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Focus on Film: The Movies and Us

Commentary provided by Howie Movshowitz Director of Education at Starz Film Center at UCD and Colorado Public Radio film critic

September 30, 2004, Denison Auditorium, 4:30-6:30 pm

Discussion lead by Jean Kutner, MD, MSPH and Dan Johnson, MD

Wit (2001, TV adaptation of Margaret Edson's play; directed by Mike Nichols, staring Emma Thompson. Vivian Bearing has spent her career teaching and analyzing John Donne's metaphysical poetry and from the moment she is diagnosed with cancer through the agonizing treatment that she must endure she copes with her illness with relentless wit, paradox, and astuteness. But as she progresses through the cancer treatment process, begins experiencing the inevitable side effects of chemotherapy, and her illness starts taking a turn for the worse she realizes along this road from life to death that scholarly virtuosity ultimately fades in comparison to human compassion and consideration. The fact that her doctors are apparently more interested in her disease than in how she is really feeling emotionally about her disease leads digs at her; although emotionally reserved and rather hard core herself, in the face of her illness she begins to reassess life and appreciate sympathy.

October 14, 2004, Denison Auditorium, 5-7 pm

Discussion lead by Howie Movshovitz, Director of Education at Starz Film Center at UCD and Colorado Public Radio film critic.

Alambrista! (Robert M. Young, 1977) is generally considered the finest film yet made in this country about the experience of Mexicans who enter the U.S. illegally. Unlike others on the same subject, Alambrista! presents characters who are not simple-minded puppy dogs -- they're complex human beings who find themselves in an equally complex world. The movie offers a fascinating tour of America not often seen by many of us.

November 11, 2004, SOM Second Floor Lecture Hall, 5-7 pm

Discussion lead by Howie Movshovitz, Director of Education at Starz Film Center at UCD and Colorado Public Radio film critic.

Black Narcissus (Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, 1947) is simply one of the great films. The story centers on British nuns in a remote convent in India, who are finally overcome by the sensuality of the country. The film is visually stunning, and it makes viewers see what great visual filmmaking can be.

Wednesday, January 12, 2005, Denison Auditorium, 5-7 p.m.

Pather Panchali (Satyajit Ray, 1955)
Pather Panchali is Satyajit Ray's first feature film. It's about the daily life of a woman who tries to maintain her family as their fortunes decline and her husband (like many of Ray's husbands) is off doing something unhelpful. The genius of the film lies in Ray's visual understanding of the family situation with respect to their home, the neighbors/landlords, the nearby forest, the pond, and in a moment of near ecstasy for the children, the railroad.

Wednesday, April 20, 2005, Denison Auditorium, 5-7 p.m.

The Son's Room (Nanni Moretti, 2001)
When the son of an affluent Italian family dies, the shock waves radiate into all areas of the life of the family. The film is more about nuance and feeling than event, and when it won the Palme d'or at Cannes in 2001, it was one of the few popular choices in years.

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June 4, 2008