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May 2017 It's My Life Mary Jackson (Janelle Monae): Every time we get a chance to get ahead, they move the finish line, every time. -- Hidden Figures (2016) Biographical films (a.k.a. "biopics") have been a perennially popular movie genre, reaching their hey-day in the 1930's and continuing to be prominent on marquees today. They can be artistic vehicles to re-create pivotal moments of fame or infamy, often within a context of larger outside world events; they also aim to evoke a person's spirit and let it resonate through time and be relevant to current day. It's a calculated artistic risk to take a role playing a real-life individual, especially someone still alive or world renown, so the actor's challenge becomes how to depict the soul and specificity of his/her subject without slipping into impersonation.
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Join your fellow movie lovers to watch a new release on DVD at Naperville Public Library. No registration is required. Titles subject to change. Saturday, May 6 at 2:00 p.m. at the 95th Street Library: "Fences" Rated PG-13. Sunday, May 21 at 2:00 pm at the Nichols Library: " La La Land " Rated PG-13. Foreign Film Series (Bi-weekly Tuesday evenings at 6:00 pm at the 95th Street Library) May 2 "Reprise" (Norway) May 16 "Salaam Bombay" (India) May 30 "Twin Sisters" (Netherlands) Enjoy light refreshments while you sit back and watch these shows! Chicago Critics Film Festival May 12 - 18, 2017 Chicago, Illinois Cannes Film Festival May 17 - May 28, 2017 Cannes, France
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Lion /After getting lost on the streets of Calcutta as a five-year-old, Saroo (Dev Patel) lands in an orphanage, then is adopted by loving Australian couple Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John Brierley. 25 years later, Saroo longs to reconnect with his biological family and sets out on a quest using Google Earth to re-discover his Indian past. Based on a memoir and nominated for six Oscars. Rated PG-13.
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Hidden FiguresA team of African-American women (Taraji P. Henson, Janelle Monae, Octavia Spencer) provide NASA with important mathematical data needed to launch the program's first successful space missions. Katherine Goble excelled in computerized celestial navigation, Mary Jackson became NASA's first black female engineer, and Dorothy Vaughn taught herself and her staff the FORTRAN programming language and was named the first black woman supervisor at the space agency. Rated PG.
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ChaplinPortrays the life of Charlie Chaplin (Robert Downey, Jr) from his poverty-stricken childhood in England, to his friendships, his many wives and scandalous affairs, his acting career, and his relentless pursuit by J. Edgar Hoover. Downey earned a Best Actor nod for his committed and highly physical performance; director Richard Attenborough was so impressed that he included historical footage of the real Chaplin at the end of the movie, almost daring the audience to determine the difference. Rated PG-13.
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Bright starRomantic Era British poet John Keats (Ben Whishaw) and his muse, seamstress Fanny Brawne (Abby Cornish), fall in love but cannot marry due to his precarious finances and ill health. A beautifully photographed, sensitively textured depiction of intellectual and ethereal passion tempered by lurking mortality. The film's title comes from Keats' sonnet "Bright star, would I were as steadfast as thou art," which he wrote when with Fanny. Rated PG.
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Monk with a camera:Grandson of Vogue magazine editor Diana Vreeland and trained as a professional photographer, Nicholas Vreeland walks away from his privileged life to study to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk, eventually becoming abbot of a monastery. This documentary reveals Vreeland's spiritual struggle to leave the trappings of his former life behind even as his professional skills may help save his vocation. Not rated.
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The extraordinary story of the iconic poet, musician and folksinger Violeta Parra, whose songs have become hymns for Chileans and Latin Americans alike. Director Andrés Wood traces the intensity and explosive vitality of her life, from humble origins to international fame, her defense of indigenous cultures and devotion to her art. Not rated. Spanish language.
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The FighterWhen boxer "Irish" Micky Ward (Mark Wahlberg) tries to compete for a championship in the ring, he finds himself struggling to balance relationships with his girlfriend Charlene (Amy Adams), manager/mother Alice (Melissa Leo), and brother Dicky (Christian Bale) who helped train him to fight. Rated R. Wahlberg's friendship with the real Micky and their shared blue-collar backgrounds lent unique authenticity to his characterization. Bale and Leo walked away with Best Supporting Actor/Actress Oscars for their indelible performances.
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Love me or leave meFollows the life of 1920's-30's jazz singer Ruth Etting (Doris Day) and her tumultuous relationship with Martin "the Gimp" Snyder (Jimmy Cagney), her manager and a notorious Chicago gangster. The uncommon screen pairing of Day and Cagney created memorable and vivid chemistry. Etting's signature recordings include such standards as "Ten Cents a Dance," whose lyrics eerily echoed Etting's own personal challenges and professional successes. Not rated.
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Diving bell and the butterflyDramatizes the story of Elle France magazine editor Jean-Dominique Bauby (Mathieu Almaric), who, at the age of 43, suffered a stroke that paralyzed his entire body except his left eye, which he used to blink out his memoir. Modern artist/director Julian Schnabel used interior monologue and first-person visual perspective to lead the audience inside Bauby's immovable body but highly active mind. Rated PG-13. French language.
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The Boys: The Sherman Brothers' StoryThe upbeat songs are part of our collective unconscious: "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Bare Necessities," and "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang," among hundreds of others that anchor Disney and other family film classics. But the musical geniuses behind those compositions, Richard and Robert Sherman, had a complicated dynamic, enjoying a successful working partnership while barely speaking to each other in their very separate personal lives. Rated PG.
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