Railroad Square Cinema

The Reluctant Fundamentalist

railroadsquare — Mon, 13 May 2013 21:35:30 +0000

Based on the riveting, best-selling novel, from acclaimed director Mira Nair (MONSOON WEDDING), THE RELUCTANT FUNDAMENTALIST is “a gripping drama that confronts the great cultural divide in people’s thinking created by the tragedy of 9/11”—Deborah Young, Hollywood Reporter. A young Pakistani man is chasing corporate success on Wall Street. He finds himself embroiled in a conflict between his American Dream, a hostage crisis, and the enduring call of his family’s homeland as the film’s story unfolds through a taut, veiled game of wills and of history played out between an apparent Islamic professor and an apparent reporter. But, as the film reminds us, “looks can be deceiving.” Fine performances abound among a cast of great international actors including Riz Ahmed, Liev Shreiber, Kate Hudson, Kiefer Sutherland and Om Puri. R. 128 Min.

Mud

railroadsquare — Mon, 13 May 2013 16:39:13 +0000

“Framed from the point of view of two foolhardy Arkansas teens, 14-year-old Ellis and best friend Neckbone, MUD poses as a mere adolescent adventure tale but explores a rich vein of grown-up concerns, exploring codes of honor, love and family too solid to be shaken by modernizing forces. With trouble brewing at home, Ellis dares his less assertive sidekick to accompany him to an island where rumors tell of a boat stranded high in the trees by the latest flood. One of those symbolic gestures of youthful independence, the trip takes the boys beyond the boundaries sanctioned by Ellis’ parents and Neckbone’s uncle Galen (Michael Shannon)—which would be exciting enough, even without the surprise discovery that an outlaw calling himself Mud (Matthew McConaughey) has made camp in the wrecked ship. Though everything from police roadblocks to menacing bounty hunters suggest that Mud means trouble, the two boys put unwavering trust in his far-fetched stories, with Ellis especially taken with the idea that this redneck Romeo’s past and future crimes are all born out of love for a gal named Juniper (Reese Witherspoon). Sending Ellis back into town with a message for his lady friend, Mud cautions, “You gotta watch yourself,” and those words serve as an unofficial mantra for the savvy young man’s growing self-reliance. With David Wingo’s subtle score easing audiences into the rhythm of the locale, the film patiently witnesses Ellis’ growing disillusionment with adults, even as he makes his clumsy first steps toward becoming one: punching out a senior to defend a high-school girl’s honor, secretly defying his parents to nick food and supplies for Mud, and so forth. One part THE NIGHT OF THE HUNTER, two parts HUCKLEBERRY FINN, MUD may be born of the same rustic sensibility that fueled everyone from Andrew Wyeth to Terrence Malick, but director Jeff Nichols (TAKE SHELTER) expresses this outlook in a decidedly personal way.”—Peter DeBruge, Variety. PG-13. 130 Min.

Renoir

railroadsquare — Sun, 12 May 2013 21:32:35 +0000

““I refuse to paint the world black,” declares Pierre-Auguste Renoir (the great French actor Michel Bouquet) in RENOIR, Gilles Bourdos’s compassionate late-life portrait of this French Impressionist painter, infirm with rheumatoid arthritis. “A painting should be something pleasant and cheerful,” he adds. “There are enough disagreeable things in life. I don’t need to paint more.” It is the summer of 1915 and Renoir, 74, has just lost his beloved wife, Aline. He will die four years later. The great man, now rich and famous, is slavishly attended by a retinue of female servants, several of whom are former artist’s models, at his farm, Les Collettes, at Cagnes-sur-Mer on the Cote d’Azur. World War I rages to the north…. Despite laboring in excruciating pain, which requires his hand to be tied to his paintbrush, Renoir remains obsessed with the way “the velvety texture of a young girl’s skin” absorbs the light. He experiences a surge of vitality when he meets the 15-year-old Andrée Heuschling (Christa Théret), a k a Dedee, a voluptuous, mouthy, high-strung redhead recommended as a model by Henri Matisse….While watching the movie, exquisitely photographed by the Taiwanese cinematographer Mark Ping Bing Lee (IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE), you may surrender to that unabashedly sensual vision, celebrated in every shot of Les Collettes’ gorgeous, seething landscape of windblown trees, grass and streams that reflect what Renoir calls “the fury running through my nerves.”—Stephen Holden, N.Y. Times. In French with English subtitles. R. 111 Min.

I Do

railroadsquare — Sun, 12 May 2013 18:42:27 +0000

A gay Brit living in New York is deprived of his immigration status, and risks losing his family and life in the U.S. He marries his lesbian best friend to remain in the country and stay with his family, but things get complicated when he meets the love of his life and is forced to …more >

One Track Heart: The Story of Krishna Das

railroadsquare — Sat, 11 May 2013 21:37:12 +0000

Here’s an inspiring new film about Krishna Das, the most popular western singer of Indian devotional music in the world. With a remarkably soulful voice that touches the deepest chord in the most casual listener, Krishna Das has taken the call-and-response chanting, known as Kirtan, out of yoga centers and into concert halls. Krishna Das enjoys status as a worldwide icon and best-selling artist, with over 300,000 records sold and a 2013 Grammy Nomination. Born in the US in 1947, Jeffrey Kagel walked away from the American dream of rock’n’roll stardom in 1970, turning down the chance to be the lead singer for Blue Oyster Cult. Instead, he sold all his possessions and moved to the foothills of the Himalayas in search of happiness and a little-known saint named Neem Karoli Baba. ONE TRACK HEART: THE STORY OF KRISHNA DAS follows Mr. Kagel’s journey to India and back, witnessing his struggles with depression and drug abuse, to his eventual emergence as Krishna Das, world-renowned spiritual teacher and chant master. Featuring interviews with Ram Dass, Rick Rubin, Sharon Salzberg, Daniel Goleman, as well as an enchanting musical score by J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr) and Devadas, this is the inspiring story of how one man’s heart-expanding journey continues to transform countless lives. Unrated. 72 Min.

Color Transformation Movie! A Family Workshop

Shannon Haines — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:57:15 +0000

Saturday, June 29, 9:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (drop in anytime throughout the morning!)
Instructor: Huey (www.filmsbyhuey.com)
Location: Common Street Arts, 16 Common St., Downtown Waterville
FREE drop in workshop; All ages are welcome!

Adults and children of all ages will take part in creating a color transformation animated movie. Participants will be given 5 copies of the same image, such as a t-shirt or a window frame. They will make the image come alive by coloring each copy however they fancy – from solid colors to inventive shapes and then put their image in place to be filmed. All of the images created throughout the morning will be filmed right before your eyes and played back to participants can see how their images become magic and add to this community made movie!

Clay Animation Workshop

Shannon Haines — Fri, 10 May 2013 18:53:51 +0000

Saturday, June 29, 1:00-4:00 p.m.
Instructor: Huey (www.filmsbyhuey.com)
Location: Common Street Arts, 16 Common St., Downtown Waterville
Registration fee: $30
For ages 9-14; class size is limited to 15 participants

The Maine Film Center is proud to offer a 3-hour workshop in which students will learn the art of clay animation as they create their own short animated scenes. After an introduction on how to create a clay animated character, participants will make their own character based on a theme selected for the day. Filming will take place on a simple set and the animators will move and film their characters, making them come alive on screen! Participants will be able to take home their clay character and the animated scenes will be available for viewing online as well as in the Common Street Arts studio during the Maine International Film Festival.

To register, email shannon@mainefilmcenter.org.

To The Wonder

railroadsquare — Thu, 09 May 2013 21:30:39 +0000

“…TO THE WONDER is (MIFF Midlife Achievement Award Winner) Terrence Malick’s sixth film in a 40-year career that began with BADLANDS and reached an elysian peak of sorts in 2011 with THE TREE OF LIFE. Malick movies often stoke reactions of awe and “Huh?” His latest pushes cinematic experiment to a degree not previously attempted by this restless, mysterious auteur—or, really, by anyone else working in narrative film. As Ben Affleck, its putative star, reportedly said after seeing TO THE WONDER, it “makes THE TREE OF LIFE look like TRANSFORMERS.” The simple romantic triangle of a man (Affleck), his Ukrainian wife (Olga Kurylenko) and the American girl he left behind (Rachel McAdams) becomes the theme for a modernist symphonic variation of enigmatic figures and pristine nature… This could be the most formally radical post-narrative American film ever to be released. And Malick, the most famous recluse in movies, was not likely to be explaining his film…. Malick wants to transport you from a multiplex auditorium to a cathedral of nature; TO THE WONDER, like all his films but especially THE TREE OF LIFE, is a ramble through the ecstasies of the natural world as experienced or ignored by little people on a giant, gorgeous planet….Malick, the cinema’s great naturalist, nearly outdoes himself with magnificent images of sunsets in France and the American South, in a film whose true subject is visual splendor at the level of rapture…. For spectators dulled by the midget movies of an artistically timid era, the film may be a chore. For those on Malick’s rarified wavelength, it’s a wonder”—Richard Corliss, Time. R. 112 Min.

The Company You Keep

railroadsquare — Fri, 03 May 2013 21:22:54 +0000

Robert Redford both stars in and directs this riveting thriller loosely based on the Weather Underground radicals of the ’70s…today. In the process, he and his powerhouse cast—including Shia LaBeouf, Julie Christie, Nick Nolte, Terrence Howard, Brendan Gleeson and Susan Sarandon—come up with “…one of Redford’s knottiest and most involving films… a pulsating drama of a man who goes on an intricate, often interior journey to outrun his past” (Mary Corliss, Time) in this dramatic thriller about a former member of the Weather Underground who goes on the run to clear his name after he is outed by a journalist. R. 125 Min.

Trance

railroadsquare — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 21:28:12 +0000

An absolutely wild ride of a thriller, from Danny Boyle, the Oscar-winning director of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, 127 HOURS and TRAINSPOTTING! Simon (James McAvoy), a fine art auctioneer, teams up with a criminal gang to steal a Goya painting worth millions of dollars, but after suffering a blow to the head during the heist he awakens to discover he has no memory of where he hid the painting. When physical threats and torture fail to produce answers, the gang’s leader Frank (Vincent Cassel) hires hypnotherapist Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) to delve into the darkest recesses of Simon’s psyche. As Elizabeth begins to unravel Simon’s broken subconscious, the lines between truth, suggestion, and deceit begin to blur…. “A mind-bending neo-noir with continually shifting layers”—Jake Coyle, Associated Press. R. 101 Min.