Ledger movie series EXTENDED!
The Independent Picture House, The Charlotte Ledger and CXN Advisory add 5 modern classic movies to 'The Critic's Eye' summer series
The following article appeared in the July 24, 2024, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
The Critic’s Eye makes a return starting July 30 — with 5 modern classics that push genre conventions and are beautiful to watch
by Lawrence Toppman
Think of the second installment of The Critic’s Eye at Independent Picture House as the “Mad Max: Fury Road” or “Bride of Frankenstein” of programming: the rare sequel that tops the original. (But not “The Godfather, Part II,” as we don’t want to be vague, dull or overlong.)
This series offers five Oscar-winning films designed to provoke ideas while you watch and feedback while I dissect them afterward, with moderator Tim Whitmire as my equal partner in the insight-providing business. I’ve concentrated this time on newer films — all from this century — that not only explode genre conventions but look splendid: Four were nominated for cinematography Oscars, and the fifth has glorious animation.
The Critic’s Eye film series — a partnership among the Independent Picture House, The Charlotte Ledger and CXN Advisory — started in May, and we’re happy to extend it after a successful start.
One piece of advice: Buy tickets early, as “Zodiac” sold out in the first series and other films came close. And the three-week gap before the last screening gives you space to attend the Charlotte Film Festival at the IPH.
The films are:
“Moonlight” (2016) — July 30: This coming-of-age drama, which justly upset “La La Land” for the best picture Oscar, follows an African-American through childhood, adolescence and young adulthood as he wrestles with his sexual identity.
“Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006) — Aug. 13: When a woman marries an abusive army officer in Spain in 1944, her imaginative daughter escapes into a fantasy world of sprites and dangerous beasts to seek a kingdom of eternal light – or does she?
“Arrival” (2006) — Aug. 27: As the world slides slowly toward a massive war, the U.S. military recruits an academic linguist to communicate with aliens, who have come to Earth with an unspecified and perhaps unknowable purpose.
“Spirited Away” (2001) — Sept. 10: Japanese animator Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece follows a 10-year-old girl whose parents disappear, and who follows them into a world of spirits, monsters and a sorceress who lays claim to her.
“There Will Be Blood” (2007) — Oct. 1: Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of the all-time great performances as a man driven mad by bitterness, disappointment and his quest to succeed as an oil baron in early 20th-century California.
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