Zorianna Zurba
Amelie
2001 (Jean-Pierre Jeunet) 14A, 121 min
Starring: Audrey Tatou, Mathieu Kassovitz
In French with English subtitles
Amelie tells the story of a young woman with a big imagination and an even bigger heart, who after years of living in relative isolation with her over-protective father, moves to Paris to work as a café waitress. After the death of Princess Diana, Amelie is inspired to devote herself to bringing happiness to other people. Her adventures lead her to return lost boyhood treasures to an elderly man and eventually to find happiness herself. Featuring stunning glimpses of Paris, scenes saturated in deep greens and reds, and heart-warming whimsical moments, Amielie is a truly delightful film that is sure to banish the winter blues.
-Zorianna ZurbaWatch the Trailer
Nine
2009 (Rob Marshall) PG, 119 min
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Marion Cotillard, Nicole Kidman, Penelope Cruz
His last two films were flops and he has only one week left to finish his current film, and no inspiration to see it through: director Guido Contini (Day-Lewis) is on the verge of a creative meltdown. This is to say nothing of the negotiations that he must endure with the various women in his life: his wife (Cotillard), his mistress (Cruz), his film star muse (Kidman), his confidant and costume designer (Dench), an American fashion journalist (Hudson), the whore from his youth (Fergie) and his mother (Loren). Through dreams, drinks, and a little dance, Guido manages to keep everyone—including the audience—happy. This stunning ensemble cast does their best to pay homage to great Italian director Federico Fellini’s ninth film, titled 8 ½, and Italian cinema of the 1960’s. Nine was nominated for 5 Golden Globe Awards.
-Zorianna ZurbaWatch the Trailer
Funny Face
1957 (Stanley Donen) G, 103 min
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Fred Astaire, Kay Thompson
Editor Maggie Prescott (Thompson) goes in search of something new and fresh to put in her fashion magazine. With the help of her photographer, Dick Avery (Astaire), she finds her answer in a quiet, precocious, and ‘funny faced’ book clerk, Jo (Hepburn) working in a Greenwich Village bookshop. Dick and Maggie convince the unwitting Jo to be in their photo shoot, and eventually make her over into a cover girl. Certainly, it is difficult to imagine Audrey Hepburn as anything but graceful and glamorous, and yet Funny Face convinces us—if only for a moment—that she has been transformed from bookish to beautiful, from cynical to s’wonderful. From gorgeous silhouetted shots in Avery’s darkroom to Jo’s out-stretched arms greeting the Seine to the Parisian existentialist song and dance jazz number, Funny Face is a constant delight brimming with Gershwin. The outfits and songs may have aged slightly, but the story remains as contemporary as ever. Come out to the Revue to see just how d’lovely and delightful it truly is.
-Zorianna ZurbaWatch the Trailer
Coco avant Chanel
2009 (Anne Fontaine) PG, 110 min
Starring: Alessandro Nivola, Audrey Tautou, Benoît Poelvoorde
In French with English subtitles
Audrey Tautou stars in this biopic about Gabrielle ‘Coco’ Chanel, which focuses on the younger years of ‘Coco’—before she transformed herself into the one word icon: Chanel. A young, chain-smoking, sarcastic Gabrielle spends her days practicing her craft and her nights working at a music hall singing naughty ditties, and later is torn between her struggles to assert herself and her romantic interludes with men. Coco avant Chanel is a film that ranks haute in fashion circles. It offers film-goers a chance to acquaint themselves with the woman behind the Chanel fashion line and the classic suit in an honest, candid and compassionate way.
-Zorianna ZurbaWatch the Trailer
