Harpur Cinema showcases film series on ‘growing pains’

Harpur Cinema’s Fall 2012 season will present “Growing Pains,” a series of six international releases representing the world cinema’s take on the joys and challenges of growing up.
     
All films will be featured at 7:30 p.m. in LH-6. Tickets are $4, single admission. Series tickets are $20, students and senior citizens; and $22, general public.

The schedule is:
• Oct. 5 and 7: “Octubre” by Daniel & Diego Vega Vidal (Peru, 2010) 83 min.
October is the month of miracles in Peru. Clemente, a pawnbroker, is stuck in a rut of money-lending and empty sexual encounters until one of those October miracles lands in his lap, and brings a few more surprises with it. Shot with a digital camera in a style reminiscent of American filmmaker Jim Jarmusch and Finnish realist Aki Kaurismaki, the Vegas chart the illumination of one man’s life with deadpan humor.

• Oct. 12 and 14: “Hedgehog” by Mona Achache (France, 2009) 100 min.
Paloma thinks she has it all figured out. She’s rich, spoiled and intrudes on everyone with her video diary to prove to herself that “life is absurd.” This incipient little cynic is shaken out of herself by the friendship of two unlikely adults — one of whom shares the name of the great Japanese director, Yasujiro Ozu. Critic Stephen Holden finds that filmmaker Mona Achache’s adaptation of Muriel Barbery’s novel nods to “Anna Karenina” and “Harold and Maude,” as well as to Japanese cinema. Winner: Best film, Seattle International Film Festival. The film will be introduced by Visiting Association Professor Dora Polachek on Sunday, Oct. 14.

• Oct. 19 and 21: “Les Contes de la nuit” by Michel Ocelot (France, 2011) 84 min.
Each night, three storytellers meet in a little cinema to tell magic stories of princesses and princes, sorcerers, enchantments and magical kingdoms. Ocelot (“Azur & Asmar”) returns to the Harpur Cinema lineup with his distinctive mixture of shadow-puppets moving against sumptuous, gorgeously colored and fantastic backgrounds. Nominated: Golden Bear, Berlin Film Festival, 2011

• Nov. 2 and 4: “Fish Tank” by Andrea Arnold (Britain, 2009) 123 min.
One of the most interesting of the new generation of women filmmakers in Britain, Arnold (Red Road), takes tough but compassionate views on growing up in the crumbling high-rises of Britain’s working class neighborhoods. “Fish Tank’s” young protagonist and break-dancer wannabe, Mia, is a seething mixture of energy, sexual longing and rebellion. Arnold takes an unflinching but touching look at the struggles of this young girl on the verge of womanhood. One of Michael Fassbender’s break-out performances. Outstanding British Film, BAFTA, 2010; Jury Prize, Cannes, 2009; Silver Hugo, Chicago International Film Festival, 2000. The film will be introduced by Lecturer Joyce Jesionowski on Friday, Nov. 2.

• Nov. 9 and 11: “Kid With a Bike” by Dardennes Brothers (Belgium, 2011) 87 min.
Luc and Jean-Pierre Dardennes echo the famous Italian film, “The Bicycle Thieves,” in this spare but powerful film of a boy searching for a stolen bike, but longing actually to regain the love of a father who has abandoned him. At times violent, at times full of the grace of childhood, the Dardennes create, says Anthony Lane of the New Yorker, intensity at “a heartbreaking pitch.” Winner: Grand Jury Prize, Cannes, 2011; nominated: Golden Globe, 2011. The film will be introduced by Chantal Rodais on Friday, Nov. 9.

• Nov. 30 and Dec. 3: “Norwegian Wood” by Tran Anh Hung (Japan, 2010) 133 min.
“I once had a girl…” The title of Murakami Haruki’s popular novel pays glancing homage to the Beatles song, which Tran Anh Hung (“The Scent of Green Papaya”) translates into a lush and luminous look at youthful passion. Set in the restive atmosphere of the Japanese college campus of the 1960s, Mark Jenkins of NPR said “Norwegian Wood” reminded him of Asian scroll paintings that become kinetic and even agitated.  Nominated: Golden Lion, Venice, 2010. The film will be introduced by Tomonari Niskikawa on Friday, Nov. 30.

For more information about the film series and Harpur Cinema, e-mail Nancy Wlostowski at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Subscription may be purchased by mail or in person at Binghamton University’s Cinema Department Office, located in SW- 203B, or at the admission door.