Miss Lovely Imdb

[Coleman John]

September6 Once (Ireland 2006) 85 min.

Rated R for language. [IMAGE]

It's a comedy, musical, romance, drama: it'sgot it all and it'sset in Dublin, and so you can'tgo wrong. ONCE taps into ourinner musician. He (Hansard) is an Irish street busker, singing forcoins, pouring out his heart-breaking tunes to anyone who willlisten. She (Irglov) listens,although less for his romantic talents than for his ability to repairstuff. She is also different (Czeck) and a pianist and it is only amatter of time before they start harmonizing. They aren'tinterested in fame or being the Next Best Thing. They are tooserious, grounded, and smart to chase empty dreams. They are, inshort, totally suited for each other, even if they are the last toknow. The enormous appeal of this modest Sundance crowd-pleaser liesboth in the scenery and the talents of the two leads. Hansard isactually a singer-songwriter for the Irish bandThe Flames and Irglov is a Czech musician andsongwriter. In other words, you won'thear a single false note in this irresistible film.

September 13 Red Road (UK/Denmark 2006) 113 min.

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Another fine feature from across the pond, RED ROAD is ahugely popular European thriller that will keep you gripped right upto the unpredictable end. Director Arnold won the director's prizeat Cannes for this little masterpiece. RED ROAD is a productof a Scottish-Dutch initiative called Advance Party, its principlesof filmmaking having evolved from the Dogma group of Lars von Trier,et al. So it is that RED ROAD is low-budget, shot on location,and resolutely, darkly, realistic. So-called extras are real peopleon the streets of Glasgow: as little staging as possible has goneinto the work, and the effect is intensely immediate. The "red road" isthe low-housing area where Jackie (Dickie) is paid towatch closed circuit footage of the drug-addled streets. One day shenotices someone familiar on the camera. A chase of a kind ensues,with all the paranoid plot points of noir, leading to athoroughly stunning conclusion. Note, the sex in this movie is asreal as it gets. Rated R for just that reason.

September 20 La Vie en Rose (France/UK/Czech Republic 2007) 140 min.

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This film is also widely known as The Passionate Life of EdithPiaf, which tells the whole tragic story in a nutshell. Still,blurbs must be written and this one emphasizes the brilliance ofMarion Cotillard's performance. Not even Dr Phil could haverelieved Piaf's amazingly unfortunate circumstances, abandoned byher mother and father in turn, surrounded by prostitutes, approachingblindness, reaching the full height of 4'8",overly fond of drink and drugs—and there's more. But it'simportant to rememberthe music that Piaf managed to make, leaping from the sidewalks ofParis to the grand stages of the world, singing her tiny heart outwhile in love with several famous French guys, broken-hearted fromsame, and yet always looking on the bright—or rosy—side.LA VIE EN ROSE is guaranteed to make you laugh, cry, and downloadsome Edith Piaf.

September 27 Introducing the Dwights (Australia 2007) 105 min.

Rated R for sexual content and language. [IMAGE]

Known as Clubland in Oz,INTRODUCING THE DWIGHTS features the always reliable actingchops of Brenda Blethyn, here playing the overbearing matriarch of adecidedly dysfunctional batch of under-achieving victims. Harbouringa grudge and a deluded self image, Jean (Blethyn) believes she isinfinitely better than the rest of her clan. This entirely falsenotion comes from having been a mediocre stand-up club act, which shestill performs to excruciating excess. Obviously an embarrassment toher children and a fright to civilized audiences, Jean needs to crashand burn before the movie can advance the lives of its youngercharacters. Alternatively comic and poignant, INTRODUCING THEDWIGHTS has a strong element of Aussie irony, never allowingitself or its characters to take things too seriously.

October 4 Amazing Grace (UK/USA 2006) 111 min.

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Experienced director Michael Apted (Seven Up, Lipstick, Gorky Park,Rome, and many more) takes on the complicated history of the slavetrade, no less, through the life and 18th-century times of saintlyreformer William Wilberforce. If you love listening to excellent Britishactors making articulate arguments in powdered wigs, then this is themovie for you. Wilberforce was a fervent abolitionist who substantiallypaved the way for total reform. Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd carrieshimself in the part with just the right measure of dignity andconviction, not to mention tight-fitting waistcoats. His nemesis is closefriend William Pitt the Younger, the future British prime minister, whois played to perfect pitch by a young Benedict Cumberbatch. When youconsider that among others (like Albert Finney), the jowly MichaelGambon and the handsome Rufus Sewell round out the stellar cast then youcan expect Good Acting. Watch for the uncanny parallels betweenWilberforce's relentless crusade for human and animal rights and thepleas for such rights in our own troubled times. In some ways, only thecut of men's breeches has changed.

October 11 Pierrepoint - The Last Hangman (UK 2005) 90 min.

Rated R for disturbing images, nudity and brief sexuality. [IMAGE]

What kind of man wakes up, gets dressed, eats his breakfast, and then goes to workhanging people? Why your average hard-working Englishman, surely! Asthe title of this film indicates, Albert Pierrepoint was exactly thatkind of guy, having inherited the trade, so to speak, from his fatherand uncle before him. The film traces the turbulent period in Englandbetween 1932 and 1956, through the war and theconsequences of crimes committed in its name. At first, Pierrepointrises to the challenge of those consequences well and in the light ofpublic glare, but as times change and cries against capitalpunishment strengthen, so does his conscience. Timothy Spall issuperb in the role as the troubled executioner, all dressed up and,one day, nowhere to go.

October 18 Waitress (USA 2007) 107 min.

Shown in conjunction with the St. John's International Women's [IMAGE]

There is a sad poignancy to this terrific comedy, in thatdirector writer Adrienne Shelly's life was tragically cut downbefore she ever had a chance to see her success, especially atSundance. Nonetheless, WAITRESS is a tribute to her talent andan unforgettable achievement. Presented in conjunction with the StJohn's International Women's File Festival, WAITRESSfeatures the lovely Keri Russell in the title role as Jenna, asmall-town girl who can bake sweetness from misery the way Edith Piafsang joy out of tragedy. Pregnant and unhappy with a moron of ahusband, Jenna somehow finds a way to move forward, falling into acrush over her doctor, finding solidarity in her girlfriends, andconcocting a life as American as, well, apple pie—only one of heramazing desserts. Mildred Pierce was never that lucky. In a word,WAITRESS is totally yummy.

October 25 The Wind that Shakes the Barley (Ireland/UK/Germany/Italy/Spain/France 2006) 127 min.

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We would never hesitate to bring in aKen Loach film: the 70-year-old British director does it better thanalmost anyone, always marrying the political to the personal withemotional intelligence. This much acclaimed study of two brothersinvolved in the Irish struggle for independence in the 1920s is noexception. Damien O'Donovan (Murphy), a young doctor, joins his olderbrother Teddy (Delaney) in the dangerous movement against theoccupying British force. Indeed, violence is pervasive and shocking.Seeing the country boys squaring off against the British "Black and Tan" militia is wrenching, but out of such conflict comes radicaltransformation. The rest, as we well know, is recent history. Typicalof a Loach film, the characters don't just act; they articulatetheir positions. And true to Loach's politics, those positions haveeverything to do with class and property—the true motives of anycolonizing nation. Fierce criticism from the British right wingagainst THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY almost proves thatpoint. Fortunately, nothing will shake Ken Loach out of such fine,committed filmmaking.

November 1 Paris, Je t'aime (France/Liechtenstein 2006) 116 min.

Rated R for language and brief drug use. [IMAGE]

Comprising eighteen segments based in differentsections—or arrondissements—of the fabled city, this intenselysatisfying film surveys the vast, rich, colourful, profoundlycivilized wonderfulness that is Paris—at least as great as the sumof her parts. Twenty-two filmmakers contributed to this collage ofsound and image, from Gena Rowlands to Wes Craven. The result is apanoply of styles and approaches, loosely held together by recurringcharacters and the omniscient potential of love. PARIS, JE T'AIMEis almost as good as being there, without losing your luggage orsuffering the indignities of Air Canada. There are many stories inthe City of Lights, and anyone who is tired of them must be tired oflife.

November 8 The Namesake (India/USA 2006) 122 min.

Rated PG-13 for sexuality/nudity, a scene of drug use, some disturbing images and brief language. [IMAGE]

Working in her characteristic lush visual style,filmmaker Nair adapts a much adored novel (by Jhumpa Lahiri) intoa powerful screen epic. The film traces twogenerations of a Bengali family, beginning in 'seventies Calcuttawhere circumstances throw two young strangers-lovers together. Theiraccidental encounter eventually takes them to the USA where they havea child with the oddly twinned name of Nikhil/Gogol.The young son, played brilliantly by Kal Penn, grows up to become asnon-Indian as he can be, at least until maturity knocks some pressingidentity questions into his head and forces a reconsideration of everything he is and has come from. THE NAMESAKEscrupulously avoidssentimentality, too wise a film to recycle the clichs ofassimilation dramas, and Nair once again proves she is deft with thelong reach of history and some very Big Ideas.

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