Daily Loaf

Eckerd College’s International Cinema series is back this week with a double feature, loosely tied together around the theme of Asian hit men.

Ashes of Time Redux

The free action starts at 7pm at Eckerd College’s Miller Auditorium. Wong Kar-Wai’s wuxia delight Ashes of Time was redone for the big screen as Ashes of Time Redux and it’s astonishing how gorgeous it looks. As long as you don’t get all obsessed with minor details (like what exactly is going on and who is pining for whom), you will be blown away … this is a must-see on the big screen, playing in a new 35mm print!

At 9pm don’t miss Hiroyuki Tanaka’s inventive, intense and amusing Postman Blues: Sawaki is a postman, bored with his way of life until it all changes when his old schoolmate, who has just joined the Yakuza (Japanese mafia) smuggles a few items into his friend’s bag. Now the police are after him, and a series of coincidences convince them that this seemingly mild-mannered postal worker is a seriously dangerous man.

Warning: if you come to the series you may get hooked and have your Friday nights during the regular school year booked for the next decade. The series has been running for five years now and there are a number of folks who have been there every week for the last several. Come and bring your friends!

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All films in the series are free and open to the public, and screen in the Miller Auditorium of Eckerd College (4200 54th Ave. So., St. Petersburg). Tickets and reservations are not required.

For more information on the International Cinema Series, and to see upcoming films, go to www.eckerd.edu/ic

Questions? Contact the Eckerd College Office of Communications at 727-864-7979 or events@eckerd.edu.

The International Cinema Series is coordinated by me: Nathan Andersen, Associate Professor of Philosophy at Eckerd College.

Voted “Best Local Film Series” by Creative Loafing’s Best of the Bay 2007.

… or at least you ought to try and see when you have some free time and the inclination to stretch your cinematic imagination. On the eve of a new year of discovery and hype (Sundance starts tomorrow, January 15th), it’s as good a time as any to see for yourself why indie filmmakers and distributors still pin their hopes on the festival that got its improbable start in the snowy mountains above Salt Lake City, Utah. Between Netflix and Blockbuster and your local library, you should be able to find most of these.

John Lurie and Richard Edson go to Florida in Stranger than Paradise

Sundance really hit its stride in 1985. Before that it was called the Utah/US Film Festival and hadn’t yet been sponsored by Robert Redford and the Sundance Institute. In 1985 it got a new name and gave the world an introduction to two of the most prolific and exciting filmmaking teams. Jim Jarmusch brought his second feature (following the largely unheralded debut film Permanent Vacation), and introduced the world to his own peculiar take on America in Stranger than Paradise. The Coen brothers (Joel and Ethan) stunned audiences with their visceral take on pulp film noir in Blood Simple. Their ability to create intensity through memorable images – a shovel dragging on the pavement, shafts of light that stab through the darkness as bullets penetrate the walls that shelter a terrified Frances McDormand – signaled the emergence of a powerful new team of storytellers. Read the rest of this entry »