For
showtimes, see the events listing.
Odeon
Piazza
Strozzi, 2
tel.
055/295051
www.cinehall.it, www.odeon.intoscana.it
A ROOM WITH A VIEW
May 1
E.M. Forster’s novel is classically
filmed in the meticulous heritage style of Merchant and Ivory. The story of
Lucy Honeychurch’s transfiguration by Italian passion, set in Florence and
Surrey in the early twentieth century, is pitch perfect. ‘Distinguished by
superb ensemble acting, intelligent writing and stunning design’ (Variety). ‘A Room with a
View enjoys its storytelling so much that I enjoyed the very process of it. The
story moved slowly, it seemed, for the same reason you try to make ice cream
last: because it’s so good’ (Roger Ebert). ‘It’s enjoyably trivial-a piece of
charming foolishness’ (Pauline Kael).
HUNGER
May 1
Steve McQueen’s stunning directorial
debut features a harrowing performance by Michael Fassbender as IRA hunger
striker Bobby Sands and the events surrounding his imprisonment in the Maze in
1981. ‘McQueen has taken the raw materials of filmmaking and committed an act
of great art’ (Washington
Post). ‘Hunger is a mesmerizing 96 minutes of cinema, one of the truly
extraordinary filmmaking debuts of recent years. It’s also an uneasy,
unsettling experience and is meant to be’ (Salon.com). ‘Trite, grim and feebly
provocative’ (The
Hollywood Reporter).
THE ECONOMICS OF HAPPINESS
May 2
A chorus of voices from six
continents call for systemic economic change. This documentary describes a
world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand,
government and big business continue to promote globalization and the
consolidation of corporate power. At the same time, all around the world people
are resisting those policies, demanding a re-regulation of trade and finance.
Localization is what it’s all about. ‘The Economics of Happiness will leave
many people yearning for more information about the real facts of the
situation… By playing to the ignorance of many concerning economic issues (ignorance
not to be confused with stupidity here) the film leaves the reasonable viewer
with a taste that is a little more political and a little less altruistic’
(Brad Cookson). A passionate, if one-sided, argument for change.
LIVING WITHOUT MONEY
May 2
This documentary chronicles the life
of 68-year-old Heidemarie Schwermer, a German woman who made a deliberate
choice to stop using money 14 years ago. Having given up her house and given
away all her possessions, she bases her life on bartering and subsistence. An
alternative lifestyle that is food for thought. ‘I don’t think I would like to
live completely without money, but I find the idea to exchange favors and help
each other a very good one. I have learned a lot from Heidemarie, and have
become even more aware of my own role as a consumer’ (director Line Halvorsen).
THE AVENGER
May 7, 8, 9,
10
Nick Fury and the international
agency SHIELD bring together a team of super humans to form The Avengers to
help save the Earth from Loki and his army. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby’s Marvel
comic book superheroes hit the big screen in a big way. ‘Avengers is nothing
short of amazing, but that’s still selling this movie short. It is the perfect
summer movie-wall-to-wall action, huge characters, and tons of fun. I have never
heard a [preview] audience [of nerds] break into applause so many times in any
movie as this… Compared to its action-packed second half, the first half spends
a lot of time on plot and exposition. But that’s only by comparison, so take
that criticism with a grain of salt. It’s like complaining that a delicious
cheesecake’s crust isn’t as moist as its cheesy custardy goodness’ (Big Shiny
Robot).
THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY
May 8
The marital travails of Isabel Archer
and Gilbert Osmond are at the centre of Henry James’s admired novel, and Jane
Campion’s handsome adaptation. Nicole Kidman and John Malkovich give
superlative performances. ‘I think if you care for James, you must see it. It
is not an adaptation but an interpretation’ (Roger Ebert). ‘Brilliantly eccentric
even when it yields mixed results’ (New York Times). ‘A literary
adaptation of exceeding intelligence, beauty and concentrated artistry, but one
that remains emotionally remote and perhaps unavoidably problematic
dramatically’ (Variety). ‘Remote, murky
and interminable’ (Empire).
The British Institute
Lungarno Guicciardini 9
tel. 055/267781
The new series, All Things Shining,
is a retrospective of legendary American director Terrence Malick, who, in a
career spanning four decades, has made only five films.
BADLANDS
May 9
‘A film of
“visionary realism,” based on a real-life couple-on-the-run murder spree from
the ’50s, “Badlands” is as psychologically precise as it is splendidly visually
observant. But it also exudes a timeless, mythical and tragic quality which is
all the more remarkable for the languorous ease with which its story unfolds.
Infused with an
uncharacterisable romanticism, and employing one of the most entrancing uses of
soundtrack music… it’s a challengingly non-judgmental work which lulls the
viewer into a sublime state of false security, the better to deliver a stunning
but gentle essay on freedom and necessity, life and death’ (Time
Out). ‘Badlands is a harshly sardonic film: Malick wants
to expose the emotional numbness of his young outlaw lovers, and the influence
of the media on their stunted lives. Although set in the past, Badlands says a
great deal about the passivity of Americans in the seventies, the enervation of
a movie-gorged generation that can only experience life second-hand’ (New
York Times).
