Farewell
The Farewell affair was an espionage plot that unfolded in the USSR, France and the USA between 1981 and 1983.
Sergei Gregoriev (Emir Kusterica), a KGB operative hungry for change, begins feeding secrets to Pierre Froment, a French engineer in Moscow, who in turn takes them to François Mitterrand (Philippe Magnan), who passes them to Ronald Reagan.
While in Moscow, the households of Gregoriev and Froment come under increasing strain from their secret professional – and personal – lives. ‘Farewell’ boasts a strong cast – Willem Dafoe pops up as a CIA chief and Niels Arestrup plays his French counterpart – and is strong on life in Soviet Moscow. That rare thing nowadays, a Cold War thriller, reminiscent of 'Gorky Park'.
127 Hours
There’s little more gruesome and extreme than the story of Aron Ralston, an American outdoors nut who in 2003 went canyoning alone in Utah without telling anyone where he was going. James Franco plays the frenetic 27 year old as an experience junkie and sociable loner. He bombs through the desert on a mountain bike leaving a trail of dust behind him. He meets girls in the wilderness, makes them laugh and leaps into underground lakes with them before saying goodbye. He bounds over gulleys. Then he misses his footing, slips into a canyon and a boulder follows him down, pinning his arm to the wall just as he lands on his feet. He’s trapped, and the film’s kineticism turns in on itself: like Ralston, its energy is stuck in a hole.
Biutiful
Bardem plays Uxbal, a grafter who shuttles between corrupt police, Chinese sweatshop owners and illegal African street hawkers. He brings comfort to the bereaved by passing on messages from the deceased, while at the same time coping with his estranged wife’s bipolar disorder and facing the shadow of serious illness himself.
Other New Stuff in July
IT'S ALWAYS SUNNY IN PHILADELPHIA SEASON 4 (2008)
BLOW OUT (1981) CRITERION
SOMETHING WILD (1986) CRITERION
PALE FLOWER (1964) CRITERION (REGION 1)
BEETLE QUEEN CONQUERS TOKYO (2011)
BIUTIFUL (2010)
METROPOLIS (1927) MADMAN RESTORATION
YOGI BEAR (2010)
WHITE MATERIAL (2009)
WE ARE WHAT WE ARE (2010)
CATFISH (2010)
TAMARA DREWE (2010)
HEART OF GLASS (1976)
TOM WAITS UNDER REVIEW 1971-1982 (2008)
RABBIT HOLE (2010)
127 HOURS (2010) BLU-RAY
127 HOURS (2010)
BLACK SWAN (2010)
GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY, THE (1966)
STORY OF THE KELLY GANG, THE (1906)
TRASH HUMPERS (2009)
HOLY ROLLERS (2009)
BLUE VALENTINE (2010)
DISTRICT 13 ULTIMATUM (2010)
REIGN OF ASSASSINS (2010)
HOWL (2010)
ROUTE IRISH (2010)
SUSPIRIA (1977)
GNOMEO AND JULIET (2011)
SEASON OF THE WITCH (2011)
UNKNOWN (2011)
UNKNOWN (2011)
UNKNOWN (2011) BLU-RAY
ADJUSTMENT BUREAU, THE (2011)
HEREAFTER (2010)
HEREAFTER (2010) BLU-RAY
FAREWELL (2009)
INTERLUDE (1957) MADMAN DIRECTOR'S SUITE
DAY OF THE OUTLAW (1959)
PRINCESS OF MONTPENSIER, THE (2010)
AGE OF REASON, THE (2010)
SANCTUM (2011)
SANCTUM (2011) BLU-RAY
PIANOMANIA (2009)
TREE, THE (2010)
I AM NUMBER FOUR (2011)
RANGO (2011)
FASTER (2010)
INSIDE JOB (2010)
AND EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE FINE (2010)
LEAVING (2009)