Penn State Altoona Film Series: Fall 2008

All films shown on Sundays at 7 p.m. at the Devorris Downtown Center
Admission is free - Everyone is invited
SEPTEMBER OCTOBER NOVEMBER

September 14 - Death at a Funeral (2007) is a delightful, if slightly deranged, romp by director Frank Oz (the voice of Miss Piggy and Yoda). When the family patriarch passes away, son Daniel (Matthew Macfadyen) and his wife Jane (Keeley Hawes) volunteer to host the funeral. As various family members arrive, including painfully shy Simon, the fiancé of a cousin, things begin to go seriously off-track. Simon has taken a hallucinogenic drug that somehow found its way into a valium bottle and begins to shed his inhibitions and his clothes. A mysterious "little person" (Peter Dinklage) shows up uninvited and with shocking news about Daniel’s late father. The British actors handle comic bits with impeccable timing and aplomb and the laughs are well and truly earned. Rated R for language/drug content. 90 min.

September 21 - Lars and the Real Girl (2007) is a film about a young man who orders an anatomically correct sex doll from an online site. Here comes the astonishing part: it is NOT a salacious sex comedy full of raunchy words or situations. If anything, Lars is as sad, hopeful, alarming, and melancholy as it is funny. Lars Lindstrom is a miserable, lonely fellow who cannot connect with real people. When a co-worker suggests he order a “Real Doll,” the result is the arrival of “Bianca.” Lars says she is from Brazil and needs to be in a wheel chair. Soon, Lars’ brother, sister-in-law, physician, and townspeople join in the deception, hoping to draw Lars out of his self-imposed prison of loneliness. This is a quirky, redemptive little film and Ryan Gosling’s performance as Lars is amazingly touching and heartfelt. PG-13. 106 min.

September 28 - Tootsie (1982) is one of the top comedies of the funny ‘80s. Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) can’t get arrested as an actor - he’s too opinionated and stubborn to even get work in commercials any longer (Michael’s agent: “You played a tomato for 30 seconds! They went a half a day over schedule because you wouldn't sit down!” “It was illogical.” “You were a TOMATO!!”) In desperation Michael Dorsey decides to put on makeup and transform himself into Dorothy Michaels, an actress whose appeal is less…traditional…than most women trying to break into a soap opera. “Dorothy’s” adventures with high heels, makeup, and men (and women) provide a rare but decidedly comedic look at male and female roles. Hoffman is amply supported by great acting by Jessica Lange, Bill Murray, Terri Garr, Dabney Coleman, Geena Davis, and Sydney Pollack (who also directed). A multiple Academy Award nominee, Tootsie is a keeper! PG. 116 min.

October 5 - The Band’s Visit (2007) is a delightfully modest movie that may disappoint some viewers if it fails to live up to its reputation as a film showing the way to world peace. That’s too much weight for this slender and completely beguiling fable. The plot is simple: a group of aging Egyptian musicians (the Alexandria Police Ceremonial Orchestra) arrives in Israel for a concert and immediately gets stranded in the middle of nowhere - a small village called Bet Hatikva whose own residents consider it a dusty outpost. Friendly and welcoming, the townspeople offer to put up the lost and underfunded musicians. The film shows the interaction between two cultures that consist of real people, not stereotypes. Their friendships, shared laughter, misconceptions, and embarrassments may not save the world or change every mind, but they do demonstrate that people are people, no matter what. Visit, a quietly magical film, proves irresistible in the end. PG-13. 87 min.

October 12 - The Darjeeling Limited (2007) is the latest film from director Wes Anderson to explore the connections, irritations, rivalries, misconceptions, and - finally - love between family members. In this case, three brothers reluctantly join forces to seek a rapprochement with their estranged mother - hiding as a nun in an Indian monastery. Aboard the train of the title, they awkwardly try to reconnect as siblings in the aftermath of their father’s recent death. Francis (Owen Wilson) is the oldest brother, and he’s joined on their spiritual quest by Peter (Adrien Brody) and Jack (Jason Schwartzman). Traveling with loads of luggage (and loads of repressed emotions), they find themselves enlightened, and occasionally threatened, by their encounters with the conductor, pepper spray, a cobra, and other unexpected obstacles. Mostly amusing, the film takes a brief turn into seriousness that draws the best from the often self-indulgent brothers. R (language). 91 min.

October 26 - Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (1967), a comedy by producer/director Stanley Kramer, is a socially responsible “message” film that hold up remarkably well after more than 40 years. For young people today, it might as well be 140 years - so far-reaching have been the changes in our culture since the movie screened in the late sixties. Matthew and Christina Drayton (Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn) are the parents of a lovely red-haired daughter named Joanna (Katharine Houghton) who brings home the handsome young doctor she’s fallen in love with. There’s only one problem - the doctor just happens to be black. The too-good-to-be-true Dr. John Prentice is played by Sidney Poitier, the leading (actually, only) black superstar of the era. The film deals gently and warmly with the reactions of the senior Draytons to their daughter’s intended - as well as the also less than thrilled reaction by Dr. Prentice’s flabbergasted father and mother (Roy Glenn & Beah Richards). Cecil Kellaway is wonderful as Monsignor Ryan, who acts as Matthew’s conscience and Katherine Hepburn’s acting earned her yet another Academy Award as Best Actress. Gravely ill while the film was being shot, the always superb Spencer Tracy gives one final great performance. He died days after the film was completed as was nominated posthumously for an Oscar as Best Actor. NR. 108 min.

November 2 - The Freshman (1990) Playing Mafia boss Carmine Sabatini in The Freshman, the great Marlon Brando good-naturedly spoofs his role as Don Corlione in The Godfather. Arriving in NYC for his first semester in film school, Clark Kellogg (Mathew Broderick) has his luggage stolen by a mob-connected Bruno Kirby. He succeeds in getting his bags back and then is talked into being courier for Mr. Sabatini, picking up possibly illegal cargo at the airport and delivering it. When his errands involve smuggling in endangered species, like Komodo Dragons, and the boss’s daughter (Penelope Ann Miller) has her sights set on his hand in marriage, Clark begins to wonder just what he’s gotten himself into. Maximilian Schell and Bert Parks are hilarious in small roles, and Paul Benedict is wonderful as a snotty film professor who gets his comeuppance. PG. 102 min.

November 9 - Easy Living (1937) was written by Preston Sturges before he began directing his own comic masterpieces. Jean Arthur stars as a NYC working class young woman who has a fur coat fall onto her as she rides atop a double-decker bus. Annoyed at his wife’s spendthrift ways, a millionaire banker (Edward Arnold) tossed the offending garment out of the window. When she tries to return it, he insists she keep it. Further, he’ll replace her damaged hat. When the two are seen together, tongues begin to wag and soon everyone thinks the Wall Street wizard is keeping a mistress. Toss in Ray Milland as the millionaire’s son trying to make it on his own by working at the Automat, a calculating luxury hotel owner, and a suspicious wife (a wonderful Mary Nash), you have the makings of a great Depression-era comedy. This gem deserves to be seen. NR. 88 min.

November 16 - The Valet (2006) is just as lightweight and just as much fun as writer/director Francis Veber’s earlier farces - The Closet and The Dinner Game (both previous Film Series entries). His protagonist, again named François Pignon (Gad Elmaheh) is a parking valet who ends up in a photograph of a supermodel who walks by. She’s mistress of a rich man (Daniel Auteuil) who insists the photo reveals that her lover is not him but the valet. To make this deception work, the husband pays the valet a bundle of money to pretend that he and the model are an item, to the extent of having them cohabit an apartment. Veber’s plots are ingenious and complicated, and his sure touch with comedy guarantees that his films never fail to delight. Many have been remade by Hollywood, but they almost always lack his sophistication and perfect comedy timing. PG-13. 85 min.

All descriptions and comments are provided by Dr. Kenneth R. Von Gunden, Lecturer in Integrative Arts.
Dates or films may change due to unforeseen circumstances. MPAA ratings enforced.
Funding provided by the Division of Arts of Humanities: Dr. Kenneth A.Womack, Head.
Film Series Director: Dr. Kenneth Von Gunden