Library Video of the Week, October 8, 2012

To Have and Have Not, starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, directed by Howard Hawks. (1945.) Written by Jules Furthman and William Faulkner, from a short story by Ernest Hemingway.

            A film most notable for being the first screen appearance of Bogart and Bacall as a duo, this pick from the Library’s classic collection features great dialog and undeniable sparks from the stars.  Bogart plays essentially the same character he played in Casablanca—the expatriate American who doesn’t want to get involved in the World War but finds himself drawn into a fight between the Free French of Caribbean Martinique and the Nazi collaborators of Vichy France who run the island.   Unlike Casablanca, this time Bogart gets the girl.  Spare in settings, the action and characters carry what is arguably one of the Bogart/Bacall team’s best movies.
           If you haven’t seen it for awhile, or if you’ve never sen it, add it to you watch list.

Library Video of the Week, May 17, 2012.

10 Things I Hate About You, starring Julia Stiles, Heath Ledger, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Larisa Oleynik.  Library Call Number: PN1995.9.M28 T46 2010.

    From the container notes: In this loose, loose adaptation of Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, Cameron is the new kid in school who becomes smitten with the beautiful Bianca. But Bianca's overprotective and domineering father forbids Bianca to date unless her older sister Kat, a surly and hostile senior, does. In a bid to get Kat a boyfriend, Cameron sets up a plan to have the school stud, Joey Donnar, bribe Patrick Verona, an outcast senior with a rumor-filled past, to take Kat out on dates so he can go to the school's homecoming dance with Bianca. However, neither Patrick nor Kat expect their relationship to lead to something so much more. As Patrick Verons, this was Heath Ledger's American movie debut.  Julia Stiles, who played Kat, went on to co-star in the Bourne trilogy.

Library Video of the Week, April 9, 2012.

The English Patient starring Ralph Fiennes, Juliet Binoche, Willem Dafoe and Kirsten Scott Thomas.  Directed by Anthony Minghella. 1996. Library Call Number: PN1995.9.W3 E65 2004

          Winner of numerous awards, this is movie-making on an epic scale. Told in flashbacks of the life of a terminally burned, unknown man in a British military hospital during World War II, the story begins just before the war, in 1939, when Hungarian Count Laszlo de Almasy is mapping unexplored regions of the Sahara for the Royal Geographical Society during an archaeological expedition.  He, and his co-explorer, Madox, are soon given financial and moral support when Geoffrey and Katherine Clifton join their exploration.  Almasy and Katherine find a great attraction for each other and are soon involved in an affair that turns bad just as World War II erupts.  Jealousy, love, hate and shame, betrayal and luck all take their turn as the emotional cyclone envelops all the characters against a backdrop of all-out war.

Library Video of the Week, March 19, 2012.

Children of a Lesser God, starring Marlee Matlin, William Hurt and Piper Laurie, directed by Randa Haines.1986.  Library Call Number: PN1995.9.D35C55 2000.

        Marlee Matlin stars as Sarah, a high school custodian at a school for the deaf. William Hurt, as James Leeds, begins the term as a new teacher and discovers that Sarah is also hearing impaired and refuses to learn lip reading.  Angry and anti-social, Sarah has refused to leave the high school and taken her job rather than venture beyond the walls.

 Leeds is at first intrigued by her, then finds himself falling in love with her.  But between her anger and his attempts to impose a lifestyle on her she doesn’t want, a constant struggle develops that threatens to overcome them both. 

Though not as hard-edged as the novel, the movie is compelling and seriously takes on important themes. The supporting cast is superb—especially Piper Laurie as Sarah’s mother.  At 21, Matlin became the youngest person ever to win an Oscar for Best actress in this role.

Library Video of the Week, October 30, 2011.

Senso, starring Alida Valli, Farley Granger and Heinz Moog. Directed by Luchino Visconti. (From the Criterion Collection.) 2010. Library Call Number: PN1995.9.L6S46 2010.

     Senso has something for foreign movie lovers, designers and cinema buffs. Luchino Visconti’s lavish historical romance takes place in 1866 Venice, occupied by the Austrian Army of the Hapsburg Empire.  All is not well, however, and the Italians are uniting to drive the invaders off of their native soil. During a performance of Verdi’s Il Travatore, Venetian patriots inundate the Austrian officers in the floor seats with tri-color bouquets and handbills and several are arrested. In the midst of this political turmoil, the Contessa Livia Serpieri, troubled and distraught over her bad marriage, falls for an Austrian lieutenant. Heedless of consequences, they begin an affair as the rebellion ignites.

Valli, as the Contessa, delivers a charismatic performance and Visconti was smart enough to make her the focus of nearly every scene. The costuming and lush scenery are unequaled and won the film a Golden Lion on its release in 1954.  The Criterion Collection’s restoration includes all of the vibrant color, the English language version The Wanton Countess, as well as the full 123 minute original director’s cut, that recreated the Battle of Custozza, deleted from the original release in its homeland because it depicted an Italian defeat.

Library Video of the Week, October 3, 2011.

Annie Hall, Starring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton. Directed by Woody Allen. (Released 1977.) Library Call Number: PN1995.9.C55A55 1998.

        Woody Allen had made several previous, funny, but uneven movies before Annie Hall came along and gave him his groove. Winner of three Academy Awards—for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress—the movie follows Allen’s semiautobiographical character, comedian Alvy Singer, and his relationship with Annie Hall, played by Keaton.  Full of asides, small, interesting vignettes, and awkward but poignant moments, their romance from beginning to end illustrates a point in time in the decade of the 1970’s, New York, and the personae of two people who don’t quite fit the time and place in which they find themselves.  Along with Manhattan, this is one of Allen’s best early films, rated #140 on the IMDB’s list of all-time great movies.

It is often referred to as a film that captured the difficulties of love in the 70’s and apparently did strike a chord worldwide—it won best Foreign Film that year in Germany, Spain and Denmark, and was nominated for best Foreign Film in France.

Browsing Area Book of the Week, October 3, 2011.

Juliet by Anne Fortier. Library Call Number: PS360.O7487J85 2010.

Itinerant theater director Julie Jacobs is shocked when her beloved great-Aunt Rosa dies, leaving almost everything to Julie’s twin sister Janice.  Julie receives only a letter and a key—the letter tells her the lock for the key is in a safe-deposit box in Siena, Italy.  Traveling there, she discovers her roots go all the way back to the original Juliet of Shakespeare’s play. And that’s just the first part of a combined treasure hunt and love story that involves the modern-day Montagues and Capulets, numerous relics for clues, vendetta, danger, mystery and, of course, a love story worthy of the descendants of Giuletta. Publisher’s Weekly says, ”Readers enjoy the additional benefit of antique texts alternating with contemporary narratives, written in the language of modern romance and enlivened by brisk storytelling. Fortier navigates around false clues and twists, resulting in a dense, heavily plotted love story that reads like a Da Vinci Code for the smart modern woman.”

August Videos-Family Matters

(All synopses from Amazon Product descriptions)

Mother and Child, starring Naomi Watts, Annette Bening and Samuel L. Jackson, directed by Rodrigo Garcia. Call Number: PN1995.5.M63M68 2010.

     Three women's lives share a common core of being profoundly affected by adoption. At age fourteen, Karen placed a baby for adoption, and has been haunted ever since by the daughter she never knew. Elizabeth grew up as an adopted child. Even though she is a bright and ambitious lawyer, she is a flinty loner in her personal life. Lucy and her husband are just embarking on the adoption odyssey, hoping for the opportunity to become parents.

  Beeswax, starring Tilly and Maggie Hatcher, directed by Andrew Bujalski.  Call Number: PN1995.9.S55B44 2010.

A marvelous film from Andrew Bujalski, Beeswax revolves around the personal and professional lives of twin sisters Jeannie and Lauren.  Jeannie co-owns a vintage clothing store with Amanda, a semi-estranged friend who may be ending their partnership. Lauren leads a looser, less tethered existence and is thinking of getting out of the country altogether. When Amanda threatens Jeannie with a lawsuit, she calls her law student ex-boyfriend for help. Eager for distraction from his own problems, he begins helping the sisters with theirs. Imbued with an innate charm, the film is a story about family, friends and lovers and those awkward moments that bring all of them together.

Eat, Pray, Love, starring Julia Roberts and Javier Bardem, dir. by Ryan Murphy. Call Number: PN1995.9.T728 E38 2010.

   Out of a bad marriage, and seeing her affair with an actor going comfortable, Liz Gilbert steps outside the zone and books passage to Italy, where she learns the joy of food while she experiences the unusual sense of being alone; India, where she learns the joys of meditation and prayer; and Bali, where she adds peace and the balance of love to her experiences. Along the way, she discovers she’s built a family of friends.

Library Video of the Week, April 18, 2011.

Chungking Express, a film by Wong Kar-Wai. Starring Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Takeshi Kanishiro, Brigitte Lin, Faye Wong and Valerie Chow. In Cantonese and Mandarin. English Subtitles. 2008.
Library Call Number: PN1995.9..F67 C48 2008
          Director Wong made this art film while editing a completely different type of movie; Express follows the lives of two Hong Kong policemen, both at the end of relationships. Officer 223 was dumped by his girlfriend a month before his birthday. Officer 633 is pretty sure he’s been dumped—his flight attendant girlfriend left a letter for him at his usual diner—but he won’t take it from the waitress. The film divides itself between their stories, where, except for a brief section in the middle, they don’t overlap. Following the ups and downs of their romances, the movie gives the viewer an episodic look at modern Hong Kong, while relating two simple slices of life. No big resolutions, no intricate plots, simply intervals in a pair of lonely lives as they look for something more.
          Roger Ebert noted: "If you are attentive to the style, if you think about what Wong is doing, Chungking Express works. If you're trying to follow the plot, you may feel frustrated...When Godard was hot, in the 1960s and early 1970s, there was an audience for this style…Many of today's younger filmgoers, fed only by the narrow selections at video stores, are not as curious or knowledgeable and may simply be puzzled by Chungking Express instead of challenged.“

Library Video of the Week, April 4, 2011.

The Fabulous Baker Boys, starring Michelle, Pfeiffer, Jeff Bridges and Beau Bridges, a Mirage production ; produced by Paula Weinstein and Mark Rosenberg ; written and directed by Steve Kloves. (1989).
Library Call Number: PN1995.9.M86F83 2006.
          For over fifteen years, Frank and Jack Baker have played duo pianos in a small lounge act. For awhile life was good, now, the venues are getting smaller and the bookings harder. Down to bowling alleys and tired clubs, they decide to hire a female singer, maybe turn their prospects around and avoid having to get a day job. They interview a number of women, but it’s only when they’ve given up and are ready to call it quits, that hard-edged Susie Diamond shows up with a bad attitude and a honeyed voice. Jack wants to hire her; Frank has his doubts. What neither of them know is their lives are about to get way more complicated, even as their act starts rising to the top once more.