As we leave behind the first decade of 21st-century cinema, South America, with its many diverse countries and cultures, has emerged as a leader in artistic achievement in film. During January and February, you’ll be able to see the first area theatrical screenings of four highly acclaimed recent releases from the continent.
Argentina has produced the largest number of highly regarded features, and the two most celebrated Argentine filmmakers, Lucrecia Martel and Lisandro Alonso are represented here by their most recent work, Alonso’s enigmatically enthralling Liverpool (screening January 15) and Martel’s equally mysterious and poetic The Headless Woman (January 22).
The new century has seen the first significant Uruguayan productions, the pinnacle of which just might be Adrián Biniez’s funny and oddly romantic Gigante (February 12). Brazilian cinema enjoyed the unprecedented success of City of God, and former documentary filmmaker José Padilha delivered a response of sorts to that gangland saga with his own film Elite Squad (February 19), which deals with the problems that law enforcement faces in fighting the drug lords in Rio’s slums.
But these South American discoveries aren’t the only new films available exclusively to Dryden audiences in the first two months of 2010. The New Year begins with lots of laughs when we bring you the hilarious blaxploitation parody Black Dynamite (January 2 & 3). The Beaches of Agnès (January 8 & 10) is the most touching essay film so far from Agnès Varda, godmother of the French New Wave. Big Fan (January 9 & 10), the feature film directorial debut of The Wrestler screenwriter Robert Siegel, stars comedian Patton Oswalt in a very funny and surprising character study of an American loser. Joe Berlinger, the award-winning documentarian who brought you Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, is back with Crude (January 16), the inspiring story of the poor Ecuadoran Amazonians who brought suit against the goliath Chevron Oil. A must for music lovers, They Came to Play (January 23 & 24) brings us all the suspense and lovely sounds from the fifth Van Cliburn Amateur Piano Competition. We Live in Public (February 6 & 7), winner of the Grand Jury Prize for American Documentaries at the Sundance Film Festival, tells the compelling and often unsettling story of Josh Harris, the greatest Internet pioneer you’ve never heard of. And The Missing Person (February 20) brings the classic film noir into a post 9/11 world with the tale of a private detective (Michael Shannon) who unexpectedly learns something about himself when he’s asked to follow a man and child from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Robert Siegel, who also co-founded The Onion, will appear in person to present Big Fan on January 9 only; and Oscar®-nominated character actor Michael Shannon will be on hand for our screening of The Missing Person on February 20.
