The Violin, April 24

On Friday:

El violin (The Violin, 2005, Mexico)

98 minutes

Director: Francisco Vargas

In Spanish with English subtitles

In an unnamed Latin American country that closely resembles Mexico, the government fights a rural insurgency with torture, assault, rape, and murder. Soldiers descend on a town, cutting off the rebels from their cache of ammunition hidden in a field. A family of grandfather, son, and grandson are among the rebels in the hills. The grandfather, with his violin over his shoulder, tries to pass the checkpoint, ostensibly to tend his corn crop. The commanding officer lets him pass but insists on a daily music lesson. Can the old man ferry out the ammunition in his violin case under the soldiers’ nose? (imdb)

Trailer here.

Friday, April 24th, 18:30

Zrinyi 14, room 411/A

The Vertical Ray of the Sun, April 17

This Friday’s screening:

Mua he chieu thang dung (The Vertical Ray of the Sun, 2000, Vietnam)

Director: Tran Anh Hung

112 minutes

In Vietnamese with English subtitles

On the anniversary of their mother’s death, three sisters in contemporary Hanoi meet to prepare a memorial banquet. After the banquet, the calm exteriors of the sisters’ lives begin to give way to more turbulent truths, which will affect their seemingly idyllic relationships. (…) With the brilliant Vietnamese summer as a setting Vertical Ray of the Sun is beautiful from beginning to end, a charming, slow-paced, face value, family saga film. (Wikipedia)

Trailer here.

Friday, April 17th, 18:30

Zrinyi 14, room 411/A

 

Primer, April 10

The screenings continue with a film about time travel:

Primer (2004)

Director: Shane Carruth

77 minutes

Primer is a psychological sci-fi thriller about a group of four tech entrepreneurs. Toiling away in a garage, the quartet have successfully created error-checking systems for their clients. But their recent work seems to have created an unexpected and seemingly impossible side-effect. Suddenly, two members of the group realize they are in possession of a device that can double, or perhaps even quadruple, the space-time continuum of anything that enters it. What at first seems like a windfall of astronomical proportions eventually proves to be much more than they bargained for, as the duo attempt to manipulate time to their financial — and emotional — benefit. (rottentomatoes)

Trailer here.

Friday, April 10th, 18:30

Zrinyi 14, room 411/A

Tangerines, April 3rd

This Friday:

Mandariinid (Tangerines, 2013, Georgia)

Director: Zaza Urushadze

87 minutes

Set in 1992, during the growing conflict between Georgia and Abkhazian separatists in the wake of the Soviet Union’s dissolution, this compassionate tale focuses on two Estonian immigrant farmers who decide to remain in Georgia long enough to harvest their tangerine crop. When the war comes to their doorsteps, Ivo (played by legendary Estonian actor Lembit Ulfsak) takes in two wounded soldiers from opposite sides. (rottentomatoes)

Trailer here.

Friday, April 3rd, 18:30

Zrinyi 14, room 411/A

And here‘s an article about Georgian cinema [thanks to George for the link].

Wild Strawberries, March 27

This Friday’s screening:

Smultronstället (Wild Strawberries, Sweden 1957)

91 minutes

Director: Ingmar Bergman

In Swedish with English subttitles

With the exception of his elderly housekeeper Miss Agda who he treats almost like a surrogate platonic wife, widowed seventy-eight year old Dr. Isak Borg, a former medical doctor and professor, has retreated from any human contact, partly his own want but partly the decision of others who do not want to spend time with him because of his cold demeanor. He is traveling from his home in Stockholm to Lund to accept an honorary degree. Instead of flying as was the original plan, he decides to take the day long drive instead. Along for the ride is his daughter-in-law Marianne, who had been staying with him for the month but has now decided to go home. The many stops and encounters along the way make him reminisce about various parts of his life. Those stops which make him reminisce directly are at his childhood summer home, at the home of his equally emotionally cold mother, and at a gas station where the attendants praise him as a man for his work. (imdb)

Trailer here.

Friday, March 27th, 18:30

Zrinyi 14, room 411/A