An eclectic collection of films that all
deal with American Dream(s). Since our festival is all about context
shifting, viewing them here may surprise you: like you've never seen any
of these films before. Before you come to the screening, take a look
at the expanded essay for each film by clicking on the title.
Be
sure to check out our Shorts & Documentaries,
too!
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Mr.
Smith Goes To Washington (1939)
130 minutes (Columbia)
Story by Lewis R. Foster.
Written by Sidney Buchman. Directed by Frank Capra.
"I wouldn't give
you two cents for all your fancy rules if, behind them, they didn't have
a little bit of plain, ordinary kindness... and a little looking out for
the other fella, too."
American Dreams start here.
Can one honest man make a difference? Jefferson Smith (Jimmy Stewart)
gives it his best shot, fighting corruption in the U.S. Senate while winning
the heart of a spunky, cynical secretary (Jean Arthur). A Capra
classic that practically defines patriotism, ironically written by soon-to-be
blacklisted Sidney Buchman. Nominated for eleven Academy Awards.
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Wall
Street (1987) 124 minutes
Written by Stanley Weiser
and Oliver Stone. Directed by Oliver Stone.
"Greed is good."
Youth, ambition, and greed collide in
Oliver Stone's polemical peek into the American soul. Michael Douglas
won the Academy Award as Best Actor for his riveting portrayal of cutthroat
financier, Gordon Gekko. Based upon the insider trading scandals
of the mid-eighties, the film's high stakes backroom deals seem more prescient
with each emerging accounting scandal. Or did this film actually
precipitate the current business climate by undermining the American cultural
taboo against greed? In a poetic and personal twist, Stone dedicated
Wall
Street to his father, a stock broker.
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A
Raisin In The Sun(1961) 128 minutes
(Columbia)
Written by Lorraine Hansberry.
Directed by Daniel Petrie
"It makes a difference
to a man when he can walk on floors that belong to him."
As Walter Lee Younger, Sidney Poitier
leads a stellar cast in a riveting portrait of a black family struggling
to overcome the odds in 1940s Chicago. Lorraine Hansberry adapted
her own acclaimed play, giving a powerful and personal voice to the struggle
of men of color and the women who support them. Walter Lee's unexpected
financial windfall becomes an endurance test for his wife, his sister,
his mother and his pride. Will restricted neighborhoods and redlining
undermine their American Dream? IN PERSON:
DANIEL PETRIE
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George
Washington (2000) 90 minutes
Written and directed
by
David Gordon Green.
"I think he figured
if no one would look after him, at least they would look at him."
Poetic, beautiful and transcendent...
an unseen, instant classic (already included in the Criterion Collection!).
Twenty-five-year-old filmmaker David Gordon Green offers a humanizing portrait
of rural kids, caught in poverty, dumped by society but still striving
to become superheroes. Echoing Terrence Malick's Days of
Heaven, George Washington is narrated by Nasia, an observant
black teen with wisdom and passion far beyond her years. This meditation
on our founding fathers, our national ideals and the Fourth of July demonstrates
such uncommon depth and unexpected feeling, you will think about it for
years.
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Bottle
Rocket (1996) 95 minutes
(Columbia)
Written by Owen C. Wilson
and Wes Anderson. Directed by Wes Anderson.
"Uh, do you have
any bigger bags for atlases and dictionaries, sir?"
How to overcome the boredom that accompanies
our affluent American lives? Try a life of crime. Before Rushmore
and The Royal Tenenbaums, wunderkind auteur Wes Anderson unleashed
this wry, comic masterpiece. Best friends Dignan (Owen Wilson), Anthony
(Luke Wilson) and Bob (Robert Musgrave) embark on an utterly original misadventure.
Bottle
Rocket is a comic caper, an unlikely love story, and a poignant slice
of reel life rolled into one enchanting package. The Dallas
suburbs will never be the same.
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Fight
Club (1999) 140 minutes
(Fox)
Written by Jim Uhls.
Directed by David Fincher.
"We're the middle
children of history... our great war is a spiritual war. Our great
depression is our lives."
Edward Norton and Brad Pitt pound each
other in a parking lot in a desperate rant against advertising, consumerism
and IKEA furniture. Prepare to wince at director David Fincher's
stylized, avalanche of images. The most important, innately spiritual
film of the new millennium? Or a sadistic, manipulative celebration
of violence? Come battle it out at our post-screening discussion.
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Green
Dragon (2002) 113 minutes
(Franchise)
Written and Directed
by Timothy Linh Bui. Based upon a story by Timothy Linh Bui
and Tony Bui.
"My dream is
going to be bigger than washing windows."
From the Sundance Film Festival comes
a poignant chronicle of the Vietnamese immigrant experience at San Diego's
Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Forest Whitaker and Patrick Swayze lead
a talented cast in a bittersweet, healing exploration of America, circa
1975. Tony Bui says, "Green Dragon is our immigrant story...
the question for us was how do we bring this powerful humanity of the Vietnamese
people to the screen and to change the way people see us?"
Director Timothy Bui says, "People die to come to America, to have a better
life at any cost, even death. And people who are already here
take that for granted." Green Dragon concludes our festival
with a stirring appreciation of America's enduring freedom.
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Thelma
And Louise (1991) 128 minutes
(MGM)
Written by Callie Khouri.
Directed by Ridley Scott.
"Let's keep going...."
Callie Khouri's Academy Award winning
script still kicks up dust and sets off sparks a decade after its controversial
debut. Thelma and Louise subverts the myth of the American
outlaw, the lure of the Wild West, and the freedom of the open road.
Are frustrated housewife Thelma and struggling waitress Louise empowering
role models for women everywhere or exploitative stereotypes that set back
feminism for a decade? Join Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon
in their '66 Thunderbird for a harrowing and unforgettable ride.
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Field
Of Dreams (1989) 106 minutes
Based on the book "Shoeless
Joe" by W.P. Kinsella. Written for the screen and Directed by Phil
Alden Robinson
"If you build
it, he will come."
"Is this heaven?...
No, it's Iowa."
A cornfield in Iowa. A baseball
diamond. Fathers and sons. Field of Dreams
combines all the essential elements of an idealized America. Adapting
W.P. Kinsella's novel "Shoeless Joe", filmmaker Phil Robinson combines
the regrets of a fallen baseball hero, a reclusive novelist, and the promise
of the 1960s into a heart tugging, tear inducing story of healing.
Kevin Costner, Amy Madigan, James Earl Jones and Burt Lancaster build it.
Ray Liotta comes to play. Bring your mitts, bring your Kleenex.
Followed
by a Closing Night Apple Pie Party, sponsored by Family Theater Productions.
IN PERSON: PHIL ALDEN ROBINSON |
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