Films -June 2012

0

Languages

Arabic

French

Norwegian

Cantonese

Haitian Creole

Turkish

Czech

Hindi

English

Japanese

Farsi

Korean

Arabic

 Where Do We Go Now?
(Et maintenant on va où?)
Directed by Nadine Labaki
(France/Lebanon/Egypt/Italy, 2011
A group of Lebanese women try to ease religious tensions between Christians and Muslims in their village. (Arabic, Russian and English)
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Cantonese

A Simple Life

(Tao jie)
Directed by Ann Hui
(Hong Kong, 2011, 118 min.)
When the lifelong maid to a wealthy family suffers a stroke, it’s up to the only family member in the city, a busy movie producer, to take care of her. (Cantonese, English and Mandarin)
Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., June 29, 7 p.m.,
Sun., July 1, 2 p.m.

Czech

Alice
(Neco z Alenky)
Directed by Jan Svankmajer
(Czechoslovakia/Switzerland/U.K./W. Germany, 1988, 86 min.)
Jan Svankmajer’s ingenious adaptation of the Lewis Carroll classic, in which Alice is portrayed by an actress and an antique doll, is set entirely inside Alice’s home.
National Gallery of Art
Sat., June 2, 3:30 p.m.

Faust

(Lekce Faust)
Directed by Jan Svankmajer
(Czech Republic/France/U.K., 1994, 97 min.)
In Jan Svankmajer’s fanciful retelling of the fable, a contemporary “everyman” exits the Prague subway and is lured to a mysterious marionette theater, where, following a dreamlike series of episodes, the unsuspecting soul submits to playing the role of Doctor Faustus.
National Gallery of Art
Sun., June 3, 4 p.m.

Surviving Life (Theory and Practice)

(Prezít svuj zivot)
Directed by Jan Svankmajer
(Czech Republic/Slovakia/Japan, 2010, 109 min.)
Playfully reinventing his modus operandi, Jan Svankmajer uses colorful photographic cutouts of his actors instead of the actors themselves (“to save money”) and creates a “psychoanalytical comedy” through a blend of collage animation and live action.
National Gallery of Art
Sun., June 10, 109 min.)

English

Ballplayer: Pelotero
Directed by Ross Finkel

(U.S./Dominican Republic, 2011, 77 min.)
In the run-up to the most important day of their lives, two young Dominican baseball players confront competition and corruption to achieve their big league dreams.
AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., June 2, 8:30 p.m.

Bel Ami
Directed by Declan Donnellan and Nick Ormerod

(U.K./France/Italy, 2012, 102 min.)
A young man rises to power in Paris via his manipulation of the city’s most influential and wealthy women.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., June 8

Calypso Rose: The Lioness of the Jungle
Directed by Pascale Obolo
(Trinidad and Tobago, 2011, 85 min.)
Traveling to Paris, New York, Trinidad and Tobago and back to Africa, pieces of living legend Calypso Rose’s life are revealed.
AFI Silver Theatre

Fri., June 1, 9:45 p.m.

The Cat Returns
Directed by Hiroyuki Morita
(Japan, 2002, 75 min.)
Walking home from school one day, schoolgirl Haru rescues a cat from being hit by a car. To her surprise, the cat proceeds to rise up on his two hind feet, dust itself off, and thank her for her bravery. So begins Haru’s strange adventure with the Cat Prince in the secret Kingdom of Cats.
AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., June 2, 11 a.m.,

Sun., June 3, 11 a.m.

Desires & Deceptions
Directed by Torriano Berry
(Belize, 2012, 107 min.)
A Belizean politician resolves to go straight and steer clear of the petty corruptions and daily hurly-burly of public life, and at the same time tries to reconnect with the family he lost along the way.
AFI Silver Theatre
Mon., June 4, 7 p.m.

Fire in Babylon
Directed by Stevan Riley
(U.K., 2010, 82 min.)
This energetic documentary looks back at the legendary West Indies cricket team that rose to prominence in the 1970s and 1980s.
AFI Silver Theatre

Fri., June 1, 7:30 p.m.

Forward Home: The Power of the Caribbean Diaspora
Directed by Lisa Wickham

(Trinidad and Tobago, 2011, 50 min.)
This documentary illuminates the findings of a groundbreaking research project that studies four Caribbean countries and their counterpart communities in global cities.
AFI Silver Theatre

Sun., June 3, 8 p.m.

Ghett’a Life
Directed by Chris Browne
(Jamaica, 2011, 104 min.)
In this “against the odds” action drama set in the politically turbulent inner city community of Kingston, Jamaica, a determined teenager realizes his dream of becoming a champion boxer despite a country, community and family conflicted by a divisive political system.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., June 3, 9:30 p.m.

A Hand Full of Dirt
Directed by Russell Watson
(Barbados, 2010, 93 min.)
Archie Redman is a middle-age man chasing a fading dream to hold onto his failing business, a small hotel, while his son is stuck in his own limbo.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., June 3, 5 p.m.

Howl’s Moving Castle
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

(Japan, 2004, 119 min.)
A teenager named Sophie has her life turned upside-down when she meets a dashing young wizard named Howl and becomes caught up in a magicians’ feud.
AFI Silver Theatre

June 15 to 17

Hysteria
Directed by Tanya Wexler
(U.K./France/Germany/Luxembourg, 2011, 95 min.)
This lighthearted romantic comedy tells the surprising story of the birth of the electro-mechanical vibrator at the very peak of Victorian prudishness.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Last Call at the Oasis
Directed by Jessica Yu
(U.S., 2011, 100 min.)
Jessica Yu’s documentary presents a powerful argument for why the global water crisis will be the central issue facing our world this century, illuminating the vital role water plays in our lives, exposing the defects in the current system, and depicting communities already struggling with its ill-effects.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
(U.K., 1975, 89 min.)
King Arthur and his knights embark on a low-budget search for the Grail, converting Arthurian legend into uncontrollable lunacy.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Pink Ribbons, Inc.
Directed by Léa Pool

(Canada, 2011, 98 min.)
Breast cancer has become the poster child of corporate cause-related marketing campaigns, but this feature documentary shows how the devastating reality of breast cancer becomes obfuscated by a shiny, pink story of success.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., June 8

The Princess Bride
Directed by Rob Reiner
(U.S., 1987, 98 min.)
Peter Falk reads the story of the beautiful Buttercup, in love with farm boy Westley but eventually betrothed to loathsome Prince Humperdinck in the 25th anniversary of this hilarious classic.
AFI Silver Theatre
June 15 to 17

Sing Your Song
Directed by Susanne Rostock
(U.S., 2011, 104 min.)
Told from Harry Belafonte’s point of view, this film charts his life, from his birth and boyhood in New York and early life in Jamaica, to his return to Harlem as a teen.
AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., June 2, 6 p.m.

The Skin
Directed by Howard Allen

(Antigua and Barbuda, 2011, 100 min.)
A young married couple is about to lose their home when they discover an ancient vase and their luck changes dramatically.
AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., June 2, 10:15 p.m.

Spirited Away
Directed by Hayao Miyazaki

(Japan, 2002, 125 min.)
While out exploring, a young girl strays from her parents and stumbles into the spirit world and is conscripted into working in a fabulous bathhouse where all manner of magical creatures come to relax in Japan’s highest-grossing film of all time.
AFI Silver Theatre
June 8 to 10

Two Mules for Sister Sara
Directed by Don Siegel

(U.S./Mexico, 1970, 116 min.)
In 1860s Mexico, during the Juarista resistance to the forces of Emperor Maximilian, mercenary Clint Eastwood rescues nun Shirley MacLaine from three ill-intentioned thugs, only to be persuaded into helping her get revenge on the Mexican Army.
AFI Silver Theatre
June 2 to 7

Farsi

This Is Not a Film
(In film nist)
Directed by Jafar Panahi
(Iran, 2011, 78 min.)
In this clandestine documentary — smuggled into France in a cake — renowned Iranian director Jafar Panahi shares his day-to-day life confined to his Tehran apartment as he awaits the appeal of his six-year prison sentence for supporting the opposition party in Iran’s 2009 election.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

French

Elza

(Le Bonheur d’Elza)
Directed by Mariette Monpierre
(Guadeloupe/France, 2011, 78 min.)
A Parisian single mother’s joy when her eldest daughter, Elza, becomes the first in the family to graduate from college turns to heartache when Elza runs away to their native Guadeloupe in search of the father she barely remembers.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sun., June 3, 6:20 p.m.

The Intouchables
(Intouchables)
Directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano

(France, 2011, 112 min.)
After he becomes a quadriplegic from a paragliding accident, a Parisian aristocrat hires a young man from the projects to be his caretaker.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema
Opens Fri., June 1

Polisse
Directed by Maïwenn

(France, 2011, 127 min.)
Officers in the Paris Police Department’s Children’s Protection Unit struggle to protect child victims, while coping with self-esteem issues and personal problems.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Haitian Creole

Stones in the Sun

(Wòch nan soley)
Directed by Patricia Benoit
(Haiti/U.S., 2012, 95 min.)
In the midst of increasing political violence in their homeland, the lives of three pairs of Haitian refugees intersect in 1980s New York City. (Haitian Creole and French)
AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., June 2, 5 p.m.

Hindi

Aag
(Fire)
Directed by Raj Kapoor

(India, 1948, 138 min.)
This brooding, noir-ish melodrama is an ideal entrance point for audiences unfamiliar with Hindi cinema, with Raj Kapoor starring as a theater producer obsessed with the twinned concepts of ideal beauty and self-sacrifice.
Freer Gallery of Art

Fri., June 8, 7 p.m.

Awaara
(The Vagabond)
Directed by Raj Kapoor

(India, 1951, 193 min.)
In one of the greatest and most famous Indian films ever made, a judge rejects his pregnant wife after she is kidnapped and presumably raped by a criminal. Protesting her innocence, she raises her son, who in turn tries to break out of the cycle of poverty.
Freer Gallery of Art

Sun., June 13, 2 p.m.

Barsaat
(Monsoon)
Directed by Raj Kapoor

(India, 1949, 171 min.)
Raj Kapoor’s first megahit shuttles between the stories of a romantic idealist and his more carnally driven best friend, who both meet the daughters of innkeepers on two separate trips.
Freer Gallery of Art

Sun., June 17, 2 p.m.

Boot Polish
Directed by Prakash Arora
(India, 1953, 149 min.)
An orphaned brother and sister are forced by their horrid aunt to beg on the streets, until a kindly smuggler encourages them to join the boot-polish trade, but then their new life is interrupted by the monsoons, which tear the siblings apart.
Freer Gallery of Art

Fri., June 15, 7 p.m.

God, Your River Is Tainted

(Ram Teri Ganga Maili)
Directed by Raj Kapoor
(India, 1985, 166 min.)
Raj Kapoor’s final and most financially successful film returns to the crusading social-message drama format of his early years, vividly depicting the corruption and mendacity at the heart of Indian society and utilizing the Ganges itself as a guiding metaphor for the country’s decline.
AFI Silver Theatre
Thu., June 28, 7:30 p.m.

Satyam Shivam Sundaram
(Love Sublime)
Directed by Raj Kapoor
(India, 1978, 172 min.)
A city engineer falls for a temple girl whose beauty is marred by a horrible scar on her right cheek, which she keeps hidden from him. When he discovers her disfigurement on their wedding night, he goes mad, and she undertakes a strange masquerade to win him back.
Freer Gallery of Art

Sun., June 24, 2 p.m.

Shree 420
Directed by Raj Kapoor

(India, 1955, 169 min.)
Arriving in the big city to make his fortune, country bumpkin Raju (Kapoor) is introduced to the urban underworld following brief encounters with a moralistic oligarch and a Cassandra-like beggar.
Freer Gallery of Art
Fri., June 1, 7 p.m.

Stay Awake

(Jagte Raho)
Directed by Amit Mitra and Sombhu Mitra

(India, 1956, 137 min.)
A young tramp wanders into an upscale apartment building, where he witnesses a veritable carnival of evildoing in this exposé of the perversions of Calcutta’s upper-middle class. (Hindi and Bengali)
AFI Silver Theatre

Sat., June 9, 5 p.m.

Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow
(Kal Aaj Aur Kal)
Directed by Randhir Kapoor

(India, 1971, 158 min.)
Three generations of Kapoors — Prithviraj, Raj and Raj’s son Randhir, who also directs — take to the screen in this tale of generational conflict.
AFI Silver Theatre

Tue., June 26, 7:30 p.m.

Japanese

I Wish

(Kiseki)
Directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda
(Japan, 2011, 128 min.)
Koichi, 12, who has been separated from his brother because of his parents’ divorce, begins to believe that the town’s new bullet train service will create a miracle when the first trains pass each other at top speed.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

My Neighbors the Yamadas
Directed by Isao Takahata
(Japan, 1999, 104 min.)
In a break from the frequently mythical storytelling of Studio Ghibli, director Isao Takahata wryly tweaks the everyday activities of family life with his depiction of the irresponsible, slovenly and lazy Yamada family and their unassuming way of life.
AFI Silver Theatre
Sat., June 9, 11 a.m.,
Sun., June 10, 11 a.m.

Korean

Moby Dick
Directed by Park In-jae
(South Korea, 2011, 112 min.)
Captain Ahab’s monomaniacal obsession with the white whale in “Moby Dick” serves as a metaphor for a reporter’s determination to uncover a vast conspiracy in this action-filled thriller set amid tension between North and South Korea in 1994.
AFI Silver Theatre

Tue., June 12, 9:10 p.m.,

Wed., June 13, 9:10 p.m.

Norwegian

Headhunters
(Hodejegerne)
Directed by Morten Tyldum

(Norway/Germany, 2011, 100 min.)
Norway’s most accomplished corporate headhunter living a life of luxury well beyond his means risks everything to steal a valuable painting owned by a former mercenary. (Norwegian and Danish)
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Turn Me On, Damnit!
Directed by Jannicke Systad Jacobsen
(Norway, 2011, 75 min.)
In Norway, 15-year-old Alma is consumed by her hormones and fantasies that range from sweetly romantic images of the boyfriend she yearns for, to daydreams about practically everybody she lays eyes on.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Opens Fri., June 1

Turkish

Once Upon a Time in Anatolia
(Bir zamanlar Anadolu’da)
Directed by Nuri Bilge Ceylan

(Turkey/Bosnia-Herzegovina, 2011, 157 min.)
A murder suspect leads a convoy of police to the site of the crime, but the killer cannot recall where he left the body, so the convey travels through the deserted countryside as conversations along the way reveal not only the facts of the crime but political attitudes and personal longings.
Landmark’s E Street Cinema

staffauthor