Films are shown in the Student Center Cinema
UW-Parkside Foreign Film Series
2013 Summer Program
The University of Wisconsin-Parkside Foreign Film Series will have a short three-film summer program on three consecutive weeks in July.
Price: $4 at the door; admission is first come, first serve.
Location: UW-Parkside Student Center Cinema.
Day/time: Thursday 7:30 pm, Friday 7:30 pm, Saturday 8:00 pm.
Click on the film title for a full-length review.
July 11-13 Holy Motors (France, 2012)
You may be perplexed, perhaps exasperated, but you will certainly not be bored by this freewheeling, unconventional narrative. Denis Lavant puts his chameleon acting skills to broad use as Monsieur Oscar, a bizarre public performance artist employed by an unseen organization to carry out various disguised missions in and around Paris. Lavant’s delightfully changeable character is transported about in a stretch limousine/dressing room from which his chauffeur Celine delivers him to each new location. Over the course of the film’s single day timeframe, Monsieur Oscar has nine “appointments” of distinctively different formulations. Monsieur Oscar morphs into a hunched-over gypsy beggar before showing up as a green-screen ninja for a film production. He eventually turns into a reptilian sex god making love with his ideal mate. Challenging yes, but worth every minute. French language, subtitled. 115 min.
July 18-20 Beasts of the Southern Wild (USA, 2012)
In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl, Hushpuppy, exists on the brink of orphanhood. Played by Quvenzhané Wallis, Hushpuppy is buoyed by optimism and extraordinary imagination; she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Acutely aware of the concrete levee that separates dry land from their tidal basin, called the Bathtub, Hushpuppy imagines the coming flood in terms of Arctic avalanches, releasing fantastic, prehistoric, boar-like creatures called aurochs. Even when a ferocious storm destroys her environment, she’s a relentlessly optimistic survivalist, firmly believing that balance is the natural order of the universe. English language. 93 min.
July 25-27 Le Cercle Rouge (France, 1970)
The biggest success of Melville’s career, this New Wave French gangster film wasn’t shown theatrically in the U.S. until the 1990s, and then only in a dubbed 40 minute version. Here, for the first time, is the complete, uncut version–in French, with new subtitles–more vivid than ever in a new restoration that was selected for the prestigious “Heritage” section of the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. This restoration is being presented by director John Woo, who cites Melville as a key influence. Master thief Corey is played by Alain Delon, the Robert DeNiro of his time. Shortly after leaving prison Cory finds his way back to the shadowy world of crime, teaming up with a notorious escapee (Gian Maria Volonté) and an alcoholic ex-cop (Yves Montand). As the trio plot a heist, their trail is pursued by a relentless inspector and fate seals their destinies. Melville combines honorable antiheroes, coolly atmospheric cinematography, and breathtaking set pieces to create a masterpiece of crime cinema. French language, subtitled. 140 min.
See you at the movies!
UW-Parkside Foreign Film Series CommitteeNorm Cloutier (FFS Director, Professor of Economics)
Donald Kummings (Emeritus Professor of English)
What our patrons are saying:
It is a ticket to a different world, countries, and customs I have not had the opportunity to experience. Some of these movies are among the best I have ever seen.
Sharon Acerbi
20 years attending
Information on the
2013-2014 regular season Foreign Film Series
