Foreign Film Series 2009

The Department of Modern Foreign Languages will offer a FOREIGN FILM
SERIES beginning in January. Six films will be shown in George
Washington Hall, Dodd Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. They are open to the
public without charge and have English subtitles.


Wednesday, January 14 - RUN LOLA RUN (German with subtitles)
Winner of the Audience Award at Sundance and one of the highest grossing
films in German history, this rapid-fire outlaw-couple romance combines
MTV razzle-dazzle, film-noir fatalism, and post-Tarantino plot-twisting.
Lola, the rebellious daughter of a philandering banker, gets a frantic
phone call from her hotheaded boyfriend, who has lost the money
entrusted to him in a drug deal. They have exactly twenty minutes to
come up with 100,000 marks. Can they do it? The film provides three
different answers to that question, in the form of three alternative
destinies that transpire when split-second differences in timing trigger
major variations in the chain of cause and effect. Directed by Tom Tykwer.

(New Yorker Films)


Wednesday, January 28 - PERSEPOLIS (French with subtitles)
Winner of the Cannes Jury Prize, Marjane Satrapi’s groundbreaking
cartoon adaptation of her own celebrated graphic novel about growing up
female in Iran comes to cinematic life in the Oscar-nominated
PERSEPOLIS. This thinly-veiled autobiography is the memoir of a clever,
fearless girl coming of age during the period leading to the Shah’s
downfall and subsequent repressive Islamic regime. From her rebellious
childhood to her discovery of punk rock, Godzilla, and Nikes under the
crush of Islamic fundamentalist power, Marjane’s adolescent angst and
fierce feminist spirit permeate every lovingly hand-drawn frame, as does
her overwhelming love for her quietly brave family. (New Yorker Films)


Wednesday, February 4 - INTACTO (Spanish with subtitles)
Winner of Spain’s prestigious Goya Award for Best New Director and Best
New Actor, Juan Carlos Fresnadillo’s mesmerizing psychological thriller
INTACTO centers around four people whose lives are intertwined by
destiny.... They discover that luck is something they cannot afford to
be without, as they gamble with the highest stakes possible in a deadly
game from which only one of them will emerge intact. (Lions Gate Films)

“A sharp brainteaser of a film, a compelling mind game you compulsively
play along with.” - Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
“Audacious, enigmatic, astounding ...” - TotalFilm.com



Wednesday, February 11 - CARAMEL (Arabic and French with subtitles)
Nominated for Best Foreign Film Oscar, CARAMEL is a wonderfully engaging
bitter-sweet romantic comedy that centers on the daily lives of five
Lebanese women who work in or regularly patronize a Beirut beauty salon.
The film provides a glimpse into a culture that is both foreign and
familiar. Directed and acted by Nadine Labaki.

“CARAMEL has an optimism born not of dreamy romanticism but of
resilience and a degree of hard-headedness. Life for these women is not
easy or especially fair .... But in the best melodramatic tradition,
their toughness, good humor and loyalty see them through. Those
qualities, and Ms. Labaki’s evident affection for the battered panache
of her native city, make CARAMEL hard to resist.” - A. O. Scott, New
York Times


Wednesday, February 18 - TOGETHER (Chinese with subtitles)
At the center of the story is a 13-year-old violin prodigy from a small
village. His widowed father, a cook with few resources, is prepared to
sacrifice all, so that the boy can play in an important Beijing
competition. Directed by the internationally acclaimed filmmaker Chen
Kaige, who has won numerous awards; his other films include THE EMPEROR
AND THE ASSASIN, FAREWELL MY CONCUBINE, and YELLOW EARTH.

“TOGETHER is a drama of exceptional, elegant beauty ....themes of unconditional love and newfound friendship, it’s the kind of
movie that makes you smile and breaks your heart.” - David Cornelius,
efilmcritic.com


Monday, February 23 - PINOCCHIO (Italian with subtitles)
This PINOCCHIO, Italy’s choice for Best Foreign Film Oscar, is not at
all like the animated Disney film audiences in America have come to
know. Directed and acted by Academy Award-winner Roberto Benigni (Best
Actor, LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL), PINOCCHIO is a delightful live-action
adaptation of Carlo Collodi’s classic 1883 novel. Perhaps because
audiences in Italy expected and appreciated Benignis’ faithful rendition
of Collidi’s somber fairy tale, PINOCCHIO broke the all-time Italian box
office record for an opening weekend when it was released.

“The film is beautiful, the music lush and memorable and the text duly
honored.” - Michael Brunton, Time