Next screening "Cold Souls" [USA/Russia]

"Cold Souls" screens Thursday 8th July 2010
6.30pmpre-screening drinks and nibbles
7pmfilm screens

**** Margaret ***.5 David from ABC's At the Movies

"Much of cinema is so predictable these days. COLD SOULS isn’t." Margaret Pomeranz


Paul is an actor who feels bogged down by his participation in a production of Chekov's play, Vanya.

A soul searching comedy, from the hustle and bustle of New York City to the snow-bound streets of Moscow, Cold Souls is a surreal comedy in the vein of Being John Malkovich. Paul Giamatti stars as Paul Giamatti, an actor agonizing over his interpretation of the famously difficult role of Chekhov's Uncle Vanya in a new Broadway production.

Paralyzed by anxiety, he stumbles upon a solution via an article in the New Yorker about a high-tech company that promises to alleviate suffering by extracting the soul. Giamatti engages their services, but finds to his horror that his soul has the size and shape of a chickpea… But when he finds his life without a soul, well, soulless, Giamatti decides he wants his soul back—only to discover that it has been stolen by a mysterious soul-trafficking mule for re-introduction into an aspiring Russian soap starlet.

Giamatti is joined by David Strathairn ( Good Night and Good Luck ), Emily Watson ( Punch Drunk Love ) and Six Feet Under ’s Lauren Ambrose in this mind-bending response to bigger, better, shinier American consumerism—a dazzlingly inventive comedy which walks a tightrope between humour and gravity, reality and fantasy. {Synopsis courtesy Madman}

Classification M
Genre Comedy Drama
101 minute

Director: Sophie Barthes
Lead actor: Paul Giamatti
Cast: David Strathairn, Dina Korzun, Emily Watson, Katheryn Winnick, Lauren Ambrose


Trailer
http://www.madman.com.au/actions/video.do?method=view&videoId=1688

Margaret & David’s review
http://www.abc.net.au/atthemovies/txt/s2738624.htm

A squawk from Heckle & Jeckle re My Tehran for Sale

A SQUAWK FROM HECKLE AND JECKLE
We have been very remiss lately with handing in our reviews. We have a good excuse though. We went on a 5 week holiday, then poor old Heckle got the flu, along with half the population of Mount Gambier. Anyway we are back on track now. It is so good to see that the audience numbers are pretty consistent despite the chilly weather.

My Tehran for sale was deserving of 3 1/2 stars in my estimation (Heckle's opinion only). Being one of those "dreadful, bleeding heart" refugee sympathisers, I found the familiar storyline heartbreaking and depressing, but the characters were endearing, especially Marzieh, the young woman seeking asylum. She was wonderfully stoic and dogged in her determination to escape to a life free of the danger of the vengeful men in her family. At times there were some rather long drawn out parts of the story, which seemed unneccessary, but I thought it was well done. Congratulations team on a good choice.

A short footnote here. Once again during a recent jaunt to Adelaide to see our brilliant children, we made it to another film at the Nova to see The White Ribbon. This was as excellent as Margaret and David have reported. A very grim story with sinister undertones of malevolence in the children and adults of a small German village. Filmed in black and white, the story was set during the period just before the first world war.

This is nothing to do with films, but we also went to see Big Mother, the newly acquired exhibit at the Art Gallery. It is absolutely amazing in that it is so incredibly lifelike. We loved it. It stirred all sorts of emmotions though - a degree of horror, affection and empathy but also for me a very deep sadness for some reason. Anyway go and see it.