Camera Cinema Club

Movies to See Right Now

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Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon in 99 HOMES
Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon in 99 HOMES

First things first – the Camera Cinema Club is kicking off its 20th season this weekend, and it’s an absolute MUST for Silicon Valley film lovers.  I explain why in these comments.   I’ve been a Club member since its 2003-04 season. If you love movies and live in Silicon Valley, you need to be in the Camera Cinema Club. Sign up here.

There’s something for everyone in theaters:

  • The Martian – an entertaining Must See space adventure – even for folks who usually don’t enjoy science fiction;
  • Sicario – a dark and paranoid crime thriller about the drug wars.
  • Meet the Patels, a heartwarming crowd-pleaser – a documentary that’s funnier than most fictional comedies. Now hard to find in theaters, it’s worth tracking down.
  • 99 Homes, a riveting psychological drama about the foreclosure crisis with searing performances by Andrew Garfield and Michael Shannon.
  • Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine – Alex Gibney’s anything but reverential documentary on Steve Jobs.

My most recent Stream of the Week is the unforgettable coming of age dramedy Me and Earl and the Dying Girl. It’s available streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play. You will be able to rent it on DVD from Netflix and Redbox on November 3.

This week, Turner Classic Movies brings us two fantastic comedies – two of the very best in cinema history. First, on October 19, there’s My Man Godfrey (1936) – an assembly of eccentric, oblivious, venal and utterly spoiled characters make up a rich Park Avenue family and their hangers-on during the Depression. The kooky daughter (Carole Lombard) brings home a homeless guy (William Powell) to serve as their butler. The contrast between the dignified butler and his wacky employers results in a brilliant screwball comedy that masks searing social criticism that is relevant today. The wonderful character actor Eugene Pallette (who looked and sounded like a bullfrog in a tuxedo) plays the family’s patriarch, who is keenly aware that his wife and kids are completely nuts.

Then on October 21, TCM will present the groundbreaking French comedy La Cage Aux Folles – a daring film in 1978, when few were thinking about same-sex marriage. A gay guy runs a nightclub on the Riviera – and his partner is the star drag queen. The nightclub owner’s beloved son wants him to meet the parents of his intended.  But the bride-to-be’s father is a conservative politician who practices the most severe and judgmental version of Roman Catholicism, so they’re going to have to conceal aspects of their lifestyle. Mad cap comedy ensues, and La Cage proves that broad farce can be heartfelt. Michel Serrault is unforgettable as Albin/Zaza – one of the all-time great comic performances. (La Cage was tepidly remade in 1996 as The Birdcage with Robin Williams, but you want to see the French original.)

Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES
Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault in LA CAGE AUX FOLLES

CAMERA CINEMA CLUB – a MUST for Silicon Valley Film Lovers

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Jennifer lawrence breaks through in WINTER'S BONE, featured at the Camera Cinema Club
Jennifer Lawrence breaks through in WINTER’S BONE, featured at the Camera Cinema Club

An absolute MUST for Silicon Valley film lovers, the Camera Cinema Club is kicking off its 20th season this weekend.

It’s your chance to see ten as yet unreleased films for $160.   There’s usually an post-screening Q&A with a filmmaker, either live or via Skype. It’s like seeing ten movies at a film festival – except it’s a manageable one per month instead of all at once.

The movies range from indie gems to Oscar Bait and are selected by Tim Sika, President of the San Francisco Film Critics Circle. Sika is the host and producer of the movie magazine radio show Celluloid Dreams and also reviews movies for KGO radio.

Here’s how it works.  The club meets monthly on Sundays – at Campbell’s Camera 7 in the morning and at downtown San Jose’s Camera 12 in the afternoon.  After a movie trivia contest (winners get movie schwag), the house lights go off and a movie appears on the screen.  Until this moment, we don’t know which movie it is.  The mystery is part of the club’s appeal, and, as a result, I’ve seen some wonderful films that I otherwise never would have chosen to see.  Afterward, Sika leads a discussion about the film – almost always with at least one of the filmmakers.

The Club’s 20th season begins on October 18th and you can sign up at here. It’s 10 events for $160 – a film festival on the installment plan. You can also buy a four-movie punch card or pay for an individual screening. The Camera Cinema Club is one of my Best Movie Deals in Silicon Valley.

I first saw my pick for the top movie of 2010, Winter’s Bone (four Oscar nominations, including for Jennifer Lawrence’s breakthrough performance), at the Camera Cinema Club.  Here are some other Cinema Club films that have made my Best of the Year lists:

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, I’ll See You in My Dreams, Two Days One Night, Alive Inside, Bernie, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Rabbit Hole, Project Nim, The Messenger, The Tillman Story, Wendy and Lucy, Goodbye Solo, Taxi to the Dark Side, Shotgun Stories, American Splendor, Maria Full of Grace.

As you can see, Tim Sika has exquisite taste.  Thanks to him, Camera Cinema Club members get to see (before their release):

  • Crowd pleasers like Meet the Patels, Cloudburst, Once and Mad Hot Ballroom;
  • Challenging cinematic ground breakers like Shane Carruth’s Upstream Color and Gus Van Zant’s Last Days;
  • Unknown gems like The Grief of Others and In the Family by the as yet undiscovered genius Patrick Wang, the hitherto forgotten neo-noir The Woman Chaser and the delightful Bay Area indie Colma: The Musical.

And I have to admit that, otherwise, I never would have seen The September Issue (I have no interest in the fashion world) or The Tillman Story (I thought I already knew the whole story).  Both were rewarding movie experiences.

Cinema Club members also get invited to special previews and events.  Recently, I attended a 99 Homes preview with star Andrew Garfield. Another highlight for me was a preview of Killer Joe with director William Friedkin (The French Connection, The Exorcist).  In a rare revival showing, the Cinema Club also screened an almost lost film, the 1981 They All Laughed – and I found myself sitting next to director Peter Bogdanovich!

I’ve been a Club member since its 2003-04 season.   If you love movies and live in Silicon Valley, you need to be in the Camera Cinema Club. Sign up here.

ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL screened pre-release at the CAMERA CINEMA CLUB
ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL screened pre-release at the CAMERA CINEMA CLUB

MEET THE PATELS: a documentary funnier than most comedies

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MEET THE PATELS
MEET THE PATELS

Meet the Patels is both a documentary and a comedy – and ultimately, a satisfying crowd-pleaser.  Over several years, filmmaker Geeta Patel filmed her own brother Ravi and their parents in their quest to find a wife for Ravi.  Ravi and Geeta’s parents were born in India, had a traditional arranged marriage which has resulted in decades of happiness.  Their American-born kids, of course, reject the very idea of an arranged marriage.  But Ravi finds the pull of his Indian heritage compelling enough to dump his redheaded girlfriend and try to find a nice Indian-American girl.  His parents try to help him with unbounded and unrelenting enthusiasm.

Meet the Patels is very funny – much funnier than most fictional comedies.  It’s always awkward when parents involve themselves in their child’s romantic aspirations.  That’s true here, and produces some side-splitting moments.  It helps that the Patel parents are very expressive, and downright hilarious.  The dad is so funny that I could watch him read a telephone book for 90 minutes, and the mom is herself a force of nature.

We learn that the Patels of Gujarat have adapted an entire menu of marriage opportunities to American society: a matchmaking profile system called “biodata”, matrimonial fairs, “the wedding season” and more.

Meet the Patels has its share of  cultural tourism and the clash of generations.  But is so damn appealing because it’s much more than that – it’s a completely authentic saga of family dynamics, dynamics that we’ve all experienced or at least observed.  The family members’ mutual love for each other drives family conflict and, finally, family unity.

I saw Meet the Patels at the Camera Cinema Club earlier this year, and it opens in the Bay Area tomorrow.  It’s hilarious and heart-warming.  Go see it.

 

Stream of the Week: I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

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Sam Elliott and Blythe Danner in I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS
Sam Elliiott and Blythe Danner in I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

The gentle, thoughtful and altogether fresh dramedy I’ll See You in My Dreams is centered on 72-year-old Carol (Blythe Danner), a widow of 21 years living a life of benign routine. Every day, she rises at 6 AM in her modest but nicely appointed LA house, reads by the pool, hosts her gal pals from the nearby retirement community for cards and is in bed by 11 PM to watch TV with her elderly canine companion. It’s not a bad life, but it’s an unadventuresome one.

Then some things happen that give her an opportunity to choose to take some chances. In short order, she has to put down her dog and deal with an unwelcome rodent. Her friends (Rhea Perlman, June Squibb and Mary Kay Place) suggest that she try speed dating. She opens her social life, developing a friendship with a much younger man (Martin Starr – Gilfoyle in Silicon Valley) and being courted by a dashing man of her own age (Sam Elliott).

What happens is sometimes funny, sometimes sad and always authentic. This is NOT a formulaic geezer comedy, but a story about venturing outside one’s comfort zone – with all the attendant vulnerability – to seek some life rewards. Carol may be 72, but she is still at a place in her life where she can grow and be challenged. I’ll See You in My Dreams proves that coming of age films are not just for the young.

I saw I’ll See You in My Dreams at the Camera Cinema Club, at which director, editor and co-writer Brett Haley was interviewed. Haley said that he and co-writer Marc Basch wanted to “avoid the obvious joke of older people doing what younger people do”. Instead, they intended to make a movie “about love, loss and that you can’t get through life unscathed – and that’s okay”. Haley and Basch certainly succeeded in creating a film about “living life without the fear of loss”.

Danner sparkles in the role (and gets to nail a karaoke rendition of Cry Me a River). Always special when playing solid-valued but rascally guys, Elliott still retains his magnetism.

We don’t often get to see realistic movies about people in their early 70s, but I’ll See You in My Dreams respects its protagonist Carol by putting her in plausible situations. Neither farcical nor mawkish, I’ll See You in My Dreams is a surefire audience pleaser.

I’ll See You in My Dreams is available to stream from Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS: gentle, thoughtful and altogether fresh

by
Sam Elliott and Blythe Danner in I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS
Sam Elliiott and Blythe Danner in I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS

The gentle, thoughtful and altogether fresh dramedy I’ll See You in My Dreams is centered on 72-year-old Carol (Blythe Danner), a widow of 21 years living a life of benign routine. Every day, she rises at 6 AM in her modest but nicely appointed LA house, reads by the pool, hosts her gal pals from the nearby retirement community for cards and is in bed by 11 PM to watch TV with her elderly canine companion. It’s not a bad life, but it’s an unadventuresome one.

Then some things happen that give her an opportunity to choose to take some chances. In short order, she has to put down her dog and deal with an unwelcome rodent. Her friends (Rhea Perlman, June Squibb and Mary Kay Place) suggest that she try speed dating. She opens her social life, developing a friendship with a much younger man (Martin Starr – Gilfoyle in Silicon Valley) and being courted by a dashing man of her own age (Sam Elliott).

What happens is sometimes funny, sometimes sad and always authentic. This is NOT a formulaic geezer comedy, but a story about venturing outside one’s comfort zone – with all the attendant vulnerability – to seek some life rewards.  Carol may be 72, but she is still at a place in her life where she can grow and be challenged.  I’ll See You in My Dreams proves that coming of age films are not just for the young.

I saw I’ll See You in My Dreams at the Camera Cinema Club, at which director, editor and co-writer Brett Haley was interviewed. Haley said that he and co-writer Marc Basch wanted to “avoid the obvious joke of older people doing what younger people do”. Instead, they intended to make a movie “about love, loss and that you can’t get through life unscathed – and that’s okay”. Haley and Basch certainly succeeded in creating a film about “living life without the fear of loss”.

Danner sparkles in the role (and gets to nail a karaoke rendition of Cry Me a River). Always special when playing solid-valued but rascally guys, Elliott still retains his magnetism.

We don’t often get to see realistic movies about people in their early 70s, but I’ll See You in My Dreams respects its protagonist Carol by putting her in plausible situations.  Neither farcical nor mawkish, I’ll See You in My Dreams is a surefire audience pleaser.   Now playing in New York and Los Angeles, I’ll See You in My Dreams opens this coming weekend in San Francisco and May 29 in San Jose.

Official Trailer – I’LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS from Bleecker Street on Vimeo.