CABARET 1972
Sex, high society, creeping fascism: these are a few of the themes explored in the 1972 Oscar-winning musical Cabaret. Set in Weimar-era Berlin, Cabaret depicts the adventures of nightclub singer Sally Bowles (played by Liza Minelli) and her two paramours, the English college student Brian and the German aristocrat Max. As their love triangle blossoms—and then crumbles—the Nazi Party strengthens its grip on power. (Nitehawk)
Friday, January 3
Sunday, January 5
Director: Bob Fosse
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Starring: Liza Minelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem, Joel Grey​​
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Runtime: 124 min., Germany/USA
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Language: English
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SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK 2008
Philip Seymour Hoffman stars as Caden Cotard, a New York theater director left to his own devices when his marriage falls apart. While he strives to construct an increasingly complex artificial city set inside of a Manhattan warehouse, even having a daughter with hired actress Claire (Michelle Williams), his health and relationships continue to deteriorate in the real world. By the time the curtains close on his magnum opus, Caden’s reality is indistinguishable from the calamitous fantasy he’s trapped himself in.
Saturday, January 4
Sunday, January 5
Director: Charlie Kaufman
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Starring: Philip Seymour Hoffman, Michelle Williams, Samantha Morton​​
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Runtime: 124 min., USA
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Language: English
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KILL BILL, VOL. 1 2003
A former assassin, known simply as The Bride (Uma Thurman), wakes from a coma four years after her jealous ex-lover Bill (David Carradine) attempts to murder her on her wedding day. Fueled by an insatiable desire for revenge, she vows to get even with every person who contributed to the loss of her unborn child, her entire wedding party, and four years of her life. After devising a hit list, The Bride sets off on her quest, enduring unspeakable injury and unscrupulous enemies.
Friday, January 17
Saturday, January 18
Director: Quentin Tarantino
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Starring: Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Daryl Hannah​​
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Runtime: 111 min., USA
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Language: English
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Director: Sofia Coppola
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Starring: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Akika Takeshita ​​
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Runtime: 102 min., Japan/USA
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Language: English
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LOST IN TRANSLATION 2003
The sleeper arthouse hit of the early 2000s, Coppola’s sophomore feature, about the not-quite-romance between two Americans abroad—a washed-up, middle-aged actor (Bill Murray) and an unhappily married recent college graduate (Scarlett Johansson), both stranded at the Park Hyatt Tokyo—conjured up a mood of seductively lush ennui that resonated with young audiences in much the same way shoegaze records had for the previous generation. (Coincidentally, the soundtrack includes original work from My Bloody Valentine frontman Kevin Shields.) Sweetly sad, richly textured, and a showcase for Murray at his most morosely funny, this 21st-century Brief Encounter has been passed around like a precious secret ever since. (Metrograph)
Saturday, January 18
Sunday, January 19
Director: Stanley Kubrick
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Starring: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden​​
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Runtime: 95 min., UK/USA
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Language: English
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DR. STRANGELOVE 1964
OR: HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB
Stanley Kubrick’s painfully funny take on Cold War anxiety is one of the fiercest satires of human folly ever to come out of Hollywood. The matchless shape-shifter Peter Sellers plays three wildly different roles: Royal Air Force Captain Lionel Mandrake, timidly trying to stop a nuclear attack on the USSR ordered by an unbalanced general (Sterling Hayden); the ineffectual and perpetually dumbfounded U.S. President Merkin Muffley, who must deliver the very bad news to the Soviet premier; and the titular Strangelove himself, a wheelchair-bound presidential adviser with a Nazi past. Finding improbable hilarity in nearly every unimaginable scenario, Dr. Strangelove, or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb is a subversive masterpiece that officially announced Kubrick as an unparalleled stylist and pitch-black ironist.