(U.S., 1999)
  A thoroughly entertaining take on a 'cool' guy's journey to self-realization and true love in Santa Fe. Dex, played with enormous appeal by Donal Logue (The Patriot), an oversized kindergarten teacher, has the 'cool' of Steve McQueen and is blessed with an incredibly effective way with women. He and his friends live by the Tao of Steve, a self-indulgent code whereby they try to attain the cool of otheir heroes who, without need, can effortlessly attract women. Whether instructing his colleagues or in the midst of a seduction, Dex is wont to deftly quote Lao-Tzu, Groucho Marx, Kierkegaard or Heidegger to great surprising effect. His magnetic appeal is not so much physical as intellectual. Ten years after his college graduation and still without plan or purpose, Dex swings through a life of romantic conquests, frisbee golf and poker nights. But he meets his Waterloo in Syd (Greer Goodman), an old college friend who meets his charming advances with perceptive indifference.

(U.S., 2000)
  The king of the "mockumentary" genre, actor-director Christopher Guest (Waiting for Guffman) paints a hilarious portrait of obsessive dog owners who come from all across America accompanied by their prized pets to compete in the prestigious Mayflower Dog Show. The delightful cast of idiosyncratic characters share one thing in common ambition: they are desperate to triumph through their dogs. Memorable, often inspired, improvised performances from the talented ensemble cast including Jennifer Coolidge, Christopher Guest, John Michael Higgins, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara and Parker Posey.

"Outrageously hilarious." -- Toronto Sun

(Japan, 1998)
  Opening in both New York and London to rave reviews, After Life screened at the 1998 Toronto International Film Festival and was nominated for several festival awards around the world. This exquisite film explores the profound need to discover meaning in everyday life. The film is set in a way station between Heavan and Earth, where guides have less than a week to help the newly dead sift through their memories for one defining moment. Once a decision is reached, the guides recreate this chosen memory and capture it on film, for the deceased to take with them for all eternity. Interactions between the soul-searching dead and their dedicated guides explore the range of human existence. The film focuses on the grudging respect that develops between Watanabe, an undistinguished old man coming to terms with his uneventful life, and the young guide Mochizuki. At the same time it explores the intricate pleasures and horrors of life in the broader history of postwar Japan. As the characters struggle with their memories, the film explores our universal attachments to life -- pain, pleasure and most importantly, love.

"There's a simplicity of conception and execution in Kore-eda Hirokazy's After Life which simply takes your breath away." -- Toronto Star

"Deeply moving, a series of interlocking meditations on silence, solitude and the intersection between how things actually happened and our comforting fantasies of how they ought to have been." * * * * -- eye

(Canada, 1999)
BEST CANADIAN FEATURE FILM, TORONTO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL
BEST CANADIAN SCREENPLAY, VANCOUVER FILM FESTIVAL
MOST POPULAR CANADIAN FILM, VANCOUVER FILM FESTIVAL

  From Gary Burns (Kitchen Party) comes a refreshingly captivating comedy set in a maze of glass towers, malls, interconnected hallways, tunnels and food courts that make up downtown Calgary. A group of young office workers, who live in condos attached to the complex, wager a month's salary -- winner take all -- on who can last the longest without going outside. Tom (Fabrizio Filippo), a bored, young, practical joker, is on the bottom rung of the corporate ladder. He and his white collar cohorts, Curt (the playboy), Sandra (an anxious blonde), and his friend Randy begin to play psychological games with each other to see who will crack first. After 24 days inside, all bets are off and, during an extended lunch yhour, the wager threatens to overwhelm them all. Meanwhile, their office-mate Brad (Don McKellar, Last Night), an office 'lifer' who is not in on the wager, endures Tom's teasing and contemplates jumping out the office window. Curt tries to seduce a vulnerable co-worker, Sandra panics when assigned to follow her retiring kleptomaniac boss, and Tom becomes entangled in a bizarre, potentially violent situation resulting from a random encounter with an attractive young shopper. By the lunch hour's end, the chaos finally settles as the wager is resolved by an unexpected event. With this fast-paced ambient world and his usual dry wit and wry playfulness, Gary Burns provokes fresh questions about the absurdity of the human condition as it relates to the urban workplace.

"The best Canadian film at the Festival." -- Toronto Star

"Showcases Gary Burns' uncanny knack for creating clever satire from the most ordinary of situations. A cogent yet hilarious indictment of our soul-destroying urban existence." -- Box Office Magazine

(USA, 2000)
  Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet's (Winslow Boy) seventh film is perhaps his most entertaining and memorable to date. A Hollywood cew descends upong the sleepy town of New Waterford, Vermont to shoot a wanna-be blockbuster headed by a ball-busting, smooth-talking director (William H. Macy, Happy, Texas) and somewhat crazed producer (David Paymer). The story follows the movie's unfortunate screenwriter Joe (Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Magnolia) who is under such stress that he speaks in an uncertain stammer, able to write but barely able to speak. The movie star (Alec Baldwin) requires constant supervision becuase of a weakness for underage girls. The town mayor and citizens are so star-struck that the film crew has the run of the town. The only person who seems to have her head on straight is the local bookseller (Rebecca Pidgeon, Winslow Boy) who is trying to organize an amateur theatre group, despite the desertion of her cast upon arrival of the movie crew. When she becomes involved with Joe, the result is one of screendom's most peculiar romances.

"Marvelously zesty and profane. Mamet's latest one is one to enjoy and savour." -- National Post

(U.S., 1999)
CO-WINNER, GRAND JURY PRIZE, SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
NOMINATED FOR TWO ACADEMY AWARDS --
  BEST ACTRESS -- LAURA LINNEY
  BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

  A superbly executed family drama that examines one of the least-explored themes in American film: the complex relationship between a brother and a sister. Set in Scottville, Terry Prescott (Mark Ruffalo, Ride With the Devil), a wild and reckless Marlon Brando type pays a surprise visit to his very proper sister Sammy (Laura Linney, The Truman Show) and her eight-year-old son Rudy (Rory Culkin, The Good Son).

"A sensitive, intimate, enormously touching drama. Laura Linney gives an astonishing performance. Utterly engaging." -- Variety

(Denmark/Sweden/France, 2000)
WINNER, PALME D'OR, CANNES FILM FESTIVAL
NOMINATED FOR AN ACADEMY AWARD: BEST SONG -- "I've Seen it All" (Björk)

  Legendary Lars Van Trier (Breaking the Waves) walked away from this year's Cannes Film Festival with top honours. Inspired by the traditional Hollywood musical, the story follows a resourceful young Czech immigrant, Selma (in an award-winning performance by Icelandic pop star Bjork) who works in a small pressing plant in Washington State. She and her sone Gene are befriended by their landlords, cop Bill (David Morse, The Green Mile) and his wife Jean (Cara Seymour, American Psycho) and her factory o-worker Kathy (Catherine Deneuve, East-West). One day, a distraught Bill confesses that his wife's spending has him on the verge of bankruptcy and in return, Selma shares a secret of her own. She reveals that she is going blind, and her son is in danger of the same fate - unless she can save enough money for him to have eye surgery before he is thirteen. Meanwhile, Selma, in love with American musicals, has won the role of Maria in an amateur production of THE SOUND OF MUSIC and is trying to disguise her visual impairment from the director. As she deals with her darkening world, Selma escapes into musical fantasies set in the cacophony of the factory, the bustle of a city bridge and the solitude of her room.

"Not since Fassbinder has a moviemaker plunged the rising swells of melodrama with such obvious delight and self-consciousness. Von Trier's movie revitalizes the musical genre by making it work in over-spectacled times." -- Toronto Star

(Italy; English Subtitles)
WINNER OF FIVE ITALIAN ACADEMY AWARDS
WINNER, MONTREAL WORLD FILM FESTIVAL'S SPECIAL GRAND JURY AWARD
WINNER, CHICAGO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL'S SILVER HUGO AWARD

  One of Italy's most decorated films in recent memory, this superbly acted, bittersweet comedy richly deserves its recognition. The film explores how a single event sets in motion life-changing human interactions between three seemingly unrelated people - Caterina, a novice nun, Ernesto, a lonely laundromat owner, and Teresa, a despairing unwed mother. Caterina, 11 months from taking her vows, discovers an abandoned mbaby in the park and relinquishes the unwanted waif to the authorities. However Caterina experiences powerful maternal feelings for the lost baby and becomes obsessed with finding the child's mother. Following a clue provided by a cleaner's tag on the baby's blanket, she finds the reluctant and unmarried Ernesto who reluctantly admits to being the father. The unlikely couple join forces ina complex search for the baby's elusive mother. Nothing is completely straightforward in this much praised and unpredictable film as, along the way, Ernesto and Caterina come face-to-face with their own neuroses and crises of faith. The actors are, by turns, luminous and funny in this rewarding tale, told with gentle humour and affection.

"What a wonderful 'World' ... The best foreign film released here since All About My Mother." -- NY Post

"With its simple yet deftly realized tale and expert characterization, Not of This World is deserving of the recognition it has received." * * * -- James Berardinelli

(France/Canada (2000), English Subtitles)

  A hit at film festivals in Cannes and Toronto, Patrice Leconte's (Ridicule) film is an ominously beautiful, fable-like narrative that resonates in the rich tradition of sophisticated literary romance. Set on a remote French island off the coast of Newfoundland in the mid-nineteenth century, the community of Saint-Pierre is thrown into turmoil when an alcoholic sailor, Neel Auguste (the acting debut of award winning director Emir Kusturica, Black Cat, White Cat) stabs a man to death in a drunken brawl and is sentenced to death by guillotine. The sentence, as dictated by French law, cannot be immediately carried out as Saint-Pierre has neither a guillotine nor an executioner. Auguste is placed in the custody of the Captain of the garrison (Daniel Auteuil, Girl on the Bridge) a cultivated, fatalistic soldier who is utterly devoted to his beautiful wife, Madama La (Oscar winner Juliette Binoche, The English Patient, Chocolat). Madama La, a compassionate idealist prone to romantic impulses, devotes herelf to Auguste's rehabilitation and under her supervision, Auguste begins to ingratiate himself to the citizens of Saint-Pierre by doing usefull odd jobs around town while he humbly awaits his execution. To the dismay of the local authorities, by the time the guillotine arrives from France, Auguste has become the most popular man in the colony and the community is dead-set against carrying out his sentence. Based on a true story, La Veuve de Saint-Pierre entrhralls with its brooding portrait of inescapable honour, love and tragic destiny.

"The breathtaking Canadian scenery makes an impressive backdrop to this flawlessly acted drama." -- Ellie Buchanan

(USA, 2000)

  Come see the film that's got everyone talking about Willem Dafoe and life imitating art imitating life! Based on events that surrounded the filming of German filmmaker F.W. Murnau's legendary vampire classic Nosferatu, Shadow of the Vampire is a gleefully dark flight of fancy and horror. F.W. Murnau (John Malkovich, Being John Malkovich), a relentless perfectionist utterly dedicated to his art, launches his masterpiece with the finest film crew in Germany. After an exhaustive search, Murnau discovers an unknown, somewhat mysterious talent known as Max Schreck (Willem Dafoe, Affliction) to play the key role of the vampire. Schreck reveals himself to be the ultimate method actor who never seems to be out of character. During shooting, he submerges himself so deeply in his supernatural character that he refuses to surface during the day and becomes prone to displays of bloodthirsty histrionics which spook the cast and crew. Odd mishaps beset the production, culminating in the tragic death of Murnau's cinematographer who succumbs to a mysterious terminal illness. The beleaguered Murnau returns to Germany to search for another cameraman, leaving his talent alone with the unpredictable Schreck. A strange pall settles in over the crew, setting the stage for the film's earth shattering conclusion. Rich in atmospheric detail, the film features a wicked humour and eeriness, rivetting audiences at this year's Toronto International Film Festival.

"Visually, it's a stunner and Willem Dafoe is frightfully good." -- Toronto Star

"Featuring two superlative lead performances, the film pays homage to its inspiration, carefully re-creating many of the most memorable scenes from the German vampire film. (Although I'm pretty sure Nosferatu did not show the Count squeezing Ellen's breasts as he fed.) ... A smart, witty script ... The film's strength lies not only in the essential cleverness of the premise, but in the effective way in which that premise has been realized. It would not surprise me if a new urban legend has been born." * * * 1/2 (out of 4) -- James Berardinelli

(U.K., 2000)

  Edith Wharton's acclaimed 1907 novel comes to life in upper-class New York society at the turn of the century. Young socialite Lily Bart (Gillian Anderson, The Mighty) is vivacious, perpetually in debt and romantically intertwined with the charismatic lawyer Selden (Eric Stoltz, The Passion of Ayn Rand). However, he is not in her long-term plans. She is determined to find a husband who will put her in a high position in society and secure her finances. As her debts grow, Lily turns to her best friend's husband (Dan Aykroyd, Stardom) who helps, but with denigrating strings attached. Her situation worsens when Lily's friend Bertha (Laura Linney, You Can Count on Me) exploits her situation and Lily finds her all-important reputation jeopardized within the very social circle that she needs to cultivate.

"As a period piece about a leisured class seeking hypocritically to strike an exchange rate between reputation and riches, it's a great museum tour and far, far more beautiful and fascinating. Superbly fashioned dialogue." -- Evening Standard

Wednesday, June 6, 7:00 pm
Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire (R)

(USA, 2000)

  The only bad thing about this film, according to Roger Ebert, is the title. The heroes of Kevin Jordan's film are brothers Tony (the actor) and Chris (the accountant) -- played by real-life brothers Steven and Derick Martini -- who got their nicknames from their half-Native American grandmother. Tony is Smiling Fish because he floats in the current, grinning, waiting for the world to drift his way. Chris is Goat on Fire because he wants to get everything exactly right. The twenty-somethings live in a bungalow left to them by their parents, and their relationships with their girlfriends seem to be in jeopardy. And then their lives take a turn for the better with the introduction of two women, a 6-year-old girl, a 90-year-old man, and a chicken named Bob.

After the free screening, members are invited to join us for a catered party at the River Inn in Corbyville. Look for your invitation in the mail, and see you at the party!

"An understated human comedy ... surprisingly moving. 'Smiling Fish and Goat on Fire' is one of those hand-made movies that sneaks into festivals and wins friends." -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times