January 15, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

JULES

87 minutes, Denmark, Greenland, Canada, 2023 Danish, Kalaallisut, English, Inuktitut

Principal Cast: Ben Kingsley, Harriet Sansom Harris, Jane Curtin

In this charming tale of aging and kinship, Marc Turtletaub’s Jules is a heartwarming and amusing dramedy about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.

Retiree Milton (Ben Kingsley) has a quiet life only briefly punctuated by town council meetings and visits from his daughter Denise (Zoë Winters). His days might be brighter if only he could convince his local councillors to add a crosswalk to a particularly challenging stretch of road in town. Each day blends seamlessly into the next, until a UFO and its extra-terrestrial passenger crash-lands on earth, destroying Milton’s birdbath. Although initially reticent, Milton takes a liking to his new co-habitant, affectionately nicknaming him Jules. It’s not long before Milton’s secret is discovered by two fellow retirees: the sunny Sandy (Harriet Sansom Harris) and the curmudgeonly Joyce (Jane Curtin). Together, they form an unlikely alliance to protect Jules and help repair his damaged spaceship before the National Security Centre gets involved.

Though quirky and filled with clever high jinks, at its core, Jules is a poignant exploration of life’s later chapters. The film gently reminds us of the enduring bonds of friendship and the importance of cherishing the present moment, even in the face of the unknown. Jules is a gem of a film that will leave you with a smile and a renewed appreciation for the beauty found in life’s most ordinary moments.

“[...] Despite Jules being a threat to national security, it often feels as though Turtletaub would rather you be curled up in your seat with a mug of cocoa than on the edge of it.” – Claire Shaffer, The New York Times

January 22, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

FALLEN LEAVES

81 minutes FINLAND, GERMANY, 2023, Finnish

Principal Cast: Alma Pöysti, Jussi Vatanen

Aki Kaurismäki’s (Le Havre, The Other Side of Hope, The Man Without a Past) 20th feature in 40 years, Fallen Leaves takes place in a very personalized version of Helsinki, one intimately familiar to longtime admirers of the Finnish director’s hilariously deadpan, fervently humanist tragicomedies. Ansa (Alma Pöysti, Tove) and Holappa (Jussi Vatanen) spend their waking hours in drab workplaces, bars full of stone-faced patrons, and sparsely decorated homes in which a radio is the height of modern technology. Despite the decades that have passed between Kaurismäki’s latest and his Proletariat Trilogy (1986–90) — of which the director considers Fallen Leaves a belated extension — they all seem to take place in the same sad, strange world.

Yet within this space, viewers will find the richness of feeling that’s a hallmark of the director’s recent work. Fallen Leaves is also among his funniest movies, with Kaurismäki taking full advantage of all the sight gags and recurring jokes at his disposal. The material just gets richer as the bond between Ansa and Holappa deepens, their first encounter at a karaoke bar followed by an outing to a screening of Jim Jarmusch’s The Dead Don’t Die (one of many nods to Kaurismäki’s friends and inspirations).

The couple’s chance for happiness feels all the more precious due to the film’s only significant acknowledgement of our present moment: news reports on the war in Ukraine, a source of anxiety in a country that shares a 1,340-kilometre border with Russia􀀁 This intrusion of the real adds another layer of poignancy to Kaurismäki’s celebration of the solace we may find in each other, if we’re brave enough to try.

“Fallen Leaves is another of Kaurismäki’s beguiling and delightful cinephile comedies, featuring foot-tapping rock’n’roll. It’s romantic and sweet-natured, in a deadpan style that in no way undermines or ironises the emotions involved and with some sharp things to say about contemporary politics.” –Peter Bradshaw The Guardian

NEW DATE! Friday, January 26, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

ANATOMY OF A FALL

151 minutes, France, 2023 French, English, German

Principal Cast: Sandra Hüller, Samuel Theis, Swann Arlaud, Milo Machado Grane

 The much-lauded winner of this year’s Palme d’Or, Justine Triet’s fourth feature has cemented her status as one of today’s great filmmaking talents. Unfolding over two-and-a-half hours like a compulsively readable novel, the riveting Anatomy of a Fall is both a dissection of an intimate relationship and of the judiciary process.

Sandra (a ferocious, magnetic, and edgy Sandra Hüller; Toni Erdmann, The Zone of Interest) is a successful German writer who lives in the French Alps with her husband Samuel (Samuel Theis) and their visually-impaired son Daniel (Milo Machado Graner). A brilliant, decibel-bursting opening scene suggests tensions in their isolated chalet, so when Samuel is discovered dead in the snow beneath one of their windows, suspicion is quickly aroused. Did he take his own life, or was he pushed to his death? When the investigation proves to be inconclusive — its varying angles hinting at the microscopic examination to come — Sandra is ultimately indicted and put on trial.

A captivating and sharply directed, written, and acted courtroom procedural, Anatomy of a Fall functions like a trenchant autopsy of confirmation bias and ambiguity itself, with the court an operatic arena in which every gesture, word, and past interaction are ripe for judgment. As scrutiny turns to Sandra’s complex character and her tumultuous relationship with Samuel — their artistic rivalries, romantic jealousies, and contempt — the couple’s young son becomes the  key witness.

Taut, suspenseful, and thrilling until the final moment, Anatomy of a Fall progresses like a heady puzzle that tackles the messiness of existence and the often-elusive nature of truth itself.

“Part true crime legal thriller and part family drama, Triet's Palme d’Or winner is a thrilling story about perception, truth, and ambition.” –Therese Lacson Collider

January 29, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

PRISCILLA

113 minutes USA, 2023, English

Principal Cast: Cailee Spaeny, Jacob Elordi, Ari Cohen

When Priscilla Beaulieu and an already-famous Elvis met in 1959, he was 24-year-old stationed at a US Army base in Germany, and she was the 14-year-old step-daughter of an Air Force officer. Instantly drawn into his orbit, Priscilla falls in love despite the protests from her parents. A tender romance with a famous handsome idol is a part of every teenage girl’s fantasy. Dreamy and hopeful, she imagines a life full of adventure and deep connection.

But when Priscilla moves to Graceland, she realizes that instead of being treated like a partner, she’s become a prop — doted on but no longer allowed to make her own decisions, forced to stay at home while her husband lives an explosive life at the centre of everyone’s attention. Behind closed doors, she discovers that the world’s biggest heartthrob — and the man she has come to love — has a sometimes violent temper and controlling nature.

Priscilla, like many of Sofia Coppola’s films, is an examination of a girlhood interrupted; of being put into extraordinary circumstances at an age when most people are just beginning to figure themselves out. In this intimate portrait of the relationship between Priscilla Beaulieu and Elvis Presley, we are given a private look at a very public relationship.

“Coppola paints Priscilla’s world with all the attention to detail that the young girl does her fingernails. Every stroke matters and pays off, creating a glossy but not glossed-over coming-of-age tale of love, loss, and moving on.” – Kristy Puchko, Mashable

February 5, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus 

THE PERSIAN VERSION

107 minutes USA, 2022, English, Persian

Principal Cast: Layla Mohammadi, Niousha Noor

Writer-director Maryam Keshavarz, who previously won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival for her debut film, Circumstance, returns with this uproarious, genre-blurring crowd pleaser about identity, belonging, and secrets — those that tie families together and pull them apart, perhaps at the same time.

Just as brash as she is introspective, Leila (Layla Mohammadi, The Sex Lives of College Girls) defies expectation at every turn: those of her parents, and in particular her mother, Shireen (Niousha Noor, Kaleidoscope), who disapproves of Leila’s disregard for tradition and cultural norms; and those of her romantic partners, who are perplexed by the fondness that Leila has for her family (and Iranian heritage) despite their differences, simmering just beneath the surface of her feigned nonchalance. But it becomes harder for Leila to keep her opposing lives separate when she discovers she is pregnant just as her family convenes in New York for her father’s heart transplant surgery.

It’s here that the film takes a beautiful and unexpected turn, as we are transported back in time to Shireen’s childhood in Iran through to her initial experiences in America, understanding the level of loss and personal sacrifice that has come to inform her rocky relationship with Leila.

As past and present continue to collide, the film balances the somber weight of its generations-spanning ambition with a quirky dynamism in the form of Fleabag-esque, fourth-wall-breaking monologues and intricately choreographed dance sequences as Leila’s love for retro pop music bleeds onto the screen. The Persian Version is undeniably full of heart (and with it, heartache) — one that beats to its own drum and will bring audiences to their feet.

“Braids comedy and tragedy, vibrant aplomb and thoughtful soberness.” – Lisa Kennedy, Variety

February 12, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

THE CRIME IS MINE

102 minutes France, 2023, French

Principal Cast: Nadia Tereszkiewicz, Rebecca Marder, Isabelle Huppert

 In this lush ensemble comedy, loosely based on a play by Georges Berr and Louis Verneuil, a pretty, penniless young actress is accused of a crime she didn’t commit. Helped by her best friend, a young unemployed lawyer, she is acquitted on the grounds of self-defence. A new life of fame and fortune begins, until the truth comes out. 

Set in 1930s Paris, best friends Madeleine (Nadia Tereskiewicz), a struggling actress, and Pauline (Rebecca Marder), an out-of-work law school graduate, share an apartment they can’t afford. They are five months behind on rent and have no viable solution to their money woes. With eviction looming, Madeline agrees to a meeting with a wealthy older producer, which goes terribly wrong and ends with his lifeless body shot dead in his Parisian villa. A series of coincidences strongly encourage Madeleine and Pauline to lie, confessing to the crime by invoking self-defence in the trial that follows. But their newfound infamy is the answer to their prayers: Madeleine lands a role in a hit play, and Pauline is sought-after as a lawyer. What could go wrong? Cue Odette Chaumette (Isabelle Huppert), a deposed silent film star.

The Crime Is Mine is a modern feminist take on the classic French farce. Ozon’s film is a testament to the power of sisterhood and some well-employed smarts. This satirical look at the failings of the justice system, the celebrity criminal, and what women will do to survive in a man’s world is a sure crowd-pleaser.

“A willfully theatrical, proudly retro yet delectably pertinent confection, The Crime is Mine [...] parlays mid-1930s Paris into a sly slice of feminist triumph against lecherous producers, self-serving legal authorities, cultural gatekeepers [...]” –  Screen Daily

February 19, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

DUMB MONEY

103 minutes USA, 2023, English

Principal Cast: Paul Dano, Seth Rogen, Vincent D’Onofrio, America Ferrera, Nick Offerman

Paul Dano and Seth Rogen find themselves on opposite ends during a tug-of-war in Craig Gillespie’s take on the outrageous battle of wits between amateur investors and hedge fund billionaires that became the infamous GameStop Wall Street scandal.

Everybody expects GameStop to fail. With this struggling bricks-and-mortar business further drained by the pandemic, it feels like it’s only a matter of time. Hedge fund managers like Gabe Plotkin (Rogen) bet billions on the hope that it does. Keith Gill (Dano) thinks otherwise. Operating out of his basement as an amateur investor, he’s been adamant for years that the company is undervalued, posting regular updates and videos online to make his case. When a few average citizens start to pay attention, it sparks a bonfire. Keith’s wager becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as big-name investors like Gabe feel the squeeze of its rising stock price. It isn’t long before big money does everything in its power to throw water on the grassroots movement.

Dumb Money captures the rabid creativity of the internet and the power of community many found there in 2021. What started as a silly gamble quickly turned into a national battle of wits between the haves and the have-nots, with nurses, college students, and even rank-and-file GameStop employees jumping into the stock market to try and prove the billionaires wrong. Gillespie brings his wicked sense of humour to this outrageous story from our outrageous times.

“It is a movie of such fun performances from every single one of the characters. Everybody is just giving it their all.” – Amy Nicholson, FilmWeek

February 26, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

FLORA AND SON

94 minutes Ireland, USA, 2023, English

Principal Cast: Eve Hewson, Jack Reynor, Orén Kinlan, Joseph Gordon-Levitt

With Flora and Son, Irish writer-director John Carney has crafted his most soulful song cycle yet, setting a young single mother on a journey of self-discovery. 

Flora is something of a hot mess. She’s feisty, charismatic, and a trouble magnet. She loves to party — but she loves her 14-year-old son Max more, even if it seems like all they do is quarrel. In an effort to bridge the gulf between them, Flora gives Max a guitar, but Max’s ideal musical instrument is his computer, which he uses to construct infectious dance tracks.

Rather than let the guitar collect dust, Flora opts to develop her own musical chops, taking online lessons from Jeff, a handsome troubadour who shows Flora how to form basic chords and introduces her to the genius of Joni Mitchell. Flora falls for Jeff, despite the fact that she’s in Dublin and he’s in Los Angeles. But as Jeff pierces Flora’s heart, he also inspires in her a creative urge that might lead to a whole new way of connecting with Max.

In films like the beloved Oscar winner Once and Sing Street, Carney has reinvented the musical. Carney’s films convey a profound understanding of how music lifts us out of life’s dead-end distractions and carries us to a place where we can be our best selves. Flora and Son is a soaring realization of this idea.

“Heart and soul — those two concepts beaten to death by lyricists — suffuse every scene of this modest, perfect picture.”– Kyle Smith, Wall Street Journal

March 4, 2024 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

THE THREE MUSKETEERS – PART 1 – D’ARTAGNAN

121 minutes France, Germany, Spain, Belgium 2023, French, English, Italian, Spanish, German, Latin

Principal Cast: Francois Civil, Vincent Cassel, Romain Duris, Pio Marmai, Eva Green

D'Artagnan, a spirited young Gascon, is left for dead after trying to save a young woman from being kidnapped. When he arrives in Paris, he tries by all means to find his attackers. He is unaware that his quest will lead him to the heart of a real war where the future of France is at stake. Allied with Athos, Porthos and Aramis, three musketeers of the King with a dangerous temerity, D'Artagnan faces the dark machinations of the Cardinal of Richelieu. But it is when he falls madly in love with Constance Bonacieux, the Queen's confidante, that d'Artagnan truly puts himself in danger. For it is this passion that leads him into the wake of the one who becomes his mortal enemy: Milady de Winter.

“The production values are exquisite, the cinematography gorgeous and the fighting sequences exciting. It’s on a par with Richard Lester’s 1972 version, and that is saying something.” - Randy Myers, San Jose Mercury News

March 11, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

DREAM SCENARIO

100 minutes USA, 2023 English

Principal Cast: Nicholas Cage, Julianne Nicholson, Lily Bird, Michael Cera, Tim Meadows, Dylan Baker

This satirical swipe at celebrity and groupthink from writer-director Kristoffer Borgli and co-producer Ari Aster stars Nicolas Cage as an inconspicuous academic who is thrust into the limelight after he starts inexplicably appearing in people’s dreams.

Nicolas Cage stars as Paul Matthews, a listless family man and tenured professor with an affinity for evolutionary biology and anxiety regarding his own anonymity. One day, he discovers he has begun to appear in other people’s dreams at an exponential rate. As in life, his presence in these dreams is banal and non-intrusive — he’s simply there, staring indifferently at the fantasies and nightmares of strangers. Nonetheless, he becomes an overnight celebrity, and is soon showered with the attention he has long been denied. But when Paul encounters a dreamer whose visions of him differ substantially from the norm, he finds himself grappling with the Faustian bargain of fame as his dream-selves start inexplicably becoming violent within their respective subconsciousness’s.

Co-produced by Ari Aster, a consummate alchemist of surrealist horror and anxious comedy, Dream Scenario proceeds as a kind of comedic reversal of A Nightmare on Elm Street, with Paul in the proverbial striped sweater terrorizing the populus, but, here, facing real-life consequences for actions he does not control. Cage is brilliant as the pitiable Matthews, and outright terrifying as some of his manifestations, which feature an iconic intensity not seen in a Cage part since Mandy (incidentally shot by this film’s cinematographer Ben Loeb). Buoyed by a terrific cast that features Julianne Nicholson and Michael Cera, this dryly hilarious satire-cum–social horror affirms writer-director Kristoffer Borgli as an astute critic of influencer culture and societal groupthink, and a gifted purveyor of the absurd.

“Dream Scenario does feature some surreal dream sequences, but it’s not really about dreams. It’s about life as a modern, viral celebrity, on display in the unblinking eye of the public, social media and cancel culture.” - Richard Crouse

March 18, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

JOAN BAEZ: I AM A NOISE

 113 minutes USA, 2023, English

Principal Cast: Joan Baez

Expansive in scope and deeply insightful, Joan Baez I Am a Noise offers an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the iconic musician who was a central figure in the proliferation of folk music and countercultural activism in the 1960s.

At almost two hours, the amount of ground that the film covers is incredible, as is the diversity of material and techniques that the film’s directing trio uses to sustain and deepen our understanding of Baez, including radio interviews, therapy recordings, concert footage, home videos, and even illustrated depictions of diary entries, all pulled from various points throughout Baez’s 60-year career and history as a public figure.

In that time, we observe as the many roles that Baez is prescribed — by herself, her family, her romantic partners, and her peers — come into conflict with one another: artist, activist, leader, mother, sibling, and more. That the film avoids the trappings of hagiography is largely a testament to Baez’s own transparency and commitment to interrogating her own legacy as she embarks on her farewell tour.

The film notably dissects Baez’s ill-fated romance and artistic partnership with Bob Dylan; her friendship with Martin Luther King Jr., leading to her powerful performance at the March on Washington; and her complex relationship with her sisters Pauline and Mimi in their later years as they reckon with the abuses inflicted on them by their father. This is a monumental work about an artist whose impact spans generations.

“Anyone with an interest in the key artists of the counterculture movement will find much to appreciate here.” – David Rooney,  The Hollywood Reporter

March 25, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

THE TEACHER’S LOUNGE

98 minutes Germany, 2023 German, English, Polish

Principal Cast: Leonie Benesch, Leonard Stettnisch, Eva Löbau

Fresh out of college, Carla (Leonie Benesch) is a new hire at a German junior high. Soon beloved by her homeroom, she takes great pride in her job, though not in her Polish heritage, which she hides from her colleagues. The school has a problem: a thief is at work and causing suspicion among students and staff. After falling victim to the culprit’s handiwork — and with her Turkish pupil falsely accused of the crime — Carla is embroiled in a plot to entrap the real offender. With the help of her laptop, she manages to corner Friederike (Eva Löbau), who works as the school secretary and whose bright son Oskar (Leonard Stettnisch) is in Carla’s class. With the rumour mill roiling and the school newspaper weighing in, Carla is in the spotlight and neither Friederike nor Oskar, who starts spreading damaging rumours in retaliation, will go down without a fight.

Benesch (The White Ribbon, TIFF ’09) and Löbau are outstanding as adversaries in director Ilker Çatak’s debut. Born in Berlin to Turkish immigrants, Çatak has his finger on the pulse of what makes us tick and a knack for showing how quickly things can fall apart, be they small-time schemes or entire democracies. The Teachers’ Lounge, which won the German Film Awards’ top prize of the Golden Lola for best film in 2023, is an essential reminder that no good deed goes unpunished.

“[The Teachers’ Lounge] makes the subtle but striking argument that school is not some sterile, cloistered haven in which we can safely prepare young minds for the challenges of the real world: It is the real world, and at every roll call, all those challenges are already present.” –Jessica Kiang, Variety

April 1, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

 A DIFFICULT YEAR

120 minutes France, 2023 French

Principal Cast: Pio Marmaï, Jonathan Cohen, Noémie Merlant, Mathieu Amalric

The latest from writer-directors Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano is a puckish comedy about finding a reason for being - even when the world seems to be falling apart.

When Bruno and Albert first meet, neither is in a good way. Bruno has just stolen a television, while Albert responds to being evicted with a bumbling suicide attempt. Bruno manages to save this doped-up stranger’s life - only after getting vomited on - and a friendship is born. They have something in common: each suffers an addiction to buying stuff, and both are drowning in debt. They take classes from debt-reduction expert Henri, though he, too, has a long record of overspending that threatens to follow him forever.

One day, Bruno and Albert crash a meeting held by a group of activists dedicated to fighting overconsumption. The guys came for free beer and have zero interest in speeches about climate change or new-agey, energy-boosting hugs… well, maybe they’d like the hugs, especially if they come from the group’s beautiful leader, who manages to persuade them to participate in elaborate demonstrations that Bruno hopes will spark a love affair - if he doesn’t get arrested first.

A Difficult Year is driven by a belief in people’s fundamental ability to change - and the ability to find beauty in even the bleakest moments.

 “Writers/directors Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache succinctly and successfully tackle a variety of topics with panache and loads of humour. A DIFFICULT YEAR shines.” George Kozera

April 8, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

THE OLD OAK

119 minutes UK, France, Belgium, 2023 English

Principal Cast: Trevor Fox, Debbie Honeywood, Dave Turner

The future is uncertain for the Old Oak, the last remaining pub and last remaining social space in a quiet working-class town in Northern England. While it was once a thriving mining community, years of neglect have left the town barren with empty homes on every street. These houses are cheap and available, making this town ideal for Syrian refugees.

Racism and narrow-minded attitudes towards any newcomers are the standard in the town. Several scenes focus on stark and uncomfortably real conversations between townsfolk seething about immigrants potentially entering their community. Tensions rise after the racist mob requests to use the back room of the Old Oak as a meeting place to air their grievances, but the owner, TJ Ballantyne (Dave Turner), refuses, knowing this will only encourage more hateful speech. Meanwhile, he strikes up a genuine friendship with one of the refugees, a young woman named Yara (Ebla Mari) who is bright, passionate, and interested in creating a life for herself in this new place.

The Old Oak is director Ken Loach’s self-reported final film and is infused with his signature social realism. A hopeful appeal to better natures, this film argues for compassion and solidarity in the face of racism and xenophobia.

“[Loach] could hardly have delivered a more resonant, timely or indeed angry swansong than this feature which takes up arms against the decay of national compassion.” –Jonathan Romney,  Screen International

April 15, 2024, 7:30pm at Tilley Hall, UNB Campus

THE THREE MUSKETEERS: MILADY

115 minutes France, Germany, Spain, Belgium, 2023 French with English subtitles

Principal Cast: François Civil, Vincent Cassel, Eva Green, Romain Duris

A true historical epic, The Three Musketeers: Milady captures all the chaos and diversion of the geographically far-reaching plot with an ensemble cast that keeps you entertained and experiencing a full range of emotions. One moment you’re laughing at Aramis (Romain Duris) and Porthos (Pio Marmaï) bickering with each other, and the next you’re on a heartfelt journey with D’Artagnan on a romantic quest to rescue his abducted amour, Constance Bonacieux.

The central character of the story Milady de Winter is the slinky, sexy, smirking and sulphurous hitwoman working for Cardinal Richelieu. With her consistency within the narrative, coupled with ambiguous loyalties and misleading priorities, Milady de Winter dominates and is another captivating performance by Eva Green.

The action and layered intrigue is set in 1627 when, to put it mildly, Catholics and Protestants were not getting along. The musketeers are quick-witted and know how to wield a sword, which they are duty-bound to do in the service of their King.

The Three Musketeers: Milady showcases a historical epic done right, littered with authentic locations, character charm, and a dense plot filled with adventure, swordsmanship, and subtle political manoeuvring. It’s a successful interpretation of Dumas’ fiction, and a delight for any fans of historical epic adventures.            

“The film has witty lines and thrilling battle scenes but it’s the brilliant Green who leaves you wanting more.” Andy Lea, The Daily Express (UK)

“A dynamic old-fashioned swashbuckler packed full of palace intrigue, romance, thrilling swordplay plus Aramis and Porthos’ comical verbal jousting.” Whang Yee Ling The Straits Times