Friday Night Films
This page was last updated on June 30, 2009.
Each Friday evening at 7:30 p.m. a new, powerful drama, comedy, or documentary is screened and discussed in the good company of our congregants, friends, and neighbors. We meet in the Leffler House Living Room, on the south side of the Saint Mark's campus. Films are free, but a $1 donation is appreciated.
For more information, contact Kevin Meadows at FilmNight@saintmarks.org. For a full listing of other Cathedral events please see the online calendar.
July 3, 2009 • White Light/Black Rain, (2007, PG, 86 minutes)
Contradictions and ambiguity in human destruction. Made 60 years after the nuclear attacks on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, this documentary examines the contradictions,ambiguous politics and unclear military strategies surrounding the dropping of atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Includes interviews with scholars and eyewitnesses (on the ground and in the air), as well as archival material. Veteran filmmaker Steven Okazaki continues in his tradition of carefully exploring the human side of difficult social issues.
Winner: Emmy
July 10, 2009 • Half Nelson, (2006, R, 106 minutes)
A secret revealed: deliverance or destruction? Transcending age and race, an improbable friendship between a crack-addicted educator and a streetwise middle-schooler may lead them to deliverance -- or destruction -- in this powerful urban drama. After Drey discovers Dan's secret, she becomes a conduit for a life-changing lesson.
Winner: Seattle Int'l Film Festival, Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, Deauville Film Festival, New York Film Critics Awards, Boston Society of Film Critics Award, National Board Review USA, San Francisco Int'l Film Festival, Philadelphia Film Festival, Locarno Int'l Film Festival, Las Palmas Film Festival, Stockholm Film Festival.
July 17, 2009 • The Thin Blue Line, (1988, PG, 103 minutes)
Murder and the miscarriage of justice. Not many filmmakers can claim to have freed a convicted murderer from jail, but Errol Morris accomplished that feat with his stunning documentary about Randall Dale Adams. This gripping investigation of murder and injustice, set to a Philip Glass score, has as much story and style as ten films noir. Its often-imitated, never-duplicated use of color, close-ups, interviews and reenactments changed the look and form of documentary forever.
Winner: The New York Critics Circle Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards, Int'l Documentary Association, National Board Review USA.
July 24, 2009 • Vitus, (2006, PG, 100 minutes)
The unbearable state of being extraordinary. A heart warming and utterly charming story of Vitus, a virtual genius and a prodigy at the piano. With abundant heart and humor, Vitus explores the trials and tribulations of being extraordinary. From an early age, his parents push him to succeed and live up to their ambitions for him. But as Vitus grows older, he decides on a different path.
Winner: Swiss Film Prize, Undine Awards, AFI Fest, Rome Int'l Film Festival.
July 31, 2009 • Raise the Red Lantern, (1991, PG, 125 minutes)
Wives, concubines and privilege in 1920s China. The latest concubine in a growing harem competes against 3 other wives for the master's attention in this moving exploration of power in a suffocating world of ossified tradition and naked ambition, set in China in the 1920s.
Winner: BAFTA, London Critics Circle Film Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards USA, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, Venice Film Festival
August 7, 2009 • Sideways, (2004, R, 126 min)
It's all about Pinot Noir. Two men go on an excursion and end up inducing midlife crises in this critically acclaimed comedy-drama. Pinot Noir lover Miles convinces friend Jack to enjoy his last days of bachelorhood with a wine country road trip. The pair get involved with two women and inevitably come face to face with the their past and present.
Winner: Academy Awards USA, Argentinian Film Critics Association Awards, BAFTA Awards, Boston Society of Film Critics Association Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, Chlotrudis Awards, Golden Globes USA, Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, London Critics Circle Film Awards, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, Marrakech Int'l Film Festival, Nat'l Board of Review USA, National Society of Film Critics Award USA, New York Film Critics Circle Awards, San Francisco Film Critics Circle, Satellite Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Seattle Film Critics Awards, Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, US Comedy Arts Festival, Vancouver Film Critics Circle, Writers Guild of America USA.
August 14, 2009 • The Fog of War, (2003, PG-13, 107 minutes)
Lessons - learned and ignored - from history. Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara worked for both Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson, playing a key role in shaping both administrations' approaches to the Vietnam War. This award-winning documentary traces McNamara's career from government to the World Bank; but it's his work during the Vietnam years that's highlighted in this film, which features extensive archival footage and interviews.
Winner: Academy Awards USA, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards, LA Film Critics Association, Independent Spirit Awards, Nat'l Board of Review USA, Toronto Film Critics Association Awards.
August 21, 2009 • Juno, (2007, PG-13, 96 minutes)
Unwanted and wanted. Facing an unplanned pregnancy, teenage Juno devises a plan to locate the proverbial perfect parents to adopt her baby. But the seemingly ideal couple Juno chooses still has some growing up to do. Now,everyone in Juno's world must do a little soul-searching.
Winner: Academy Awards USA, BAFTA Awards, Broadcast Film Critics Association Awards, Chicago Film Critics Association Awards Gijon Int'l Film Festival, Gotham Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, MTV Movie Awards, Nat'l Board of Review USA, Nat'l Movie Awards UK, Palm Springs Int'l Film Festival, Rome Film Fest, Satellite Awards, Stockholm Film Festival, Toronto Film Critics Association Awards, Writers Guild of America USA
August 28, 2009 • American Dream, (1990, PG-13, 98 min)
The Gap and the Battle. A sobering and fascinating documentary depicting the social, economic and emotional ramifications of a labor strike initiated by employees at a Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota. Although the film depicts events that take place in 1986, the content is every bit as relevant today on the subject of the perennial gap that exists between rank-and-file workers and top executives at major U.S. corporations, and the general greed and mercenary attitude that drives said corporations at the expense of hard-working employees; Juxtaposed against the Reagan administration's demolition of the nation's air traffic controllers' union, the Hormel strikers found themselves picketing during the worst climate for organized labor since the 19th century; A priceless portrait of blue-collar work and life in small-town America, the kind of place that people who live in New York, Washington D.C., Los Angeles or any other major metro area will probably never see.
Winner: Academy Awards USA, Int'l Documentary Association, Directors Guild of America USA, LA Film Critics Association Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards, Sundance Film Festival.