[ThisWeek] Spongebob Squarepants, My Town, Melinda & Melinda at the Kenworthy

[thisweek at kenworthy.org]

This week at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre-

The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (PG)
Wednesday, June 22
1:00 & 3:15 PM
$1/ages 12 and under, $4/ages 13 and over
* * *

My Town
Documentary film
Thursday, June 23
7:00 PM
$5 suggested donation, $3 for seniors, students, or those on fixed income.
(See full press release below)
* * *

Melinda and Melinda (PG13)
Friday, June 24
7:00 PM
Saturday, June 25
4:45/7:00/9:15 PM
Sunday, June 26
4:45 & 7:00 PM
$5/adults, $2/children 12 and under
KFS passes accepted for Sunday shows
(See Review below)
* * *

Next week at the Kenworthy-

Summer Matinee Series
Thanks to the following Wednesday matinee sponsors:
Insty Prints & North Idaho Athletic Club, Tom & JoAnn Trail, U.S. Bank,
Wells Fargo Bank

Fat Albert (PG)
Wednesday, June 29
1:00 & 3:15 PM

The Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre will be closed July 1 ­ 4.
* * *

Coming in July-

Racing Stripes (PG)
July 6, 1 & 3:30 PM

Sahara (PG13)
July 8 ­ 10, 7:00 PM

Millions (PG)
Presented by US Bank
July 13, 1:00 PM
July 14, 16 & 17, 7:00 PM

Ala Zingara in concert
July 15, 7:30 PM

Napoleon Dynamite (PG)
July 20, 1:00 & 7:00 PM

Sin City (R)
July 22 ­ 24, 7:00 PM

Two Brothers (PG)
Presented by Insty Prints & NIAC
July 27, 1:00 PM

Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy (PG)
July 29 ­ 31, 7:00 PM

Coming in August:  Because of Winn Dixie, Robots, Madagascar, Mad Hot
Ballroom, Howl¹s Moving Castle

Regular Movie prices:  $5 adult, $2 child 12 or younger.
Wednesday matinee prices:  $4/adult, $1/child 12 or younger
KFS passes accepted year-round for Sunday movies!

Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre
508 S. Main Street, Moscow, Idaho
For more information, call 208-882-4127 or visit http://www.kenworthy.org
* * *
Moscow Documentary Film Premieres at Kenworthy

The premiere showing of the documentary film, ³My Town,² is scheduled for
7pm on Thursday, June 23, at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center in
downtown Moscow.  The 70 minute film by Washington State University
Associate Professor Michael Hayes focuses on the cultural clash in Moscow
involving Christ Church Pastor Doug Wilson.

In the film Hayes includes interviews with Wilson, his brother Evan Wilson,
New St. Andrews College Dean Roy Atwood, as well as community
representatives including JoAnn Muneta, Bill London, and Rosemary Huskey.
Hayes also includes film of Wilson¹s history conference and the controversy
regarding Wilson¹s pamphlet, ³Southern Slavery As It Was.²

The suggested donation price for tickets for the premiere are $5, with $3
suggested for seniors, students, and those on fixed income.

The premiere is sponsored by the Auntie Establishment and Brother Carl radio
show which is heard on Moscow radio station KRFP-FM.  Moscow writer Joan
Opyr, who appears as Auntie Establishment, explained that all proceeds from
the premiere will be donated in support of community radio.

Questions about the premiere may be directed to Opyr at 882-6640 or by email
to auntiestablishment at hotmail.com
* * *

This week¹s review-

Melinda and Melinda

Written and Directed by Woody Allen
Director of photography Vilmos Zsigmond
This film is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has many sexual
references and situations, some off-color language, and some substance
abuse. 
Running time: 1 hour, 39 minutes.

As reviewed by Wendy Ide writing for the London Times

Woody Allen¹s latest picture, Melinda and Melinda, is a cinematic sigh of
relief for those who thought that New York¹s favorite clarinet-playing
neurotic had lost his touch.

Both the Melindas of the title are played by the Australian actress Radha
Mitchell, their tales unfolding in parallel as part of an ongoing debate
between two playwrights about whether life is inherently comic or tragic.

Comedy Melinda is a ditzy blonde with a taste for pink cardigans. Her tragic
incarnation is a more complicated creature, a self-medicating,
self-fulfilling prophecy of doom with kohl-smudged ashtray eyes and a more
than passing familiarity with the inside of a mental institution. She¹s the
friend in need who never stops needing, the one whose cries for help you
guiltily stop answering after a while.

In reality, as in life, the division between comedy and tragedy is not so
clear-cut, so tragic Melinda¹s story has its share of laughs and comedy
Melinda¹s tale has touches of pathos. Allen pulls off with aplomb the task
of juggling the two stories.

As reviewed by Sheri Linden writing for The Hollywood Reporter

In his most substantial and satisfying feature since 1999's "Sweet and
Lowdown," Woody Allen revisits favorite themes: storytelling, love and
duplicity, the neuroses of hyperarticulate but emotionally lost
Manhattanites. Using a simple hook that intertwines two versions of the same
story, he's created a memorable ensemble piece with Radha Mitchell
especially compelling in the dual roles that drive "Melinda and Melinda."
Allen's first film for Fox Searchlight should draw the best reviews and
business the writer-director has seen in a while.

Across a restaurant table, friends debate whether life is essentially comic
or tragic. The writer of successful comedies, Sy (Wallace Shawn), believes
people seek laughter to escape pain; Max (Larry Pine), who trusts in the
power of tragedy, argues that life is absurd. By way of example, each spins
a tale based on an anecdote about an uninvited guest. From here, the film
alternates between Sy's romantic comedy and Max's tragic saga of a lonely
soul, returning occasionally to the storytellers themselves.

As the twin stories play out, echoing each other and at times almost
blending together (it takes a little work to stay oriented), the line
between comedy and tragedy feels increasingly arbitrary, more a matter of
style than dramatic ingredients. "Melinda's" moral edge recalls "Husbands
and Wives" and "Crimes and Misdemeanors," and the comedy keeps the film from
tipping into unrelieved dark territory, even if Allen's script lacks
for-the-ages one-liners.

In both tellings, the uninvited guest is Melinda (Radha Mitchell), a woman
at loose ends. In the dramatic version, she's got a wavy bob and subsists on
pills, white wine and cigarettes, traumatized by a difficult divorce in
which she lost custody of her children. After being hospitalized for a
suicide attempt, she arrives at the downtown loft of old friend Laurel
(Chloe Sevigny) and Laurel's peevish actor husband, Lee (Jonny Lee Miller),
who isn't thrilled about sharing their pad with someone who's "nuts." Laurel
welcomes the break in routine as respite from a troubled marriage.

Uptown, the smooth-coiffed Melinda interrupts her neighbors' dinner party
after ingesting 28 sleeping pills. Out-of-work actor and neglected husband
Hobie (Will Ferrell, taking a while to warm up as the Allen surrogate) finds
himself enchanted by the lovely would-be suicide. His filmmaker wife, Susan
(Amanda Peet), barely notices his crush as she pursues a financier for her
new project, "The Castration Sonata" -- a film that, she promises, will put
"male sexuality in perspective."

Susan fixes up Melinda with handsome dentist Greg (Josh Brolin), prompting a
jealousy-fueled barrage of put-downs from Hobie, which Ferrell puts across
with Allenesque inflection. (He also delivers one of the all-time funniest
movie reactions to spousal infidelity.) The other Melinda, whom friend
Cassie (Brooke Smith) sets up with a widowed dentist, instead falls for the
dangerously charming musician Ellis (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

Mitchell's nuanced intensity as the vulnerable Melinda, especially in her
more high-strung incarnation, is key to the film's success.


As reviewed by Mick LaSalle writing for the San Francisco Chronicle

"Melinda and Melinda" is Woody Allen's first film since "Deconstructing
Harry" that's not dull, flawed, overly nostalgic or some deadly combination
of all three. It's not one of his funnier movies, but "Melinda and Melinda"
is more accomplished, adventurous and original.

Instead of Allen's usual investigation into the nature of existence, this
new film looks at the way stories are created, particularly comedies. It's
an area in which Allen really is an expert.

Four people, two of them playwrights, are sitting in a cafe in Manhattan.
Max (Larry Pine), who specializes in drama, sees life as essentially
meaningful. His friend, comic playwright Sy (Wallace Shawn), sees life as
essentially absurd. As an exercise, a companion gives them a simple story
setup: Young Manhattanites in the midst of a dinner party are interrupted by
the sudden appearance of a woman, Melinda, on their doorstep. Is this the
beginning of a comedy or a tragedy?

Each playwright starts riffing, and what result are two separate stories.
The movie depicts these stories, cutting at will from one to another,
usually without bothering to tell us which Melinda story we're looking at.
We just have to catch up, which is fine, because the film makes it a
pleasure to be thrown off balance. Each Melinda story has a completely
different cast, except for Radha Mitchell, who plays Melinda in both
stories. In the drama, she has curly hair and smokes and drinks heavily,
while in the comedy she's more wholesome, has flat hair and looks five years
younger. In both, she is newly sprung from a bad relationship, and her
friends are trying to pair her off with another man.

In an ideal world, the "Melinda" comedy would have been hysterically funny
and the "Melinda" drama would have been devastatingly tragic. Neither is the
case, and that weakness keeps "Melinda and Melinda" in the second tier of
Allen films. To be sure, the film is a lot better than a mere intellectual
exercise, but just imagine the impact it might have had if the Melinda
stories were farther apart in tone and as effective as the best comedies and
dramas can be. Or would that have been too much? After all, who wants
another straight, sober drama from Woody Allen, even if it only constitutes
half the movie? Obviously, this speculation can lead nowhere, but one thing
is undeniable: The conclusion of the dramatic story line is almost entirely
without emotional force. It's interesting but should have been more than
that. Not surprisingly, the comedy is more satisfying.

Film reviews researched and edited by Peter Haggart
* * *

Kenworthy Film Society Passes on sale

Kenworthy Film Society pass prices will increase on July 1 to $30 for a
10-punch card and $75 for a $30-punch card.
That's still only $3.00 and $2.50 per movie, respectively -- the best deal
on movies in Moscow.

Why are prices increasing?  Specifically, because the cost of film shipping
has increased. 
Generally, because the cost of doing business has increased.

Passes can be purchased at the current prices through June 30, 2005, so get
yours now.
Passes are available at BookPeople and at the Kenworthy box office during
regular showtimes.

Thanks for your continued support of independent and foreign films on the
Palouse!
* * *
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PAMELA PALMER, Volunteer
Mailto:ppalmer at moscow.com
Film and Events Committee
Kenworthy Performing Arts Centre

http://www.kenworthy.org

To speak with a KPAC staff member,
call (208) 882-4127
Mailto:kpac at moscow.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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