Aelita

Reel Talk: a Conversation with Cornell Cinema Director Mary Fessenden

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The Cornell Cinema has crafted a program of fascinating and diverse films for its Spring 2016 season. In addition to its selection of Hollywood blockbusters from the past year (Missed Creed the first time around? Don’t worry), Cornell Cinema is running curated series on a breadth of topics. Cornell Cinema’s series excel in their wide-ranging perspective, and appeal to Cornellians with a variety of interests, from the cat-lover to the sci-fi aficionado to the up-and-coming Oscars pundit. I talked with Cornell Cinema director Mary Fessenden about her planning process, the Cinema’s collaboration with campus organizations and the Cinema’s role in the Ithaca community.

Arts & Culture

A Western in Boston: Black Mass

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I should begin this review with a disclaimer: I am a sucker for gangster films. I think The Godfather: Part III is actually a pretty good movie. Maybe it’s because to me the gangster film is part of the American film mythology (I love Westerns too). Or maybe the films just give me a vicarious thrill because I couldn’t raise a fist even if I wanted to. So when I say that Black Mass, a film written and directed by Scott Cooper and starring Johnny Depp as the infamous Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger, does not do much more beyond effectively execute every cliché of the genre, I sort of mean that as a compliment. But to people who aren’t predisposed to wanting to see a ton of whackings, that may be a “stay away” sign.

collegetown

Film by Alumnus Depicts Experiences of the ‘Modern College Student’

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Over 150 attendees watched the pre-screening of the independent feature film, Collegetown, at Cornell Cinema Tuesday. Hugo Genes ’10, the film’s director, said the creative nonfiction film “depicts the modern college student’s experience with student debt and heavy campus recruitment from the financial industry.”
Genes, who is a former arts and entertainment editor for The Sun, said he was inspired to write the film four years ago when he revisited Ithaca as an alumus. “The idea for the film sort of sparked when I visited Cornell as an alumn[us] for the first time … I was walking around Collegetown during orientation week this time as an outsider,” he said. According to Genes, the film encapsulates his college experience in a nutshell.

Arts & Culture

Bombay Comes Alive in Court

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I walked into Cornell Cinema to watch Court with absolutely no context and fairly average expectations, but Chaitanya Tamhane’s directorial debut sets the bar incredibly high for his future work. Though it was slow-paced and at times disregarded plot entirely, it was absolutely beautiful and had me laughing constantly. While at first it seemed to be a commentary about India’s court system, it turned into an intimate look into the characters’ lives and as a result produced a really beautiful conception of life in Bombay. In general, the film concerns itself with the trial of a folk singer who is being tried for writing a song with controversial lyrics. One of my favorite parts of the film was its use of color and cinematography.

Arts & Culture

The Life of the Party at Cornell Cinema: Portrait of Jason

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By EMILY KLING

Jason Holiday is the life of the party. He’s the guy that can talk and talk, and save a get-together from being a total bust. He gets drunk while he tells you his many tales, some of which may be tall, and makes sure to impersonate the other characters in the story — and his stories are good. This is no surprise, as Jason Holiday is a gay African-American hustler, aspiring cabaret performer and all-around interesting guy in the 1960s. Who wouldn’t want to spend an hour or two with him?

Arts & Culture

Fresh-Squeezed Fierceness: Tangerine at Cornell Cinema

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By SHAY COLLINS

Tangerine — a 2015 release from writer/director duo Sean S. Baker and Chris Bergoch — chronicles the actions of people who feel trapped. The movie focuses on two transsexual prostitutes and best friends: Sin-Dee (Kitana Kiki Rodriguez) and Alexandra (Mya Taylor). At the start of the movie, both women set off on quests. Sin-Dee is hell-bent on finding the woman with whom her fiancé and pimp, Chester (James Ransone), cheated on her while she was in prison for 28 days. Alexandra nonchalantly hands out fliers for her Christmas Eve gig to friends and clients (though, with each little blue paper, the feeling that no one’s going to show grows stronger).

Arts & Culture

The Prophet at Cornell Cinema

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By JACK JONES

What is it about Liam Neeson that makes him, at age 63, one of the most popular movie stars? He’s not strikingly good-looking, or especially physically imposing. Without a doubt, it’s Neeson’s voice that drove his “ReNeesonce” in acting, in such pretty-bad films as Taken and Non-Stop. His voice is fatherly, warm and reassuring, but also capable of gravity and menace. Above all, Neeson’s voice conveys wisdom, even when the script he’s reading decidedly doesn’t.

Arts & Culture

We, the Living: A Pigeon Sat on a Branch Reflecting on Existence

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By BRUNO COSTELINI

A small village covered deep in snow sits in a valley by the side of a rocky mountain. In the back, people carrying ladders climb the roof of a house to reach its blazing chimney. At the center, on a frozen river, three kids skate in formation, others run with hockey sticks and a larger group is curling. A woman pulls another in a sledge and a third one is seen crossing a bridge with a bundle of sticks on her back. Closer to the left, a sign in a brick building hangs half unhinged.

Arts & Culture

Just in Time to Explore Film: Justin Lerner at Cornell Cinema

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By DANIEL FAYAD

If you’re a student you’re probably familiar with the notion that there are no dumb questions. While some might disagree with that, the discussion of which questions are, in fact, important is likely to lead to an important debate. Justin Lerner ’02 invites us to question the way we see love and morality in today’s society through controversial themes in his latest film, The Automatic Hate. He’ll be present at the sneak preview this Thursday 7 p.m. at Cornell Cinema. This is his second feature film following Girlfriend (2011) and his award-winning short film The Replacement Child (2007).

Arts & Culture

The Dirty Business of Politics: Street Fight

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By JESSE WEISSMAN

It doesn’t surprise anybody to say that politics is a dirty business — and one that tends to ignore the substantive issues that the whole enterprise claims to be about. Especially in today’s political climate, with the 2016 presidential race more resembling a reality show competition than an election for the most important public office in the country, this circus-show aspect to American politics is as clear as ever. So when I say that the 2005 documentary Street Fight, presented on Tuesday at Cornell Cinema and directed by Marshall Curry, revealed to me new ways that politics is ugly, it would be easy to dismiss my opinion as obvious. However, the film, which is about the 2002 mayoral race between Cory Booker (now a well-known New Jersey Senator) and the long-time incumbent Sharpe James, explores just how much dirtier local politics are then, and how they allow for tactics that would be unacceptable in their national counterparts. Since Booker is a now prominent national politician, it is a bit disorienting to see him as such an upstart, going through housing projects and corner stores canvassing for every last vote.