Hudson Film Society
Hudson Film Festival, May 9th, 10th and 11th page 2

Festival passes and tickets can be obtained at Pure Art in Hudson or at the Village Theatre box office. The Hudson Film Society is dedicated to Transforming the way people see the world through film.

A highlight of the Festival will be the 4.00 pm film Wadjda (98 min). Transgressive in the best possible way, Wadjda presents a startlingly assured new voice from a corner of the globe where cinema has been all but silenced. It is a movie of firsts. This first feature film shot entirely in Saudi Arabia is the story of a young girl living in a suburb of Riyadh determined to raise enough money to buy a bike in a society that sees bicycles as dangerous to a girl's virtue. Even more impressive, Wadjda was made by a female Saudi filmmaker. In a country where cinemas are banned and women cannot drive or vote, writer- director Haifaa Al-Mansour has broken many barriers with her new film - a parable in its way of the writer-director capacity to get her movie made. The film is circumspect about putting forth any overt criticisms of mosque or state; instead, the movie presents the facts of its heroine's life - and also, more obliquely, the lives of her mother, classmates and teachers - with calm authority and devastating effectiveness.

Saturday will end with the showing of Dallas Buyers Club (117 min). This film garnered two Oscars - one for best Actor and one for best supporting actor. Dallas Buyers Club rests squarely on Matthew McConaughey's scrawny shoulders, and he carries the burden gracefully with a career-best performance. Directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, Matthew McConaughey portrays the real-life character, whose self-interest is galvanized into something much more. A son of Texas, Ron Woodroof is an electrician and rodeo cowboy with a devil-may-care lifestyle. Suddenly, Ron is blindsided by being diagnosed as H.I.V. positive and given 30 days to live. An outsider to the gay community, Ron finds an unlikely ally in fellow AIDS patient Rayon (Jared Leto), a transsexual who shares Ron's lust for life. Rayon also shares Ron's entrepreneurial spirit: seeking to avoid government sanctions against selling non-approved medicines and supplements, they establish a buyers club, where H.I.V. positive people pay monthly dues for access to the newly acquired supplies. Deep in the heart of Texas, Ron's pioneering underground collective beats loud and strong. With a growing community of friends and clients, Ron fights for dignity, education, and acceptance. In the years following his diagnosis, the embattled Lone Star loner lives life to the fullest like never before. Two amazing Oscar performances.

Sunday, May 11 at 1.00 pm a Best Picture nominee, Nebraska (110 min) will grace the big screen. Elegant in its simplicity and poetic in its message, Nebraska adds another stirringly resonant chapter to Director Alexander Payne's remarkable filmography (Sideways, The Descendants). Told with deadpan humor and a unique visual style, it's ultimately the story of a son trying to get through to a father he doesn't understand. It stars Bruce Dern as a tempestuous Missouri father, Woody Grant, who's convinced he's won a million dollar magazine sweepstakes, and Will Forte as the son who grudgingly agrees to drive him to Nebraska to claim his winnings. There's one more thing to enjoy and that is June Squibb's portrayal of Woody's wife Kate. Squibb plays Kate as a force of nature with a mouth that's funny, insightful, profane, and tender all at the same time. Dern's already won the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award for his Woody and he and Squibb were nominated for Academy Awards. A very funny movie with some poignant statements to make about aging, familial relationships, and the past's influence on the present.

Saturday, May 10 at 1.00 pm a film from Chile will be screened. Gloria (110 min) is marvelously directed by Sebastian Lelio and beautifully led by a powerful performance from Paulina Garcia, Gloria takes an honest, sweetly poignant look at a type of character that's all too often neglected in Hollywood. Gloria is a "woman of a certain age" but still feels young. Though lonely, she makes the best of her situation and fills her nights seeking love at social dance clubs for single adults. Her fragile happiness changes the day she meets Rodolfo. Their intense passion, to which Gloria gives her all, leaves her vacillating between hope and despair -- until she uncovers a new strength and realizes that, in her golden years, she can shine brighter than ever. Gloria was Chile's official entry for Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards but did not make the short list, much to the disappointment of many critics, and stars Paulina García in a tour de force performance that captured the Silver Bear Best Actress Award at the Berlin Film Festival.

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