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Program Notes October 2007 - January 2008 |
Older Calendars:
January - March 2008 More older calendars >>
Held over through November 25
Blade Runner: The Final Version
Director's Cut (1982/2007, Approx. 120min)
Starring Harrison Ford Directed by Ridley Scott
Ridley Scott's latest cut of "Blade Runner" in a beautiful new print.
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Held over through November 22
Joe Strummer: The Future is Unwritten
Premiere (2007, 124 Minutes)
Directed by Julien Temple
Documentary
Though the Sex Pistols got most of the attention, the best punk rock band was The Clash. And the heart of The Clash was singer, guitarist, and songwriter Joe Strummer. In songs such as "London Calling" and "White Riot" The Clash became the voice of a nation of disaffected youth under the Thatcher regime. Though the personnel changed from time to time thanks to Strummer's tempestuous habits, the band remained the same. Its sound, its philosophy, its sense of alienation and protest all came from Strummer. A bad boy you couldn't help but love, Strummer also became something of a cult figure, courted by movie stars and film directors. In Julian Temple's documentary about the life of Strummer, who died in 2002 at the age of 50, the director has "paid proper homage to one of rock's most important artists," according to Lewis Beale of Film Journal International. To Jim Ridley of the Village Voice, Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten is "less a eulogy than a wake, and one in which the subject is startlingly present." Robert Koehler of Variety deems the film an "engrossing and all-encompassing portrait." Sura Wood of the Hollywood Reporter says, finally, that Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten is a "rock documentary that's a good as it gets."
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Held over through December 6
What Would Jesus Buy?
Premiere (2007, 91 Minutes)
Directed by Rob VanAlkemade, Morgan Spurlock (producer)
Bill Talen is a man with a mission. A former subway preacher who pontificated from a portable podium, he is now Reverend Billy, a man who, with his Stop Shopping Choir, criss-crosses America railing against our consumer culture in churches, schools, and malls. Like a sacred version of Michael Moore, he shows up unexpectedly in shopping centers at Christmas and, leading his choir, comes out against consumerism and addiction, clashing with store managers and security guards in the process. Andrew Robertson of Eye For Film finds What Would Jesus Buy? "genuinely touching, and sometimes shocking." As an added treat, producer Morgan Spurlock (Super Size Me) will attend the evening screenings on Friday and Saturday, November 23 and 24.
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One Week November 30 - December 6
For the Bible Tells Me So
Premiere (2007, 97 Minutes)
Directed by Daniel Karslake
Documentary
The hit of this year's Portland Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, Daniel G. Karslake's gripping documentary is an exploration of the intersection between religion and homosexuality in the U.S., and how the religious right has used its interpretation of the Bible to stigmatize the gay community. Karslake rebukes the church's historic condemnation of same-sex couplings with a detailed examination of Scripture and nakedly emotional interviews with Christian families with gay children, including former Rep. Dick Gephardt, and wife Jane and daughter Chrissy. For John Anderson of Newsday For The Bible Tells Me So is a "rational, human and very serious documentary," while for Geoff Berkshire of the Chicago Tribune its "moving true stories are powerful." Amy Biancolli of the Houston Chronicle notes that the film shows "compassion shown toward everyone, on all sides of the debate." Justin Chang of Variety concludes that For the Bible Tells Me So is "never less than lively and stimulating in its arguments."
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Ends December 25
The Red Balloon (with White Mane)
New Restored Prints! (1956/1953, 34 min/40 min.)
Directed by Albert Lamorisse
It's one of the most beloved children's films ever made. Winner of a 1956 Oscar, The Red Balloon, Albert Lamorisse's dialogue-free tale of a red balloon that follows a little boy around the streets of Paris has pleased generations of both parents and kids alike. Now it comes to theaters again, in a new, restored print, and paired with Lamorisse's earlier short, White Mane (1953, 40 minutes), about a boy who protects a white horse he has come upon from ranchers. Doug Pratt calls both The Red Balloon and White Mane "exciting, memorable cinema." And the fun doesn't end there! Children in attendance will each receive their own very round, red balloon!
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One Week: December 7 - 13
Hear and Now
Premiere (, 84 minutes)
Directed by Irene Taylor Brodsky
Documentary
Portland filmmaker Irene Taylor Brodsky was raised in an unusual family. Her parents are deaf. But in their 60s, the couple chose to go through cochlear implant surgery. Brodsky's fascinating and heartbreaking documentary explores the consequences of that choice. For Peter Debruge of Variety, Brodsky "unlocks the psychological side of the couple's experience with raw emotion." Zack Hadda of Film Threat finds it to be "truly an intimate portrait into the lives of a remarkable couple." Jack Garner of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle judges that Hear and Now is "a beautifully made film, with footage that helps filmgoers understand the richness of the world of sight, the challenges of the world of no sound and the considerable talents and charm of her parents." For Shawn Levy of The Oregonian, Hear and Now is "a love story about two people who've been together nearly forever and who take an unimaginable leap together and with distinct consequences. A lovely, lovely tale."
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One Week: December 7 - 13
How To Cook Your Life
Premiere (2007, 100 Minutes)
Starring Edward Espe Brown Directed by Doris Dorrie
There are many ways to meditate. You can sit for a certain time and try to empty your mind. Or you can jog, do the dishes, or rake the lawn. In How to Cook Your Life, Zen priest and cookbook author (The Tassajara Bread Book) Edward Espe Brown links food preparation with meditation. A Zen priest based in San Francisco, Brown shows how Zen Buddhism and cooking relate to everyday life. Brown believes that working in the kitchen can be an intensely spiritual activity � it's about nourishing the soul as well as the body. In the course of the film, Brown reveals how he came to cooking, about the relationship between preparing food and Zen values, and about his own struggles with various character flaws, as well as showing the viewer how to knead bread. He also lectures on various Zen topics in San Francisco, Carmel Valley, and at a Buddhist center in Austria. Walter V. Addiego of the San Francisco Chronicle finds that How to Cook Your Life "is directed with humor and a sense of openness that is quite Zen-like." Eddie Cockrell of Variety opines that the film is "tasteful in more ways than one, mischievous and charming." Directed by Doris Dorrie, the documentary is "amusing and insightful," according to Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter.
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One Week: December 14 - 20
Romance & Cigarettes
Premiere (2005, 105 Minutes)
Starring James Gandolfini, Kate Winslet, Susan Sarandon, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parke, Christopher Walken, Eddie Izzard, and Amy Sedaris Directed by John Turturro
One of the most unusual films ever made, Romance & Cigarettes is a down-and-dirty musical set in the world of working-class New York. Directed by John Turturro, it tells the story of a husband (James Gandolfini) and his journey into infidelity and redemption when he must choose between his seductive mistress (Kate Winslet) and his beleaguered wife (Susan Sarandon). Also in the all-star cast are Steve Buscemi, Bobby Cannavale, Mandy Moore, Mary-Louise Parke, Christopher Walken, Eddie Izzard, and Amy Sedaris. "Turturro pulls off a very tricky balancing act, by trusting in the expertise of his performers and by infusing the whole film with energy and affection," says Geoff Andrew of Time Out. Stephen Holden of the New York Times finds that there is "more raw vitality pumping through Romance & Cigarettes than in a dozen perky high school musicals." Rich Cline of Shadows on the Wall thinks that Romance & Cigarettes is "impossible not to adore it." Roger Ebert calls it simply "the real thing, a film that breaks out of Hollywood jail with audacious originality, startling sexuality, heartfelt emotions and anarchic liberty...Four stars and both of my thumbs way up!
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One Day Only: Sun morning, December 16
Legends of Steam 2
Premiere (2007, 82 Minutes)
Directed by Camron Settlemier
Two massive steam Locomotives, Portland's own Southern Pacific 4449 along with Union Pacific 844, double head together for the first time in excursion service. Legends of Steam Volume 2 follows the two engines on their outing from Portland to Tacoma, Seattle, and Everett pulling the Puget Sound Steam Special. Re-live America's rich railroad history with Marcam Productions' Debut feature: Legends of Steam.
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Ends December 27
Diva
25th Anniversary Revival, New Print (1982, 123 Minutes)
Directed by Jean-Jacques Beineix
Language: In French with English Subtitles
A French import that was more stylish and sleek than the American movies twenty-five years ago and based on a novel by Delacorta, Diva told of a Jules (Fr�d�ric Andr�i), a young Parisian mail courier with a bohemian lifestyle and an obsession with opera, particularly one exceptional American diva who refuses to be recorded. He makes an illegal tape of her at a concert. But when the tape is confused with one implicating a police chief with the mob, he gets caught up in a mad escapade that takes him all across Paris, but also into the presence of his idol. The first feature film of Jean-Jacques Beineix, Diva also introduced singer Wilhelmenia Fernandez, and the great aria from Alfredo Catalani's opera La Wally that she sings. Variety asserted that "novel touches, bizarre chases and plot twists, breathtaking camerawork by Philippe Rousselot and tension-filled editing, make Diva a superior piece of entertainment." Andrew O'Hehir of Salon thinks Diva is "a supremely gorgeous" motion picture. Adds Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader, "Any film with this much stylistic assurance is impossible to fully resist." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praises Beineix for "taking audacious chances, doing wild and unpredictable things with his camera and actors, just to celebrate moviemaking."
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One Week: December 28 - January 3
Steep
Premiere (2007, 92 Minutes)
Directed by Mark Obenhaus
Documentary
Steep is a feature documentary about bold adventure, exquisite athleticism and the pursuit of the perfect moment on skis. It is the story of big mountain skiing, a sport that barely existed 35 years ago. It started in the 1970s in the mountains above Chamonix, France, where skiers like Anselme Baud and Patrick Vallencant began to attempt descents so extreme that they appeared nearly suicidal. Two generations later, some of the world's greatest skiers pursue a sport where the prize isn't winning, but simply experiencing the exhilaration of skiing and exploring big, wild, remote mountains. Featured, among others, are Bill Briggs, Stefano De Benedetti, Eric Pehota, Shane McConkey, Ingrid Backstrom, Seth Morrison and the late Doug Coombs. The stunning footage was shot in Alaska, Wyoming, Canada, France and Iceland.
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One Week: January 4 - 10
Sing-Along Grease
Premiere (1978, 110 Minutes)
Starring John Travolta, Olivia Newton-John Directed by Randal Kleiser
Like the sing-a-long versions of Sound of Music, Mary Poppins and The Wizard of Oz, this audience interactive celebration takes on the beloved and hummable 1978 musical starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, itself based on popular retro stage production. This version of the movie features subtitled lyrics so everyone can sing along. Fun is enhanced with the help of a Grease Goodie Bag for each audience member (with props designed to be used during key moments in the film), costume contests, and your singing hostess who actually attended Rydell High! When Sing-Along Grease played in Chicago, Michael Wilmington of the Chicago Tribune sang its praises, calling it "a blast!" He's so right. Advance tickets will be available starting Nov. 26, so this holiday season, give the gift of song and fun, Give Grease for Xmas!
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Begins January 11
There Will Be Blood
Premiere (2007, 158 Minutes)
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
It's an 180-degree turn for Paul Thomas Anderson. The director of original, epical films about contemporary Californians and their interrelated problems (Boogie Nights, Magnolia), has, for his latest film, dipped unexpectedly into American literature to adapt Upton Sinclair's novel Oil, from 1927. The book concerns the relationship of a young Socialist to his oil tycoon father, but the film chooses to trace the history of that father, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis), from his arrival in California, to his wheeling and dealing to acquire land with oil under it, and to his eventual fall from grace. Todd McCarthy of Variety finds There Will Be Blood to be "boldly and magnificently strange." Peter Martin of Twitch finds There Will Be Blood to be "sweeping and majestic as it moves down a lonely, powerful path." The Hollywood Reporter says that "Daniel Day-Lewis stuns in Anderson's saga of a soul-dead oil man", while Emanuel Levy on his website declares "Densely rich, with references to Citizen Kane, Treasure of the Sierra Madre and Giant, this uniquely American sprawling saga of capitalism and greed, family and faith, is Anderson�s deepest, most ambitious work!"
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