Europhiles among us may rejoice: Saturday Night Cine Club, which holds monthly screenings at Theatre Charlotte, has announced a January-June lineup for 2013, and its all coming from Europe: France, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Russia and France again.
But before I describe it, Ill mention two more imminent entries from Charlotte Film Societys other arm: Back Alley Film Series, which runs at Carolina Cinemas Crownpoint. Those two come from some alternate universe.
BAFS will import two rediscovered movies, the 1987 Miami Connection and the 1971 Wake in Fright.
The martial arts Miami runs Monday. It was directed by black belt/philosopher/author Y.K. Kim and tells of the synth rock band Dragon Sound, as it embarks on a roundhouse wave of crime-crushing justice in the streets of Orlando.
The thriller Wake, a seminal film in Australian cinema, runs Dec. 17. It comes from director Ted Kotcheff and tells of a British schoolteachers demoralization at the hands of drunken derelicts, while hes stranded in a small town in the outback.
Now, back to normality. Heres the early 2013 roster:
• Jan. 19: The Well Diggers Daughter. Daniel Auteuil directs and stars as a widower with six daughters in the Provence countryside. The eldest gets impregnated by a pilot, who quickly flies off to the skies of World War I.
• Feb. 23: The Turin Horse. Béla Tarr and Ágnes Hranitzky co-directed this film about a rural farmer confronting the mortality of a faithful horse, whose ill-treatment partly caused Friedrich Nietzsche to sink into lunacy.
• March 16: We Have a Pope. Nanni Moretti directed this drama about a newly elected pontiff (Michel Piccoli) whos reluctant to take on that job and agrees to see a therapist to understand why.
• April 13: Even the Rain. Two Spanish filmmakers go to rural Bolivia to shoot a movie about Columbus journey to the New World, then get embroiled in a Bolivian rebellion against the privatization of the water supply. Spains Icíar Bollaín directed.
• May 11: Elena. The title character hopes to get money for her irresponsible sons family by making a second marriage to a millionaire, but she finds out hes leaving all his dough to his spendthrift daughter. Andrey Zvyagintsev (The Return) directed.
• June 8: All Together. Jane Fonda appears in her first French-speaking role in 40 years. She, Geraldine Chaplin and Claude Rich live in communal ease with a younger caretaker (Daniel Brühl), until old secrets and jealousies emerge. Stéphane Robelin directed this comedy.













