GREAT LINE:
Make art not war.
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Some of the best kinds of documentaries are the ones that offer a snapshot of an ordinary life. Jimmy Mirikitani is an American painter who made his living on the streets of Manhattan. He’s one of those men that you pass day-after-day on your way to work – just another street artist, you think. But filmmaker Linda Hattendorf stopped and took notice, and persuaded him in 2001 to document his life. Over time she learned about his past including his experiences in an internment camp. The film spans more than a decade in Mirikitani’s life and takes a number of subtle twists and turns. We follow Jimmy through several life transitions such as when September 11, 2011 happens during the making of the film. Hattendorf presents a slice of life in such a respectful and honest way without thumping viewers over the head with melodrama. I highly recommend this film!
Check the BPL catalog for this title: The Cats of Mirikitani
GREAT LINE:
The river that erased her past will write her future.
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Up the Yangtze, a documentary about the changes that happen along the Yangtze River due to the government’s decision to dam it, is a visual feast. It is a slow-paced film, but quite engaging. We follow the lives of two young villagers as they are sent to work on a luxury cruise ship. Although you see the negative impact of modernization on what was once a beautiful land, you are also presented with the perspective of progress and necessity. Farmers need to send their kids off to the city to work for money, and some of this work contributes to the destruction of their land. Many of the scenes are poignant, such as one in particular when the camera shows a family’s house being overtaken by rising waters. A must-see!
Check the BPL catalog for this title: Up The Yangtze
GREAT LINES:
Now, get this, you double-crossing chimpanzee: There ain’t going to be any interview and there ain’t going to be any story. And that certified check of yours is leaving with me in twenty minutes. I wouldn’t cover the burning of Rome for you if they were just lighting it up. If I ever lay my two eyes on you again, I’m gonna walk right up to you and hammer on that monkeyed skull of yours ’til it rings like a Chinese gong!
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Reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) plans to quit the newspaper business, get married, and settle down to a quiet life. However she doesn’t count on stumbling upon what could be the biggest story of her career when a convict on death row escapes from custody. She also underestimates the tenacity of her boss and ex-husband, Walter Burns (Cary Grant), who pulls out all the stops to keep Hildy on the job and away from her husband-to-be. But is it because he still loves her or because she is his star reporter? Based on a play by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur, director Howard Hawks engineers some of the funniest, fastest dialogue ever caught on film. His Girl Friday mixes political satire with screwball comedy to create a classic battle of the sexes.
Check the BPL catalog for this title: His Girl Friday
GREAT LINE:
“Death be not proud.”
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This is one of the most moving and sad films I’ve ever watched. Warning: it is a major tearjerker. It portrays a woman dying of stage IV ovarian cancer, played by the ever-talented Emma Thompson. In her final days she recalls her days as a professor of English literature and reflects upon her life choices and attitudes. It is a film about confronting death, compassion, and kindness versus intellectualism. Based on a Margaret Edson play and directed by Mike Nichols, this film is dialogue-rich. Totally worth watching, but be prepared for some very heavy stuff.
Check the BPL catalog for this title: Wit
GREAT LINES:
We’re the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War’s a spiritual war… our Great Depression is our lives. We’ve all been raised on television to believe that one day we’d all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won’t. And we’re slowly learning that fact.
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Fight Club is at once an analysis of modern consumer culture and support groups. The plot of the movie revolves around the birth of underground boxing as a new support group that is not about people coming to grips with dying from disease, but supports each other in their quest to separate themselves from that culture, find new meaning and purpose, and ultimately, evolve society from the bottom up. The chemistry of Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and Helena Bonham-Carter works really well, and watching this movie several times has inspired me to check out the novel from the library!
Check the BPL catalog for this title: Fight Club
OPENING LINE:
The final dying sounds of their dress rehearsal left the Laurel Players with nothing to do but stand there, silent and helpless, blinking out over the footlights of an empty auditorium.
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Revolutionary Road is the story hidden behind the 1950′s American dream. Frank and April Wheeler struggle with reality which clashes in the face of their imagined-perfect, suburban life. In a way, this story echos what all relationships must go through, and the characters show us how dangerous their (and our own) crises can be. This is good tragedy that gives the reader or viewer a warning about decisions they make about their personal lives and has a great message about American culture in general! The book was adapted into a screenplay by Justin Haythe and the resulting movie was directed by Sam Mendes and stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. It was thoroughly enjoyable and very faithful to the spirit of the book. Though, the book gives the reader more detail into Frank’s mind and develops the secondary characters more fully. Because of that I found it particularly enjoyable to read the book after watching the movie first.
Check the BPL catalog for this title: Revolutionary Road
GREAT LINES:
He Zhiwu, Cop 223: If memories could be canned, would they also have expiry dates?
If so, I hope they last for centuries.
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Director Wong made a strong international impression with his loosely linked tales of two cops looking for love in Hong Kong. The first cop, played by Takeshi Kaneshiro, pines for the woman who recently dumped him, setting himself a deadline to find a new love that he measures by the expiration date on cans of pineapple. He is attracted to a mysterious woman in a blond wig who seems to be involved in drug dealing. But just as we think we will follow this couple, another take the stage. A second cop (Tony Leung) eats at the same lunchstand as Kaneshiro every day, called the Chungking Express. There he meets a waitress named Faye (the amazing Faye Wong), who longs to be part of his life. So much so that when the opportunity arises she steals his keys and starts sneaking into his apartment; cleaning and even redecorating. As astoundingly inattentive as the cop is not to notice this invasion, we know Faye will eventually get caught. The director’s intensely kinetic style, which quick cuts, bursts of color, and occasional sudden jumps, might be unsettling to those who want a traditional linear story. Not so much about story as about emotions, mood, and character, Chungking Express nevertheless manages to give vigilant viewers a stylishly enjoyable ride, giving up more of its secrets with each viewing.
Check the BPL catalog for this title: Chungking Express
TAG LINE:
The German Democratic Republic lives on — in 79 square meters!
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Alex Kerner was arrested protesting against the GDR in East Germany in 1989. The shock sends his mother into a coma and she remains comatose through the fall of the regime and Berlin’s opening up to the west. When she wakes in 1990, her doctors warn that she should be protected from any further shock. But that’s a little tricky since everything she knows about her beloved country has changed. Wanting her to recuperate in a familiar setting, Alex sets about to recreate the communist GDR in their tiny apartment. Part comedy, part family drama and part political commentary, Goodbye Lenin is a funny and touching film about the difficulty of standing still in a world that is constantly changing.
Check the BPL Catalog for this title: Good Bye Lenin!