Kingsbridge Kino

Previous Films

Season:  2011

Featured image for “Bombón: El Perro”

Bombón: El Perro

Director : Carlos Sorin

Country : Argentina

Release Date : 2004

Duration : 97 mins

Language : Spanish

Subtitles : Yes

With bills to pay and a daughter to support, Juan Villegas is desperately in need of a job.  Unfortunately, at age 52, and without any marketable skills, gainful employment seems unlikely.  His luck changes when he helps a woman repair her car and she repays his kindness by giving him a pure-bred puppy.  Convinced of his future in the competitive dog circuit, Villegas seeks out the help of dog trainer Walter Donado and the two take their fortunes on the road.

“Sorin takes us off the beaten track, out of the cosmopolitan cities and into the rough, rural heart of Patagonia, lending authenticity to the fictional plot with his use of real locations and a non-professional cast.”  (Empire Magazine)

Featured image for “Goodbye, Lenin!”

Goodbye, Lenin!

Director : Wolfgang Becker

Country : Germany

Release Date : 2003

Duration : 121 mins

Language : German

Subtitles : Yes

In October 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Alex Kerner (Daniel Brühl) is living with his mother, Christiane (Kathrin Sass), and sister, Ariane (Maria Simon).  But when the mother, a loyal party member, sees Alex participating in an anti-communist rally, she falls into a coma and misses the revolution.  After she wakes, doctors say any jarring event could make her have a heart attack, meaning the family must go to great lengths to pretend communism still reigns in Berlin.

“Deliciously offbeat comedy, as wildly inventive as anything Billy Wilder ever conceived.”  (Ruthe Stein – San Francisco Chronicle)

Featured image for “Il Gattopardo  (The Leopard)”

Il Gattopardo (The Leopard)

Director : Luchino Visconti

Country : Italy

Release Date : 1963

Duration : 187 mins

Language : Italian

Subtitles : Yes

WINNER : PALME D’OR AT 1963 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Arguably Luchino Visconti’s best film and certainly the most personal of his historical epics, The Leopard chronicles the fortunes of Prince Fabrizio Salina and his family during the unification of Italy in the 1860s.  Based on the acclaimed novel by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, the picture opens as Salina (Burt Lancaster) learns that Garibaldi’s troops have embarked in Sicily.  While the Prince sees the event as an obvious threat to his current social status, his opportunistic nephew Tancredi (Alain Delon) becomes an officer in Garibaldi’s army and returns home a war hero and begins courting the beautiful Angelica (Claudia Cardinale).

“Burt Lancaster is magnificent in the first of his patriarchal roles, and the rest of the cast, especially Delon and Cardinale, become almost perfect incarnations of the novel’s characters.”  (Rotten Tomatoes website)

Featured image for “The Illusionist”

The Illusionist

Director : Sylvain Chomet

Country : France

Release Date : 2010

Duration : 79 mins

Language : French, Gaelic and English

Subtitles : Yes

Magic tricks can’t compete with rock ‘n’ roll in the 1950s, so a French illusionist finds himself touring Scotland’s shabby pubs and run-down restaurants.  But things brighten for him when he meets Alice, a girl who believes his powers are real.  Together they travel to Edinburgh for a performance, but he doesn’t have the heart to reveal that his feats are merely tricks, and risks financial ruin by giving her gifts supplied by his “magic.”  Superb animated feature based on an unproduced script by Jacques Tati.

“An engrossing love letter to fans of adult animation, ‘The Illusionist’ offers a fine antidote to garish mainstream fare.”  (Rotten Tomatoes website)

Featured image for “Run Lola Run  (Lola Rennt)”

Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt)

Director : Tom Tykwer

Country : Germany

Release Date : 1998

Duration : 81 mins

Language : German

Subtitles : Yes

In this visually and conceptually impressive film, two-bit Berlin criminal Manni (Moritz Bleibtreu) delivers some smuggled loot for his boss, Ronnie (Heino Ferch), but accidentally leaves the 100,000 Deutschmark payment in a subway car.  Given twenty minutes to come up with the money, he calls his girlfriend, Lola (Franka Potente), who sprints through the streets of the city to try to beg the money out of her bank manager father (Herbert Knaup) and get to Manni before he does something desperate.

“Not only does Lola run, she takes this hyperkinetic pop culture firecracker of a film with her.”  (Kenneth Turan – Los Angeles Times)

Featured image for “Of Gods and Men”

Of Gods and Men

Director : Xavier Beauvois

Country : France

Release Date : 2010

Duration : 120 mins

Language : French and Arabic

Subtitles : Yes

WINNER : GRAND PRIX AT 2010 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

An order of Trappist monks whose members include Christian (Lambert Wilson) and Luc (Michael Lonsdale) live among the Muslim population in a quiet corner of Algeria.  As the country is plunged into civil war in the mid-1990s, the men of God must decide whether to stay among the impoverished residents who have been their neighbours, or flee the encroaching fundamentalist terrorists.  The situation that unfolds, based on actual events, has tragic consequences.

“Patient and restrained, ‘Of Gods and Men’ asks deep, profound questions that will linger in the audience’s mind long after the movie.”  (Rotten Tomatoes website)

Featured image for “A Serious Man”

A Serious Man

Director : Joel and Ethan Coen

Country : USA

Release Date : 2009

Duration : 101 mins

Language : English

Subtitles : No

Physics professor Larry Gopnik can’t believe his life.  His wife is leaving him for his best friend.  His unemployed brother won’t move off the couch.  Someone is threatening his career.  His kids are a mystery and his neighbour is tormenting him by sunbathing nude.  Struggling to make sense of it all, Larry consults three different rabbis and their answers lead him on a twisted journey of faith, family and mortality.

“A sincerely sympathetic portrait of an American family man in crisis – even as it insults its characters and derides their culture.”  (Michael Atkinson – Sight and Sound)

Featured image for “Les Parapluies de Cherbourg”

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg

Director : Jacques Demy

Country : France

Release Date : 1964

Duration : 91 mins

Language : French song

Subtitles : Yes

WINNER : GRAND PRIX AT 1964 CANNES FILM FESTIVAL

Geneviève (Catherine Deneuve), a beautiful young Frenchwoman who works at a small-town boutique selling umbrellas, falls for dashing mechanic Guy (Nino Castelnuovo).  Their brief romance is interrupted when Guy is drafted to serve in the Algerian War.  Though pregnant by Guy, Geneviève marries an older businessman, Roland (Marc Michel), and begins to move on with her life. Throughout the film, all the characters’ dialogue is conveyed through song.  Music by Michel Legrand.

“Jacques Demy elevates the basic drama of everyday life into a soaring opera full of bittersweet passion and playful charm, featuring a timeless performance from Catherine Deneuve.”  (Rotten Tomatoes website)