Fourth Friday Film Series
2007-2008

Playlist:

September 28 Muriel's Wedding (Australia/France 1994) directed by P. J. Hogan. 106 minutes / R

It may seem an odd comparison, but Muriel has a lot in common with Flaubert's Madame Bovary in this deceptively simple film tracing the ups and downs of a young woman just starting out in life.

October 26 The Manchurian Candidate (USA 1962) directed by John Frankenheimer. 126 minutes

A political thriller involving a presidential election with pitch-perfect performances from its cast, including Frank Sinatra, Laurence Harvey, Janet Leigh, and Angela Lansbury.

November 23 Home for the Holidays (USA 1995) directed by Jodie Foster. 103 minutes / PG-13

Just as you're recovering from Thanksgiving, a movie about another family experiencing the dubious pleasures of the holidays. Think Tolstoy, Anna Karenina , first sentence.

December 28 CANCELLED

January 25 Exotica (Canada 1994) directed by Atom Egoyan. 103 minutes / R

What is—and more importantly, what's not—exotic? Why are we the way we are? What role does family play in the different paths taken? A subtle meditation in Egoyan's familiar style of narration involving some of his favorite actors, including Arsinée Khanjian, Elias Koteas, Bruce Greenwood, and Sarah Polley, as well as other notable Canadian actors and filmmakers, like Mia Kirshner and Don McKellar.

February 29 (the fifth Friday!) Double Indemnity (USA 1944) directed by Billy Wilder. 107 minutes

Before he had three sons and turned up on TV every week for 12 seasons, before he made flubber for Disney, Fred MacMurray was evil, and never more so than with Barbara Stanwyck in this classic film noir.

March 28 Gilda (USA 1946) directed by Charles Vidor. 110 minutes

Rita Hayworth once said, “Every man I have ever known has fallen in love with Gilda and awakened with me.” The Love Goddess in her signature role. Who wouldn't put the blame on Mame?

April 25 Wild Things (USA 1998) directed by John McNaughton. 108 minutes / R

Film critic Roger Ebert describes this movie as “lurid trash, with a plot so twisted they're still explaining it during the closing titles. It's like a three-way collision between a softcore sex film, a soap opera and a B-grade noir. I liked it.” I did, too. It's extraordinarily well made with a cast obviously enjoying itself.

May 23 Election (USA 1999) directed by Alexander Payne. 103 minutes / R

Tracy Flick, played by Reese Witherspoon, is running for president of her high school's student government, and she could teach the current crop of presidential candidates a thing or two. Make no mistake. This is not another teen movie; it's political satire with a deep bite.

June Quinceañera (USA 2006) directed by R. Glatzer and W. Westmoreland. 90 minutes / R

Another family portrait, this time of an extended Hispanic family coping with maintaining cultural identities and values in the mix of modern US culture.

 

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