by Phil Mann
You’ve got to be excited about this week.
THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL is the kind of movie that ends with spontaneous applause from the
audience. How could they not? Take an ensemble cast of great older British
actors – Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Nighy – and mix in the
young Indian star of Slumdog Millionaire (Dev
Patel). The Brits all are ready for a retirement village, but why go to Florida
when India is cheaper, and has more elephants? With that premise, director John
Madden (Shakespeare in Love) and
screenwriter Ol Parker, have delivered
“a charming, funny and heartwarming movie…, a smoothly crafted entertainment
that makes good use of seven superb veterans.” (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times)
Each has a story, keeping the action lively as we move back
and forth, seeing how their differing attitudes and aspirations guide their
adjustments to a world unlike any they have ever known, at an age when settled
comfort is more the goal than exotic adventure. “The movie’s charms lie in its
frank and amusing assessment of age — the limits often reside solely in your
head — and in its heartening message that life isn’t over just because you’ve
hit 65. As for the Marigold Hotel, well, it’s not the Delano. But overall it’s
a fine spot to spend a couple of hours.” (Connie Ogle, Miami Herald)
The world of BULLY is one many of us are familiar
with, if we can remember days in the schoolyard or school bus. Bullying is
nothing new. Our local author Judy Blume’s book Blubber took on the problem in 1974. Ijime has long been recognized as a major social problem in Japan,
where suicides are not uncommon. But recent events in the United States,
including several deaths, have brought it to the fore. There’s even a video
game titled “Bully” from the makers of Grand Theft Auto.
Lee Hirsch’s in-your-face documentary is no game. He follows
five families in communities scattered around the country, showing not only
examples of bullying but also the inadequate responses of administrators who
are reluctant to acknowledge the problem. “Bully
forces you to confront not the cruelty of specific children — who have their
own problems, and their good sides as well — but rather the extent to which
that cruelty is embedded in our schools and therefore in our society as a
whole.” (A.O. Scott, New York Times) It is “a documentary as vivid as any horror film, as heartbreaking
as any Oscar-worthy drama.” (Richard Corliss, Time Magazine)
For all
shows of Bully, there’s a special
reduced price of $3 for students and teachers (ID required), thanks to a
generous grant from former School Superintendent John Padget. The current Superintendent
Jesus Jara will introduce the 6:15PM screening on Friday evening.
An antidote
to the sad lives of these victim kids is the New Zealand film BOY, set
in an impoverished Maori village. The kids here don’t have much, but they have
hopes and dreams. For eleven-year-old Boy, the title character, the focus is on
his absent father, who returns during the course of the movie. It is “a
comedy with a serious core. It's another case of a son having clung to an
idealized notion of his father and, in a stunning climax and an exquisite coda,
coming of age as he comes to grips with wounding truths.” (Joe Morgenstern,
Wall St. Journal)
Monday night’s Mystery Classic is Hitchcock’s STRANGERS
ON A TRAIN, starring Farley Granger, Robert Walker and Ruth Roman. It’s
a convoluted twist of a murder mystery that will surprise you at every turn.
Full info and schedules at TropicCinema.com or TCKW.info
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