As an assassin, Jack (George Clooney) is constantly on the move and always alone. After a job in Sweden ends more harshly than expected for this American abroad, Jack retreats to the Italian countryside. He relishes being away from death for a spell as he holes up in a small medieval town. While there, Jack takes an assignment to construct a weapon for a mysterious contact, Mathilde (Thekla Reuten).
Savoring the peaceful quietude he finds in the mountains of Abruzzo, Jack accepts the friendship of local priest Father Benedetto (Paolo Bonacelli) and pursues a torrid liaison with a beautiful woman, Clara (Violante Placido). Jack and Clara’s time together evolves into a romance, one seemingly free of danger. But by stepping out of the shadows, Jack may be tempting fate.
dir. Anton Corbijn, w/ George Clooney, Thekla Reuten, 1h45m.
The film's depiction of the raw fear lurking below the brothers' braggadocio is the most pronounced emotion in a movie whose focus on the personalities of its criminals suggests an Australian answer to "Goodfellas," minus the wise-guy humor. - Stephen Holden, The New York Times
Welcome to the Melbourne underworld. Following the death of his mother, seventeen year-old Joshua "J" Cody (James Frechville) moves in with his hitherto-estranged family, under the watchful eye of his doting grandmother, Janine "Smurf" Cody (Jacki Weaver), and her three criminal sons - the Cody boys.
Eldest son and armed robber, Andrew "Pope" Cody (Ben Mendelsohn)is hiding from a gang of renegade detectives. Middle brother Craig (Sullivan Stapleton) is a successful but volatile drug dealer, whilst the youngest Cody, Darren (Luke Ford), naively follows his eldest brothers' lead. Just as Pope's business partner and best friends decides that he wants out of the game, recognizing that their days of old-school banditry are all but over, tensions between the family and the police explode.
"J" finds himself at the centre of a cold-blooded revenge plot that turns his family upside down and throws him directly into the path of senior homicide detective, Nathan Leckie (Guy Pearce).
dir. David Michod, w/ James Frechville, Guy Pearce, Ben Medelsohn, 1h52m
The best movie of the summer by far. Wonderful." - A.O. Scott, The New York Times
Lesbian couple Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening) have been together for almost 20 years, and have two teenage offspring named Joni and Laser, who were conceived via artificial insemination. Unbeknownst to their mothers, Joni and Laser are interested in tracking down Laser's biological father. Reluctantly inquiring with the sperm bank, Joni leaves her number so the office can pass it along to Laser's donor dad. Enthusiastic at the thought of meeting his long lost offspring, Paul (Mark Ruffalo) musters the courage to reach out, and the family tree grows a new branch.
dir. Lisa Cholodenko, w/ Julianne Moore, Annette Bening, Mark Ruffalo 1h44m
“Though the film abstains from any particular environmental statement—the dialogue itself is even sparse—the gratitude that the protagonists and other Mayan fishermen display for an ecosystem that provides them with all the resources they need to subsist is contagious. It is the absence of a message that makes Alamar an impressionable artistic work where many other eco-activist films have failed.” - Audubon Magazine
"The characters in Alamar may be playing versions of themselves, but the writer, editor and director Pedro González-Rubio has constructed a film in which the journey has an overarching mythic resonance that evokes fables from “Robinson Crusoe” to “The Old Man and the Sea.” - Stephen Holden, The New York Times
A love story between father and son, man and nature, water and sky, ALAMAR is set in the turquoise waters of Banco Chinchorro in the Caribbean, home to thousands of species of fish and Mexico's largest coral reef. Living somewhere on the cusp between fiction and documentary, the film tells the story of a young boy whose divorced parents (an Italian mother and Mexican father) make him a child of two worlds. The strikingly handsome Jorge, muscled, tattooed and mustachioed, transports the urban child to this natural paradise to teach him to dive for lobster, and fish for barracuda, spending days on a tiny fishing boat and nights in a reed-roofed cabin that floats atop the water. Egrets and crocodiles are their neighbors in this aquatic Neverland.
dir. Pedro Gonzales-Rubio, w/ Jorge Machado, Natan Machado Palombini, in Spanish and Italian with English subtitles, 1h13m
“Astonishing…like any good thriller, this is the story of deceptions within deceptions. It’s juicy, fascinating stuff.” - Todd McCarthy, Variety
Guillaume Canet, Emir Kusturica, and Willem Dafoe star in this Cold War espionage thriller, based on true events.
In 1981, a KGB agent (Kusturica), disenchanted with what the Communist ideal has become under Brezhnev, decides he is going to change the world…
Discreetly, he makes contact with a French engineer working for Thomson in Moscow and little by little passes on documents to him - mainly concerning the United States - containing information which would constitute the most important Cold War espionage operation known to date.
During a period of two years, French President François Mitterrand was to personally vet the documents supplied by this source in Moscow, to whom the French Secret Service gave the codename "Farewell".
dir. Christian Carion, w/ Guillaume Canet, Emir Kusturica, Willem Dafoe, in French and Russian with English subtitles, 1h52m
Brief Synopsis: While looking at surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp's "ready-mades" in the renowned Pompidou Center in Paris, two teenagers realize that there's something in their family cellar that is identical. Their plan to sell it to a prestigious gallery goes uproariously wrong.
Showing in the GoldScreen
THE END
Directed by: Camillelvis Thery
Brief Synopsis: An ingenious mixed media animation that tells the tale of a Hollywood film noir actor who slips out of frame. Finding himself on the other side of the film set, he's suddenly surrounded by Technicolor clouds. And then, the chase begins...