Movies, Music, and More

New releases for Tuesday, March 9:

* Barbie in a Mermaid Tale

* Boondock Saints II

* Capitalism: A Love Story

* Elmo's Rainbow

* Hannah Montana: Miley Says Goodbye

* In Plain Sight Season 2

* Planet 51

* Precious

* Old Dogs

* Up in the Air

Labels: Harford County Public Library, new release Tuesday, new releases

March 2010 Vol. 4, No. 3

The Foreign Films New to View newsletter is a monthly publication designed to keep you up to date on some of HCPL's latest foreign films on DVD. The selections in this newsletter are just a sample of the rich variety of films available to you through your library. Use the sign-up box above to have this newsletter sent directly to your e-mail every month, with new, recommended movies for you to view.


Coco Before Chanel
directed by Anne Fontaine

(In French, with English subtitles)

Years after being abandoned by her father, Gabrielle Chanel finds a job in a tailor shop where she meets and soon begins an affair with French millionaire Etienne Balsan. Through Baron Balsan, she is introduced into French society and given the opportunity to design her own style of hats. Though her career takes off, her personal life becomes more complicated when she falls in love with Balsan's former best friend, Arthur Capel.


Lorna's Silence
directed by Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne

(In French, with English subtitles)

Lorna is a young Albanian woman, who dreams of opening up her own shop with her boyfriend. Without money, however, she finds herself entwined in a vicious plan devised by a mobster. Her current marriage to the drug addict Claudy gives her marginally legal status, with possible Belgian citizenship. Matters begin to turn murky, however, when her organized-crime sponsors now expect her to hurry along Claudy's death through a drug overdose in order that she may in turn marry a Russian Mafioso, also looking for Belgian identity papers. What happens, though, when the drug addict decides to clean himself up, calling on Lorna to help him achieve his goal? Lorna's conscience clicks into gear, and matters do not seem so cut and dried, nor easily defined.


Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
directed by Tony Jaa and Panna Rittikrai

(In Thai, with English subtitles; also English dubbing available)

Outside of the action-packed format of the film and the actor playing the main character, this film has little to do with Ong Bak. While Ong Bak had a contemporary setting, Ong Bak 2 is more of an epic from a distant, even mythical, past. A young boy born into nobility has his accustomed life stripped from him after the murder of his family. Taken into a band of outlaws, he grows up, training with them in the martial arts. He must learn to fight in order to exact his revenge against evil slave traders as well as the man responsible for his parents' death.


Rashevski's Tango
directed by Sam Garbarski

(In French and Hebrew, with English subtitles)

What does it mean to be Jewish? Three generations of the Rashevski family grapple with the question, after the death of Rose, the secular matriarch who believed that the tango would make all troubles disappear. The characters confront issues of relationships, family, religion, love, romance, and interfaith marriage, all the while trying to define just what a mensch is.


Revanche
directed by Gotz Spielmann

(In German, with English subtitles)

A ex-con falls in loves with a prostitute after becoming an assistant in a brothel, where the two of them make plans to escape and start a new life together. When events go horribly wrong, Alex, the petty, small-time grifter, must hide out in the country while the heat cools off a bit. There he waits for his lover, trying to stay occupied and out of trouble


The Song of Sparrows
directed by Majid Majidi

(In Farsi, with English subtitles)

From the director of Baran, Children of Heaven , and The Willow Tree, this film takes viewers through a series of episodic misadventures that involve Karim, the film's protagonist, a poor farmer, who is led away from his spiritual roots into a kind of hell. The image of the city as center and source of evil is an old one, and Karim's journey to Tehran to get his daughter's hearing aid repaired presents an image no different. Once there, Karim begins to carry castoffs, pieces of Tehran, back to his rural village, as if he were trying to bring the very city to his doorstep. Perhaps only the intervention of God...or an accident...will awaken Karim to his spiritual loss and folly.

Labels: foreign films

Adult

The Accidental Husband
Angels and Demons
Bruno
The Christmas Clause
Darwin's Darkest Hour
Drag Me to Hell
The Echo
Familiar Strangers
Fighting
Four Christmases
Funny People
The Goods : Live Hard, Sell Hard
Hardwired
Into the Storm
Is Anybody There?
The Last House on the Left
My Sister's Keeper
The Open Road
Orphan
Paper Heart
Shorts
Star Trek
Terminator Salvation
The Terrorist Next Door
The Ugly Truth
Up
Wild Child
Would Be Kings
You're Welcome America : A Final Night with George W. Bush

Juvenile

Max and Ruby: Candy Apple
Mickey's Magical Christmas :Snowed in at the House of Mouse
Santa Buddies
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Labels: Harford County Public Library, HCPL, newly requestable DVDs

New releases for Tuesday, March 2:

* 2012

* Alice

* Alice in Wonderland

* Barney: Egg-cellent Adventures

* Clash of the Titans

* Cold Souls

* Olivia Takes Ballet

* Ponyo

* The Private Lives of Pippa Lee

* Strawberry Shortcake: The Berryfest Princess Movie

* This Emotional Life

* Thomas and Friends: Thomas and the Runaway Kite

* Where the Wild Things Are

Labels: Harford County Public Library, new release Tuesday, new releases

New releases for Tuesday, February 23:




* Bliss

* The Box

* Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire’s Assistant

* The End of the Line

* Everybody’s Fine

* The Informant

* Ghost Hunters Season 5

* Lego: The Adventures of Clutch Powers

* Motherhood

* The People Speak

* The September Issue

* Sorority Run

* The Wiggles: Hot Poppin’ Popcorn

Labels: Harford County Public Library, new release Tuesday, new releases

February 2010 Vol. 4, No. 2

The Foreign Films New to View newsletter is a monthly publication designed to keep you up to date on some of HCPL's latest foreign films on DVD. The selections in this newsletter are just a sample of the rich variety of films available to you through your library.

Buddenbrooks
directed by Franz Peter Wirth

(In German, with English subtitles)

The sweeping tale of the rise and fall of a wealthy German merchant family, Buddenbrooks dramatizes the conflict between family loyalty and personal freedom. Whether it is Thomas's blind embrace of running the family business, Toni's acceptance of her father's will that she marry the clownish Grunlich, or Christian's purposeful decision to be the ne'er-do-well of the family, each conflict seems to bring the family and its fortunes closer to ruin. This adaptation of Thomas Mann's most famous work is brought to life with period costumes, stunning settings, and unforgettable performances.


Departures
directed by Yojiro Takita

(In Japanese, with English subtitles)

Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved. Now out of a job, he decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. When he answers a classified ad entitled "Departures," he thinks it is an advertisement for a travel agency. Only later does he discover that the job is actually for a 'Nokanshi' or 'encoffineer,' a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed.


Desierto Adentro
directed by Rodrigo Plá

(In Spanish, with English subtitles)

Aureliano tells the story of how his father Elias dedicated his life to building a church in order to gain God's forgiveness for a great sin he thought he had committed. In the early 20th century, when Mexico was in the midst of revolution, the military put down any hint of rebellion in whatever ruthless manner it chose. It is not surprising then that Elias sees his hometown devasted when government troops mistake his family and friends' procession to his baby's baptism as the advance of rebel troops. As Elias flees the troops, he experiences a heavenly vision that opens the way for him to make amends. This quest for atonement is manifested through his building the church in the desert. His children see matters differently, however, and Aureliano's story brings into question when it is that heavenly quests turn into earthly madness.


Island Etude
directed by Chen Huai-en

(In Mandarin, with English subtitles)

Before graduating from college, a young man with a serious hearing impairment decides to cycle around Taiwan, following the full perimeter of the coast, where he rediscovers his roots, makes new friends, and falls in love.


Lake Tahoe
directed by Fernando Eimbcke

(In Spanish, with English subtitles)

From the director of Duck Season, this film follows the young Juan, who has just crashed a car, a gift from his father. With the engine in disrepair, Juan walks about town, trying to get the car fixed. His journey on foot brings him, and the viewers, closer to an understanding about his life and his family.


Like Stars on Earth
directed by Aamir Khan

(In Hindi, with English subtitles)

Eight-year-old Ishaan can't seem to get anything right in class and gets into more trouble than his parents can handle. They pack him off to a boarding school to be disciplined and to pull his energetic imagination under control. While Ishaan finds that despite the school change, he is still does not fit in, his art teacher, Nikumbh, realizes that something is wrong and sets out to discover what it is. With time, patience, and care, Nikumbh helps Ishann find himself.


One Day You'll Understand
directed by Amos Gitai

(In French, with English subtitles)

As the 1987 trial of Nazi war criminal Klaus Barbie unfolds on television, Victor Bastien reviews old family documents and finds a distressing "Aryan declaration" authored by his late father. This new discovery throws Victor's conception of his family's history into darkness. His mother, Rivka, keeps a stubborn silence about the past, while Tania, his sister, defends their father's declaration. At the same time, Victor's wife and children grow concerned about his increasing distraction. Burning with the need to unearth the truth, Victor takes his family to the tiny village where Rivka's parents were forced to hide during the war.


A Woman in Berlin
directed by Max Färberböck

(In German, with English subtitles)

Women were the victims of the Red Army invasion of Berlin in 1945, with mass rape and no protection from law or society. One of them, the anonymous lead character, decides to look for an officer who can protect her. A complex symbiotic relationship develops between her and Russian officer Andrej that will force them to remain enemies until the bitter end.

Labels: foreign films

New releases for Tuesday, February 2:

DVD

* Dora Let's Explore

* Love Happens

* More Than A Game

* Ong Bak 2: The Beginning

* Zombieland

Labels: Harford County Public Library, HCPL, new release Tuesday, new releases

Adult

Adoration
Aliens In the Attic
American Violet
The Answer Man
Black Rain
The Brothers Bloom
Caprica
Cheri
Dark Country
G.I. Joe. The Rise of Cobra
The Haunted Airman
I Love You, Beth Cooper
Ice age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Imagine That
Kabei (Our mother)
Land of the Lost
Love n' Dancing
My Life in Ruins
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Nothing Like the Holidays
O'Horten
An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving
The Proposal
Shrink
The Taking of Pelham 123
The Tournament
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Treeless Mountain
The village Barbershop
Whatever Works
Year One


Juvenile

Anne of Green Gables : A New Beginning
Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas
Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure
Veggie Tales Saint Nicholas : A Story of Joyful Giving
Wow! Wow! Wubbzy! Wubb Idol

Labels: Harford County Public Library, HCPL, newly requestable DVDs

New releases for Tuesday, January 26:

DVD

* Act of God

* The Boys Are Back

* Bright Star

* The Donner Party

* Michael Jackson's This Is It

* Saw VI

* Southland Season 1

* Whip It

MUSIC

* Love Songs by Vince Gill

* Need You Now by Lady Antebellum

Labels: AV, Harford County Public Library, new release Tuesday, new releases

New DVD releases for Tuesday, January 19:

* Across the Hall

* Gamer

* The Invention of Lying

* Pandorum

* Scooby's All Star Laff-a-lympics Vol. 1

* Weeds Season 5

* Whiteout

Labels: AV, Harford County Public Library, new release Tuesday, new releases

Eric Rohmer, one of the leaders of the French New Wave in cinema, died this week, on January 11, in Paris. Born in 1920, in Tulle, France, he began his career in film first as a reviewer, and then as a director. He wrote for Les Chahiers du Cinema, along with Jean-Luc Godard, Francois Truffaut, and Claude Chabrol.

Although he was considered more conservative in his films than other members of the French New Wave, certainly he embraced the iconoclasm of the movement, with films focusing on characters who preferred long, introspective conversations to wild action. HCPL is fortunate to own several of his films, including the Claire's Knee and Chloe in the Afternoon. While his earlier films tended towards the conversational, his later films drifted towards the historical drama or romance, embodied by his last film, The Romance of Astrea and Celadon.

Labels: Cahiers du Cinema, Chloe in the Afternoon, Claire's Knee, Claude Chabrol, Eric Rohmer, Francois Truffaut, French cinema, French New Wave, Jean-Luc Godard, Romance of Astrea and Celadon