Centenary Film Society

Reopening a case that has inspired curiosity, controversy, and confusion for over three decades, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired is an extensive exploration of the circumstances that led up to – and the circus that followed – Polanski’s conviction for having unlawful sexual relations with a minor. Zenovich had unprecedented access to several of the key players in the case, including the lawyers representing the case, the media covering it, and the unusually clear-eyed and candid victim. Unearthing a trove of telling footage from the past, and combining it with insightful interviews from today, she brings comprehension and clarity to events long clouded by myth and misconception. A thrilling examination of a case that became the prototype for innumerable Hollywood courtroom scandals to follow, the film becomes a brilliant discourse on the attraction/ repulsion that defines celebrity culture in contemporary America.

"This is a superb picture, sharp, open-minded, wised-up and cinematically accomplished." Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

1949, post-War France - In a dark room, doom-filled school for troubled boys where hope itself in short supply, a mild-mannered new teacher has just arrived, only to find himself surrounded by prepubescent thieves, inveterate liars, unapologetic rebels and lost souls beyond reach. Or are they? When mild-mannered new teacher (Gérard Jugnot) introduces these supposedly hard-core delinquents to something they've never experienced before - the freedom and joy of music - he discovers there is far more to these children than anyone dared to believe. Some could accuse the film of being predictable because of its doggedly sweet message of hope. But it is deftly written, superbly acted and never schematic. Its emotional resonance, poignancy and lilting music remain with you well after viewing.

"A well-nigh irresistible film celebrating the redemptive power of music." Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times

Acerbic political humorist Bill Maher ("Real Time With Bill Maher" and "Politically Incorrect") and Borat director Larry Charles team up for a documentary tour of the world's belief systems, as they speak to a diverse group of people about their religious beliefs (ranging from Jews and Muslims at the Dome of the Rock, an ex-Jew-for-Jesus in Boston, the Miami ministry of Rev. Jose Miranda, who claims to be a descendant of Christ, the creationist Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and two defectors from Mormonism, among others). Concentrating on Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, the main topics covered consist of evidence vs. Faith, violence and corruption, intolerance, separation of church and state (vis a vis our founding fathers), creationism vs. evolution, and the apocalypse. Not attempting to be "fair and balanced," Maher's skepticism and rationalism skewers fundamentalists from numerous faiths, and his interviews are edited to be more comic performance art than educational discussion.

"Religulous (which rhymes with "ridiculous") is not for the devout. But those with a taste for irreverent humor and clear-eyed analysis will find it funny, enlightening and disturbing." Claudia Puig, USA Today

Phillip and Erik stand at the mailbox, two cocky, grinning rebels full of 20-year-old verve and dreams, their whole lives hanging in the balance at this singular moment. Each is about to ship off his first novel to publishers, each is hoping to become a wildly influential cult author, each has a vision of a new life of nonstop intensity, brilliance, romance, and nightclubbing. Fast-forward six months. These reveries have crashed, hard, into reality. Phillip, whose novel garnered instant acclaim and turned him into a mini-celebrity, has had a terrifying breakdown and is just about to be released from a psychiatric hospital. Erik, who never sold his novel, is still pecking away, determined to follow in the footsteps of his undying hero, a reclusive but idolized writing genius, no matter what it takes. Reprise explores not just what happens to Phillip and Erik as they pick up the pieces, but what might have happened to them, what they imagine could happen, what they fear will possibly happen, and why they can't see what's actually happening.

"An exuberant, exhilaratingly playful testament to being young and hungry — for life and meaning and immortality, and for other young and restless bodies — Reprise is a blast of unadulterated movie pleasure." Manohla Dargis, New York Times

From the first moments of Lebanese writer-director Nadine Labaki's Caramel you know what you're in for. There's a pop-Arab soundtrack that bridges traditional and contemporary music, a whimsical montage of different women working their way through the streets of Beirut, and a seriocomic encounter between the beautiful heroine and the handsome fellow who's clearly smitten with her (a fact she hasn't yet noticed). Caramel is an ode to female bonding — a celebration of female sensuality and a series of interlocking love stories, and it positively revels in the conventions of those genres.

"A reassuring and delicious film .... Labaki gets extra credit for making a film in an Arab country that casually depicts friendship between Muslims and Christians, never mentions violence or political strife, and in its own gentle fashion sidles up against social issues that remain sensitive in that part of the world." Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com

Hallam Foe (Jamie Bell, Billy Elliot and King Kong) is a troubled young man whose knack for voyeurism paradoxically reveals his darkest fears, and his most peculiar desires. Driven to expose the true cause of his mother’s death, he instead finds himself searching the rooftops of the city of Edinburgh for love. Featuring a lively soundtrack with Franz Ferdinand, Sons and Daughters and Orange Juice among others, Mister Foe is a darkly twisted, entertaining work of magical realism from one of the leading lights of the new Scottish cinema.

"Unlike any coming-of-age movie you've seen before. Equal parts sweet and perverse, this Scottish film is unpredictable in places where it might be twee, and subversively fanciful in others where it might be punishing." Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

In the early 1980s, legendary Billy Mitchell set a Donkey Kong (supposedly the most difficult of all classic video games to master) record that stood for almost 25 years. This documentary follows the assault on the record by Steve Wiebe, an earnest teacher from Washington who took up the game while unemployed. The top scores are monitored by a cadre of players and fans associated with Walter Day, an Iowan who runs Funspot, an annual tournament. Wiebe breaks Mitchell's record in public at Funspot, and Mitchell promptly mails a video tape of himself setting a new record. So Wiebe travels to Florida hoping Mitchell will face him for the 2007 Guinness World Records. Will the mind-game-playing Mitchell engage; who will end up holding the record?

"It's all true—every magical, exhilarating, infuriating, dumbfounding, jaw-dropping second of Gordon's miniature masterpiece." Robert Wilonsky, Village Voice

Only Harmony Korine (Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy) might weave a story that follows a down-and-out Michael Jackson impersonator who crosses paths with a faux Marilyn Monroe at a Parisian nursing home. After a glass of wine at a cafe, this Marilyn (the mesmerizing Samantha Morton) tells this Michael (Diego Luna) of "a place where everyone's famous and no one ages." She lives there with a troupe of other impersonators, and, she says, they don't have a Michael, so won't he come along and join them? He does, and there he meets Marilyn's tyrannical husband, Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant), her daughter, Shirley Temple (Esme Creed-Miles), and their friends, Abe Lincoln, James Dean, Sammy Davis Jr., the Pope, and many others. These societal outcasts run a fake-celebrity commune, replete with farm animals, a run-down chateau and lots of wine. The plot turns on their ambition to put on a show, but in Korine's movies, as in dreams, the plot wanders in non-conventional directions.

"What engages us is Korine's revolutionary way of telling stories. It's as though he's downloading his dreams directly onto the screen." Desson Thomson, Washington Post