Oh, Tilda Swinton. How do we love thee? Let us count the ways. From a gender-bending time traveler to a self-doubting yet ball-busting corporate lawyer to the iconic White Which, it seems there’s no role this Oscar-winning actress can’t immerse herself in and pull off with effortless precision. Case in point: in this Italian drama, Swinton speaks perfect Italian with a Russian accent. This is made all the more astonishing by the fact that, before the start of filming, Swinton spoke neither language. However, I Am Love isn’t just a silver-screen linguistics course. It’s a complicated, moving, visually arresting love story, one in which Swinton, as Emma Recchi, has an emotional and sexual awakening that, in the hands of Swinton and director Luca Guadagnino, is the stuff exquisite filmmaking is made of. (C. Ross)

"Winter's Bone is one of the unshowiest and most true-blooded epics of Americana you're ever likely to see — especially if you've seen your share of indie movies in which picturesque poverty is faked by the half-dead flickering neon of a roadside truck stop. Like Daniel Woodrell's commanding novel from which the story is adapted, the movie is set in Missouri's secretive Ozarks, and it was shot there as well. It sings the ballad of Ree Dolly (Jennifer Lawrence), a proud, poor teenager with problems too big for most adults: She's responsible for the welfare of her two kid siblings and her mentally ill mama, and her father is on the run from the law (he cooks meth, often in concert with kin). He's also promised the family house as collateral for a bail bond. If Ree loses the house, her family loses their scrabbly hold on the world. She won't let that happen. Winter's Bone follows Ree as she looks for her daddy in a community where oaths of silence are as serious as any Mob omertà." Full review here.

Advance Tickets on Sale Now at Brown Paper Tickets

Don’t miss the outrageous rock ‘n’ roll vampire spoof about a down and out band, The Winners, who will do anything for a record deal. When their disgruntled manager (Dave Foley) tells them that they are getting “long in the tooth”, he doesn’t know that his words are truly prophetic. During a road trip, their humdrum image radically changes when Jennifer (Jessica Paré), the bass player, disappears one night with a hip vampire (Dimitri Coats). She emerges with a sexually charged charisma that drives the audiences wild.

As the band members succumb, one by one, to blood lust, their “gimmick” launches them into the limelight. Following an “incident” on a national radio show with “Rock’n Roger” (Henry Rollins), they hit mega-stardom beyond their wildest dreams. Joey (Rob Stefaniuk), the lead singer, is haunted by an eerie bartender (Alice Cooper), who turns out to be much more. Meanwhile, legendary vampire hunter, Eddie Van Helsig (Malcolm McDowell), is tracking them down, despite his fear of the dark. When a veteran music producer (Iggy Pop) calls them on becoming a vampire freak show, they begin to realize that fame is not what it’s cracked up to be.

Suck is a wild ride down a highway to hell, with a killer soundtrack that includes Iggy Pop’s, “TVeye” and “Success”; Alice Cooper’s, “I am a Spider”; Lou Reed’s Velvet Underground’s “Sweet Nuthin”; David Bowie’s, “Here Comes the Night” and The Rolling Stones, “Sympathy for the Devil”.

From SF Chronicle:

"Kevin Kline is one of the few actors who can pull off being dapper and eccentric simultaneously. Now he's older, grayer, dandier - and even more persuasive as a dashing gentleman nutcase.

His performance in "The Extra Man" offers a highly specific movie-going joy: the chance to watch a great actor gobble up a role with mincing delicacy. As Henry Harrison, a washed-up playwright-turned-gadabout, he savors his lines like a foodie sucking dark meat off a chicken.

For Kline's performance alone, "The Extra Man" is well worth seeing. It's also worth seeing for its old-fashioned charm, for its sweetly peculiar New York Upper East Side ambience and for the literate, comic elements of its screenplay - adapted from Jonathan Ames' novel by co-directors Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini..."

ADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE AT BROWN PAPER TICKETS

Live Leonard Cohen from his recent world tour--in HD and 5.1 Sound on the big screen!

“When legend Cohen takes to the stage, it’s no less than a cultural event of Biblical dimensions.” - The Independent

In 2008, following the celebration of his 40th year as a Columbia recording artist and coinciding with his induction into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Leonard Cohen thrilled his fans by announcing his first tour dates in 15 years. Cohen went on to play the most prestigious and beautiful venues in virtually every corner of the globe, mesmerizing and charming audiences with performances that were hailed as some of the best of his career.

SONGS FROM THE ROAD, a dozen of Cohen’s most famous songs from that world tour, can now be presented at your venue for a limited time. Treat your audiences to the best of Cohen’s performances at auditoriums, arenas, and stadiums from Tel Aviv to London to the California desert, all filmed in stunning high-definition.

Here are the songs and where they were recorded:

Lover, Lover, Lover (Ramat Gan Stadium, Tel Aviv, Israel, September 24, 2009)
Bird On the Wire (Clyde Auditorium, Glasgow, Scotland, November 6, 2008)
Chelsea Hotel (Royal Albert Hall, London, England, November 17, 2008)
Heart With No Companion (Oberhausen King Pilsener Arena, Oberhausen, Germany, November 2, 2008)
That Don't Make it Junk (O2 Arena, London, England, November 13, 2008)
Waiting for the Miracle (HP Pavilion, San Jose, California, November 13, 2009)
Avalanche (Gothenburg Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden, October 12, 2008)
Suzanne (MENA Arena, Manchester, England, November 30, 2008)
The Partisan (Hartwall Arena, Helsinki, Finland, October 10, 2008)
Famous Blue Raincoat (O2 Arena, London, England, November 13, 2008)
Hallelujah (Coachella Music Festival, Indio, California, April 17, 2009)
Closing Time (John Labatt Centre, London, Ontario, May 24, 2009)

From EW:

"In contrast to the emotional inertia of the character he plays, a former big-wheel car dealer gunning toward self-destruction as he nears 60, Michael Douglas surges ahead in Solitary Man with the best work he's done in the decade since Wonder Boys. Douglas portrays Ben Kalmen, a New York player gone to seed and divorced from a good, mature woman (Susan Sarandon, equally revitalized). He's squandering the love of his adult daughter (Jenna Fischer, superb). And he's compulsively chasing inappropriate women — some as young as the college-age daughter (Imogen Poots) of his girlfriend (Mary-Louise Parker).

With an outstanding screenplay by Brian Koppelman and disciplined direction by Koppelman and David Levien, a story that could have been generic (or worse, scented with flowery bulls---) turns into a precise, honest, and affecting drama. And recognizing the gift of such a character, Douglas does Ben Kalmen the honor of playing him exactly as he lies. A-"

Advance Tickets available now at Brown Paper Tickets

Local director Sidra Villasana has made a compelling relationship drama illustrating the difficulty of change. As changes in Parker become more and more distinct, the differences start to affect the people around him. With an inability to explain his transformations, and his unsuccessful attempts to come to terms with the gap forming between him and his loved ones, Parker finds his environment increasing in confusion and hostility.  Mental growth or a mental breakdown, things become more and more tumultuous.  Starring Glyndon Jewel, Neill McLaughlin, Terra Sharp, and Hunter Jackman, this surreal and disturbing film shows the effects of radical change to a simple life.

Performed at Teatro Comunale, Bologna, Italy

”In Bologna [Kate Aldrich] is a beautifully burnished Adalgisa, perfectly holding her own opposite one of the great singers of today, Daniela Dessì (…) attacking her part with confidence, sporting a beautifully burnished voice.” -(Opera Chic)

Bellini wrote “Norma” at age 30. It became his greatest achievement, and it is now regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition. The title role is generally considered one of the most difficult in the soprano repertoire. It includes the famous aria “Casta Diva,” which is often associated with opera legend Maria Callas.

He was called the “new Hemingway” after he penned The Perfect Storm, now noted nonfiction author Sebastian Junger has journeyed into the realm of documentary filmmaking, with similar results (Restrepo won the 2010 Grand Jury prize for domestic documentary at Sundance and opened the festival). Junger and cameraman Tim Hetherington spent a year embedded with a platoon in Afghanistan’s deadly Korangal Valley, cameras rolling the entire time. Far from a polemic about the war, Junger describes their efforts as “purely experiential,” and says “there are no interviews with generals; there is no moral or political analysis.” Instead, what we get is an insider’s view of both the horror and the horrible monotony of war, but, more than that, a look at the men who fight and the lives they forge together while making the best of an impossible situation.

When a teenage couple accidentally runs over a Martian in a wooded necking area, the Martian’s friends enact revenge by injecting their victims - via special needle-like fingernails - with alcohol, getting them drunk to death. The only witnesses are a group of teens hanging out at the nearby Lover’s Lane. However, the authorities disbelieve the teens’ story. The only hope is for the teenagers to band together to defeat the menace themselves. Low-budget fun.

Join marine biologist and cinematographer Florian Graner on an underwater odyssey through Puget Sound and discover the wonders living around Whidbey Island, Hood Canal, and in the greater Salish Sea. Packed with information about life in the oceans using the latest stealth diving equipment and state of the art HD cameras, get close and personal with our local world of fish. Co-sponsored by the Northwest Straits Commission and the Whatcom County Marine Resources Committee

Please note: Opening Date on this title is subject to change.

When a Pickford volunteer took a week off from his popcorn duties to attend SIFF, this was the film he came back from Seattle praising most highly. Patricia Clarkson--who always shines regardless of the size or nature of the part she’s playing--travels to Egypt to meet up with her husband, a U.N. official. When he’s delayed, he entrusts her to his friend Tareq (Alexander Siddig). He shows her the sights, helps her navigate the unfamiliar culture and, as sometimes happens when two attractive folks are thrown together in these kinds of situations, one thing leads to another and a flirtation develops. Almost as romantic as the storyline itself is the film’s exotic location, which lends much to mood of the movie. If you won’t be spending your summer traveling to a sun-soaked hotspot, Cairo Time might just be a worthy staycation substitute.

Tosca was called a “shabby little shocker” by one English critic, but that’s an understatement: Tosca is a fiercely effective masterpiece of music-drama. Puccini had been interested in the Sardou’s play La Tosca for some time, but by 1895 the rights belonged to another composer, Alberto Franchetti. However, the publisher Ricordi and librettist Luigi Illica had no trouble persuading Franchetti to surrender the rights, telling him the subject matter – rape, murder, warring political factions – were far too vulgar for the Roman public’s taste. Soon after, Puccini was busy at work with the complete libretto in hand. Puccini approached the opera with his usual meticulousness – travelling to Rome to hear the tones of the bells in Castel Sant’Angelo, marking the exact pitch of the bell at St. Peter’s. Puccini also made two important changes to the libretto. He rejected an aria sung by Cavaradossi under torture, instead replacing it with the quartet; he felt that the static nature of the aria would slow the drama. Likewise, Puccini rejected both a poetic aria and transcendental love duet for the couple before Cavaradossi’s execution. Ricordi found the “acting lesson” scene too perfunctory, but Puccini insisted that Tosca would not waste her time on flowery language – and of course, the drama proves that he was right.

From Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa, Italy. Recorded live on June 10, 2010

Special Sneak Preview Screenings

Director Caleb Young has fashioned a mesmerizing, beautiful, gem of a film. Two years after the death of Jonathan, his fiance, Christian, plans to steal the urn. Christian convinces Michael, Jon's twin, to come along, and they take a road trip, scattering the ashes in all the places Jonathan was never able to see. The two begin an affair in an attempt to understand a part of Jonathan they never knew before.

In Person: Director Bradley Beesley (director of Okie Noodling, Summercamp)

“one of America’s most interesting, contemporary nonfiction filmmakers…
as pure a piece of movie-making that you will see…
one of the best films of the year.”
- A.J. Schnack, All These Wonderful Things

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo goes behind prison walls to follow convict cowgirls on their journey to the 2007 Oklahoma State Penitentiary Rodeo. In 2006, female inmates were allowed to participate for the first time.

In a state with the highest female incarceration rate in the country, these women share common experiences such as broken homes, drug abuse and alienation from their children.  From 1940 – 2008, the Oklahoma State Penitentiary held an annual ‘Prison Rodeo’. Part Wild West show and part coliseum-esque spectacle, it was one of the last of its kind – a relic of the American penal system. Prisoners compete on wild-broncs and bucking bulls, risking life-long injuries. For inmates like Danny Liles, a 14-year veteran of the rodeo, the chance to battle livestock offers a brief respite from prison life.  Within this strange arena the prisoners become the heroes while the public and guards applaud.

The first film noir? John Huston, a first-time director, “defines film noir” by masterfully manipulating “light and shadow, utilizing drastic camera angles, and introducing Bogart's Sam Spade. Bogart's iconic performance as an emotionally detached PI thrust into the murderous pursuit of an ancient relic was equally revolutionary. Bogart made selfish and unredeemable likable, and the antihero was born” EW. Features a second amazing performance from the femme fatale, Mary Astor, who’s somewhat sordid personal life had made the headlines--and gives her even more allure here. 1941. USA. English. 101 min. Unrated. 

Features Director Scott Crocker in Person

Generally speaking, bird-watching is a pastime that is extremely interesting to a few people and not at all interesting to anyone else. But Scott Crocker has turned a bird-watching tale into a multilayered story that will fascinate practically everybody in “Ghost Bird,” a witty, wistful documentary about the supposed rediscovery in Arkansas of the ivory-billed woodpecker, a bird thought to have been extinct for decades.

A film of startling craftsmanship and design, Bury Me in Redwood Country is destined to go places—its assured cinematography, accomplished sound design, and methodical pacing suggest comparisons to films like Rivers & Tides. The story of “the Redwood tree is a meditation on extremes: Its genus evolved hundreds of millions of years ago in Antarctica and persisted through the coming and going of the dinosaurs. Many still alive today are older than Christ. It is the tallest and largest tree on the planet, the scaffolding of complex ecosystems, and it is the most valuable timber known to man.” A meditative yet thrilling film that lets the trees, and a few select aficionados, tell their own story. 2009. USA. 60 min. Unrated.

An Encore screening for DOCTOBER

The Bellingham Ukulele Group (BUG) will be performing pre-show!

Until the 20th Century, if you wanted music, you had to make it yourself. Back then, music was embedded in our families, our communities, even our work. When the phonograph came along, none of us was good enough anymore and many became passive in relation to music: consumers rather than participants. Now, in the 21st Century, people are taking back the music, learning to make their own, forming communities, and the easy-to-learn ukulele with its wealth of old-time tunes evoking simpler times, is the instrument of choice.
Mighty Uke is a visual feast, filmed in vivid HD,counterbalanced by B/W historical footage and original animation, and accompanied by music, played, composed and introduced by the characters themselves.
Mighty Uke  travels the world to seek out ukulele players, documenting this third wave of popularity, exploring the rich history of the uke and learning about the healing effect of music self-played.

Director Lee Storey will be at The Pickford to answer your questions!

"Storey knows that the Up With People volunteer organization inspires giggles and derision in equal measure, so he opens with old footage of the troupe singing and dancing at the height of their late-'60s/early-'70s visibility and gets (most of) the chuckles out of the way early. What follows is a film that offers a withering critique of the organization's religious cult roots, right-wing political subtext, and insipid music, while also being very respectful of the fact that, to a lot of the young folks who signed on, the group offered the chance to affect positive, even progressive, change in the world." Village Voice