Hampton Roads Cinephiles

We'll be in the Collaboration Room in the far right corner of Richard Tucker Library.

RUNTIME: 137 minutes

SYNOPSIS (via Criterion.com): A fairy tale grounded in poignant reality, Terry Gilliam’s magnificent, Manhattan-set The Fisher King features Jeff Bridges and Robin Williams in two of their most brilliant roles. Bridges plays a former radio shock jock reconstructing his life after a scandal, and Williams a homeless man on a quest for the Holy Grail—which he believes to be hidden somewhere on the Upper East Side. Unknowingly linked by their pasts, the two men aid each other on a fanciful journey toward their own humanity. This singular American odyssey features a witty script by Richard LaGravenese, evocative cinematography by Roger Pratt, and superb supporting performances by Amanda Plummer and an Oscar-winning Mercedes Ruehl, all harnessed by Gilliam into a compassionate, funny modern-day myth.

BLURBS:
"The search for the Holy Grail reaches peak insanity in this wild, redemptive ride through two men's interconnected lives." - Kate Muir, The Times (UK)

"A modern epic that fuses myth with hard-edged reality, it's a one-of-a-kind, thoroughly engaging experience." - Desson Thompson, Washington Post

"Who better than Williams to play a modern Don Quixote for Terry Gilliam, a director attuned to the collision of fantasy and reality? As a homeless man crazed by tragedy and pursued on Manhattan streets by a fire-spewing red knight, Williams — again Oscar nominated — finds the humanity in Gilliam’s visionary extravaganza." - Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

I've never seen one of this director's movies, but he's won a lot of awards and is supposed to be very funny. We will be in the 2nd floor conference room, to the left as you get off the elevator/stairs.

RUNTIME: 120 minutes

SYNOPSIS (via norden.org): Well-to-do tourists lose their dignity. Plunged into a state of emergency, a family on holiday come into contact with human mechanisms that they have never confronted before. They are forced to recognise in themselves urges and instincts they’d learned to despise and assign only to others. Force Majeure is an observational comedy about the role of the male in modern family life.

BLURBS:
"Ruben Östlund's icily disturbing family drama, set in an upscale ski resort in the French Alps, is a disaster movie without a disaster." - Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

"Rarely has a film taken men to the woodshed for their failings with such a mix of disgust, pity, and wit, the last of which is the key ingredient that helps make Force Majeure such a unique high-wire balancing act." - Nick Schager, Esquire Magazine

"It's the rare kind of moviegoing experience that will haunt you long after you leave the theater and lead to some very awkward conversations with your spouse." - Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly

Again, if you can't make it to this one, there should be later showings on Christmas and in January.

RUNTIME: 139 minutes

SYNOPSIS: When a man is abruptly laid off by the paper company where he has worked tirelessly for many years, he grows increasingly desperate in his hunt.

BLURBS:


"Chan-wook’s dexterity and craft is in great display while marrying the sound and visuals to the off-kilter plot and seamlessly handling the tonal shifts and transitions." - Namrata Joshi, The New Indian Express

"The film is a zany, all-out crowd-pleaser from Mr. Park, who exhibits a rare genius with the camera throughout, devising breathtaking shots, zooms and transitions, his cockeyed visual wizardry perfectly matched to the outlandishness of the plot." - Zachary Barnes, Wall Street Journal

"A caustic portrait of the rat race as legitimately killer, and another feather in the cap of one of world cinema’s true maestros." - Nick Schager, The Daily Beast