. Through their personal stories, and those of an array of young medical students—now numbering 30,000—from the Americas, Africa and the Caribbean (including nearly 100 from the USA) being trained by Cuba, ¡SALUD! invites us to explore new paths to making health a global birthright, wiping out the diseases of poverty.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"¡Salud! is an excellent, accurate and deeply moving portrayal of a healthcare system designed to keep people healthy rather than the ‘sickcare’ system that currently exists in the United States." --Joycelyn Elders, MD, former U.S. Surgeon General
“¡Salud! is a great movie that should inform our nation's urgent quest to raise health standards for all citizens." --William D. Rogers, former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs
"For anyone interested in health and social justice, “¡Salud! is indispensable to understanding the Cuban model -- what has been accomplished with very limited resources and the transformative potential of construing health as a fundamental human right and a matter of basic human dignity." --Alicia Yamin, JD, MPH, Physicians for Human Rights
“¡Salud! should be required viewing for all medical students -- it provides the fresh and inspiring perspectives on healthcare delivery and medical education that are desperately needed in the current climate of medicine at large." --Jay Bhatt, National President 2006 - 2007, American Medical Students Association
AWARDS:
2007: Won Audience Award, Los Angeles Pan-African Film Festival The film's producer/director, Connie Fields, has twice been an Oscar nominee: in 1990 for "Forever Activists", and in 1994 for "Freedom on my Mind".
DETAILS:
2006 release. Not rated (should be acceptable for all audiences in our view). In English (Spanish dialogue has English subtitles). 93 min. TRAILER AVAILABLE here.
Everything Is Illuminated
SYNOPSIS:
A young Jewish American travels to the Ukraine in search of the woman who sheltered his grandfather during the Nazi invasion. He has a photograph and the name of a village. He hires the Odessa Heritage Tours, made up of a gruff old man and his grandson (Alex the grandson speaks an inventive form of English, and is an archetypal wild and crazy guy). The three, plus grandfather's deranged dog, travel in an old car from Odessa into rural Ukraine. Jonathan (the American) is a compulsive collector, putting things he finds into small plastic bags so he will remember.
The story shifts from offbeat hilarious to poignant as they find the object of their journey. A wonderful directing debut for the actor, Liev Schreiber ("The Manchurian Candidate", "The Painted Veil").
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"It sounds weird, and it is. It's also very funny, not to mention mesmerizing and, finally, heartbreaking." --Kerry Lengel, ARIZONA REPUBLIC
"A film that grows in reflection." --Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
"As a whimsical and at times poignant look at family secrets and family ties, it's effective, it’s moving." --Richard Roeper, EBERT & ROEPER
"A movie with wit, warmth and unabashed emotion." --Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
2005: Won Biografilm Award and Laterna Magica Prize, Venice Film Festival 2005: Won International Jury Award (best screenplay), Sao Paulo International Film Festival 2005: Won Special Recognition Award, National Board of Review (USA) 2006: Nominated for Golden Trailer Award (best music)
DETAILS:
Rated PG-13 (for disturbing images/violence, sexual content and language). 106 min. 2005 release. In English. TRAILER AVAILABLE here.
Fahrenheit 451"
SYNOPSIS:
Based on the 1951 Ray Bradbury novel of the same name. Guy Montag is a firefighter who lives in a lonely, isolated society where books have been outlawed by a government fearing an independent-thinking public. It is the duty of firefighters to burn any books on sight or said collections that have been reported by informants. People in this society including Montag's wife are drugged into compliancy and get their information from wall-length television screens. After Montag falls in love with book-hoarding Clarisse, he begins to read confiscated books. It is through this relationship that he begins to question the government's motives behind book-burning. Montag is soon found out, and he must decide whether to return to his job or run away knowing full well the consequences that he could face if captured.
REVIEWER'S COMMENTS:
"A marvelously courageous personal statement that becomes more fascinating with time".---TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
"THIS is how you adapt a literary classic to the big screen".---Scott Weinberg, eFILMCRITIC.COM
"With a serious and even terrifying theme, this excursion into science fiction has been thoughtfully directed by Francois Truffaut".---VARIETY
"Weird, yes. And wonderful".--James O'Ehley, SCI-FI MOVIE PAGE
"This is the kind of film that should encourage the perceptive viewer to rush out to the library to read someone like Herman Melville before it's too late".---Dennis Schwartz, OZUS' WORLD MOVIE REVIEWS
AWARD NOMINATIONS:
1967: Nominated for BAFTA award (Best British actress, Julie Christie) 1967: Nominated for Hugo award (Best dramatic presentation) 1966: Nominated for Golden Lion award, Venice Film Festival DETAILS: 113 min. Color. Not rated (suitable for all audiences in our opinion). 1966 release. In English. TRAILER AVAILABLE here.
Once
SYNOPSIS:
The Irish romance ONCE may be a musical, but it is miles away from the traditional Hollywood idea of people bursting into song. Glen Hansard (frontman for indie rock band The Frames) plays the guy, a street musician who is playing for change when he meets the girl (Marketa Irglova), an immigrant from the Czech Republic. The pair immediately bond over their shared love of music (he is a guitarist, and she plays the piano), and the film chronicles their tentative relationship. Both are weighed down by plenty of baggage: his songs are fueled by a painful breakup, and she is a young mother who left her husband behind in her native country. Like the independent favorite BEFORE SUNRISE, ONCE is a simple, sweet drama that doesn’t rely on an elaborate plot. With its use of digital video and handheld cameras, ONCE matches its spare visual style to its intimate mood. Each moment feels stolen from real life, and the story is at once familiar and fresh. Driven more by music than by dialogue, ONCE features a stirring soundtrack of heartfelt indie rock sung by Hansard and Irglova. Before his foray into film, director John Carney (ON THE EDGE) played bass in The Frames, and his passion for music is clear in this modern musical that hits every note perfectly
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"ONCE transcends even its own ambitions, becoming a complex meditation on relationships, Irish culture, and music".---Toddy Burton, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
"Just about everyone with a heartbeat has had this tingly experience. You're at a movie, and a song, as if by magic, breaks through the surface of the drama. Suddenly, you're no longer sitting and watching — you're soaring". ---Owen Gleiberman, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
"The captivating Irish musical romance ONCE will warm all but the stoniest hearts".---Colin Covert, MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE "This indie musical is a bijou of a film that joins unaffected performances and a compelling soundtrack in a low-budget, documentary-style film that lets us watch two people fall in love to the mesmerizing soundtrack of the songs they create".---Linda Barnard, TORONTO STAR
"A romantic fairy tale of astonishing delicacy and emotional nuance. This movie is so good..." ---Robert Butler, KANSAS CITY STAR
AWARDS:
2008: Won Oscar, Best Original Song ("Falling Slowly") 2008: Won Independent Spirit Award, Best Foreign Film 2008: Won Broadcast Film Critics Award, Best Song 2007: Won Audience Award, Dublin International Film Festival 2007: Won Audience Award, Sundance Film Festival 2008: Nominated for Grammy, Best Compilation Soundtrack Album
DETAILS:
Rated R for language. 2007 release. 86 min. In English. Color. TRAILER AVAILABLE here.
Donnie Darko
SYNOPSIS:
The film can best be described as an edgy and very innovative psychological thriller. "October Sky's" Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Donnie, a mentally unstable high school student with a high IQ and too many questions running rampant through his disturbed brain. Guided by an imaginary 6' tall spooky-looking rabbit named Frank who delivers strange, fatalistic messages, Donnie tackles questions that never occur to most teens - including the possibility of time travel and how it relates to the existence of God. Despite its weirdness, ultimately "Donnie Darko" is a beautiful tale of love, loyalty, and sacrifice.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
..."breathtaking filmmaking."---Thomas Delana,BOULDER WEEKLY "Haunting and altogether exquisite."---Leslie Felperin, SIGHT AND SOUND
"An unnerving, electrifying debut film from 26-year-old writer/director Kelly, one that elucidates the universal traumas of growing up, but does so with a startling uncommonness."---Kimberly Jones, AUSTIN CHRONICLEAWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
2001: Won San Diego Film Critics Award (Best Original Screenplay) 2001: Won Sitges-Catalonian International Film Festival Award (Best Screenplay) 2002: Won Toronto Film Critics Association Special Citation 2002: Won Gerardmer Film Festival Premiere Award 2003: Won Film Critics Circle of Australia Award
DETAILS:
MPAA rating--R (language, some drug use, violence). 113 min. 2001 release. In English, color. TRAILER AVAILABLE here
Who Killed The Electric Car?
SYNOPSIS:
In 1996, electric cars began to appear on roads all over California. They were quiet and fast, produced no exhaust and ran without gasoline...........Ten years later, these cars were destroyed. With gasoline prices now hovering around $3/gallon, fossil fuel shortages, war and unrest in oil producing regions around the globe, and mainstream consumer adoption of the hybrid electric car (more than 140,000 Prius' sold this year), this film couldn't be more relevant. It tells the story of GM's short-lived production of an electric car, its place in history and in the larger story of our car culture, and how it enables our continuing addiction to foreign oil. This is an important film that not only calls to task the industry officials who squelched the Zero Emission Vehicle mandate, but all of the other converging influences such as oil companies, government, and even American consumers, who have embraced the SUV instead. The documentary also deals with the role of renewable energy and sustainable living in our country's future; issues which affect us all.
The film stars Martin Sheen as narrator, and includes appearances by Phyllis Diller, Mel Gibson, and others.
REVIEWS:
"A balanced examination of the reasons for the electric car's disappearance."---Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"Runs efficiently on its own energy and sincerity, which makes it not unlike the car it mourns."---Terry Lawson, DETROIT FREE PRESS
"Fascinating"---Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL
"Like a companion piece to "An Inconvenient Truth", this timely documentary tackles what could be done about America's oil addiction."---Susan Granger, MONAMAG.COM
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
Nominated: Best Documentary - Environmental Media Awards (2006) Won: Special Jury Prize - Mountain Film (Telluride) (2006) Nominated: Best Documentary - Writers Guild of America Won: Audience Award - Canberra International Film Festival Nominated: 2007 Best Documentary Feature - Broadcast Film Critics Association
DETAILS:
MPAA rating: PG (brief strong language). 91 min. In English. 2006 release. TRAILER AVAILABLE here
Refusing To Be Enemies: The Zeitouna Story
SYNOPSIS:
A group of American women, some Jewish, and some of Arab origin (calling their group "Zeitouna"-- Arabic for "olive tree"), discuss their connections to events in Palestine/Israel. Insights form as they come to know one another, providing potential paths toward deeper understanding of this divisive issue by Americans generally, and encouragement for those trying to overcome personal prejudices, by learning to recognize the humanity of those with differing views and backgrounds.
After several years of getting to know one another through regular meetings, the women organize a group trip to Palestine/Israel, and eventually embark on an effort to share their new insights with others around the US and the world.
Director Laurie White, in addition to being a filmmaker, is a psychotherapist and a Zeitouna member. Some of White's prior movies include "Roger and Me" (co-producer), "Come Unto Me: The Faces of Tyree Guyton" (associate producer), "No Excuse" (director/producer, commissioned by the Ann Arbor Mayor's Taskforce on Increasing Safety for Women) and "Yoga from the Ground Up: the Iyengar Tradition" (director/producer).
REVIEWS:
"...a heartfelt, and sometimes heart-wrenching, effort to deal personally and locally with one of the world's most entrenched conflicts -- the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."---Patricia Montemurri, DETROIT FREE PRESS
"A moving documentary captures the fear, resentment, and anger associated with the Palestine-Israeli conflict and takes an important step toward peace and understanding."---Delia Habhab, THE ARAB AMERICAN NEWS
..."an inspiring testament to the power of dialogue and the critical role that personal transformation takes on the long road to peace." THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
..."an informal, grass-roots effort to build relationships across historical divides that has blossomed into something profoundly great." ---Paul Saginaw, ANN ARBOR NEWS
DETAILS:
Not rated, but suitable for young and old. 58 min. 2007 release. In English. TRAILER AVAILABLE: here
Three Needles
SYNOPSIS:
A beautifully filmed, 3-continent triptych of the personal impacts of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, bringing greater relevance of this phenomenon to those of us living in a more protected environment. Starring Stockard Channing, Olympia Dukakis, Chloe Sevigny, Shawn Ashmore, Sandra Oh, and Lucy Liu.
REVIEWER'S COMMENTS:
"..director (Thom) Fitzgerald has demonstrated how huge a challenge the AIDS epidemic is on a worldwide scale, and how it will take a concerted, intelligent effort to solve it". —Allen Johnson, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
"Brilliant, devastating" —SAN FRANCISCO BAY GUARDIAN
"Breathtaking" —MONTREAL MIRROR
"Three riveting dramas about the AIDS crisis set in South Africa, China, and Canada that open our eyes and our hearts to victims of this dread disease". —Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, SPIRITUALITY AND PRACTICE
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
2005 : Won Atlantic Canadian Award (Best Cinematography, Tom Harting) 2005: Won Atlantic Canadian Award (Best Direction, Thom Fitzgerald) 2006: Nominated for Directors Guild of Canada Craft Award, Feature Film (Outstanding Direction, Thom Fitzgerald)
DETAILS:
MPAA rating: not rated, 124 min., color, in English, 2005 release. TRAILER AVAILABLE here
Iraq In Fragments
SYNOPSIS:
In a series of stunningly filmed sequences, Longley and his camera seek out the real lives outside the frame of conventional TV news, and he succeeds in creating both compelling journalism and superb images. In Baghdad, he finds a heartbreakingly lonely 11-year-old orphan, apprenticed to a tough garage owner who has taken him in. This man appears at first to be affectionate to the boy in his rough and ready way, and the child's hesitant voiceover pays a kind of cowed tribute to how kind he is; and yet soon the man is cuffing him and shouting at him, and in the course of the film, the boy's feelings become something altogether different. In Baghdad, in the cafes and streetcorners, the cynical talk is of how things were actually better under Saddam.
In the south, the Shias are electrified by the historic opportunity that has opened up for them, and vigorously prosecute their new Islamic revolution; we see them loudly declaiming the great Satan Uncle Sam and brutally arresting people on suspicion of selling alcohol, a suspicion that does not appear to have much relation to due process of law. These people appear drunk with righteousness, and again, the dark talk is of a rampant new Saddam-ism. Then there is a gentle, pious Kurdish man who sadly reflects that his people's religious identity has left them out of step with the fierce new flame of anger burning elsewhere in the country.
It is a superbly made film, pessimistic but not simplistic. Longley's footage of Baghdad streetlife is outstanding: he seems to capture stunning images everywhere he looks, just by pointing the camera, a dozen scorching pictures every minute, rendered hyper-real on high-definition video. It looks like an imaginary landscape from some impossibly violent and traumatised futureworld, from which the director reports back with something other than the TV newsman's redundant rhetoric of sensation or forced compassion.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
'A remarkable example of the conjunction of a burningly topical and newsworthy subject with a brilliant filmmaker". --Michael Wilmington, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
"... this one demands to be seen". --Kenneth Turan, LOS ANGELES TIMES
"Of all the documentaries to come out of the current war, IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS is the least violent and perhaps the most disquieting". --Jan Stuart, NEWSDAY
"James Longley's haunting, oblique film, Iraq in Fragments, presents a collage of images, sounds and characters in an intimate, partial portrait of an unraveling nation". --A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
2007--Nominated for Oscar (Best documentary feature) 2006--Won Best Cinematography, Directing, and Editing Awards, Sundance Film Festival 2006--Won IDA Award, International Documentary Association 2006--Won Gold Hugo Award, Chicago International Film Festival 2006--Won Nestor Almendros Award, Human Rights Watch International Film Festival
DETAILS:
MPAA rating-not rated. In Arabic and Kurdish with English subtitles. 94 min. Color. 2006 release.
TRAILER AVAILABLE
The Stone Reader
SYNOPSIS:
"A movie for anyone who has ever loved a book". In 1972, 18-year-old Mark Moskowitz buys a novel called "The Stones of Summer" by first-time author Dow Mossman, because an enthusiastic New York Times review persuades him it is the book of a generation. Despite being an avid reader, Moskowitz can't get past the first 20 pages. Twenty-five years later, Mark re-discovers the book, and this time he can't put it down. Enthralled with its story and wonderful originality, Mark tries to buy copies for his friends and to look for other works by the author. He can't find the book. He can't find a record of the author. He can't find anyone who has heard his name, let alone read the book. The film chronicles filmmaker Mark Moskowitz’s year-long search for Dow Mossman. Pursuing answers to the literary mystery, he crisscrossed the country, meeting, among others, Robert Gottlieb, editor of Catch-22, Frank Conroy, head of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and critic Leslie Fiedler. Cinematic, humorous and obsessive, the journey is a wistful, powerful affirmation of reading and what it means to us.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
" **** (Highest Rating)! Amazing. Stone Reader is one of the most satisfying experiences you’re likely to have in a movie theatre this year. It’s a tribute to the transforming power of reading and a reminder of the Sisyphean task that reading can be." -Wesley Morris, THE BOSTON GLOBE
"It’s rare enough when a documentary achieves cult status. Rarer still when it actually changes lives. Stone Reader, a movie about the love of reading, manages to do both." -David Ansen, NEWSWEEK
"A film about the power of literature, the obscurity of genius and the enormous demands of art. Stone Reader is a debut of enormous craft, surety and resourcefulness -- a superlative, soul-baring non-fiction work that will generate torrential word-of-mouth." -Scott Foundas, VARIETY
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
2002--Won Jury Special Award, Slamdance Film Festival 2002--Won Audience Award, Slamdance Film Festival 2003--Won Philadelphia City Paper Festival of Independents Award 2003--Nominated for Truer Than Fiction Award, Independent Spirit Awards
DETAILS:
MPAA rating: PG-13 for brief strong language. 127 min. Color. In English. 2002 release. TRAILER AVAILABLE here
Shut Up and Sing
SYNOPSIS:
The movie travels with the Dixie Chicks, from the peak of their popularity as the national-anthem-singing darlings of country music and top-selling female recording artists of all time, through the now infamous anti-Bush comment made by the group’s lead singer Natalie Maines in 2003. The film follows the lives and careers of the Dixie Chicks over a period of three years during which they were under political attack and received death threats, while continuing to live their lives, have children, and of course make music. The repercussions of their speaking out raise interesting issues concerning the status of, and respect for, free speech in these times.
REVIEW
( Joel Selvin--SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE): "Of all the unlikely casualties of the war in Iraq, the poor Dixie Chicks appear to have sacrificed their enormously successful career over an offhand remark in front of a London audience on the eve of the invasion.
"As the extraordinary documentary by renowned filmmaker Barbara Kopple, "Shut Up and Sing," makes abundantly clear, the comment was not a slip of the tongue or a misunderstood piece of media garble. Dixie Chicks vocalist Natalie Maines meant what she said and she did not try to take it back, mitigate the damage or even back away from the sentiment. But then, she's no politician. Maines had some reservations about her country's inevitable march to war in those waning days of peace in 2003 and she exercised her freedom of speech, nervous in front of a foreign audience in a country that on that very day was torn by anti-war demonstrations. She also makes it clear in this astonishingly candid, intimate film that she doesn't think she has anything to apologize for, and sisters Martie Maguire and Emily Robison, her two colleagues in the biggest-selling female vocal group of the modern era, back her up all the way. Documentary filmmakers pray for something to happen to their subjects when the cameras are rolling, and two-time Academy Award-winning documentarian Kopple struck gold when Maines told a crowd on the opening night of the band's first European tour that she was "ashamed" that President Bush was from Texas. Kopple and co-director Cecilia Peck were there to record what turned out to be a historic event."In the firestorm that ensued, the widespread reporting of the unplanned, informal bit of stage patter, the Dixie Chicks found themselves virtually banned from country radio in this country, alienated from the group's natural, red-state core following, and demonized by powerful, ugly forces in society. Disc jockeys collected their CDs from listeners and smashed them with a bulldozer. Kopple and Peck follow the three women through the strife, the battles with the media, backstage conferences with publicists, the moments of doubt, tears, anger and recrimination. It's all there to see, splattered in front of the cameras.
"The Chicks emerged in the late '90s with, "Wide Open Spaces," an album that would sell more than 12 million copies. A refreshing paradigm shift from the Barbie dolls out of Nashville, the Chicks played their own instruments (Maguire took third place in the National Fiddle Championship) and sprinkled authentic bluegrass amid the mainstream country music they made. Their fevered constituency was a lot of the same people who voted for Bush. Cameras catch Maines that fateful night at London's Shepherds Bush Empire and follow the Chicks through the aftermath -- the Diane Sawyer interview, the nude cover shoot for "Entertainment Weekly," the verbal sparring with redneck singer Toby Keith -- all the way through the group's 2005 collaboration with producer Rick Rubin that resulted in the Dixie Chicks' latest album, "Taking the Long Way," preceded by the defiant single, "Not Ready to Make Nice."
"By the time Maines takes the stage again (early in 2006), at the scene of the crime in Shepherds Bush and triumphantly repeats her remark, the Dixie Chicks have been made into accidental, reluctant heroes of free speech and the anti-war movement. Bush himself feels obligated to comment on them. Before the controversy, the Dixie Chicks were just an extraordinarily popular group of country music performers; now they stand for something. Here comes Oprah, Charlie Rose and the cover of Time, previously unthinkable pinnacles of media exposure for three pretty ladies singing country music. But we are living in a time where the American public must turn to entertainers and comedians, not their politicians, to hear the truth.
"(Their) recent tour, "Accidents and Accusations," ... had to be halted, postponed and re-routed away from the South -- the Houston concert was plain canceled after radio refused advertising for the show -- and into additional dates in Canada, where "The Long Way Home" is six times platinum. And the Chicks continue to be too hot button for some. NBC-TV, citing network policy against advertising controversial subjects, refused to run commercials in Los Angeles for "Shut Up and Sing."
Is this a great country or what? —Advisory: Newsreel footage of actual politicians is included".
OTHER REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
"Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck's film is a fascinating look at the intersection of commerce, celebrity, and controversy"-- Wesley Morris, BOSTON GLOBE
"Their fight to stay uncompromised is inspiring"--Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE
"While there is a vague hint of a vanity project in a few extraneous scenes, directors Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck have fashioned a compelling and rousing film that will not only appeal to Chicks fans, but make fans of those who weren't before"--Claudia Puig, USA TODAY
"Exhilarating documentary"--Peter Bradshaw, THE GUARDIAN
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
2006--Won Audience Award, Aspen Filmfest 2006--Won BSFC Award, Boston Society of Film Critics 2006--Won Special Jury Prize, Chicago International Film Festival 2006--Won Wodstock Film Festival Audience Award 2006--Won SDFCS Award, San Diego Film Critics Society 2007--Nominated for BFCA Award, Broadcast Film Critics Association
DETAILS:
MPAA rating--Rated R. 93 min. 2006 release. Color
Princess Mononoke
SYNOPSIS
(from Roger Ebert of the CHICAGO SUN-TIMES):"Hayao Miyazaki is a great animator, and his PRINCESS MONONOKE is a great film. Do not allow conventional thoughts about animation to prevent you from seeing it. It tells an epic story set in medieval Japan, at the dawn of the Iron Age, when some men still lived in harmony with nature and others were trying to tame and defeat it. It is not a simplistic tale of good and evil, but the story of how humans, forest animals and nature gods all fight for their share of the new emerging order. It is one of the most visually inventive films I have ever seen.
"The movie opens with a watchtower guard spotting "something wrong in the forest." There is a disturbance of nature, and out of it leaps a remarkable creature, a kind of boar-monster with flesh made of writhing snakes. It attacks villagers, and to the defense comes Ashitaka, the young prince of his isolated people. He is finally able to slay the beast, but his own arm has been wrapped by the snakes and is horribly scarred.
"A wise woman is able to explain what has happened. The monster was a boar god, until a bullet buried itself in its flesh and drove it mad. And where did the bullet come from? "It is time," says the woman, "for our last prince to cut his hair and leave us." And so Ashitaka sets off on a long journey to the lands of the West, to find out why nature is out of joint, and whether the curse on his arm can be lifted. He rides Yakkuru, a beast that seems part horse, part antelope, part mountain goat.
"There are strange sights and adventures along the way, and we are able to appreciate the quality of Miyazaki's artistry. The drawing is not simplistic, but has some of the same "clear line" complexity used by the Japanese graphic artists of two centuries ago, who inspired such modern works as Herge's Tintin books. Nature is rendered majestically (Miyazaki's art directors journeyed to ancient forests to make their master drawings) and fancifully (as with the round little forest sprites). There are also brief, mysterious appearances of the spirit of the forest, who by day seems to be a noble beast, and at night a glowing light.
"Ashitaka eventually arrives in an area that is prowled by Moro, a wolf god, and sees for the first time the young woman named San. She is also known as "Princess Mononoke," but that's more a description than a name; a mononoke is the spirit of a beast. San was a human child, raised as a wolf by Moro; she rides bareback on the swift white spirit-wolves and helps the pack in their battle against the encroachments of Lady Eboshi, a strong ruler whose village is developing ironworking skills and manufactures weapons using gunpowder.
"As Lady Eboshi's people gain one kind of knowledge, they lose another, and the day is fading when men, animals and the forest gods all speak the same language. The lush green forests through which Ashitaka traveled west have been replaced here by a wasteland; trees have been stripped to feed the smelting furnaces, and on their skeletons, yellow-eyed beasts squat ominously. Slaves work the bellows of the forges, and lepers make the weapons.
"But all is not black and white. The lepers are grateful that Eboshi accepts them. Her people enjoy her protection. Even Jigo, a scheming agent of the emperor, has motives that sometimes make a certain amount of sense. When a nearby samurai enclave wants to take over the village and its technology, there is a battle with more than one side and more than one motive. This is more like mythical history than action melodrama.
"The artistry in PRINCESS MONONOKE is masterful. The writhing skin of the boar-monster is an extraordinary sight, one that would be impossible to create in any live-action film. The great white wolves are drawn with grace, and not sentimentalized; when they bare their fangs, you can see that they are not friendly comic pals, but animals who can and will kill.
"The movie does not dwell on violence, which makes some of its moments even more shocking, as when Ashitaka finds that his scarred arm has developed such strength that his arrow decapitates an enemy.
"Miyazaki and his collaborators work at Japan's Studio Ghibli, and a few years ago Disney bought the studio's entire output for worldwide distribution. (Disney artists consider Miyazaki a source of inspiration.) The contract said Disney could not change a frame--but there was no objection to dubbing into English, because of course, all animation is dubbed into even its source language, and as Miyazaki cheerfully observes, "English has been dubbed into Japanese for years." This version of PRINCESS MONONOKE has been well and carefully dubbed with gifted vocal talents, including Billy Crudup as Ashitaka, Claire Danes as San, Minnie Driver as Eboshi, Gillian Anderson as Moro, Billy Bob Thornton as Jigo, and Jada Pinkett-Smith as Toki, a commonsensical working woman in the village.
"The drama is underlaid with Miyazaki's deep humanism, which avoids easy moral simplifications. There is a remarkable scene where San and Ashitaka, who have fallen in love, agree that neither can really lead the life of the other, and so they must grant each other freedom, and only meet occasionally. You won't find many Hollywood love stories (animated or otherwise) so philosophical. PRINCESS MONONOKE is a great achievement and a wonderful experience, and one of the best films of the year.
"Some of my information comes from an invaluable new book, "Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation," by Helen McCarthy (Stone Bridge Press, $18.95)."
OTHER REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
- "A windswept pinnacle of its art, PRINCESS MONONOKE has the effect of making the average Disney film look like just another toy story"--Ty Burr, ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY
- "Sheer technical virtuosity aside, where Miyazaki succeeds most enduringly is in his willingness to grant audiences their most basic intellectual due"--Gemma Files, FILM.COM
- "A landmark achievement in animated cinema"--Scott Von Doviak, CULTUREVULTURE.NET
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
2001--Won Saturn Award, US Academy of Fantasy, Sci-fi, etc. films 2000--Nominated for Annie Award 2000--Nominated for Sierra Award, Las Vegas Film Critics Society 1998--Won Best Film Award, Japanese Academy
DETAILS:
MPAA rating: PG-13 for some images of violence and gore. 134 min. Japanese film, dubbed in English. US release: 1999. Color.
Water
SYNOPSIS:
The setting is India in 1938. The film examines the plight of a group of widows forced into poverty at a temple in the holy city of Varanasi. It focuses on a relationship between one of the widows, who wants to escape the social restrictions imposed on widows, and a man who is from the highest caste and a follower of Mahatma Gandhi.
This is the third film in Deepa Mehta's "elemental trilogy," which began with FIRE (1996) and continued with EARTH (1998). The feminist, anti-traditional theme of WATER resulted in a 5-year campaign by extremist groups in India to stop the film's production, including death threats, arson, and riots.REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
- "Luminous" --Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
- "A magnificent film" --Salman Rushdie
- "Superb" --Rick Grohn, TORONTO GLOBE AND MAIL
- "It levels its criticisms within a climate of respect, a combination that creates a work of true humanity". --Robert Denerstein, DENVER ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS
- "... WATER is an exquisite film about the institutionalized oppression of an entire class of women and the way patriarchal imperatives inform religious belief". --Jeannette Catsoulis, NEW YORK TIMES
AWARDS, NOMINATIONS:
2007 --Nominated for Oscar, Best Foreign Language Film 2006--Won Genie Awards for Best Achievement in Cinematography (Giles Nuttgens), Best Achievement in Music - Original Score (Mychael Danna), Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (Seema Biswas) 2006--Won Freedom of Expression Award, National board of Review, USA 2006--Won VFCC Awards, Vancouver Film Critics Circle, for Best Actress - Canadian Film (Lisa Ray), Best Director - Canadian Film (Deepa Mehta)
DETAILS:
MPAA rating--Rated PG-13 for mature thematic material involving sexual situations, and for brief drug use. In Hindi, with English subtitles. 117 min. 2005 release. In color.
Jesus Camp
SYNOPSIS:
An acclaimed documentary about the camp at Devil's Lake, ND for training kids as young as 10 to be evangelical preachers. Discussion to follow the show.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
- "Grady and Ewing's depiction of this modern-day children's crusade is remarkably unbiased." --Ken Fox, TV GUIDE'S MOVIE GUIDE
- "Often funny, but it's also a scary, sobering inside look at the attempts of an increasingly powerful group to erode the separation of church and state". --Ann Hornaday, WASHINGTON POST
- "You don't have to be extreme or liberal to be shaken by Jesus Camp". --Phil Kloer, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
- "This riveting documentary explores Kids on Fire, a summer camp in Devils Lake, N.D., that grooms children to be soldiers in 'God's army'." --Stephen Holden, NEW YORK TIMES
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
2007--Nominated for Oscar, Best Documentary 2007--Nominated for OFCS Award, Best Documentary, Online Film Critics Society Awards 2006--Nominated for CFCA Award, Best Documentary, Chicago Film Critics Association AwardsDETAILS:
MPAA rating:PG-13 for some discussions of mature subject matter. 87 min. In English. 2006. Color.
Waco: The Rules of Engagement
SYNOPSIS:
An expose on the draconian tactics utilized by the FBI to bring the Branch Davidian sect to heel. Utilizing footage and recordings from both sides of the standoff, the story is told of how government interference with an unconventional congregation ended in tragedy on April 19, 1993.
REVIEWERS' COMMENTS:
- "The film is persuasive" --Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES
- "Accessible, well researched and strongly argued" --Rick Groen, GLOBEANDMAIL.COM
- "...presents itself as neither guesswork nor conspiratorial ramblings; instead, Gazecki's ... documentary smacks of hard facts and deep research." --Marc Savlov, AUSTIN CHRONICLE
- "A superb and very disturbing documentary" --Jon Niccum, LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
DETAILS:
MPAA: Not Rated (some graphic violence and coarse language). 135 min. 1997. In English. Color.
AWARDS AND NOMINATIONS:
Nominated for Oscar, best documentary feature, 1998. Won IDA Award, International Documentary Association, 1997. Won Most Popular Documentary Award, Melbourne International Film Festival, 1998.