Sweden 2007. Director: Johan Kling
Cast: Michelle Meadows, Michael Segerström, Richard Ulfsäter, Mikael Lindgren, Natalie Sannema
Swedish filmmaker Johan Kling’s prize-winning Darling is a dark social comedy in the mode of British director Mike Leigh. The film relates the chance relationship between two dissimilar characters from very different social worlds. Eva (Michelle Meadows, in an acclaimed performance) is a posh, spoiled, self-centred woman in her late twenties who lives with her equally shallow boyfriend. Down-on-his luck Bernard (the fine Swedish character actor Michael Segerström) is a divorced man in his early sixties; newly downsized, he’s having trouble finding another job at his age. An act of casual infidelity begins a downward spiral that leaves Eva in reduced circumstances. When both Eva and Bernard end up flipping burgers at McDonald’s, an unlikely and unpredictable friendship develops, for a time at least. Darling won Swedish Oscars for Best Actor (Segerström) and Cinematography, and was awarded the Swedish film critics’ prize for best Swedish feature of 2007. “An elegant picture . . . With an ace performance by newcomer Michelle Meadows, Darling, a dark comedy about morals and manners in Stockholm, should entrance audiences . . . Meadows is a joy to behold” (Gunnar Rehlin, Variety). Colour, 35mm in Swedish with English subtitles. 93 mins.
United Kingdom 2009. Director: Franny Armstrong
With: Pete Postlethwaite, Alvin DuVernay, Jeh Wadia, Layefa Malini, Fernand Pareau
British filmmaker Franny Armstrong’s powerful documentary on climate change uses some spunky sci-fi drama to frame its impassioned nonfiction wake-up call: Pete Postlethwaite, the noted actor, appears in a fictional role as The Archivist, guardian of an arctic fortress that, half a century hence, in the year 2055, houses the remaining records of the world we’re destroying today. “The Age of Stupid” is how this finger-pointing man from the future refers to our reckless, doomed times. The film has been described as “An Inconvenient Truth but with a personality . . . Armstrong hops the globe interviewing an intriguing cross section of folks — a Hurricane Katrina victim, a British wind-farm developer, an aspiring Nigerian doctor, an elderly French mountain guide, a wealthy Indian entrepreneur and an eight-year-old Iraq war refugee – whose lives have all been affected by some aspect of the global warming phenomenon. Their stories vividly highlight the various tentacles of the climate change problem and, in some cases, its potential solutions” (Gary Goldstein, Los Angeles
Times). “Entertaining and provocative . . . Apocalyptic fiction sits alongside modern reportage” (Dave Calhoun, Time Out). “A lively and accessible call to action before it’s too late” (Dennis Harvey Variety). Colour, 35mm. 105 mins.
BOX OFFICE · CASH ONLY Tickets go on sale 30 minutes before the first screening of the evening.
ADVANCE TICKETS
Available for credit card purchase on this website until 4pm the day of screening.
Screenings restricted to 18+ and require a Pacific Cinémathèque membership unless otherwise indicated.
FRIDAY, NOV. 27 – 7:00 PM
