CFABS Film for Film Lovers Series

In 2008, the Center for the Arts Bonita Springs introduced Film for Film Lovers. “As an organization, are all about the arts, all the arts,” says Susan Bridges, President of the Centers for the Arts Bonita Springs. Including film. And over the ensuing years, CFABS has expanded Film for Film Lovers. Now, the series features a new film on each Monday throughout the year. Below are some of the films coming up or that have been screened at CFABS.

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‘Deflowering of Eva Van End’ next Film for Film Lovers (09-19-15)

The members of a dysfunctional family begin to reinvent themselves thanks to the exchange student who moves in with them. That’s the premise underlying Deflowering of Eva Van End, the 2012 Dutch film that is next in the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs’ Film for Film Lovers series. The film screens at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, September 21. Doors open at 6:30.

“That bourgeois families aren’t all that happy behind their white picket fences isn’t exactly a surprise, but Deflowering goes beyond that simple statement to show how, to paraphrase Tolstoy, each family member is unhappy in her or his own way,” wrote movie reviewer Boyd van Hoeij in Variety about the film. “ten Horn (Director) uses the contrast with Veit (exchange student) as a litmus test for each character’s sanity, while also laying bare how the lack of communication among the van Ends has made anything other than anesthetized cohabitation practically impossible.” [Full Review]

“… Deflowering is a coming-of-age tale that highlights the peculiarities of intergenerational domestic frustration while not shying away from the uglier and cruder aspects of ‘growing up’ – whatever your age,” adds Michael Pattison for Eye for Film [Full Review]

“…this self-consciously eccentric film is nonetheless worth a look for adventurous cineastes in need of a palette cleanser from too many cookie-cutter coming-of-age stories looking for something different altogether,” challenges Jen Johans for Film Institute. [Full Review]

The Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $10. Light refreshments including beer, wine, soda, water and coffee are available for purchase in the lobby.

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French film ’13 Tzameti’ next Film for Film Lovers (09-13-15)

The French film 13 Tzameti is the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs’ next Film for Film Lovers. It’s about a young immigrant by the name of Sebastian who decides to follow instructions intended for someone else without knowing where they will take him. He thinks he’s stumbled onto some quick money but finds himself trapped in a truly horrifying and deadly illicit game.

“It would spoil the film to say what happens…, but it’s a harrowing experience for the main participants, and the director has the skill to make the audience share the feeling,” said film critic Walter Addiego, writing for the San Francisco Chronicle. [ Full Review] “13 Tzameti steadily intensifies a mood of Kafkaesque foreboding,” added Stephen Holden in the New York Times. [Full Review] “Actor Babluani (Sebastian) gives a fine performance and his angelic face stands out in a bear pit of craggy, amoral men, neatly paraphrasing Sebastian’s loss of innocence in one visual swoop,” remarked Jamie Woolley in a piece for BBCi. “Once the game is revealed, however, drama is sacrificed for pure tension.” [Full Review]

The Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $10. Light refreshments including beer, wine, soda, water and coffee are available for purchase in the lobby.

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September’s first Film for Film Lovers is 1992 Mexican film ‘Like Water for Chocolate’ (09-04-15)

What’s a passionate young girl to do when the love of her life marries her sister instead? Throw herself into cooking. Of course. That’s the plotline of Like Water for Chocolate, the 1992 Mexican film that screens at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs on Labor Day, September 7 at 7:00 p.m. “The film celebrates in most unusual and impressive ways both the magic and the mystery of love,” wrote reviewers Frederick and Mary Ann Burssat for Spirituality & Practice in 1992. “Like Water For Chocolate is a totally enchanting film that has a dreamlike quality to it. The link between a sensuous appreciation for food and the sensual delights of the flesh keeps this film lingering in the mind.” [Full Review]

“In Mexico, hot chocolate is made with water, not milk. The water is brought to a boil and then the chocolate is spooned into it,” noted Chicago Sun-Times film critic Roger Ebert. “A person in a state of sexual excitement is said to be ‘like water for chocolate.’ …(The film) creates its own intense world of passion and romance, and adds a little comedy and a lot of quail, garlic, honey, chiles, mole, cilantro, rose petals and corn meal.” [Full Review]

“For all the metaphorical oven-stoking, the film isn’t especially raunchy since most of Tita’s specialties cause gastrointestinal distress,” The Washington Post’s Rita Kempley chimes in. “Her recipe for quail and rose petal sauce, however, makes the ‘I’ll have what she’s having’ scene of When Harry Met Sally …  look warmed over indeed.” [Full Review]

The Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL. Doors open at 6:30. Tickets are $10. Light refreshments including beer, wine, soda, water and coffee are available for purchase in the lobby.

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Next Film for Film Lovers is 2002 British flick ‘Dirty Pretty Things’ (08-08-15)

The hall porter is sent upstairs to repair a blocked toilet, and finds the source of the trouble: A human heart, stuck in the pipes. He asks about the recent occupants of the room, but nobody seems to know anything, not even the helpful hooker who acts like an unofficial member of the staff. The porter, a Nigerian named Okwe, takes it up with his boss, Sneaky, and is told to mind his own business. It’s a spellbinding opening for a thriller, but Dirty Pretty Things is more than a genre picture. It uses the secret and malevolent activities at the hotel as the engine to drive a story about a London of immigrants, some illegal, who do the city’s dirty work. Filmed in 2002, Dirty Pretty Things is just as timely today when a day doesn’t go by without the French/British border crisis being a top story on the BBC.

“The heart of the movie… is in the lives of these people (immigrant hotel employees). How they are always alert to make a little money on the side. How they live in constant fear of immigration officials, who want to deport them, even though a modern Western economy could not function without these shadow workers.” Roger Ebert, The Chicago Sun-Times.  Full Review

“Okwe (one of lead characters) suffers a classic hero’s dilemma: Should he err on the side of expediency and profit … or heed the ethical imperatives that made him the man he is today? No easy solution. “There is nothing so dangerous,” a friend reminds him, “as a virtuous man.”  Edward Guthmann, San Francisco Chronicle. Full Review

“The estimable filmmaker Stephen Frears (Director)  has concocted one of the most low-key thrillers ever made. Although… somewhat interesting for its subdued suspense qualities alone, the real heart of his movie lies in its portrait of characters generally unnoticed by the international cinema. The central characters … are the illegal immigrants who live shadow existences in London by taking the jobs no one wants and the apartments without addresses, all in an effort to stay several paces ahead of the immigration officials…” Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle. Full Review

Dirty Pretty Things is this Monday night’s Film for Film Lovers. It screens August 10 at 7:00 p.m. at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs, 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL. Doors open at 6:30; tickets are $10; light refreshments including beer, wine, soda, water and coffee are available for purchase in the lobby.

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‘Strictly Ballroom’ is romance about love of dance (07-22-15)

The next Film for Film Lovers flick at the Center for the Visual Arts Bonita Springs is Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom.

The first in Luhrmann’s “red curtain trilogy,” Strictly Ballroom became the seventh most successful film of all time at the Australian box office and a cult hit in America. While Luhrmann himself described the film as a sugary chunk of feel-good fudge and “the film that could,” following its debut at the Cannes Film Festival, it won Best Film, Best Director, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor at Australia’s equivalent of the Academy Awards.

Strictly Ballroom is a conventionally structured story about following your dreams. Scott (Paul Mercurio) is a creative dancer punished for flagrantly disregarding convention but ultimately rewarded for thinking outside the box. He is too much of a free spirit for his greedy eye-on-the-prize partner, so he teams up with Fran (Tara Morice), a sweet, plain Jane whose transformation from dork to love interest follows a vintage ugly duckling arc.

Fran begins the film riddled with skin blemishes and ends it as a smooth-faced girl next door, beautiful in an unprepossessing way. She and her grandma teach Scott how to dance from the heart. It is a sentimental story, but Luhrmann knows the kind of film he’s making and nails it. The film is unquestionably Luhrmann’s most charming, entertaining and tender-hearted film.

“While Strictly Ballroom is at its heart, a love story, first and foremost, it’s a story about the love of dance and how a shared love for the art-form brings together two people that wouldn’t normally pair up,” sums up critic Jen Johans writing for Film Institute.

Strictly Ballroom’s tonal and structural inconsistencies are obvious but barely noticeable scene by scene, such is the immersive nature of the film’s cheer-along charm. It begins as a mockumentary, characters directly addressing the audience. Luhrmann uses this technique to hook viewers in then abandons it well before act two. “Scott won most of the trophies in this room,” his mum tells us. “My son was a champion … there’s been some silliness in the past, but we thought he was over it.”

That “silliness” is a reference to Scott’s desire to break free of convention, a passion encouraged by Fran and denounced by the many conservatives around him including nefarious by-the-book judge Barry Fife (Bill Hunter). It feeds into messages powering the film’s crowd-pleasing finale: not to live in fear, to dance to your own song (in this case sometimes literally) and to value individuality over conformity.

Strictly Ballroom’s familiar “believe in yourself” rhetoric boils down to a fabulous final dance number at the Pan-Pacific Grand Prix. The status quo is upset. The music is switched off. Scott and Fran are asked to leave the dance floor. They refuse, and begin moving to a beat created by the clapping hands of Scott’s father. The rest of the crowd joins in. There’s a cheesy voiceover from Fran’s mum – “listen to the rhythm, don’t be scared!” – before Mercurio starts strutting around like a well trained seal. Only a hard heart wouldn’t melt a little.

“Some of the most captivating movies are the ones which tell us to dance to the music within, no matter what the consequences,” state Frederick and Mary Ann Brussat, writing for Spirituality & Practice. “Take a chance, they say. You have nothing to lose. Fulfill your secret dreams. Strictly Ballroom is a feel-good movie about two daring souls who break new ground by not letting fear close them down.”

Films are shown at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs, although due to renovations, films may be shown in the Hinman Auditorium, which is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The film starts at 7:00. Tickets are $10. Refreshments including wine, beer, soda, water, coffee and more are available for purchase at the performance.

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‘World’s Fastest Indian’ screens at Center for Visual Art Bonita Springs on Monday, July 20 (07-19-15)

e World’s Fastest Indian is a 2005 Japanese-American-Swiss-New Zealand biographical sports drama film based on the Invercargill, New Zealand speed bike racer Burt Munro and his highly modified Indian Scout motorcycle. Munro set numerous land speed records for motorcycles with engines less than 1000 cc at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah in the late 1950s and into the 1960s.

The film stars Anthony Hopkins and was written and directed by Roger Donaldson. “This is one of Anthony Hopkins’ most endearing, least showy performances,” said reviewer Roger Ebert in 2006. “The man who created Hannibal Lecter and Richard Nixon is concerned here with the precise behavior of a quiet, introverted man who is simultaneously obsessed and a little muddled. It’s as if his fellow racing drivers have been visited by a traveler from the dawn of their sport, when guys tinkered with their machines in the tool shed and roared up and down country roads.”

The film opened in December 2005 to positive reviews and quickly became the highest grossing local film at the New Zealand box-office taking in $7,043,000. The film grossed $18,297,690 worldwide.

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‘Phoebe in Wonderland’ is tonight’s CFABS Film for Film Lovers (07-13-15)

Next up at the Center for the Performing Arts Bonita Springs’ Films for Film Lovers program is “Phoebe in Wonderland” directed by Daniel Barnz, starring Felicity Huffman and Bill Pullman (as Phoebe’s parents) and introducing Elle Fanning (Dakota’s younger sister) as Phoebe Lichten.

Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a troubled young girl seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher, Miss Dodger.Under her direction, Phoebe flourishes on stage, relaxing and feeling normal, but her impulsive speech and behavior persist everywhere else. When Phoebe is taken out of the play due to her classroom behavior, her dreams are shattered, but desperate to help her daughter feel normal, Phoebe’s mother works with the drama teacher to bring Phoebe back on stage. When she hurts herself jumping off the catwalk onto the stage, and the drama teacher is fired, Phoebe’s fellow-actors descend into chaos. Phoebe alone clings to a sense of purpose, urging her classmates to continue their rehearsals on their own, and they do. Her mother, who has resisted efforts to label Phoebe, tells Phoebe that she has Tourette syndrome, and Phoebe helps her classmates understand her by explaining the condition to them.

According to the critics:

• “The movie itself is an alternately inspired and awkward domestic drama that agonizes over the difference between a “special” child and one who may need actual professional help.” Ty Burr, Boston Globe Full Review
• “Writer and director Daniel Barnz has created an impressive family drama that takes within its ample embrace the difficulties of growing up as an outsider, parenting children who are different, and making the most out of our imagination in a world that, all too often rewards conformity rather than creativity” Frederick and May Ann Brussat, Spirituality & Practice Full Review
• “In his debut film, Daniel Barnz straddles the line between the wonder of make-believe and the fearsome prison it becomes when you’re confined to it. He asks the question: When does being “special” become mentally delusional and do we as parents know the difference enough to encourage the former before it becomes the latter?” DVD Verdict Full Review

“Chloe in Wonderland” is part of the Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs’ Films for Film Lovers program. Films are shown at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs, although due to renovations, films may be shown in the Hinman Auditorium, which is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The film starts at 7:00. Tickets are $10. Refreshments including wine, beer, soda, water, coffee and more are available for purchase at the performance.

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‘Life is Beautiful’ is July 6 ‘Film for Film Lovers’ flick at Center for the Arts Bonita Springs (07-02-15)

When an open-minded Jewish librarian and his son become victims of the Holocaust, he uses a perfect mixture of will, humor and imagination to protect his son from the dangers around their camp. This is the plot for “Life is Beautiful,” the 1997 Italian drama/comedy/romance that will be screened next Monday night, July 6, at the Center for the Arts Bonita Springs. While the Holocaust provides context for the story, make no mistake. “Life is Beautiful” has less to do with the Holocaust and more to do with human feelings and the beautiful relationship between a father and his son.

“… Benigni (Director and leading actor)  told me that the movie has stirred up venomous opposition from the right wing in Italy,” wrote iconic reviewer Roger Ebert for the Chicago Sun-Times. “At Cannes, it offended some left-wing critics with its use of humor in connection with the Holocaust. What may be most offensive to both wings is its sidestepping of politics in favor of simple human ingenuity. The film finds the right notes to negotiate its delicate subject matter. And Benigni isn’t really making comedy out of the Holocaust, anyway. He is showing how Guido uses the only gift at his command to protect his son. If he had a gun, he would shoot at the Fascists. If he had an army, he would destroy them. He is a clown, and comedy is his weapon.”

The film won Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film, Best Actor in Leading Role and Best Music, and has 65 wins and 39 nominations worldwide.

“Life is Beautiful” is part of the Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs’ Films for Film Lovers program. Films are shown at the Center for Performing Arts Bonita Springs, although due to renovations, films may be shown in the Hinman Auditorium, which is located at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The film starts at 7:00. Tickets are $10. Refreshments including wine, beer, soda, water, coffee and more are available for purchase at the performance.

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Center for the Arts announces July slate of ‘Film Lovers’ screenings (07-01-15)

Each month, The Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs presents “Films for Film Lovers.” Featuring independent shorties, documentaries and feature films from around the world, screenings take place at 7:00 p.m. on Monday nights on the large screen of the cozy Moe Auditorium & Film Center at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL 34116. Wine and non-alcoholic beverages are available along with snacks, and screenings are followed by a lively and entertaining film discussion led by a Film Society Chairman and Film Society member. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

July’s films are:

• Monday, July 6 – “Life is Beautiful.” A Jewish man has a wonderful romance with the help of his humor, but must use that same quality to protect his son in a Nazi death camp. (Italy)
• Monday, July 13 – “Phoebe in Wonderland.” Confounded by her clashes with the seemingly rule-obsessed world, a troubled young girl seeks enlightenment from her unconventional drama teacher. (USA)
•  Monday, July 20 – “World’s Fastest Indian.” The life story of New Zealander Burt Munro, who spent years building a 1920 Indian motorcycle — a bike which helped him set the land-speed world record at Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in 1967. (New Zealand)
• Monday, July 27 – “Strictly Ballroom.” A maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner. (Australia)

Tickets are $10, although series discounts are available.

Become a member of the Art Center’s Film Society and receive advance notice of film events and screenings. For more information, please telephone 495-8989 or visit www.artcenterbonita.org.

And to read about the upcoming Bonita Springs International Film Festival and renovations taking place now through July at the Moe Auditorium and Film Center, please continue reading below.

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Center for the Arts announces June slate of ‘Film Lovers’ screenings (06-08-15)

Each month, The Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs presents “Films for Film Lovers.” Featuring independent shorties, documentaries and feature films from around the world, screenings take place at 7:00 p.m. on Monday nights on the large screen of the cozy Moe Auditorium & Film Center at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL 34116. Wine and non-alcoholic beverages are available along with snacks, and screenings are followed by a lively and entertaining film discussion led by a Film Society Chairman and Film Society member. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

June’s films are:

• Monday, June 8, 2015: “The Full Monty,” in which six unemployed steel workers form a male striptease act and women cheer them on to go for “the full monty.” (UK)
• Monday, June 15, 2015: “Soul Kitchen,” in which a German-Greek chef Zinos unknowingly disturbs the peace in his locals-only restaurant in Hamburg by hiring a more talented chef. (Germany)
• Monday, June 22, 2015: “The Loop,” in which the U.S. President and U.K. Prime Minister fancy a war, but U.S. General Miller and British Secretary of State for International Development Simon Foster don’t agree. (UK)
• Monday, June 29, 2015:  “Amores Perros,” in which a horrific car accident connects three stories, each involving characters dealing with loss, regret, and life’s harsh realities, all in the name of love. (Mexico)

Tickets are $10, although series discounts are available.

Become a member of the Art Center’s Film Society and receive advance notice of film events and screenings. For more information, please telephone 495-8989 or visit www.artcenterbonita.org.

And to read about the upcoming Bonita Springs International Film Festival and renovations taking place now through July at the Moe Auditorium and Film Center, please continue reading below.

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Center for the Arts announces May slate of ‘Film Lovers’ screenings (04-25-15)

Each month, The Center for the Arts of Bonita Springs presents “Films for Film Lovers.” Featuring independent shorties, documentaries and feature films from around the world, screenings take place at 7:00 p.m. on Monday nights on the large screen of the cozy Moe Auditorium & Film Center at 10150 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs, FL 34116. Wine and non-alcoholic beverages are available along with snack, and screenings are followed by a lively and entertaining film discussion led by a Film Society Chairman and Film Society member. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

May’s films are:

• May 4:  12 (Twelve), in which 12 jurors must decide the fate of a Chechen teenager charged with murdering his stepfather. (Russia);
• May 11:  “Haute Cuisine,” the story of Danièle Delpeuch and how she was appointed as the private chef for François Mitterrand. (France);
• May 18:  “Young at Heart,” a documentary on a chorus of senior citizens from Massachusetts who cover songs by Jimi Hendrix, Coldplay, Sonic Youth, and other unexpected musicians. (UK); and
• May 25:  “The Golden Door,” a road movie about teenage Guatemalan immigrants and their journey to the U.S. (Italy).

Individual tickets cost just $10, although series discounts are available.

Become a member of the Art Center’s Film Society and receive advance notice of film events and screenings. For more information, please telephone 495-8989 or visit www.artcenterbonita.org.

And to read about the upcoming Bonita Springs International Film Festival and renovations taking place now through July at the Moe Auditorium and Film Center, please continue reading below.

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