Fall Film Schedule @ NCMA

I am really excited about this years Fall Film Series at NCMA.  It starts this Friday, September 14th and runs until November 16th.  The line-up is amazing.  It is better than the French-themed series of last year, which I thought was also amazing .  Season passes are worth it this time, but if you’re no cinema buff, I still highly recommend these top 5 choices.

September 14th, 2007 The Rules of The Game Directed by Jean Renior

Widely regarded as one of the greatest films ever made, Jean Renoir’s masterpiece The Rules of the Game is a scathing critique of corrupt French society cloaked in a comedy of manners. At a weekend hunting party, amorous escapades abound among the aristocratic guests and are mirrored by the activities of the servants downstairs. The refusal of one of the guests to play by society’s rules sets off a chain of events that ends in tragedy. Poorly received upon its release in 1939, the film was severely re-edited, and the original negative was destroyed during World War II. Only in 1959 was the film fully reconstructed and embraced by audiences and critics who now see the film as a timeless representation of a vanishing way of life.

October 5th, 2007 Beauty & The Beast Directed by Jean Cocteau

Once upon a time, in a world of magic and wonder, the true love of a beautiful girl may finally dispel the torment of a feral but gentle-hearted beast. Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la Bête) is a landmark feat of cinematic fantasy in which master filmmaker Jean Cocteau conjures spectacular visions of enchantment, desire, and death that have never been equaled.  Not a cartoon, people.

October 12th, 2007 The Lady Vanishes Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

In Alfred Hitchcock’s most quick-witted and devilish comic thriller, the beautiful Margaret Lockwood, traveling across Europe by train, meets Dame May Whitty’s charming old spinster, who seemingly disappears into thin air. Soon enough, the young woman turns investigator and finds herself drawn into a complex web of mystery and high adventure.

November 9th, 2007 Wild Strawberries Directed by Ingmar Bergman

The world of cinema said goodbye in July to this genius of film-making. The film that catapulted Bergman to the forefront of world cinema is the director’s richest, most humane movie. Traveling to receive an honorary degree, Professor Isak Borg (masterfully played by the veteran Swedish director Victor Sjöström), is forced to face his past, come to terms with his faults, and accept the inevitability of his approaching death. Through flashbacks and fantasies, dreams and nightmares, Wild Strawberries captures a startling voyage of self-discovery and renewed belief in mankind.

November 16th, 2007 La Strada Directed by Federico Fellini

Gelsomina is sold by her mother into the employ of Zampanò (Anthony Quinn), a brutal strongman in a traveling circus. When Zampanò encounters an old rival in highwire artist the Fool (Richard Basehart), his fury is provoked to its breaking point. With La strada, Fellini left behind the familiar signposts of Italian neorealism for a poetic fable of love and cruelty, evoking brilliant performances and winning the hearts of audiences and critics worldwide.  Winner of the Academy Award® for Best Foreign Film in 1956.

websites of interest: Janus Films Rialto Pictures The Criterion Collection (aka, the website where i got these apt film summaries)

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