Fall Cinema Sampler beginning

Free film series open to the public

Trine University will offer its popular fall Cinema Sampler, with the theme “To the 9’s: Garbo, Novem & Now,” on Thursdays at 7 p.m. beginning Sept. 17. The Trine Humanities Institute sponsors the free film series, which is open to the public. A schedule follows.

Sept. 17—“Ninotchka,” a 1939, non-rated film of one hour, 50 minutes.  

The year 1939, dubbed “the great movie year” by film historians, introduced many American film classics, including “Gone With the Wind” and “The Wizard of Oz,” but also many other American classics. Among them was Greta Garbo’s first comedy, “Ninotchka,” which produced the famous ad tagline, “Garbo Laughs!” Directed by the great Ernst Lubitsch, “Ninotchka” employed brilliant social and political satire concocted, in part, by the writer Billy Wilder (“Some Like It Hot”).

Sept. 24—“Duplicity,” produced this year, a two-hour, five-minute film rated PG-13.

This sexy, witty, exhilarating caper movie stars Julia Roberts, Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Tom Wilkinson. Writer/director Tony Gilroy (“Michael Clayton”) pitches his tale of industrial espionage as a hilarious high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse.                                                              

                  

Oct. 1—“Sunshine Cleaning,” a 2009 film rated R and running one hour, 31 minutes.

The producers of “Little Miss Sunshine” have created another “colorful, refreshingly quirky comic drama,” according to People magazine, that offers “a tableau of hope…and a truth-telling reality that is a salve for the recessionary soul,” says the Los Angeles Times. It stars Amy Adams and Alan Arkin.

Oct. 8—“Novem,” a docu-drama produced in 2006 and running one hour, 43 minutes. It is not rated, but contains powerful language and depicts drug use and brief nudity.

“Novem” has won 10 film festival awards, but it is not yet in general release. It is screened as a Cinema Sampler special event through an agreement with director/producer Brad Kimmell of Evansville, Ind. We are excited about screening it in this Cinema Sampler special event, made possible under an agreement with its director/producer, Brad Kimmell, who lives and works in Evansville. An introduction to the film’s story, characters and original music can be viewed at  www.novemsongs.com . 

Oct. 22—“Two Lovers,” produced in 2009, rated R, and running one hour, 50 minutes.

Like Greta Garbo, Joaquin Phoenix apparently “wants to be  alone”—but with his rap music. He has announced “Two Lovers” as his last movie. The romantic drama also stars Gwyneth Paltrow.

Oct. 29—“Knowing,” a 2009 film rated G-13 and running two hours, one minute.(2009)

                             

Nicolas Cage stars in what film critic Roger Ebert calls “a superbly crafted thriller” that posits creepy coded messages about major world disasters. Director Alex Proyas (“Dark City”) makes his creative sci-fi crackle and explode in a landscape of serious questions.   

Nov. 12—“The Soloist,” produced in 2009, rated PG-13 and running one hour, 49 minutes. 

Oscar-worthy performances by Jamie Foxx and Robert Downy Jr. reside at the center of a drama by director Joe Wright (“Atonement”), about the contemporary worlds of print journalism and the homeless. The movie includes a soaring musical score.