The Queen’s Film Society has several great films and some online discussions planned for you for the near future. Read on and join us, virtually, for great cinema and great chat!
Our new films, all available TODAY, include:
Straight Up (2020, US, in English, 95 min.) Todd is a hyper-articulate, obsessive compulsive gay twentysomething whose fear of dying alone leads him to a baffling conclusion: he might not be gay after all. When he meets Rory, a whip-smart struggling actress with her own set of insecurities, the two forge a relationship that’s all talk and no sex. Writer-Director-Star James Sweeney delivers a razor sharp rom-com that’s equal parts Classical Hollywood and distinctly 21st century, exploring just how elastic our definitions of love and sexuality can get. NOTE: We will have a Zoom discussion about this film with our friends at the Pride Community Center to launch Pride Month on June 4th at 7PM via this link https://tamu.zoom.us/j/97527443677?pwd=VUlwY2N3VzE0YWxPRlpacDNCT25YUT09&status=successor…. join our Zoom meeting via the Zoom app with Meeting ID: 975 2744 3677 Password: 290032. Not rated.
Fourteen (2020, US, in English, 94 min.) Mara and Jo, in their twenties, have been close friends since middle school. Jo, the more outgoing figure, is a social worker who runs through a series of brief but intense relationships. Mara, a less splashy personality than Jo, bounces among teacher aide jobs while trying to land a position in elementary education, and writes fiction in her spare time. She too has a transient romantic life, though she seems to settle down after meeting Adam, a mild-mannered software developer. It soon becomes apparent that Jo, despite her intellectual gifts, is unreliable in her professional life, losing and acquiring jobs at a troubling rate. Substance abuse may be responsible for Jo’s instability… but some observers suspect a deeper problem. Over the course of a decade, the more stable Mara sometimes tries to help, sometimes backs away to preserve herself, but never leaves behind her powerful childhood connection with Jo. Not rated.
Liberté (2020, France/Spain, in French, German, and Italian w. English subtitles, 134 min.) Just before the French Revolution, in a forest outside Berlin, a band of libertines expelled from the court of Louis XVI rendezvous with the legendary German seducer and freethinker, the Duc de Walchen (Helmut Berger), to convince him to join in their mission: the rejection of authority and all moral boundaries. What begins as an evening of strategizing on the proliferation of libertinage, descends into a Sadean night of pansexual one-upmanship. Not rated, but note: This film features graphic and disturbing scenes of perverse sexuality and violence. We will have a Zoom discussion about this film with Film Studies scholar Teresa Vilaros of Texas A&M on Wednesday May 27th at 7pm via this link
https://tamu.zoom.us/j/94628396031?pwd=NkFnRlBPVlg1TDhNdmsxUDBpU2RDUT09&fbclid=IwAR1p-x5F0OgFuhTSMMB0aEtYHwcjM7rWfp2lhozjjn4skSWuLFrDgvE2aXIor…. join our Zoom Meeting via the Zoom App with Meeting ID: 946 2839 6031 Password: QFS
L’important c’est d’aimer [That Most Important Thing: Love] (1975, France/Italy/Germany, in French with English subtitles, 113 min.) Romy Schneider delivers a César Award-winning performance as a down-on-her-luck actress in L'important c'est d'aimer (That Most Important Thing: Love), Andrzej Żuławski’s “passionate portrait of the dignity – and the indignities – of an actor’s work” (Film Comment). Forced to earn a living by accepting demeaning roles negotiated by her erratic husband, Nadine Chevalier (Schneider) encounters tabloid photographer Servais (Fabio Testi) on the set of her latest film. Desperate to win her affections, Servais secretly uses money borrowed from a shady associate to bankroll her next project, a production of Richard III with Nadine starring opposite the maniacal German thespian Karl-Heinz Zimmer (Klaus Kinski). Not rated.
A Good Woman is Hard to Find (2020, United Kingdom, English, 97 min.) Sarah is a single mother struggling to raise two young children while searching for answers about the unsolved murder of her husband. After being coerced into helping a low-level drug dealer, she finds herself the target of a dangerous crime boss. Desperate to keep her family safe, Sarah turns the tables on her victimizers in one final act of vengeance. Set in the dark underbelly of Northern Ireland, this is a “lean, mean, painfully real crime thriller” featuring “one hell of a performance” by Sarah Bolger that “will make you cheer [for] her ability to overcome the worst of humanity and come out the other end kicking all sorts of ass” (Slash Film). Not rated.
Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands (1976, Brazil, Portuguese w. English subtitles, 110 min.) Based on the novel by Jorge Amado, this Golden Globe and BAFTA-nominated comedy follows the strange events that befall Dona Flor (Sonia Braga) after she is left a widow by the death of her wild, irresponsible husband. Shortly after remarrying, she finds her new, less-than-satisfying sex life revived when the ghost of her late husband unexpectedly returns. One of the most popular and sexy romantic comedies of the 1975 is back in a new restoration. Rated R.
Corpus Christi (2019, Poland, Polish w. English subtitles, 116 min.) After years in juvenile prison, 20-year-old Daniel is released and sent to a small village to work as a manual laborer. Upon his arrival, a quick lie has him mistaken for a priest. Though untrained, his passion and charisma inspire the community. At the same time, his unconventional sermons and unpriestly behavior raise suspicions. Anchored by a “dynamically physical, wild-eyed performance” (The Hollywood Reporter) from newcomer Bartosz Bielenia, the Oscar-nominated Corpus Christi (Best International Film) is an incisive, darkly humorous, and “engrossing exploration of faith, second chances and the possibility of atonement” (Screen). Not rated.
You can still watch our previous Virtual Cinema offerings, which include: A White, White Day; The Wild Goose Lake; L’Innocente; Vitalina Varela; and Zombi Child. Go to our website to watch any of these film at your convenience. Remember half the screening fee goes to support The Queen’s Film Society and The Queen Theatre (or, in the case of Straight Up, the Queen’s Film Society and the Brazos Valley’s Pride Community Center.)
Link to them here: http://thequeensfilmsociety.org
Coming Next Week: The brand new French comedy hit, On a Magical Night followed by a late-June discussion with film scholar David Gerstner of the City College of New York.
