"Kaurismaki is ... a humanist bearing witness to the human parade. To be part of that parade is to be touched by his perspective, and to have your world altered -- magically, fleetingly, memorably." * * * ½ -- Rick Groen

"A glorious experience to witness.... Apart from anything else, this is one of the best-sustained ideas I have ever seen on the screen." * * * * -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

"It's not just an uplifting ending, but a transcendent one, inspired and inspiring, and we realize how special this movie really is. So many films by and about teenagers are mired in vulgarity and stupidity; this one, like its heroine, dares to dream." * * * * -- Roger Ebert

"Be on the lookout for this one. Whale Rider is a crowd-pleaser in the best sense of the word: It wins you over without cheating." * * * ½ -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

A short film based on poem of the same name by the talented Canadian poet Al Purdy. A pub brawl. Want to knock them out? Do it with words. Nice words. Then punch hard and swallow. Featuring Tragically Hip front man Gordon Downie as the poet. Strong language.

Wednesday, November 5, 2 pm and 7:30 pm
Winged Migration (G)

(France/Germany/Italy/Spain/Switzerland, 2002)

  This documentary by Jacques Perrin used five crews of more than 450 people, including 17 pilots and 14 cinematographers, to follow a variety of bird migrations over 40 countries and all seven continents. The film covers landscapes that range from the Eiffel Tower and Monument Valley to the remote reaches of the Arctic and the Amazon. In addition to planes, gliders, helicopters, and balloons, numerous innovative techniques and ingeniously designed cameras were utilized to allow the filmmakers to fly alongside, above, below and in front of their subjects. The result is a film of staggering beauty that opens one's eyes to the ineffable wonders of the natural world.

"The cameras capture nature in all of its grandeur (mighty glaciers collapsing into the seas, avalanches, and fierce storms), and the birds in all of their magnificence, whether it a single crane fishing for food or flocks of thousands rising up from the land and filling the sky ... this is a must-see." * * * -- James Berardinelli

  Some lessons can only be learned by heart. A violin prodigy and his father travel to modern-day Beijing, where the father seeks the means to his son's success while the son struggles to accept the path laid before him. From director Chen Kiage (The Emperor and the Assassin).

"When it's hitting all its notes, Together makes beautiful music -- the complex two-part harmony of the new China and a newer one, of a peasant father rooted in the old ways and a citified son uncertain of what comes next." -- Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

Wednesday, December 3, 2 pm and 7:30 pm
Lost in Translation (PG)

(USA/Japan, 2002; in English with some Japanese and German)

WINNER OF 3 GOLDEN GLOBES:
  BEST ACTOR, BILL MURRAY
  BEST SCREENPLAY, SOFIA COPPOLA
  and BEST MOTION PICTURE - COMEDY/MUSICAL

ACADEMY AWARD NOMINEE:
  BEST ACTOR, BILL MURRAY
  BEST DIRECTOR, SOFIA COPPOLA
  BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
  and BEST PICTURE

  Director Sofia Coppolla (The Virgin Suicides) has charmed audiences with her second feature film, which she also wrote, inspired by her own experiences visiting Tokyo. Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World) portrays Charlotte, a recent philosophy graduate, visiting Tokyo with her rock music photographer husband, John (Giovanni Ribisi, Boiler Room). Also staying at the same hotel is Bob Harris (Bill Murray, Rushmore), a middle-aged Hollywood actor filming commercials in Japan. Both characters are restless and disconnected from Tokyo culture, unable to speak Japanese and also unable to connect with their spouses. The result is an offbeat romance that is very much about what goes unsaid.

"An often startling visual tour ... Bob and Charlotte's relationship is not the typical stuff of movie romances. Instead, it's bound up with all sorts of other feelings -- at times, Bob's interest in Charlotte is more paternal than carnal. Fraught with confusion and sadness, their connection feels real.... [Johansson's] sharp performance here confirms that she is the very coolest of 18-year-old movie stars."   * * * * -- Jason Anderson, eye WEEKLY

"These are two wonderful performances. Bill Murray has never been better. He doesn't play 'Bill Murray' or any other conventional idea of a movie star, but invents Bob Harris from the inside out, as a man both happy and sad with his life....I loved this movie. I loved the way Coppola and her actors negotiated the hazards of romance and comedy, taking what little they needed and depending for the rest on the truth of the characters. I loved the way Bob and Charlotte didn't solve their problems, but felt a little better anyway. I loved the moment near the end when Bob runs after Charlotte and says something in her ear, and we're not allowed to hear it."   * * * * -- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

  Director Scott Smith brings Barbara Gowdy's novel to life in the story of three sisters coping with their catatonic mother (Miranda Richardson) and dictatorial father (Callum Keith Rennie). Ginger Snaps' Katharine Isabelle portrays Lou, the most rebellious of the three angels, plus Mark McKinney in a scene-stealing role that's both extremely disturbing and utterly hilarious.

"This treat ... will be accused of being a typically Canadian film: it's dark, weird and unsettling. But it's also alive with production designer Rob Gray's skewed rendering of tacky, chartreuse-laden late '60s decor, and the stunning cinematography of Greg Middleton, who veers between bleak claustrophobic greys and surreal colours to eye-popping effect." * * * * * -- Joel McConvey, eye WEEKLY

  Denys Arcand's follow-up to his international art-house hit, The Decline of the American Empire, features one of the first film's protagonists Rémy (Rémy Girard) -- a skirt-chasing history professor -- facing death. His ex-wife (Dorothée Berryman) persuades his estranged son Sébastien (Stéphane Rousseau) to return to Montreal and reconcile with his dying father. For his bedside expedition, Sébastien recruits allies including Rémy's old friends and the unreliable newcomer Nathalie (Marie-Josée Croze, Maelström), an addict who furnishes heroin to ease his father's suffering. Rémy enjoys one last rowdy, raunchy party while taking jabs at health care, Catholicism, and the terrors of history.

"Intellectually satisfying. In the end, our tears are because we identify with these characters, not because the script has inelegantly manipulated our emotions." * * * 1/2 -- James Berardinelli

"A feast of smart, sexy, glorious talk. The Oscar for best foreign film belongs right here." * * * 1/2 -- Peter Travers, Rolling Stone