The Valley Film Society
of
Saginaw Valley State University
2012-13 Season
September 7
Oldboy (South Korea, 2003; Park, 120 min.)
Average man is imprisoned in a hotel room for fifteen years, then released. He has only five days to find his captor and exact revenge. Won grand prize at Cannes film festival. (This film is being remade in USA now.)
September 21
Burnt by the Sun (Russia/France, 1994; Mikhalkov, 135 min.)
In 1936 aging hero of the Revolution has eyes that are closed to Stalin’s contemporary tyranny. But that is about to change. Provocative, moving meditation on life in Stalinist Russia. Won an Academy Award.
October 5
Shame (Sweden, 1968; Bergman, 103 min.)
One of Ingmar Bergman’s best films, this powerful drama examines how married concert violinists are morally challenged by a civil war that rages across their island. Powerfully acted.
October 19
Autumn Spring (Czech, 2001; Michálek, 100 min.)
Terminal prankster refuses grow up and take certain responsibilities, despite his wife’s constant badgering to do so. Even faced with his own looming death, his wit won’t quit as he vows to live until he dies.
November 2
if … (UK, 1968; Anderson, 111 min.)
Magnificent, surrealistic study of students at a British boarding school who plot a revolution–or do they? Maltin gives it ****.
November 16
My Afternoons with Marguerite (France, 2010; Becker, 82 min.)
Illiterate worker (Depardieu) has tea daily with a well-educated woman (played by 95-year old actress!). Because of her caring he changes into an understanding & aware man–a different man altogether.
Hiroshima, Mon Amour (France/Japan, 1959; Resnais, 91 min.)
French film actress & Japanese architect, each with troubled past, have a brief affair in postwar Hiroshima. A complex study. Maltin gives it ***½.
January 18
Goya’s Ghosts (USA/Spain, 2007; Forman, 113 min.)
The painter Goya becomes involved with the Spanish Inquisition when his model is arrested by the church for heresy. She disappears for years in a prison cell, gives birth to a daughter, is eventually freed. Stars Bardem, Portman?
February 1
Chungking Express (Hong Kong, 1994; Kar-Wai, 103 min.)
Two tales of love-sickness & obsession in the modern world involving young Hong Kong policemen, both tales beginning in a fast food restaurant. Light, funny, offbeat.
February 15
A Private Function (UK, 1985; Mowbray, 93 min.)
Droll British comedy set in post WW2 Britain, where food is still rationed. A contraband pig is the center of attention. Some local bigwigs want to slaughter it for a banquet, but someone has stolen it.
March 22
Tea With Mussolini (Italy/UK, 1995; Zeffirelli, 117 min.)
A semi-orphaned illegitimate Italian boy is raised by an Englishwoman in 1930s Florence; she is part of the English expatriate circle, who are later interned during WW2, along with their American woman friend.
April 5
The Sea Is Watching (Japan, 2002; Kumai, 109 min.)
Set in a seaside brothel in 19th century Japan, this drama follows the lives and loves of two prostitutes by their interactions with several customers.
April 12
Don Giovanni (Italy/France/Germany, 1979; Losey, 176 min.)
Mozart’s greatest opera filmed not in opera house, but in one of Palladio’s mansions on Venice’s mainland possessions. Raimondi, McCurdy, Moser, Te Kenawa are among the singers. Visually & musically a treat.
April 26
The Housemaid (South Korea, 2010; Im, 106 min.)
Young woman becomes housekeeper in home of wealthy family, is seduced by the master of the house, becomes pregnant. Is forced into abortion by wife’s mother, but this angers the master. Then bad things happen.
May 3
Winter’s Bone (2010; Granik, 100 min.)
An unflinching Ozark mountain girl hacks through dangerous social terrain as she hunts down her drug-dealing father while trying to keep her family intact.
May 17
The General (Ireland, 1998; Boorman, 124 min.)
Working-class Dublin criminal leader evades capture for years, matching wits with a tenacious policeman. Our leader masterminds robberies large & small, commands the loyalties of his troops, and romances two women.
The General (1927; Buster Keaton, 75 min.)
One of Keaton’s best films, depicting in comedy a true Civil War story of stolen train. Union spies capture an engineer’s beloved train, which has his girlfriend as a passenger, and he must rescue both her and the train.
May 31
Film selection meeting.
The purpose of this meeting is to allow the membership to nominate films for the next season. Anyone who joins the VFS for next season may nominate films either at this meeting or by mail. To be held in Curtiss 100, where our screenings are held.
