Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 3, 2010

Hello Film Fans and Fanatics!

Welcome to Film Fan Fridays for Friday December 3, 2010! It's a toe-tapping, sing-a-long version of the newsletter this week with only a few releases but more music & dance related films today than over the whole year combined!

In limited release this week we have Black Swan from director Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain, Pi) and starring Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis as rival ballerinas in a company producing Swan Lake. The art direction alone looks flipping brilliant, and I can't help but love the creepiness of Vincent Cassel, but it also looks a heck of a lot like Single White Female. Even so, there will be dance, therefore I will be there. And why have only one dance film this week? Well, we don't...we have two with the musical Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench, with tap dancing and singing featured in the trailer, although little challenging to sense *what* the film is about but again... if there is dance I want to see it! The toes don't stop tapping as we also have the Malaysian musical Sell Out, which is the first Malaysian regular release I've seen in theatres here in the T-dot. Rounding out the limited releases is the Thursday December 2, 2010 release of the documentary King of Pastry following the Meilleur Ouvrier de France competition.

In wide release this week we have the sole release of Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey. I'm actually surprized Black Swan is only playing in one location currently, hopefully it will have a wider release as the month goes on.

Have a great weekend!

Shannon

Special Screenings

Good Canadian Cinema? at The Toronto Underground
Screening an interesting variety of iconic Canadian cinema including Cube, Naked Lunch and Pontypool (with Special guests Author Tony Burgess, and stars Stephen McHattie and Lisa Houle!). See more info here and here.
Started December 2 and continues until Sunday December 5, 2010 at The Toronto Underground in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Japanese Film Screenings
Presented by the Japan Foundation, see more info here and here.
Running December 9 - 12, 2010 at The Bloor Cinema in Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Thursday December 2, 2010 Releases

King of Pastry
Dir: Chris Hegedus & D.A. Pennebaker (Only the Strong Survive, Moon Over Broadway)
Documentary
Netherlands/USA/UK/France
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Friday December 3, 2010 Releases

Black Swan
Dir: Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler, The Fountain, Pi)
Cast: Natalie Portman, Mila Kunis, Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder, Barbara Hershey, Ksenia Solo, Benjamin Millepied, Sebastian Stan
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
Writer/Dir: Damien Chazelle - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Jason Palmer, Desiree Garcia, Sandha Khin
USA
Limited Release
Official Film Site & Trailer, IMDb Page

Khelein Hum Jee Jaan Sey
Dir: Ashutosh Gowariker (Jodhaa Akbar, Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India )
Cast: Abhishek Bachchan, Deepika Padukone, Sikander Kher
India
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

Sell Out
Writer/Dir: Yeo Joon Han - feature film directorial debut
Cast: Jerrica Lai, Kee Thuan Chye, Peter Davis
Malaysia
Limited Release
Official Film Site, IMDb Page, Trailer

**please note this list of releases reflects first run film released in Toronto, Ontario, Canada as of December 3, 2010**