Hey Midtowners and friends.
We are watching the film The Jerk . See details about the film below and watch the trailer. How does this movie relate to us and the gospel. Come see the movie and discuss it with us at Fidos. Please meet in front of the Belcourt at 7:30pm for good seats and so that we can sit together as a group.
THE JERK
Saturday, July 10th - Sunset:
8:06pm
I am NOT a bum...I'm a jerk -
Truer lines never spoken by hapless Navin R. Johnson (Steve Martin),
raised in a rural Mississippi community uncertain of his own race, a
future target of can-haters and carnival freaks, and a great lover of
the everyday thermos. When an accidental discovery leads to sudden
fortune and fame, so goes his rapid decline. Dir. Carl Reiner, 1979,
USA, R, 94min, 16mm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Vp9fQ616k
Monday, July 5, 2010
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.... Come watch and Discuss the Film
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Joel is stunned to discover that his girlfriend Clementine has had her memories of their tumultuous relationship erased. Out of desperation, he contracts the inventor of the process, Dr. Howard Mierzwaik, to have Clementine removed from his own memory. But as Joel's memories progressively disappear, he begins to rediscover their earlier passion. From deep within the recesses of his brain, Joel attempts to escape the procedure. As Dr. Mierzwiak and his crew chase him through the maze of his memories, it's clear that Joel just can't get her out of his head. Written by Focus Features. The cast includes Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, and Mark Ruffalo to name a few.
Paste magazine ranked this independent film as the number 5 movie of the 2000s.
Midtown Film group will be hosting a screening and discussion on Friday May 28th @ the 12th South Venue @ 7pm. Snacks and drinks will be provided. View the trailer below.
Joel is stunned to discover that his girlfriend Clementine has had her memories of their tumultuous relationship erased. Out of desperation, he contracts the inventor of the process, Dr. Howard Mierzwaik, to have Clementine removed from his own memory. But as Joel's memories progressively disappear, he begins to rediscover their earlier passion. From deep within the recesses of his brain, Joel attempts to escape the procedure. As Dr. Mierzwiak and his crew chase him through the maze of his memories, it's clear that Joel just can't get her out of his head. Written by Focus Features. The cast includes Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, and Mark Ruffalo to name a few.
Paste magazine ranked this independent film as the number 5 movie of the 2000s.
Midtown Film group will be hosting a screening and discussion on Friday May 28th @ the 12th South Venue @ 7pm. Snacks and drinks will be provided. View the trailer below.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Last Year at Marienbad screening at 7pm this Friday
Want to see a film that changed cinema? Critics have hailed it as one of the most influential films of all time; it created a worldwide sensation when it was released in 1961, and long lines of people waited to see it in cities across America. If you've ever wondered if there's more to movies than formulaic plots and Hollywood sameness, you owe it to yourself to see Last Year at Marienbad. And it's screening for free this Friday, April 30, at 7 p.m. at the 12th South Sanctuary! Drinks and snacks will be provided with discussion to follow after the film.
Here's the Criterion description:
Not just a defining work of the French New Wave but one of the great, lasting mysteries of modern art, Alain Resnais’ epochal Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad) has been puzzling appreciative viewers for decades. Written by radical master of the New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet, this surreal fever dream, or nightmare, gorgeously fuses the past with the present in telling its ambiguous tale of a man and a woman (Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) who may or may not have met a year ago, perhaps at the very same cathedral-like, mirror-filled château they now find themselves wandering. Unforgettable in both its confounding details (gilded ceilings, diabolical parlor games, a loaded gun) and haunting scope, Resnais’ investigation into the nature of memory is disturbing, romantic, and maybe even a ghost story.
Here's a review that was published in the New York Times when the film was first released in this country:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9b05e4de1f3de53bbc4053dfb5668389679ede
Dan Schneider, one of many critics who credits the film with influencing everything from Bergman and Kubrick to Roger Corman and perfume commercials:
http://www.cosmoetica.com/B737-DES608.htm
Carter Horsley, a critic who ranks it the sixth greatest sound film of all time:
http://www.thecityreview.com/lastyr.html
Here's perhaps my favorite synopsis of the film, including a brief description from the screenwriter:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/last-year-at-marienbad-28413
Jim Hoberman for the Village Voice:
"Hopelessly retro, eternally avant-garde, and one of the most influential movies ever made.... [It] eludes tense. The movie is what it is—a sustained mood, an empty allegory, a choreographed moment outside of time, and a shocking intimation of perfection."
- J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Lastly, the trailer:
Here's the Criterion description:
Not just a defining work of the French New Wave but one of the great, lasting mysteries of modern art, Alain Resnais’ epochal Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad) has been puzzling appreciative viewers for decades. Written by radical master of the New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet, this surreal fever dream, or nightmare, gorgeously fuses the past with the present in telling its ambiguous tale of a man and a woman (Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) who may or may not have met a year ago, perhaps at the very same cathedral-like, mirror-filled château they now find themselves wandering. Unforgettable in both its confounding details (gilded ceilings, diabolical parlor games, a loaded gun) and haunting scope, Resnais’ investigation into the nature of memory is disturbing, romantic, and maybe even a ghost story.
Here's a review that was published in the New York Times when the film was first released in this country:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9b05e4de1f3de53bbc4053dfb5668389679ede
Dan Schneider, one of many critics who credits the film with influencing everything from Bergman and Kubrick to Roger Corman and perfume commercials:
http://www.cosmoetica.com/B737-DES608.htm
Carter Horsley, a critic who ranks it the sixth greatest sound film of all time:
http://www.thecityreview.com/lastyr.html
Here's perhaps my favorite synopsis of the film, including a brief description from the screenwriter:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/last-year-at-marienbad-28413
Jim Hoberman for the Village Voice:
"Hopelessly retro, eternally avant-garde, and one of the most influential movies ever made.... [It] eludes tense. The movie is what it is—a sustained mood, an empty allegory, a choreographed moment outside of time, and a shocking intimation of perfection."
- J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Lastly, the trailer:
Thursday, April 8, 2010
"Last Year at Marienbad" screening @ the Hope Center on 12th South Friday April 30th
"Last Year at Marienbad" screening @ the Hope Center on 12th South Friday April 30th 2010. Drinks and snacks will be provided with discussion to follow after the film. See details below.
Want to see a film that changed cinema? Critics have hailed it as one of the most influential films of all time; it created a worldwide sensation when it was released in 1961, and long lines of people waited to see it in cities across America. If you've ever wondered if there's more to movies than formulaic plots and Hollywood sameness, you owe it to yourself to see this film. Here's the Criterion description:
Not just a defining work of the French New Wave but one of the great, lasting mysteries of modern art, Alain Resnais’ epochal Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad) has been puzzling appreciative viewers for decades. Written by radical master of the New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet, this surreal fever dream, or nightmare, gorgeously fuses the past with the present in telling its ambiguous tale of a man and a woman (Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) who may or may not have met a year ago, perhaps at the very same cathedral-like, mirror-filled château they now find themselves wandering. Unforgettable in both its confounding details (gilded ceilings, diabolical parlor games, a loaded gun) and haunting scope, Resnais’ investigation into the nature of memory is disturbing, romantic, and maybe even a ghost story.
Here's a review that was published in the New York Times when the film was first released in this country:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9b05e4de1f3de53bbc4053dfb5668389679ede
Dan Schneider, one of many critics who credits the film with influencing everything from Bergman and Kubrick to Roger Corman and perfume commercials:
http://www.cosmoetica.com/B737-DES608.htm
Carter Horsley, a critic who ranks it the sixth greatest sound film of all time:
http://www.thecityreview.com/lastyr.html
Here's perhaps my favorite synopsis of the film, including a brief description from the screenwriter:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/last-year-at-marienbad-28413
Jim Hoberman for the Village Voice:
"Hopelessly retro, eternally avant-garde, and one of the most influential movies ever made.... [It] eludes tense. The movie is what it is—a sustained mood, an empty allegory, a choreographed moment outside of time, and a shocking intimation of perfection."
- J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Lastly, the trailer:
Want to see a film that changed cinema? Critics have hailed it as one of the most influential films of all time; it created a worldwide sensation when it was released in 1961, and long lines of people waited to see it in cities across America. If you've ever wondered if there's more to movies than formulaic plots and Hollywood sameness, you owe it to yourself to see this film. Here's the Criterion description:
Not just a defining work of the French New Wave but one of the great, lasting mysteries of modern art, Alain Resnais’ epochal Last Year at Marienbad (L’année dernière à Marienbad) has been puzzling appreciative viewers for decades. Written by radical master of the New Novel Alain Robbe-Grillet, this surreal fever dream, or nightmare, gorgeously fuses the past with the present in telling its ambiguous tale of a man and a woman (Giorgio Albertazzi and Delphine Seyrig) who may or may not have met a year ago, perhaps at the very same cathedral-like, mirror-filled château they now find themselves wandering. Unforgettable in both its confounding details (gilded ceilings, diabolical parlor games, a loaded gun) and haunting scope, Resnais’ investigation into the nature of memory is disturbing, romantic, and maybe even a ghost story.
Here's a review that was published in the New York Times when the film was first released in this country:
http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=9b05e4de1f3de53bbc4053dfb5668389679ede
Dan Schneider, one of many critics who credits the film with influencing everything from Bergman and Kubrick to Roger Corman and perfume commercials:
http://www.cosmoetica.com/B737-DES608.htm
Carter Horsley, a critic who ranks it the sixth greatest sound film of all time:
http://www.thecityreview.com/lastyr.html
Here's perhaps my favorite synopsis of the film, including a brief description from the screenwriter:
http://www.allmovie.com/work/last-year-at-marienbad-28413
Jim Hoberman for the Village Voice:
"Hopelessly retro, eternally avant-garde, and one of the most influential movies ever made.... [It] eludes tense. The movie is what it is—a sustained mood, an empty allegory, a choreographed moment outside of time, and a shocking intimation of perfection."
- J. Hoberman, Village Voice
Lastly, the trailer:
Friday, February 12, 2010
Come See The White Ribbon @ the Belcourt Theater on Friday February 26th
Hey Midtowners and friends,
Come see the movie The White Ribbon playing at the Belcourt Theater on Friday February 26th. The movie is playin at 8pm so we will be meeting in the lobby at 7:45 with discussion at Fido's following the movie.
THE WHITE RIBBON
Dir. Michael Haneke, Austria, 2009, 144min, 35mm
“I was interested in presenting a group of children who are taught absolutist values, and the way they internalize this absolutism. My point was to show the consequences – that is, all sorts of terrorism.”
– Michael Haneke
The White Ribbon marks the high point of a journey that Haneke began over twenty years ago with his remarkable first feature film, The Seventh Continent. This latest work, set in a small farming village in northern Germany on the eve of the First World War, is shot in sparkling, iridescent black and white, a film of shimmering surfaces that conceal a much darker reality. True to his style, this reality is hinted at but rarely shown, and it gradually informs every moment of our watching.
Haneke has always had an eerie ability to unsettle, and this quality is in full force during the opening scenes of The White Ribbon. Beneath the sun-dappled fields lurks a series of disturbing events recounted by the local schoolteacher: a horseman has a strange accident, a worker is killed in the nearby sawmill, a young boy is kidnapped and beaten, a man savagely takes his scythe to a crop in a field, a barn is torched. This provides the backdrop to Haneke's brilliant and ruthless examination of a society that admits to nothing and hides everything.
As the young schoolteacher begins to court a shy governess, the brutalizing reality of village life is slowly laid bare. The local children play a key role; as they gravitate toward every violent incident, it soon becomes apparent that they are members of a society that prizes discipline as a virtue, even if it borders on abuse. Their elders, Protestant to the core, are committed to a value system based on obedience and punishment. As the schoolteacher attempts to assert his principles, he finds that they inevitably collide with the strict, harsh rules of the village.
All this is accomplished with utmost rigour and control on the director's part. Though an analysis of the roots of Nazism can be read into the narrative, the film has a more universal reach. Haneke maintains that the work is as much an investigation of terrorism as it is of fascism. Both provocative and elegantly executed, this is essential viewing – an examination of how violence can perhaps unwittingly take root in a society that ostensibly believes in other values. - Toronto International Film Festival
Watch the preview below:
Email us at nashvillefilmclub@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Come see the movie The White Ribbon playing at the Belcourt Theater on Friday February 26th. The movie is playin at 8pm so we will be meeting in the lobby at 7:45 with discussion at Fido's following the movie.
THE WHITE RIBBON
Dir. Michael Haneke, Austria, 2009, 144min, 35mm
“I was interested in presenting a group of children who are taught absolutist values, and the way they internalize this absolutism. My point was to show the consequences – that is, all sorts of terrorism.”
– Michael Haneke
The White Ribbon marks the high point of a journey that Haneke began over twenty years ago with his remarkable first feature film, The Seventh Continent. This latest work, set in a small farming village in northern Germany on the eve of the First World War, is shot in sparkling, iridescent black and white, a film of shimmering surfaces that conceal a much darker reality. True to his style, this reality is hinted at but rarely shown, and it gradually informs every moment of our watching.
Haneke has always had an eerie ability to unsettle, and this quality is in full force during the opening scenes of The White Ribbon. Beneath the sun-dappled fields lurks a series of disturbing events recounted by the local schoolteacher: a horseman has a strange accident, a worker is killed in the nearby sawmill, a young boy is kidnapped and beaten, a man savagely takes his scythe to a crop in a field, a barn is torched. This provides the backdrop to Haneke's brilliant and ruthless examination of a society that admits to nothing and hides everything.
As the young schoolteacher begins to court a shy governess, the brutalizing reality of village life is slowly laid bare. The local children play a key role; as they gravitate toward every violent incident, it soon becomes apparent that they are members of a society that prizes discipline as a virtue, even if it borders on abuse. Their elders, Protestant to the core, are committed to a value system based on obedience and punishment. As the schoolteacher attempts to assert his principles, he finds that they inevitably collide with the strict, harsh rules of the village.
All this is accomplished with utmost rigour and control on the director's part. Though an analysis of the roots of Nazism can be read into the narrative, the film has a more universal reach. Haneke maintains that the work is as much an investigation of terrorism as it is of fascism. Both provocative and elegantly executed, this is essential viewing – an examination of how violence can perhaps unwittingly take root in a society that ostensibly believes in other values. - Toronto International Film Festival
Watch the preview below:
Email us at nashvillefilmclub@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Police, Adjective January 29th @ the Belcourt 8pm
UPDATE: Due to the snowstorm, we're canceling plans to meet tonight. Be sure to check back for our next event.
Hey Everyone,
The Film group is meeting Friday Jan 29th at 8pm at the Belcourt Theater for the 8:20 showing of the movie Police, adjective
Discussion will follow after the movie at Fido's coffee.
It's a new Romanian film that won a couple prizes at Cannes
POLICE, ADJECTIVE
Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu / 2009 / Romania / 113min / 35mm
WINNER - Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard - 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Link to the movie trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/policeadjective/
One of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year and a double prize winner at Cannes, POLICE, ADJECTIVE is the new whip-smart, dryly funny comedy from Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST). The film is Romania’s official entry to the 2009 Academy Awards. Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is a young undercover cop who undergoes a crisis of conscience when he is pressured to arrest a teenager who offers hash to classmates. Not wanting to ruin the life of a young man he considers merely irresponsible, Cristi must either allow the arrest tobe a burden on his conscience, or face censure by his self-serious superior (Vlad Ivanov of 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS), for whom the word “conscience” has an entirely different meaning. Porumboiu approaches his story with the exacting patience of a master ironist, culminating in one of the most unexpected comedic payoffs in years, – an extraordinary dissection of language that affirms his reputation as one of the most exciting new talents in European cinema.
Email us at nashvillefilmclub@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Hey Everyone,
The Film group is meeting Friday Jan 29th at 8pm at the Belcourt Theater for the 8:20 showing of the movie Police, adjective
Discussion will follow after the movie at Fido's coffee.
It's a new Romanian film that won a couple prizes at Cannes
POLICE, ADJECTIVE
Dir. Corneliu Porumboiu / 2009 / Romania / 113min / 35mm
WINNER - Jury Prize, Un Certain Regard - 2009 Cannes Film Festival
Link to the movie trailer
http://www.apple.com/trailers/independent/policeadjective/
One of the most critically-acclaimed films of the year and a double prize winner at Cannes, POLICE, ADJECTIVE is the new whip-smart, dryly funny comedy from Corneliu Porumboiu (12:08 EAST OF BUCHAREST). The film is Romania’s official entry to the 2009 Academy Awards. Cristi (Dragos Bucur) is a young undercover cop who undergoes a crisis of conscience when he is pressured to arrest a teenager who offers hash to classmates. Not wanting to ruin the life of a young man he considers merely irresponsible, Cristi must either allow the arrest tobe a burden on his conscience, or face censure by his self-serious superior (Vlad Ivanov of 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS), for whom the word “conscience” has an entirely different meaning. Porumboiu approaches his story with the exacting patience of a master ironist, culminating in one of the most unexpected comedic payoffs in years, – an extraordinary dissection of language that affirms his reputation as one of the most exciting new talents in European cinema.
Email us at nashvillefilmclub@gmail.com if you have any questions.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Wings of Desire - December 11th
We'll be meeting at 7 p.m. at the 12th South location to watch the Wim Wenders film Wings of Desire. Here's how film critic Jeffrey Overstreet describes it:
In his beloved, Cannes-award-winning masterpiece — Wings of Desire (1987) — Wenders follows angels on their daily beat through the troubled streets of Berlin before the wall was torn down. There, an angel named Damiel (Bruno Ganz) wanders and listens to the needy thoughts of the despairing citizens, and he marvels at the faith of wide-eyed children. Damiel longs to know the joys of sensory experience. And when he encounters a human being — a beautiful circus trapeze performer named Marion (Solveig Dommartin) who longs for communion with a kindred spirit — he finds the provocation to “take the plunge” into human form and pursue her.
As her guardian angel, he offers almost imperceptible spiritual comfort. As his muse, Marion lures him to embrace the mystery of human experience, so that even the simple joy of holding a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning inspires him to reverence and wonder, revealing the sacred in the ordinary.
We'll have discussion after the film. Come out and join us!
In his beloved, Cannes-award-winning masterpiece — Wings of Desire (1987) — Wenders follows angels on their daily beat through the troubled streets of Berlin before the wall was torn down. There, an angel named Damiel (Bruno Ganz) wanders and listens to the needy thoughts of the despairing citizens, and he marvels at the faith of wide-eyed children. Damiel longs to know the joys of sensory experience. And when he encounters a human being — a beautiful circus trapeze performer named Marion (Solveig Dommartin) who longs for communion with a kindred spirit — he finds the provocation to “take the plunge” into human form and pursue her.
As her guardian angel, he offers almost imperceptible spiritual comfort. As his muse, Marion lures him to embrace the mystery of human experience, so that even the simple joy of holding a hot cup of coffee on a cold morning inspires him to reverence and wonder, revealing the sacred in the ordinary.
We'll have discussion after the film. Come out and join us!
Friday, October 30, 2009
The lowdown for November 2nd
We will be meeting at the 12th South location (2415 12th Avenue South) this Monday, November 2 at 7:00pm to view and discuss the film, "The Man Without a Past" by Aki Kaurismaki. A Finnish deadpan comedy, it won the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes and was nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film (2002).
About the group
Want to be a part of a new group forming at Midtown? Midtown Film Group is all about exploring the intersection of art and Christianity through film, while forming new friendships and community with fellow Midtowners. This group meets twice a month on Monday nights to watch an indie or foreign film, some new release and some classics. After each screening we'll have discussion for an hour. If you've been looking for a way to connect at Midtown, this could be the place for you.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
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