NOVEMBER
Friday 6
Cine Club @ CCA (moved from SFAI)
Shane Meadows' THIS IS ENGLAND (2006, UK)
This powerhouse of a film takes a look into the world of 1980's English skinheads, and shows just how easily some teenagers can be led into troubling choices by their peers. This director has an authentic voice that can’t be beat.
Warning: violence, racism and mild sex scenes.
Why we show this film:
Blessed with powerful performances and an authentic "lived in" look about it, this film can’t help but affect you. This is England was such a success, it spawned a series of television shows (This Is England '86, This Is England '88 and This Is England '90) each examining life and culture in the English Midlands through the decade.
About the director:
Shane Meadows is one of the finest English directors currently working, but he is practically unknown in America. Dead Man’s Shoes, Twenty Four Seven, and Somers Town are all sturdy achievements. His films have great moral character and concentrate on the ways that young people are badly influenced and damaged by the worse elements in their society. Meadows knows this world, having come from a world of petty crime in his youth. He works with young actors especially well.
Saturday 7
Art Saturday @ Open Studios
10:45 Meet at Coffee Bar (corner of Mariposa and Florida).
11:00 Walking tour of artists' studios in the Mission.
12:30 Picnic lunch on the roof of 540 Alabama Street.
Friday 13
Cine Club @ CCA
Michael Haneke's THE WHITE RIBBON (2009, Germany)
This Palme d’Or winning film was an unforgettable classic from the moment it was released. Strange events occur in a German village on the eve of WW1, and a group of repressed children under the instruction of a puritanical pastor seem to be at the heart of things. A haunting and exquisitely shot film about the roots of evil.
Why we show this film:
From its opening sequence this film shows the hands of a film master. It mixes disparate elements—history, character, compositions and imagery—in a bid to explain some of the currents in society that ultimately gave birth to the atrocities of WWII, showing how many of them trace back well before the first World War.
About the director:
Haneke emerged to international critical acclaim with a series of extremely edgy and challenging films that explored philosophy and psychology in a way that allowed space for the audience's imagination and self-reflection to operate. These films (including Benny’s Video, Funny Games, and The Piano Teacher) used violence, or the threat of it to underline the dilemmas of its characters. His films are often polemical statements against the American "barrel down" cinema and its dis-empowerment of the audience, as wishing to ask insistent questions instead of giving false (because too quick) answers, and for provocation and dialogue instead of consumption and consensus.
Friday 20
Cine Club @ SF Art Institute
Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2014, USA)
You may have already seen this fast-paced, comedic, award-winning film, but it’s packed with so much immaculate art direction and so many artfully-cast guest stars, you’re sure to have missed something. This is the work of an American maverick at his most ambitious!
Why we show this film:
In certain rare cases, exceptional style becomes so finely tunes, so absolute, it becomes more central to the film than even character or plot. Another recent example of this is Jeunet's Amélie. This isn't to say these films don't have compelling plots or characters, but these stories couldn't possibly function outside of the extraordinarily specific and imaginative worlds their directors built in order to present them. Anderson has always been noted for his idiomatic style—his vision is like no other—and in The Grand Budapest Hotel he takes this vision to the furthest limits.
About the director:
Wes Anderson has been marching to the beat of a different drum since his earliest films. Words like "hipster" and "geek chic" and "twee" are thrown at his films a lot these days, but his work pre-dates all of these trends. His films frequently explore somewhat eccentric adolescent friendships (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom) and quirky family dynamics (The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited). His best films always have an affection for the obsessed and single-minded (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and The Grand Budapest Hotel allowed his own obsessions to widen.
Saturday 21
Art Saturday @ Downtown Art Galleries
10:45 Meet in Yerba Buena Gardens outside Metreon.
11:00 Walking tour of downtown art galleries (Modernism, Paule Anglim, Haines, Robert Koch, Fraenkel, etc.)
12:30 Picnic lunch in Yerba Buena Gardens