International Film Club
Once a month we meet and discuss (virtually) the film that is available and free to all PU employees in Kanopy streaming services . This program was born out of the International Cinema Series.
Please make movie suggestions using this form: https://forms.gle/UDByDaTX17ABf57K9
For the next date of our Film Club please check Events Calendar.
Upcoming Film
Evil Does Not Exist
悪は存在しない
1h 46min | Drama | 2023 (Japan)
Synopsis:
Takumi and his daughter Hana live in Mizubiki Village, close to Tokyo. One day, the village inhabitants become aware of a plan to build a camping site near Takumi’s house, offering residents a comfortable escape to nature.
Past Films
True Mothers
朝が来る
2h 20 min | Drama | 2020 (Japan)
Synopsis:
After a long and unsuccessful struggle to get pregnant, Satoko and her husband decide to adopt a baby. Years later, an unknown girl who claims to be the child’s birth mother disrupts their lives. Satoko decides to confront Hikari directly.
“True Mothers” is a Japanese drama movie from 2020 directed by Naomi Kawase. It’s based on a novel by Mizuki Tsujimura from 2015. The film was chosen for the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival and was also part of the 2020 Cannes Film Festival. It was Japan’s submission for the Best International Feature Film category at the 93rd Academy Awards, though it didn’t get nominated.
The braid
La tresse
2h 01 min | Drama | 2023 (France, Canada, Italy, Belgium)
Synopsis:
Adapted from her own powerful international best-selling novel read by more than 5 million people, Laetitia Colombani‘s feature is a soul-stirring tale of the intertwined fates of three courageous women, spanning cultures, backgrounds, and borders. Three women, three continents, three destinies… They’ve never met but are bound by a thread that is intimate and quite unique.
The Third Wife
Vợ Ba
1h 36 min | Drama | 2018 (Vietnam)
Synopsis:
In 19th century rural Vietnam, 14-year-old May becomes the third wife of wealthy landowner Hung. Soon she learns that she can only gain status by asserting herself as a woman who can give birth to a male child. May’s hope to change her status turns into a real and tantalizing possibility when she gets pregnant. Faced with forbidden love and its devastating consequences, May finally comes to an understanding of the brutal truth: the options available to her are few and far between. Winner of the NETPAC Award at the Toronto International Film Festival.
The Worst Person in the World
Verdens verste menneske
2h 08 min | Comedy drama | 2021 (Norwegian)
Synopsis:
Chronicling four years in the life of Julie, this modern story about the quest for love and meaning explores a young woman’s navigation of the troubled waters of her love life and career path, ultimately leading her to take a realistic look at who she really is.
The film, directed by Joachim Trier, premiered in competition at the 2021 Cannes Film Festival to widespread critical acclaim, with Renate Reinsve winning the award for Best Actress for her performance in the film. At the 94th Academy Awards, the film was nominated for Best International Feature Film and Best Original Screenplay
How to Be a Good Wife
La bonne épouse
1h 55 min | Comedy drama | 2020 (French, France & Belgium)
Synopsis:
Maintaining a household and stoically submitting to conjugal duty are the skills Paulette Van Der Beck teaches with fervor in her homemakers institute. Her certainties are shaken when she finds herself widowed and ruined. Is she rattled by the return of her first love or the wind of freedom in May ’68? What if the good wife finally became a free woman?
The hunt
Jagten
1h 55 min | Psychological drama | 2012 (Denmark, Danish)
Synopsis:
A teacher lives a lonely life, all the while struggling over his son’s custody. His life slowly gets better as he finds love and receives good news from his son, but his new luck is about to be brutally shattered by an innocent little lie. The Hunt, directed by Thomas Vinterberg and starring Mads Mikkelsen has received many nominations and awards worldwide. See more.
Latinos Beyond Reel – Challenging a Media Stereotype
1h 25min | Documentary | 2013 (American)
Synopsis:
Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. population, and among the most diverse — accounting for one-sixth of all Americans and tracing their origins to more than 20 countries. They are also a rising force in American politics. Yet across the American media landscape, from the broadcast airwaves to cable television and Hollywood film, the reality and richness of the Latino experience are virtually nowhere to be found. In Latinos Beyond Reel, filmmakers Miguel Picker and Chyng Sun examine how US news and entertainment media portray — and do not portray — Latinos. Drawing on the insights of Latino scholars, journalists, community leaders, actors, directors, and producers, they uncover a pattern of gross misrepresentation and gross under-representation — a world in which Latinos tend to appear, if at all, as gangsters and Mexican bandits, harlots and prostitutes, drug dealers and welfare-leeching illegals.
Abrazos
43 min | Documentary | 2014 (American)
Synopsis:
ABRAZOS tells the transformational journey of a group of U.S. Citizen Children, sons and daughters of undocumented immigrants, who travel from Minnesota to Guatemala to meet their grandparents – and in some instances their siblings – for the first time. There are 4.5 million other U.S. citizen children who, like them, have at least one undocumented parent and are part of mixed-status families, ABRAZOS is the story of 14 of them.
This film will be streamed in person on campus – see Calendar for details.
The Assistant
1h 27 min | Drama | 2019 (American)
Synopsis:
“THE ASSISTANT” follows one day in the life of Jane (Julia Garner), a recent college graduate and aspiring film producer, who has recently landed her dream job as a junior assistant to a powerful entertainment mogul. Her day is much like any other assistant‘s – making coffee, changing the paper in the copy machine, ordering lunch, arranging travel, taking phone messages, onboarding a new hire. But as Jane follows her daily routine, she, and we, grow increasingly aware of the abuse that insidiously colors every aspect of her work day, an accumulation of degradations against which Jane decides to take a stand, only to discover the true depth of the system into which she has entered
Official Selection at the Berlin International Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and Telluride Film Festival
City of God
Cidade de Deus
2h 13 min | Drama | 2002 (Brazilian, Portuguese/English)
Synopsis:
In the poverty-stricken favelas of Rio de Janeiro in the 1970s, two young men choose different paths. Rocket (Phellipe Haagensen) is a budding photographer who documents the increasing drug-related violence of his neighborhood. José “Zé” Pequeno (Douglas Silva) is an ambitious drug dealer who uses Rocket and his photos as a way to increase his fame as a turf war erupts with his rival, “Knockout Ned” (Leandro Firmino da Hora). The film was shot on location in Rio’s poorest neighborhoods.
City of God (Portuguese: Cidade de Deus) was released in Brazil in 2002 and worldwide in 2003. Bráulio Mantovani adapted the story from the 1997 novel of the same name written by Paulo Lins, but the plot is loosely based on real events. It depicts the growth of organized crime in the Cidade de Deus suburb of Rio de Janeiro, between the end of the 1960s and the beginning of the 1980s, with the film’s closure depicting the war between the drug dealer Li’l Zé and vigilante-turned-criminal Knockout Ned. The tagline is “If you run, the beast catches you; if you stay, the beast eats you.”
The film received critical acclaim and garnered four nominations at the 76th Academy Awards; Best Cinematography (César Charlone), Best Director (Meirelles), Best Film Editing (Daniel Rezende), and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay) (Mantovani). In 2003, it was Brazil’s entry for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, but it did not end up being nominated as one of the five finalists. It is frequently listed by many critics and audiences as one of the greatest films of the 21st century and one of the best films of all time.
In the mood for love
| 花樣年華 |
1h 38 min | Drama | 2000 (Cantonese)
Synopsis:
Hong Kong, 1962: Chow Mo-wan (Tony Leung Chiu-wai) and Su Li-zhen (Maggie Cheung Man-yuk) move into neighboring apartments on the same day. Their encounters are formal and polite, until a discovery about their spouses creates an intimate bond between them. At once delicately mannered and visually extravagant, Wong Kar-wai’s IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE is a masterful evocation of romantic longing and fleeting moments. With its aching musical soundtrack and exquisitely abstract cinematography by Christopher Doyle and Mark Lee Ping-bin, this film has been a major stylistic influence on the past decade of cinema, and is a milestone in Wong’s redoubtable career.
About the director: Wong Kar-wai is a Hong Kong film director, screenwriter, and producer. His films are characterized by nonlinear narratives, atmospheric music, and vivid cinematography involving bold, saturated colors. A pivotal figure of Hong Kong cinema, Wong is considered a contemporary auteur, and ranks third on Sight & Sound’s 2002 poll of the greatest filmmakers of the previous 25 years. His films frequently appear on best-of lists domestically and internationally. Born in Shanghai, Wong emigrated to British Hong Kong as a child with his family. He began a career as a screenwriter for soap operas before transitioning to directing with his debut, the crime drama As Tears Go By (1988). While As Tears Go By was fairly successful in Hong Kong, Wong moved away from the contemporary trend of crime and action movies to embark on more personal filmmaking styles. Days of Being Wild (1990), his first venture in such a direction, did not perform well at the box office. It however received critical acclaim, and won Best Film and Best Director at the 1991 Hong Kong Film Awards. His next film, Ashes of Time (1994), met with a mixed reception because of its vague plot and atypical take on the wuxia genre.
Downfall
Der Untergang
2h 36 min | Drama | 2004 (German)
Downfall is a 2004 German-language historical war drama film. In 1942, young Traudl Junge lands her dream job – secretary to Adolf Hitler at the peak of his power. Three years later, Hitler’s empire is now his underground bunker. The real-life Traudl narrates Hitler’s final days as he rages against imagined betrayers and barks orders to phantom armies, while his mistress, Eva Braun, clucks over his emotional distance, and other infamous Nazis prepare for the end.
As the film is set in and around the Führer’s bunker, Hirschbiegel used eyewitness accounts, survivors’ memoirs, and other historical sources during production to reconstruct the look and atmosphere of 1940s Berlin. The screenplay was based on the books Inside Hitler’s Bunker by historian Joachim Fest and Until the Final Hour by Traudl Junge, one of Hitler’s secretaries, among other accounts of the period.
The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival on 14 September 2004. It was controversial with audiences for showing a human side of Hitler, and for its portrayal of members of the Third Reich. It later received a wide theatrical release in Germany under its production company Constantin Film. Critics gave favorable reviews, particularly for Ganz’s performance as Adolf Hitler and Eichinger’s screenplay. It was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 77th Academy Awards.
Double Life of Veronique
La double vie de Véronique
1h 29 min | Drama | 1991 (French)
Bicycle Thieves
Ladri di biciclette
1h 29 min | Drama | 1948 (Italian)
Tomorrow
1h 59 min | Documentary | 2015 (American)
East Side Sushi
1h 46 min | Drama | 2014 (American, English/Spanish/Japanese)
The Farewell
1h 40 min | Drama/Comedy | 2019 (American, Mandarin/English)
Boy
1h 27 min | Drama/Comedy | 2010 (New Zealand, English)
Cold Sweat
1h 29 min | Drama| 2018 (Iran, Farsi)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkAfrooz is the captain of the Iranian National Futsal Team, a women’s indoor soccer team. A long-held dream to play the Asian Games final is shattered when Afrooz’ husband imposes a travel restriction on her. Furious, Afrooz stands up against the patriarchal Iranian system. But will she win this battle?
The Women’s Balcony
1h 40 min | Drama/Comedy | 2016 (Israel, Hebrew)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkAn accident during a bar mitzvah celebration leads to a rift between the men and women in a devout community in Jerusalem in this rousing, good-hearted comedy. Awash with Jerusalem’s distinctive glow, THE WOMEN’S BALCONY is a warm, poignant portrait of a modern community struggling to balance protocol with practical, progressive values – at once rebellious and respectful in spirit.
Nana
1h 15 min | Documentary | 2015 (Dominican Republic, Spanish)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkLive-in nannies Leidy, Fina and Clara leave their children in distant towns to be raised by relatives while they move away to the city to care for somebody else’s child. In a love chain, where mother figures are substituted and duplicated, bonds grow strong between kids and their nannies, and between the nannies’ children and the grandmothers or aunts who care for them. Is there just one way of defining motherly love? Going back and forth between urban and rural scenarios in Dominican Republic and Miami, ‘Nana’ goes deep into the conflicts faced by live-in nannies.
About Elly
1h 58 min | Drama | 2015 (Farsi, Persian)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkWith the return of their friend Ahmad from Germany, a group of old college pals (two married couples and a brother and sister, along with three young kids) decide to reunite for a weekend outing by the Caspian Sea. The fun starts right away as they quickly catch on to the plan of lively Sepideh, who has brought along Elly, her daughter’s kindergarten teacher, in hopes of se
Gather
1h 15 min | Documentary | 2020 (USA)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkGATHER follows the stories of natives on the frontlines of a growing movement to reconnect with spiritual and cultural identities that were devastated by genocide. An indigenous chef embarks on a ambitious project to reclaim ancient food ways on the Apache reservation; in South Dakota a gifted Lakota high school student, raised on a buffalo ranch, is proving her tribes native wisdom through her passion for science; and a group of young men of the Yurok tribe in Northern California are struggling to keep their culture alive and rehabilitate the habitat of their sacred salmon. All these stories combine to show how the reclaiming and recovery of ancient food ways is a way forward for native Americans to bring back health and vitality to their people.
Yeelen
1h 45 min | Drama, Fantasy | 1987 (Mali)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkSet in the powerful Mali Empire of the 13th century, Yeelen follows the journey of Nianankoro, a young warrior who must battle the powerful Komo cult. Nianankoro’s greatest enemy is his own father, a dangerous and corrupt wizard who uses his dark magic to try and destroy his son. Traveling over the arid Bambara, Fulani and Dogan lands of ancient West Africa, Nianankoro eventually comes face to face with his father in a final fatal showdown. Cisse’s extraordinary use of landscapes and light produces a unique and striking cinematic style.
The Country Doctor
Médecin de campagne
1h 42 min | Comedy, Drama | 2016 (France)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkLeona
Leona
1h 34 min | Drama | 2018 (Mexico)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkThe return
Возвращение
1h 50 min | Drama | 2015 (Russia)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy linkSweet Bean
An
1h 53 min | Drama | 2015 (Japan)
Link to online access: Princeton Kanopy link