Movies playing in English at Chamonix Cinema
The first two movies will be showing at Cinema Vox until the 2nd November in English with French subtitles – check www.cinemavox-chamonix.com for show times.
The second two are part of the autumn matinee series and will be showing on Sunday afternoons at 2.30pm.
THE TOWN
After a heist, professional thief Doug MacRay (Ben Affleck) keeps an eye on bank manager Claire, the only witness who could identify MacRay's gang. The couple fall in love with each other, and as FBI agent Jon Hamm (Mad Men) closes in on him, McCray begins to question the life he's been leading.
This is Affleck's second directorial feature after the critically acclaimed Gone Baby Gone. The themes aren't particularly original – bad guys wanting to change their ways, kidnapper getting involved with his hostage, a neighbourhood ruled by a criminal fraternity – but Affleck has a feel for the one-square mile district in Boston that accounts for 300 robberies a year and where even children can spot undercover cops.
The film jumpstarts with a slick, well-practiced robbery, but none of the action is overblown, and while the fights are brutal, they're also always believable. This is a fantastic crime thriller and drama, with pitch-perfect performances, that serves as confirmation of Affleck's ability as a director.
EAT, PRAY, LOVE
Liz Gilbert (Julia Roberts) had what most women dream of - a husband, a comfortable home, and a satisfying career. Then one day she realises that she hasn't gotten what she wanted from life. Liz divorces her husband and sets out on a journey of self-discovery, beginning in Italy, then travelling to India, before finally landing in Bali.
This film is adapted from Elizabeth Gilbert's hugely successful memoir. Many readers find this tale of a woman who leaves her unsatisfactory marriage to start a spiritual journey of independent self-discovery, to be empowering and the colloquial writing to be accessible.
In Italy Liz learns the delight of eating and appreciating each day as it comes, in India the humility of serving others, and in Bali the importance of equilibrium (and, ironically, goes full circle to find ‘completeness' in love). Despite the predictability of the film, it's a leisurely, beautiful travelogue. For many it could be life altering... for the rest of us View, Enjoy, Part.
THE UNFORGIVEN
Not to be mistaken with Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven, this is the great director John Huston's film about a frontier family whose neighbours turn on them when it's suspected that their daughter (Audrey Hepburn) was stolen from the local Kiawa tribe.
Considered by many critics to be one of the most overlooked western films of the period (1960), it's noted for its realism and its excellent performances. For many cinephiles, the most important aspect of this film is that John Huston, who is considered one of the finest directors in cinematic history, helms it.
Compared to more recent films, this film seems naïve, but it's a very good Sunday film at the cinema and it happens to be playing on Sunday, October 24th for one day only.
CABARET
The story takes place in 1920's Berlin. After having a fling with a British writer, American chanteuse Sally Bowles (Liza Minnelli) tries to create a career as a gold-digger, making overtures to a handsome aristocrat, while the Nazi rise to power puts dampers on their swinging lifestyle.
Based on English author Christopher Isherwood's autobiography Berlin Stories, the book opens with the lines “I am a camera with its shutter open.” These lines express a snapshot of a lost world, the cosmopolitan Berlin of the 20's and 30's, where cheerful expats dance and revel, whirling faster and faster in the hope that it will save them from the rise of the Nazis.
Liza Minnelli, whose later work included Arthur, is great in this role and looks fabulous in her 20's fashions. Director Bob Fosse's (Chicago, Lenny) choreography and camera work is dazzling. This film holds up as a great musical that's exceedingly enjoyable even as it's also sometimes chilling. Released in 1972, the film won eight Academy Awards.
Cabaret is playing at the Cinemavox for one day only, a matinee on Halloween, October 31st.
