The Coolidge Corner Theatre

Winner of the Audience Award and the Grand Jury Prize at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival

It's a potent and moving experience, because by the end you feel you've witnessed nothing less than the birth of a soul. - Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly

Its story ends up packing an emotional wallop as substantial as its title character. - Bob Mondello, NPR

Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) is a high-school girl with nothing working in her favor. She is pregnant with her father’s child—for the second time. She can’t read or write, and her schoolmates tease her for being fat. Her home life is a horror, ruled by a mother (Mo’Nique) who keeps her imprisoned both emotionally and physically. Precious’s instincts tell her one thing: if she’s ever going to break from the chains of ignorance, she will have to dig deeply into her own resources. [Synopsis courtesy of Sundance Film Festival]

Click to read the New York Times Magazine Cover Story on "Precious"

FILMMAKER MAGAZINE featuring "Precious" director Lee Daniels available for just $4 in the Coolidge lobby.

dir. Lee Daniels, w/ Gabourey Sidibe, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz 1h49m

The Yes Men Fix the World is a screwball true story about two gonzo political activists who, posing as top executives of giant corporations, lie their way into big business conferences and pull off the world's most outrageous pranks.
From New Orleans to India to New York City, armed with little more than cheap thrift-store suits, the Yes Men squeeze raucous comedy out of all the ways that corporate greed is destroying the planet.

Borat meets Michael Moore in this gut-busting wake-up call that proves a little imagination can go a long way towards vanquishing the Cult of Greed.

Who knew fixing the world could be so much fun?

dirs. Andy Bichlbaum, Mike Bonanno 1h27m

Combine suburban alienation, philosophical inquiry, moral seriousness, a mixture of respect for and utter indifference to Torah, and, finally, a ton of dope, and you get one of the most remarkable oeuvres in modern film.- David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Larry Gopnik, a Jewish academic, lives in a middle-class Jewish neighborhood in St. Louis Park, Minnesota in 1967. His wife is on the verge of leaving him for one of his colleagues, his students are defaming him and putting his tenure at risk, and a beautiful neighbor distracts him by sunbathing in the nude. Faced the possibility of his life coming apart at the seams Larry begins to question the value of his existence as he seeks advice from three different rabbis in an attempt to solve his problems and become an austere and devoted man.

dir. Joel and Ethan Coen, 1h45m

Sanity Cinema presentation Tuesday, November 17 @ 11:00 am

"Topped by a fine cast, a first-rate script by Nick Hornby and tight direction by Lone Scherfig, the film is a smart, moving but not inaccessible entry in the coming-of-age canon." James Greenberg, The Hollywood Reporter

In the post-war, pre-Beatles London suburbs, a bright schoolgirl is torn between studying for a place at Oxford and the rather more exciting alternative offered to her by a charismatic older man.

dir. Lone Scherfig, w/ Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard, Alfred Molina 1h35m

Everything about the relationships between the bourgeoisie and their help is here: the barriers, the assumptions, the good intentions, the endless things unsaid. “The Maid’’ stirs them all into a creepy, nerve-racking stew and turns the flame up to a boil. - Ty Burr, The Boston Globe

“This year’s top foreign film winner at the Sundance festival first unnerves then delights as a dark-edged comedy with a deliciously subtle gift for character.” – Karen Durbin, Elle Magazine

After 23 years working as housemaid in an upper class Santiago, Chile household, Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) is as much a part of the Valdez family as the wife, husband, and kids she lives with and looks after. On the occasion of Raquel’s 41st birthday Pilar Valdez (Claudia Celedon), her husband Mundo (Alejandro Goic) and their oldest son Lucas (Agustin Silva) force the sullen, withdrawn maid to emerge from her kitchen sanctum and join the family for a brief celebration at the close of dinner. But Raquel’s discomfort is as strong as her “family’s” need to acknowledge their awkward dependence on her and she soon withdraws to her room.

THE MAID is an intelligent microcosm of Latin social hierarchy exploring the complex series of relationships with the individual family members she serves, while also focusing on one woman's journey to free herself from a mental servitude of her own making.

dir. Sebastian Silva, w/ Catalina Saavedra, Claudia Celedon 1h35m

THIS MONTH, AS PART OF OUR FEATURE PRE-SHOW SCREENINGS, WE’RE PROUD TO PRESENT THE FOLLOWING FOUR WINNING SHORT FILMS FROM OUR YEAR-ROUND COOLIDGE SHORTS FILM FESTIVAL

KENSHO – by Daniel Kang

Screening in Moviehouse 1

A visual poem of what begins as a normal day in the life of a young woman but ends in spiritual catharsis. Literally translating to 'true self' or 'true mind,' Kensho describes sudden or brief enlightenment experiences in Zen Buddhism.

Director Bio: Daniel Kang was born and raised in Long Island, New York, where he spent his childhood immersed in way too much anime, videogames and comic books. Believing in following your passion, he received a B.F.A in Film/Animation/Video at the Rhode Island School of Design.

OUTLAW - by Ann Steuernagel

Screening in Moviehouse 2

Outlaw is a “recycled” cowboy movie composed from found 16mm film footage. Through radical editing and layering, Outlaw accentuates that which is both iconic and ecstatic in the traditional Western.

Director Bio:
Ann Steuernagel is an experimental video and sound artist. Her visual work accentuates the gestures and quotidian rhythms of her subjects. Ann’s sound work—a blend of music, ambient sound, and noise—stems from her on-going collaboration with choreographer Caitlin Corbett. Ann’s work has been presented throughout the United States and in Canada, Mexico, and Europe. She is the recipient of the grand prize at the XX VideoArt Festival in Locarno, Switzerland, a Massachusetts Cultural Council Media Fellowship, a LEF grant, and a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study. Ann is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art + Design at Northeastern University.

THE GEOMETRY OF PIE by Susan diRende

Showing in the Video Screening Room and MiniMax

Apple pie as art, and sensual self expression. Apple pie as memory and ritual. Apple pie as an journey filling space and time. This short-short is a memoir and homage where the tasks of pie-making frame the stories and musings of the cook.

Director Bio: Susan diRende began her professional career performing as a clown in the circus. Since then, she has directed for film, stage, and opera and has written plays and screenplays. She lives in LA and has directed three indie features and a variety of digital shorts.

WELCOME TO CREEPYVILLE - by Rich Gurnsey

Showing in the Video Screening Room and MiniMax

An odd man with an affinity for oolong tea and rolling his 'Rs' adopts a cat named Reginald, who gets a glimpse of his new home -- and his future.

Director Bio: Rich Gurnsey is a graphic designer and heavy metal DJ extraordinaire. His hobbies include advanced shadow puppetry, guesstimating, and writing about himself in the third person.