Sunday Night Film Club – Boston

“In a gritty and alternate 1985 the glory days of costumed vigilantes have been brought to a close by a government crackdown, but after one of the masked veterans is brutally murdered an investigation into the killer is initiated. The reunited heroes set out to prevent their own destruction, but in doing so discover a deeper and far more diabolical plot.”

The visionary Filipino director Brillante Mendoza envisions a crumbling soft-core porn palace as an allegory for the labyrinthine socio-political history of the Philippines in this chaotic, colorful and engaging film. Multiple generations of the Pineda family live in and operate a run-down movie house, ironically named The Family, which shows dated sex films and offers a discreet meeting place for male hustlers and their patrons. As the members of the family and their employees go about their daily activities, we get a glimpse of how they suffer and deal with each other’s sins and vices. Preoccupied with their personal demons, the family seems oblivious that, inside their cinema, another kind of business is going on between the “serbis” (service) boys and their customers.

Harking back to another Brattle favorite, Tsai Ming-Liang’s Goodbye Dragon Inn, The Family Theatre is as much a character in the film as any human. Unlike Tsai’s feature however, which depicted a cinema on its final, dismal day, SERBIS seethes with life – from the cranky employees, to the various marital problems reflected in all generations of the Pinedas, to the glimpses of explicit sex behind the scenes, to two mind-bending chase scenes through the maze-like guts of the cinema.

“François (played by François Bégaudeau, who wrote the screenplay based on his own experiences) and his fellow teachers prepare for a new year at a high school in a tough neighborhood. Armed with the best intentions, they brace themselves to not let discouragement stop them from trying to give the best education to their students. Cultures and attitudes often clash in the classroom, a microcosm of contemporary France. As amusing and inspiring as the teenaged students can be, their difficult behavior can still jeopardize any teacher’s enthusiasm for the low-paying job. François insists on an atmosphere of respect and diligence. Neither stuffy nor severe, his extravagant frankness often takes the students by surprise. But his classroom ethics are put to the test when his students begin to challenge his methods… Winner of the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival. Academy Award nominee for Best Foreign Language Film. Directed by Laurent Cantet (Heading South, Time Out).”

Adapted from the Hugo Award-winning, internationally best-selling novel, Coraline is a spine-tingling tale about a curious girl who unlocks a mysterious door in her family’s new home and enters into an adventure in a parallel reality. On the surface, this “Other World” eerily mimics her own life – though it is much more fantastical. In it, Coraline encounters different versions of her own life, including off-kilter neighbors and an Other Mother who attempts to keep her forever. Ultimately, Coraline must rely on her resourcefulness, determination and bravery to get back home.

One night at a bar, an old friend tells director Ari about a recurring nightmare in which he is chased by 26 vicious dogs. Every night, the same number of beasts. The two men conclude that thereÂ’s a connection to their Israeli Army mission in the first Lebanon War of the early eighties. Ari is surprised that he canÂ’t remember a thing anymore about that period of his life. Intrigued by this riddle, he decides to meet and interview old friends and comrades around the world. He needs to discover the truth about that time and about himself. As Ari delves deeper and deeper into the mystery, his memory begins to creep up in surreal imagesÂ…

Poppy (Sally Hawkins) is a life-loving, irrepressibly cheerful, Pollyanna-type primary school teacher who is thirty years old, single, and infinitely optimistic and accepting. She lives with her best friend and flatmate Zoe (Alexis Zegerman) in London. She is tested by a repressed driving instructor with anger problems (Eddie Marsan), and tests him in turn. She has exciting flamenco lessons, an encounter with a homeless man, a row with her pregnant sister, and a love-affair with the social worker guiding one of her students.

“Writer/director John Patrick Shanley brings his Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning play to the screen as a gripping story about the quest for truth, the forces of change and the devastating consequences of blind justice in an age defined by moral conviction. It’s 1964, St. Nicholas in the Bronx. A vibrant, charismatic priest, Father Flynn (Philip Seymour Hoffman), is trying to upend the school’s strict customs, which have long been fiercely guarded by Sister Aloysius Beauvier (Meryl Streep), the iron-gloved Principal who believes in the power of fear and discipline. The winds of political change are sweeping through the community, and indeed, the school has just accepted its first black student, Donald Muller. But when Sister James (Amy Adams), a hopeful innocent, shares with Sister Aloysius her guilt-inducing suspicion that Father Flynn is paying too much personal attention to Donald, Sister Aloysius sets off on a personal crusade to unearth the truth and to expunge Flynn from the school. Now, without a shard of proof besides her moral certainty, Sister Aloysius locks into a battle of wills with Father Flynn which threatens to tear apart the community with irrevocable consequence.”