The Magic Lantern Cinema's Spring Film Festival always has a range of movies for the Ketchum film enthusiast. And this year, there's plenty of time to see them all. Beginning Friday, May 16, the Magic Lantern will show two new independent films every week for three weeks alongside the latest Hollywood releases.
"We are going to try with two films a week, which will play at 4:30 and 7 p.m. for seven days," said Magic Lantern cinema owner Rick Kessler. "Plus, we will have new films playing as well, such as 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull' and 'Sex and the City' in the first week. In the past, we tried to jam too many films in too short period of a time. Most people didn't have time to see all the films and some got burned out."
Kessler makes a tremendous effort to make sure the festival is a well-rounded sampling of current independent films. Though he said he will never please everyone, most people who have attended the festival in past years have seemed satisfied.
"When people come to the theater and see a good film, I often hear them say 'I miss coming here,'" Kessler said. "I just try to keep them from seeing a bad movie."
The film line-up includes celebrated independent foreign movies and classic American comedy-dramas. The festival begins with the German thriller "The Counterfeiters," a film by Stefan Ruzowitzky based on a true story about a Nazi counterfeiting operation. Showing the same week will be "The Visitor," directed by Tom McCarthy, director of "The Station Agent."
"'The Counterfeiters' is better than last year's 'The Lives of Others' because it grabs you more, Kessler said. "'The Visitor' got great reviews and the lead actor, Richard Jenkins, is wonderful."
Jenkins is most known for his role as the dead father in the acclaimed HBO series "Six Feet Under." For the second week, Magic Lantern is scheduled to screen "The Band's Visit" and "Young at Heart."
"I can't say enough about 'The Band's Visit,'" Kessler said. "It's a heartwarming film and wonderful to show. It's a story grounded in reality where two groups of people, who have been enemies for centuries, find they are very similar."
The documentary "Young at Heart" is a must-see film about the Young at Heart Chorus from Northampton, Mass., whose average age is 81. Overcoming health issues to participate, the Young at Heart Chorus is a bit more hip than one expects singing anything from James Brown to Sonic Youth. The group has toured Europe and sang for royalty. The film is an honest and heartwarming look at seniors.
Finishing the festival for the third week will be "Son of Rambow" and "Then She Found Me."
"'Son of Rambow' is a film for the whole family to go see, and kids should be exposed to it," Kessler said. "It's about kids living out a fantasy and in one of the reviews I read, it said, 'I can't wait to see what they do with 'Die Hard.'"
"Then She Found Me," starring and directed by Academy Award winner Helen Hunt, is about a middle-age woman experiencing a mid-life crisis that results in a new relationship with her birth mother and a new man other than the husband who leaves her.
Kessler enjoys orchestrating film festivals because it brings a large number of filmgoers to the theater who would normally not come.
"You need an audience and interaction," Kessler said. "These are the types of films that get people to talk to one another. This community does have a general interest in film. I don't try and get so esoteric that only a fringe audience likes the films. I like my festival to be accessible to everyone."
For more details, visit magiclanterncinemas.com.
Richard Jenkins and Haaz Sleiman star in Overture Films’ “The Visitor.”
Photo by JoJo Whildon © 2008 Visitor Holdings LLC. All rights reserved.
