| |  In This Issue:November 2011What's New on DVDAnother Year (2010)Drama. Intense/Moving. Color. 130 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Mike Leigh. Starring Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville, Ruth Sheen and Imelda Staunton. Observing the existence of a contented older couple over the course of one year might not sound like the stuff of captivating cinema, but in Mike Leigh's capable hands, it takes on the character of ... Read More > | |  |
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)Comedy. Farr-cical/Fast-paced. Black & White. 101 mins. Unrated. Directed By Preston Sturges. Starring Eddie Bracken, William Demarest, Raymond Walburn, Ella Raines and Georgia Caine. This zany comic gem from the legendary Preston Sturges veritably zips along thanks to the director's sharp, Academy Award–nominated screenplay and a host of winningly wacky performances, with ... Read More > | |  |
Leon Morin, Priest (1961)Drama/Foreign. Brainy. Black & White. 117 mins. Unrated. Directed By Jean-Pierre Melville. Starring Jean-Paul Belmondo, Emmanuelle Riva and Nicole Mirel. In a marked change of pace from his usual roles as rakish, cigarette-chomping thieves and lotharios, here Belmondo is a cerebral, unflappable paragon of faith, but no less magnetic. This heady drama ... Read More > | |  |
Of Gods and Men (2011)Drama/Foreign. Brainy/Moving. Color. 123 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Xavier Beauvois. Starring Lambert Wilson, Michael Lonsdale and Olivier Rabourdin. Winner of the Grand Prix at Cannes, this intense drama is a troubling work for troubled times. While operating as a gripping thriller (director Beauvois ratchets up the tension expertly), "Gods" also ... Read More > | |  |
People on Sunday (1930)Drama/Foreign/Romance. Moving/Offbeat/Scenic. Black & White. 73 mins. Unrated. Directed By Robert Siodmak and Edgar G. Ulmer. Starring Erwin Splettstosser, Wolfgang von Waltershausen, Brigitte Borchart, Christi Ehlers and Annie Schreyer. Co-directed by Siodmak and Ulmer, who would both go on to acclaimed careers as film noir directors in Hollywood, and scripted by a young Billy Wilder, this bright, cheery silent film, which feels ... Read More > | |  |
Secret Sunshine (2007)Drama/Foreign. Intense/Spine-tingling. Color. 142 mins. Unrated. Directed By Lee Chang-dong. Starring Song Kang-ho, Seon Jung-yeop and Jeon Do-yeon. Don't let the sunny sounding title fool you- this psychological thriller is one intense ride. Jeon Do-yeon was awarded the Best Actress Prize at the Cannes Film Festival for an astonishing ... Read More > | |  |
The Prowler (1951)Mystery/Suspense. Spine-tingling. Black & White. 92 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Joseph Losey. Starring Van Heflin, John Maxwell, Evelyn Keyes and Katherine Warren. Joseph Losey's dark, cynical, twisted B-thriller is remarkable for touching on taboos too numerous to count at the dawn of the safe, conservative fifties, including adultery, sexual obsession, and ... Read More > | |  |
The Tree of Life (2011)Drama. Brainy/Moving/Scenic. Color. 139 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Terence Malick. Starring Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Hunter McCracken and Jessica Chastain. Epic, ambitious, and highly unconventional, some viewers struggled with this autobiographical, long-gestating magnum opus from Malick. Though the director perhaps falls short in making his more ... Read More > | |  |
Theme of the Month: Mona Simpson's touching eulogy about her brother Steve Jobs this week reveals an extraordinary story about two siblings who met each other in their mid-twenties. Sibling relationships are complicated and perhaps starting a brother-sister relationship as adults removes some of the fraught feelings that take root at birth. This month we focus on movies that plumb the brother sister relationship, for better or worse. Enjoy! Fanny and Alexander (1982)Drama/Foreign Language. Scenic/Moving/Brainy. Color. 188 mins. Rated R. Directed By Ingmar Bergman. Starring Bertil Guve, Pernilla Alwin and Ewa Frolling. This crowning work of Bergman's long, distinguished career was originally a TV mini-series, cut to three hours for theatrical release. The most autobiographical film by the Swedish master, ... Read More > | |  |
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)Action/Adventure/Drama/Foreign/War/Westerns. Intense/Moving. Animated. 89 mins. Unrated. Directed By Isao Takahata. Starring Tsutomo Tatsumi and Ayano Shiraishi. Far from an animé fantasy or children's storybook film, "Fireflies" is quite simply one of the most harrowing and heartbreaking war films you'll ever see. Opening on a scene of starvation and then ... Read More > | |  |
Nobody Knows (2004)Drama/Foreign Language. Moving/Intense. Color. 141 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Hirokazu Koreeda. Starring Ayu Kitaura, Yuya Yagira and You. A lyrical, heartbreaking story based on a scandal that shocked Japan, Kore-eda's "Nobody Knows" considers the precocious self-sufficiency of four children who band together to survive. ... Read More > | |  |
Sansho the Bailiff (1955)Drama. Intense/Moving/Scenic. Black & White. 154 mins. Unrated. Directed By Kenji Mizoguchi. Starring Eitarô Shindô, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kinuyo Tanaka and Kyoko Kagawa. Set in 11th-century Japan "before man's awakening" and based on an oral tragedy told for centuries, Mizoguchi's melancholic story of fate, endurance, and compassion is widely regarded as an Eastern ... Read More > | |  |
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)Drama. Intense/Spine-tingling/Witty. Black & White. 96 mins. Unrated. Directed By Alexander MacKendrick. Starring Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Susan Harrison. Turning from his comedic work at Britain's Ealing Studios to direct this noirish, all-American masterpiece about greed, ambition, and the perversity of power, Alexander MacKendrick relied on ... Read More > | |  |
The Namesake (2007)Drama/Romance. Moving/Wholesome/Offbeat/Scenic. Color. 122 mins. Rated PG-13. Directed By Mira Nair. Starring Irfan Khan, Kal Penn and Tabu. Based on a novel by Jhumpa Lahiri, Nair's chronicle of the Indian-American immigrant experience is sensitive, intelligent, and surprisingly true-to-life, especially as it focuses on the rebellious ... Read More > | |  |
The Night of the Hunter (1955)Mystery/Suspense. Blood-curdling/Offbeat. Black & White. 93 mins. Unrated. Directed By Charles Laughton. Starring Robert Mitchum, Peter Graves and Shelley Winters. Gothic suspense/horror entry was actor Charles Laughton's only outing behind the camera, and he was heart-broken when it failed at the box office. Evidently, the film was simply too dark for ... Read More > | |  |
The Savages (2007)Comedy/Drama. Intense/Moving/Witty. Color. 114 mins. Rated R. Directed By Tamara Jenkins. Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney. A darkly humorous drama about sibling rivalry in a dysfunctional family, Jenkins's "Savages" soars thanks to smart scripting and a pair of knock-out performances by Oscar nominee Linney and the ... Read More > | |  |
You Can Count on Me (2000)Drama. Intense/Moving. Color. 110 mins. Rated R. Directed By Kenneth Lonergan. Starring Mark Ruffalo and Laura Linney. This powerful, fascinating film examines how two very different siblings cope with a single, life-changing tragedy, and how this event affects their own interactions. Written and directed by Lonergan ... Read More > | |  |
Spotlight
• November 12th – John introduces screening of "Midnight" at a private club in Bedford, NY.
• December 2nd – John hosts a movie night and screening of "The Lady Eve" at the Pound Ridge, NY Library. Call (914) 764-5085 for details.
• December 3rd – John hosts a screening of "Rashoman" at a private home.
• Visit "The Three Tomatoes" website for John's article "Ten Black and White Movies for People Who Won't Watch Black and White Movies."
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