June 2013 – Award Winning Foreign Movies
Saturday, June 22 – The Pianist (2002)
Adrien Brody, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finlay, Maureen Lipman
Focus Features; Directed by Roman Polanski
Rated R; 150 minutes
In English
Based on a true story, a Polish Jewish pianist struggles to survive in Warsaw during World War II and finally must literally use his music to save his life.
Saturday, June 29 – Zatoichi (2004)
Takeshi Kitano, Tadanobu Asano, Michiyo Ogusu, Yui Natsukawa
Miramax Films; Directed by Takeshi Kitano
Rated R; 116 minutes
In Japanese with English subtitles
Zatoichi is a blind wanderer who, though he makes his living gambling and giving massages, is a master swordsman. After he encounters two beautiful but dangerous geishas, he is soon involved with a sinister gangster who will meet him for an action-packed showdown.
July 2013
Saturday, July 6 – The Snapper (1993)
Colm Meaney, Tina Kellegher, Ruth McCabe
Miramax Films; Directed by Stephen Frears
Rated R; 95 minutes
In English
A close and loving working-class Irish family comes to terms with their eldest daughter’s pregnancy and her refusal to identify the father.
Saturday, July 13 – Biutiful (2010)
Javier Bardem, Maricel Alvarez, Hanaa Bouchaib
Lionsgate; Directed by Alejandro Ganzalez Inarritu
Rated R; 147 minutes
In Spanish with English subtitles
This is the story of a conflicted man who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime and mortality amidst the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona. His livelihood is earned out of bounds, his sacrifices for his children know no bounds. As fate encircles him and thresholds are crossed, a dim, redemptive road brightens, illuminating the inheritances bestowed from father to child, and the paternal guiding hand that navigates life’s corridors, whether bright, bad – or biutiful.
Saturday, July 20 – Secrets and Lies (1995)
Brenda Blethyn, Marianne Jean- Baptiste
USA Films; Directed by Mike Leigh
Rated R; 142 minutes
IIn English
A young black woman, who was adopted as a child, seeks out her birth parents. When she is reunited with her mother, who happens to be white, an emotionally charged series of events follows.
Saturday, July 27 – Monsoon Wedding (2002)
Naseeruddin Shah, Lillete Dubey, Shefali Shetty, Vasundhara Das
Focus Features; Directed by Mira Nair
Rated R; 114 minutes
In Hindi with English subtitles
Set in modern India a bride-to-be has to contend with her traditional father who loves his family dearly but does not have time for their “modern ways.” The bride faces the dilemma of an arranged marriage and how it conflicts with her contemporary take on relationships.
