For those of you who missed the news in January, we're now showing a kid's feature film on the last Thursday of every month, and a feature film for adults on the last Friday of every month. The movies start at 1:30 PM. This month we watched two stellar films.
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Queen of Katwe
If it ain't broke, don't fix it. That's Disney's formulaic
mantra. Well, this time Disney seems to have broken that mantra, or at least
tweaked it.
In Queen of Katwe, we're transported to the slum
of Katwe, which is located in Kampala, the capital of Uganda. Young Phiona
Mutesi (Madina Nalwanga) lives there with her mother (Lupita Nyong'o) and
siblings. Their only means of income is selling maize, and the demand for maize
is pretty low. While their lives seem pretty bleak, despite the astonishingly
bright colors that surround them, they make the best of the situation through
their bonds of faith and love. It could just be another case of born in the
slums, die in the slums, but a curious Phiona soon stumbles upon a makeshift
chess club hosted by missionary Robert Katende (David Oyelowo) that changes her
life, and her family's life, forever.
Everyone's singing the praises of the professional actors in Queen
of Katwe, which is fair, but newcomer Madina Nalwanga is truly a sight to
behold. I would love to see more of her in the future. So, what about the tweaks
to the Disney formula I mentioned? Focusing on a girl from Uganda, and showing
the realities of slum life, is a start. The subject of prostitution is even
addressed, giving the drama a darker edge. Overall, Phiona's story is
inspiring, but it's not entirely sugarcoated. This is no princess tale.
Phiona's a queen.
A Man Called Ove
A
Man Called Ove centers around a grumpy old man, Ove (Rolf Lassgård),
that lives an incredibly structured life (and drives a Saab). Every morning at 8,
he walks around his condominium to check on the state of things and enforce
block association rules. Every day he visits his wife's (Ida Engvoll) grave and
puts out fresh flowers. He also goes to work at a factory that he's been at for
over 40 years... until he's suddenly fired. Soon afterwards, his whole
structured life goes out of balance. Ove thinks it's the end for him, but as
fate would have it, it's only a new beginning.
It's odd to find myself saying that a movie involving
suicide is cute and funny, but here I am saying it. A lot of that is owed to
Rolf Lassgård and Filip Berg, who play old Ove and young Ove, respectively.
Rolf has the endearing, growling personality. You just want to give him a big
ole bear hug. Filip shows Ove's sweeter, softer side through flashback. Through
him, we witness Ove fall in love with his wife, Sonja. It kind of plays out
like a Nicholas Sparks movie, but it's quirkier, and better.
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If you missed out, both films are available to check out here at the Franklin County Library! I'd definitely recommend them. Now on to the Oscars!
I cast my Oscar ballot a couple of weeks ago, and my predictions turned out pretty solid. While I did give Denzel Washington the edge over Casey Affleck for Best Actor, it really wasn't all that surprising to see Affleck run off with the gold because Denzel already has two Oscars at home. The real surprise turned out to be figuring out who the Best Picture winner was thanks to a misplaced duplicate envelope. Even if no one was watching the ceremony live, they know about one of the most embarrassing moments in Oscars history. Congratulations to Moonlight, even though it turned out to be a bittersweet win.
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