ARGO
Astra 2: November 26, 27
Based
on real events, the dramatic thriller Argo chronicles the life-or-death covert
operation to rescue six Americans that unfolded behind the scenes of the Iran
hostage crisis, focusing on the little-known role that the CIA and Hollywood
played-information that was not declassified until many years after the event.
‘A superbly crafted and darkly funny real-life political thriller, with
pitch-perfect performances’ (USA Today). ‘The results are nothing less
than sensational’ (Wall Street Journal).
THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN-PART 2
Astra 2: December 3, 4
Part Two of the last chapter of the Stephenie Meyer saga.
After the birth of Renesmee, the Cullens gather other vampire clans in order to
protect the child from a false allegation that puts the family at risk of
attack from the Volturi. A final showdown is inevitable. The leads are back in
their customary roles for the finale. ‘The final instalment of the immortal
Bella/Edward romance will give its breathlessly awaiting international audience
just what it wants’ (Hollywood Reporter). ‘For those with no vested
interest in this protracted and supernatural soap opera, but who do care about
cinema, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 2 will be, unsurprisingly, a
silly and somewhat cheesily made waste of time’ (Washington Post).
TROUBLE WITH THE CURVE
Astra 2: December 10, 11
Fulgor: November 29 – December 4
Clint Eastwood plays a declining baseball coach, who with
the aid of his high-flying daughter, finally comes to terms with the realities
of life. ‘A defiantly analog rejoinder to last year’s tech-savvy baseball
drama, “Moneyball,” Robert Lorenz’s square but sturdy directing debut rests on
the wonderfully spiky chemistry between Eastwood and Amy Adams (Variety).
‘Eastwood is vastly entertaining as an old-fashioned scout who disdains
computers and fancy statistical charts in favor of his own time-tested
instincts’ (Hollywood Reporter).
MOONRISE KINGDOM
Fulgor: December 5-12
Wes Anderson’s highly acclaimed movie tells the story,
set on an island off the coast of New England in the summer of 1965, of two
12-year-olds who fall in love, make a secret pact to run away together into the
wilderness. The adult world intrudes as it must on their idyll. ‘Moonrise
Kingdom breezes along with a beautifully coordinated admixture of droll humor,
deadpan and slapstick. Like all of Mr. Anderson’s films, though, there’s a
deep, pervasive melancholia here too’ (New York Times). ‘Rapturous and
hilarious’ (salon.com).
THE ODEON
The 50 Days of
Cinema festival continues throughout this period.
Here are selected
highlights from Lo Schermo dell’Arte festival:
DAMIEN HIRST: THOUGHTS, WORK, LIFE
November 22
In Chris King’s movie, the celebrated artist gives a
self-portrait with images from his private archive, giving an unmissable
insight into the man’s work.
SELF MADE
November 23
Winner of the prestigious Turner Prize in 1997 for her
film-directing debut, British artist Gillian Wearing involved seven of the
hundreds of people who answered her ad: ‘Would you like to be in a film? You
can play yourself or a fictional character. Call Gillian.’ After three weeks of
intense group preparations, guided by acting coach Sam Rumbelow, each
participant was able to create a character, producing a mini-film with his or
her personal ‘final scene.’
Fulgor
via
Maso Finiguerra – tel. 055/2381881
www.staseraalcinema.it
UNFINISHED SPACES
November 25
In 1961, Fidel Castro and Che Guevara commissioned three
young architects, Riccardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi, to
create Cuba’s National Art Schools in Havana. But the project, which should
have been ‘the most beautiful academy of arts in the world,’ was never
completed. The film reconstructs various episodes in the school’s development
to the point where it has been recognized as an architectural masterpiece of
the revolutionary period and the Cuban government has invited its three
designers to finish their project.
The River to River
Indian Film Festival runs from December 7 to 13. Details not available at time
of going to press. See www.rivertoriver.it.
GOTHIC
November 28, 8pm
‘With this fictionalised re-creation of the
events leading to the writing of Frankenstein, Russell is in his element,
revelling in the seething psychodramas, the fetid atmosphere of sexual abandon,
the gloops of slime and decaying flesh. Unfortunately, Stephen Volk’s script is
so banal that the final eruption of absolute evil comes not as a nightmarish
climax but as a nonsensical mish-mash of all we’ve seen before. Pretensions
aside, it’s an entertaining enough roller-coaster ride, but it’s sad to see the
darker, more fertile labyrinths of this particular literary funhouse ignored in
favour of scatological silliness’ (Time Out)
SALOME’S LAST DANCE
December 5, 8pm
Russell
adapts Oscar Wilde’s play and weaves it into a play within a film within real
life: the catastrophic liaison between Wilde and ‘Bosie'(Lord Alfred Douglas).
‘Essentially a perfumed, comic stunt’ (New York Times). ‘A sort of
malodorous pudding’ (Washington Post). ‘The whole thing redolent of a
retarded pornographer’s revue’ (Time Out). How would Wilde have reacted
to a farting, belching Tigellinus, dwarf Hassidic Jews simulating copulation,
slapstick banana skin slides, Herodias fornicating with the guards in a box,
and an apparently hermaphrodite Salomé?
