Michael Caine teamed with hard-hitting action director Don Siegel (Dirty Harry, Charley Varrick) for this underrated spy thriller. Caine plays a British intelligence agent whose son is kidnapped and held for a ransom of diamonds. Faced with an ineffectual chief (Donald Pleasence), our hero is…[read more]

Harmony Korine’s beautiful second feature, shot on digital video according to the rules of the Danish Dogme movement, is an intimate portrayal of the schizophrenic Julien (Trainspotting’s Ewen Bremner) and the chaos in his daily life. Chloe Sevigny plays Julien’s pregnant sister, and German director…[read more]

The late historian and activist Howard Zinn is our host for this inspiring and moving film that takes its own inspiration from Zinn’s celebrated book, A People’s History of the United States. In songs, letters, essays, poems, speeches, and manifestos, we hear the actual words of rebels, dissenters, and…[read more]

Gina Lollobrigida stars as Marietta, a gorgeous housekeeper in a small Mediterranean coastal town. Lusted after by many men, including the son of a local crime boss (Yves Montand), Marietta desires only the poor Enrico (Marcello Mastroianni). Determined to secure the dowry that will enable her to marry Enrico, Marietta…[read more]

Orson Welles’s ornately detailed adaptation of Kafka’s novel about the absurdity of modern justice stars Anthony Perkins as a man who must prove his innocence to an indifferent, labrynthine bureaucracy. The Trial has often been interpreted as the great director’s take on his own experience working within…[read more]

The brilliant and innovative second feature from the acclaimed Kurdish-Iranian director Bahman Ghobadi is a semi-comic road movie that follows a family of squabbling musicians in their absurd journey from Iran to Iraq in search of the patriarch’s first wife. In a deceptively casual manner, Ghobadi employs…[read more]

Inspired by writer Rita Mae Brown, a British working class housewife (Julie Walters, in her first movie) decides to further her education and finds an unlikely mentor and friend in alcoholic literature professor Frank Bryant (Michael Caine). Willy Russell adapted his own play about intellectual curiosity into this beautifully acted…[read more]

In Paris, a Michael Jackson impersonator (Diego Luna) meets and falls in love with a Marilyn Monroe impersonator (Samantha Morton), who is married to a Charlie Chaplin impersonator (Denis Lavant). The story follows this bizarre love triangle to a Scottish castle and retreat for faux celebrities, including the Pope, Queen…[read more]

Araya, a peninsula in northeastern Venezuela, has been mined for its salt for more than 500 years. This gorgeously photographed poem of a movie captures the life and backbreaking work of the Arayan salineros and fishermen in breathtaking images. Although it shared the International Critics Prize at the Cannes…[read more]

This creation from provocateur filmmaker Korine follows a group of anarchic individuals wearing creepy old-age masks who commit random acts of vandalism and simulate sexual intercourse with trash cans and dumpsters. Decidedly not for every taste, Korine’s imagery is undeniably potent: this is what filmmaking after…[read more]

The first screen adaptation of J.M. Barrie’s timeless fantasy was a favorite childhood movie of James Card, founder of the Eastman House Motion Picture Department. This screening will be preceded by an introduction from Caroline Frick Page, Curator of Motion Pictures, who will discuss Card’s legacy…[read more]

This creation from provocateur filmmaker Korine follows a group of anarchic individuals wearing creepy old-age masks who commit random acts of vandalism and simulate sexual intercourse with trash cans and dumpsters. Decidedly not for every taste, Korine’s imagery is undeniably potent: this is what filmmaking after…[read more]

At the Turkish-Iraqi border in the days before the 2003 American invasion, a 13-year-old Kurd convinces his village elders to install a satellite dish to pick up news of the coming conflict. Meanwhile, he pursues a romance with a young girl whose brother has lost both arms to a land mine. Director Bahman Ghobadi once…[read more]

During WWII, a British commander (Michael Caine) coaches a group of Allied POWs for a soccer match with German soldiers, while the plan for their escape during the game is led by an American (Sylvester Stallone). Director John Huston’s sports-and-war romp also features Max Von Sydow as a German commander…[read more]

Adapted from Herman Hesse’s canonical piece of philosophical literature, Conrad Rooks’ film likewise follows a young member of the Indian elite as he embarks on an ascetic journey to achieve spiritual alignment. Featuring gorgeous cinematography by Bergman staple Sven Nykvist using predominantly natural light…[read more]

Having tackled subjects ranging from inner-city high schools to Madison Square Garden, renowned documentarian Frederick Wiseman shifts his gaze to the Paris Opera Ballet. Blending style and substance, the dancers’ rigorous training closely matches the precision and dexterity of the film’s own investigation…[read more]

The wildly creative minds of Dryden Theatre staffers Jon Moses and Albert Birney are given free rein for their feature film debut – an allegorical musical fantasy filmed largely on expressionistic hand-made sets and Rochester locations. The story follows the surreal odyssey…[read more]

The familiar narrative of independent musicians vying for breakthrough success is revisited (and remolded) in this Iranian film, where it isn’t the parents of Negar Shaghaghi and Ashkan Koshanejad who complain that the music is too loud; it’s the government. And then there’s the band’s persistent difficulty of nabbing visas to…[read more]

Shortly after visiting her shrink (Michael Caine), a frustrated housewife (the very sexy Angie Dickinson) impulsively sleeps with a stranger, and is soon after brutally murdered. A prostitute (director DePalma’s then-wife Nancy Allen) who witnesses the crime faces her own peril when she teams up with the…[read more]

The great Michel Piccoli stars as an aging actor who is learning to cope with solitude after an auto accident has claimed the lives of his wife, daughter, and son-in-law. For his fourth film after he turned 90, director Manoel de Oliveira focuses on the details as the hero enjoys such everyday rituals as playing with his…[read more]