bartleby
the cashier wants to go to the seashore
day i became a woman
the foul king
la faute a voltaire
face
confusion of genders
lift
before the storm
nine queens
peppermint candy
dinner rush
i prefer the sound of the sea
hybrid
no place to go
durian durian
roland's pass
l.i.e.
clouds of may
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2001 new directors program
BARTLEBY
"Ah, Bartleby! Ah, humanity!" So concluded Herman Melville's great fable. Jonathan Parker dares to adapt Melville's struggle of individual will, setting it in modern dress, and he succeeds stunningly in this hilarious yet deeply touching debut feature. The synopsis, according to Parker, is brief: "He was hired, but preferred not to work. He was fired, but preferred not to leave." And so unfolds the narrative, as Bartleby begins his new job in a public records company. His boss cannot cope with an employee who has no ambition, no goal except to do no work at all and to stand still for hours, indeed days at a time, in the middle of the office. Heading the superb cast are Crispin Glover as Bartleby matched by David Paymer as his employer, and Glenne Headly, Joe Piscopo, and Maury Chaykin as his bemused colleagues. USA, 2000. 82 min. Preceded by UPHEAVAL. Itamar Kubovy sets this Chekhov story in present-day Manhattan without missing a beat, starring Frances McDormand as the dysfunctional mistress of the household. USA, 2000. 14 min.
23A. Fri. March 23 at 6 PM
24B. Sat. March 24 at 3 PM
THE CASHIER WANTS TO GO TO THE SEASIDE
Enough is enough. After her corrupt, self-absorbed boss yet again thwarts the modest dream of shy, sad-faced Barica for a bit of earned vacation time to show her ailing daughter the ocean, she finally reacts. After all, this time he even has the nerve to deny her tiny request on account of a new, sexy, opportunistic employee who has become his new mistress. By turns hilarious and touching, first-time writer-director Dalibor Matanic proudly continues the honored tradition of Balkan deadpan humor and satire to point to - if not cure - society's ills. An everyday woman taking fate in her own hands, Barica's action turns her dull existence upside down. This impressive film announces a new director with a wry sense of humor and visual acumen. Croatia, 2000. 86 min. Preceded by SALTY. Like the feeling of salt on your skin and your heart in your mouth, so goes young love. Directed by Marion Lee. Australia, 2000. 18 min.
23B. Fri. March 23 at 9 PM
24A. Sat. March 24 at 12 NOON
THE DAY I BECAME A WOMAN
With this disturbing portrayal of the role of women in Iran, director Marziyeh Meshkini reveals an exciting new voice in Iranian cinema. The script, written by Meshkini's husband, the consummate filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf (Gabbeh, The Peddler), tells several stories. The first, referring to the film's title, is about Hava, who on the morning of her ninth birthday, is told that she is now a woman. She must wear a chador and may no longer associate with her male playmates. In the most remarkable episode, Ahoo, a young wife, is competing in a bicycle race against dozens of other chador-clad women on a hot dusty road. As she pulls ahead of the field, her husband pursues her on horseback to take her out of the race and no film chase has ever been more heart-wrenching. With compassion, Meshkini examines a society where women are still the property of men and cannot achieve independence without forgoing emotional attachments. Iran, 2000 . 78 min.
24C. Sat. March 24 at 6 PM
25B. Sun. March 25 at 4 PM
Note: please note time change for 25B from the prited material.
THE FOUL KING
How can a guy like poor Daeho escape the rigid routines and humiliations of daily life as an office worker? By becoming a famous wrestler, of course, dashingly masked and fearsome. Unfortunately his promoters insist that Daeho cheat, in new and exciting ways. And so director Kim Jee-woon takes us on a dizzying romp through his wicked comedy, exposing the hapless hero to absurd challenges in his attempts to escape the real world. Stylish and very funny, the film shuttles Daeho between office and ringside, between bullying bank manager and exasperated trainer and his tough but vulnerable daughter. The wrestling matches are hilarious, as the popular Korean star Song Kang-ho reveals his considerable talent for playing physical comedy softened by the wryness of the perennial loser. South Korea, 2000. 122 min.
Preceded by COCK FIGHT. An Israeli finds his truckload of chickens stopped at a road block by an Arab who used to be a friend. Directed by Sigalit Liphshitz. Israel, 1999. 14 min.
24D. Sat. March 24 at 9 PM
25A. Sun. March 25 at 1 PM
Note: please note time change for 25A from the prited material
LA FAUTE A VOLTAIRE
The new "face" of Europe - a face often black or brown, belonging to African and Arab immigrants - has rarely been as powerfully captured as in Abdel Kechiche's remarkable debut film. Young Moroccan Jallel (beautifully played by Sami Bouajila) comes looking for the lights of Paris but instead finds black market jobs and crowded hostels. Yet he also discovers a bracing solidarity between newcomers like him and other "outcasts" from French society - especially Lucie (Elodie Bouchez, from Dreamlife of Angels), a disturbed young Frenchwoman who will give Jallel a very distinctive experience of his new country. Avoiding sensationalism, Kechiche renders one man's dreams, fears and desires, as well as the concrete concerns of his daily life. France, 2000. 130 min.
26A. Mon. March 26 at 6 PM
27B. Tues. March 27 at 9 PM
ON COMMON GROUND
In late 1944 young American soldiers of the 28th Infantry regiment fought a hideous battle against the Germans in Huertgen Forest. Many of the survivors could not speak of the horrors they experienced until fifty-five years later when a group of veterans decided to revisit the killing fields and seek out the former enemy. Giving eloquent voice to both American and German veterans, calmed by a half-century of peace, On Common Ground reaffirms the shared humanity of men who were once engaged in lethal combat. Melding reminiscences with rare archival footage and illuminating commentary by such historians as Tom Brokaw, Walter Cronkite and John Kenneth Galbraith, filmmakers Jessica Glass and David Eilenberg fashion a most uncommon documentary that transforms the horrendous banality of war into a meditation on the human condition. 2000, USA. 88 min.
26B. Mon. March 26 at 9 PM
28A. Wed. March 28 at 6:30 PM
FACE
Masako, clumsy and shy, has spent her life brooding as she works in her family's dry cleaners. When her pent-up anger finally explodes into violent rage, she winds up as a fugitive from the law. Getting work in bars and brothels, she finds a new image. In the hands of director Junji Sakamoto, Masako's flight becomes a spirited adventure that wakes up her soul, as well as a quest that can find humor in the most unexpected, dark corners. Her struggle to survive and her ability to make it through appalling encounters with men, add up to one woman's will to finally take charge of her life, even though that life is lived on the lam. A fresh look at a classic tale of respect and redemption. Japan, 2000. 123 min.
27A. Tue. March 27 at 6 PM
29B. Thu. March 29 at 9 PM
CONFUSION OF GENDERS
Novelist/filmmaker Ilan Duran Cohen has come up with one of the most talked-about French films of the year. Actor Pascal Greggory - already known here for his work with Rohmer, Chereau and Ruiz - incarnates the role of Alain, a fortyish, bisexual attorney considering settling down with his long-time law partner and sometime lover Laurence. But the beautiful young Christophe appears on the scene, promising an extended run of life on the wild side; there's also Babette, the enigmatic girlfriend of one of his clients, Marc - who himself is also kind of cute. A graduate of NYU's film school, Duran Cohen keeps the myriad plotlines and romantic entanglements superbly controlled, showing how each character deals with the conflicting demands of heads, heart and libido. France, 2000. 94 min. A Picture This! Release. Preceded by PATRIOTIC. Based on a New Yorker story, Judy Dennis' film focuses on an unlikely trio whose friendship deepens in the course of a day's hay harvest. USA, 2000. 22 min.
28B. Wed. March 28 at 9 PM
30A. Fri. March 30 at 6 PM
LIFT
One of the hottest shoplifters in Boston, Niecy "boosts" the best stuff from the best stores and sells it to steady customers in her own underground economic system. A sharp, smart businesswoman to her colleagues in the lifting business, with a day job at an upscale department store, she still can't escape the little girl inside who craves her needy mother's love. And Elaine, her mother, is a poster-child for dysfunctional families. After an abusive childhood, she looks to her daughter to fulfill her wants and needs. And what Mommy wants, Niecy will try to get... In a stylish take on the cult of the material girl, directors DeMane Davis and Khari Streeter (Black & White & Red All Over, NDNF 1997) juggle crime story and family drama with startling results. USA, 2001. 91 min.
Preceded by GINA, AN ACTRESS, AGE 29. Art imitates life - will a young actress leave her ethics at the door in an attempt to get a paid acting gig? Directed by Paul Harrill. USA, 2000. 20 min.
29A. Thurs. March 29 at 6 PM
31B. Sat. March 31 at 3 PM
BEFORE THE STORM
With this intense political drama, writer-director Reza Parsa (born in Iran but living in Sweden since 1980) keeps the audience on the edge of its seat throughout his debut feature, as the story brings terror into the seemingly idyllic Swedish households of two ordinary families. An encounter between taxi driver Ali, an immigrant living in Sweden with his new family, and twelve-year old Leo, connects events that spin out of control. Ali is forced to confront his political past, while Leo deals with humiliation by his schoolmates. Tracing each character's struggle with his conscience, the film demonstrates how world politics impact ordinary lives. Parsa (Never, ND/NF 1996) keeps tight control of his combustive material, fashioning a remarkably involving and potent tale. Sweden, 2000. 106 min.
30B. Fri. March 30 at 9 PM
31A. Sat. March 31 at 12 NOON
NINE QUEENS
With more twists than Mamet's House of Games, Fabian Bielinsky's astonishingly assured debut keeps shifting the ground beneath us, alternating the identities of the "swindler" and the "swindled," until we no longer know which way is up. Early one morning Juan is pulling a bill-switching scheme in an all-night deli when Marcos, a supposedly outraged bystander, pretends to whisk him off to the police. We then learn that Marcos is also a con-artist, just helping out a colleague. Marcos enlists Juan in a plot that he claims will set them up for early retirement - yet it soon seems that Marcos' schemes may be just a little too perfectly realized. As the action moves from humble barrios to luxury hotels, it soon appears that the city itself is part of an elaborate plot. Beautifully written and crisply directed, NINE QUEENS also features outstanding performances from its two con-artist leads. Argentina, 2000. 115 min.
31C. Sat. March 31 at 6 PM
1B. Sun. April 1 at 3 PM
PEPPERMINT CANDY
At a twenty-year reunion of friends, one of them, Yongho, dampens the festivities. He climbs onto a railroad bridge, and as he is about to jump into the path of an approaching train, shouts, "I'm going back." And so the film does - in seven sections and in reverse chronology from 1999 to 1979. In epic style, it covers the dissolution of a man and the development of a nation. Lee Chang-Dong, the writer-director, situates the critical point in Korea's lurch toward democracy as the 1980 massacre of students and workers in Kwangju. Abetted by a spectacular performance by Sol Kyung-Gu, Peppermint Candy is an electrifying testament to the candor and vitality of the "new" Korean cinema. The title is ironic: the film astringent. South Korea, 1999. 129 min.
31D. Sat. March 31 at 9 PM
1A. Sun. April 1 at 12 NOON
DINNER RUSH
A New York story and a delight! A restaurant, Gigino, deep in TriBeCa, undergoes the same transformation the neighborhood did years earlier. Once an Italian Mom-and-Pop eatery, the restaurant, now run by son Udo, a star-chef, has become one of the hottest "fusion" restaurants in town. Over one very busy night unexpected things happen to Pop, played to perfection by the inimitable Danny Aiello, who owns the business, to son Udo (Edoardo Ballerini) who wants to call the restaurant his own, to the dedicated kitchen and wait staff, and to a clientele, some of whom deserve the worst. Bob Giraldi, music video pioneer, television commercial veteran, and noted restaurateur, directs his first independent feature at sixty, keeping the pace breathless, the rhythm assured, the characters winning, and the ending a surprise. Also with Sandra Bernhard, Summer Phoenix and Mark Margolis. USA, 2000. 106 min.
1C. Sun. April 1 at 6 PM
2B. Mon. April 2 at 9 PM
WOJACZEK
Poet as provocateur Rafal Wojaczek dazzled young Poles in the 1960s, before dying at the age of twenty-six in 1971. Self-destructive and wildly antagonistic to the bourgeoisie, he lived only to compose verse and to try to kill himself. Lech J. Majewski, painter, poet, and filmmaker who gained international recognition for his screenplay for Basquiat (1996), directs this homage to his compatriot as a fateful journey in brilliant, sharply contrasting black-and-white cinematography. The artist who takes, abuses, and offends all around him, yet who offers his gifts of passionate wordplay in return, is powerfully interpreted by Krzysztof Siwczyk, a poet of the next generation. WOJACZEK is a daring portrait of a youthful artist who lost his will even as he succeeded in creating his own legend and legacy. Poland, 1999. 90 min.
Preceded by BRASIL. A sly cultural and linguistic tour of Germany with a family that has relocated to Brazil. Directed by Georgian filmmaker Giga Chkheidze. Georgia, 2000. 25 min.
1D. Sun. April 1 at 9 PM
2A. Mon. April 2 at 6 PM
I PREFER THE SOUND OF THE SEA
In this delicate feature by Mimmo Calopresti, the tenuous friendship between two teenage boys from vastly different milieus mirrors the uneasy rapport between Northern and Southern Italy, between classes and generations. Luigi, a transplanted industrialist in Torino with a brooding teenage son, visits his native Calabria, and decides to help a troubled relative, Rosario, by bringing him to a home for youths back in Torino. Rosario's presence serves to unravel Luigi's bourgeois certainties, and the realization of his own hypocrisy is conveyed in a marvelously textured performance by Silvio Orlando. This intelligent, unsettling film is shot in muted colors by accomplished cinematographer Luca Bigazzi. Italy, 2000. 84 min.
Preceded by BAOBAB. The lore of the magically alive baobob tree takes us on a mythic journey to the soul in this stunning film by Laurence Attali (Even the Wind, NYFF 1999). France/Senegal, 2000. 25 min.
3A. Tues. April 3 at 6 PM
4B. Wed. April 4 at 9 PM
HYBRID
Witty yet tender, deadpan yet poetic, HYBRID slyly reveals the promiscuity of corn as it traces the life and obsession of Iowa breeder Milford Beeghly in this imaginative and highly original debut film by Monteith McCollum, who also is his grandson. At first Beeghly seems to typify the laconic farmer who communicates poorly with his family, yet McCollum teases out his grandfather's passion for experimentation with hybrid corn, his love of song and verse, and his affection for women and the land he never wants to leave. Animation sequences of the mating habits of corncobs and 1950s commercials for Beeghly's Best Hybrids are interspersed with family conversations. Stunning shots of the Iowa landscape frame this intimate and wry contemplation on the Midwest and its philosopher of the soil. USA, 2000. 92 min.
3B. Tues. April 3 at 9 PM
4A. Wed. April 4 at 6 PM
NO PLACE TO GO
One person who did not celebrate the reunification of Germany was the West German writer Gisela Elsner. Elsner, a literary star in the 1960's later became a deeply troubled and selfish woman. A practicing bourgeoise, she mocked the acquisitiveness of the West in her books which celebrated life under socialism. In the East she was required reading, yet resented there. No Place to Go is a wrenching portrait of an extraordinary woman by writer-director Oskar Roehler who is also the son she had virtually deserted. Finding no surcease from herself in the "New" Germany, Elsner committed suicide. Imagining both the pathetic hopes and ferocious disappointments of his mother's last days, Roehler has fashioned a transfixing memorial to an infuriating, larger-than-life but not unsympathetic woman known in this film as Hanna Flanders and played with impressive intensity by Hannelore Elsner. West Germany, 1999. 103 min.
5A. Thurs. April 5 at 6 PM
8B. Sun. April 8 at 3 PM
DURIAN DURIAN
The durian is a fruit, but it is no green papaya. Prickly and odorous outside, it's nutritious and sweet inside - a delicacy for connoisseurs. Director Fruit Chan uses it as a metaphor for Hong Kong - bitter on the outside but sweet for those who come to know it. Yan, from northern China, is a prostitute in Hong Kong, turning 20 tricks a day between 40 showers. The durian is the catalyst for her meeting with Fan, an eight-year old girl who becomes her friend. When Yan's visa runs out and she returns to China, the gift of a durian from Fan sets her on a new path. Chan's marvelously realistic pictures of Hong Kong and of the Chinese mainland, along with the development of the complex protagonist, Yan, convincingly reveal the contradictions of Hong Kong and contemporary China. Hong Kong/China, 2000. 116 min.
5B. Thurs. April 5 at 9 PM
7C. Sat. April 7 at 6 PM
ROLAND'S PASS
High in the mountains, a French family takes a hike, to climb to the site of the father's conception. The two teens grudgingly go along for the ride, but when the generations are separated, Mom and Dad hash out some family planning items while they try to get down the mountain and rescue their kids, who meanwhile prove themselves the more capable adults. Directors Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu create a quirky family comedy amidst the amazing grandeur of the Pyrenées with deadpan performances by all, including Mathieu Amalric as that bourgeois French Every Man. France, 1999. 44 min.
Followed by THE FUCCON FAMILY. Little Mikey's dad has been transferred to Japan. Now they'll all live "like the Japanese." Nice and normal - except for the fact that Mikey, his mom and his dad are all mannequins! Artist and filmmaker Yoshimasa Ishibashi's episodic TV show about these regular folks is loopy comedy at its best. Things go from normal (Mikey wants a dog) to weird, to wild in very short order. Do not try this at home! Japan, 2000. 37 min.
6A. Fri. April 6 at 6 PM
8D. Sun. April 8 at 9 PM
L.I.E.
To commuters it may be "the world's largest parking lot", but to Howie, the fifteen year-old whose mother died on it, the Long Island Expressway is a killer - literally and metaphorically. Estranged from his callow father, Howie, sensing that he is 'other', falls away from his delinquent friends, and seeks comfort in the arms of an ex-marine known as Big John. L.I.E. is an astonishing first feature - adult, layered and incisive - by, surprisingly, a noted director of commercials, Michael Cuesta. L.I.E. is about what seeps behind the fastidiousness of suburban life; it is about what cannot be spoken but is most certainly felt; and it is, in the most moving sense, about loss. The film is distinguished by two memorable performances - Paul Franklin Dano as Howie, and Brian Cox as the man who cannot help reaching out to boys. In its empathy L.I.E., heart-breaking and wise, sets its own precedent. USA, 2001. 97 min.
6B. Fri. April 6 at 9 PM
7A. Sat. April 7 at 12 NOON
CLOUDS OF MAY
Dedicated to Chekhov and with shades of "The Cherry Orchard", Nuri Bilge Ceylan's second feature builds to a moving and satisfying climax as the viewer is enveloped in the landscape and people linking the filmmaker to his childhood. The kaleidoscope of lyrical images forms a meditation on generational conflicts, social change, and loss of innocence. A filmmaker from Istanbul returns to where he grew up to make a film about his family and friends. In simply told stories of real people's very real preoccupations and dreams - a boy wants a musical watch, a young man has ambitions to leave the factory and live in the city, an old man struggles to save the magnificent trees on his land - the director's feeling for family and landscape is expressed in exquisite imagery of great emotional power and impact. Turkey, 2000. 117 min.
7B. Sat. April 7 at 3 PM
8C. Sun. April 8 at 6 PM
HOLE IN THE SKY
Love hurts. In a small isolated roadside diner Ichio, a lonely cook, spends day in and day out behind his stove. Abandoned by his mother and resentful of his eccentric father, it is clear that Ichio is not a happy camper. But salvation is at hand. One day a young couple arrives. When the boyfriend splits, Ichio compassionately offers Taeko, the woman, a job and lodging, an offer that becomes for him, the beginning of a bittersweet romance. Ichio falls madly in love, in short order. While both players certainly have their own agendas, the relationship forces Ichio to come to grips with his own unsettling history. By setting this tender love story in the remote northern islands of Japan, where the sky is particularly crisp and clear, and the landscape vast, director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri puts the small steps of a man getting his life together into sharp focus. Japan, 2001. 127 min.
7D. Sat. April 7 at 9 PM
8A. Sun. April 8 at 12 NOON
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