September 14 & 21: “Gigi” This was Lerner and Lowe’s first major work following their huge success with “My Fair Lady.” It was also their first musical written specifically for the movie screen. It starred Leslie Caron as “Gigi”, with Maurice Chevalier, Louis Jourdan, Hermione Gingold and Ava Gabor as part of the cast. Critically acclaimed, it was nominated for 9 Academy Awards and won all of them.
September 28: “Lili” This is the small but beautifully made little film that gave Leslie Caron a nomination as best actress of 1953. She was filming “Lili” when Arthur Freed approached her about making another film with him, which led to the role she played in “Gigi.” Caron plays a young orphan who becomes infatuated with a carnival magician and has some magical moments with a group of puppets, including the song “Hi Lili, Hi Lili, Hi Lo.” Mel Ferrar is the puppet master and the puppet sequences were inspired by “Kukla, Fran, and Ollie.” Based on a novella by Paul Gallico.
October 12 & 19: “Secondhand Lions” Robert Duvall and Michael Caine star in this coming-of-age story about a shy, young boy (Haley Joel Osment) whose irresponsible mother sends him to spend the summer with his eccentric uncles in rural Texas. We last saw Duvall in “Tender Mercies,” and this film is another example of this fine actor’s craft.
October 26: “Heaven Is For Real” Another fanciful look at what heaven may be like, this time through the eyes of a three-year-old boy. Based on the book of the same name written by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, it tells the story of Colton, Burpo’s 3 year old son, who in a near death experience tells of visits that he made to heaven. Can these experiences be believed? Or are they the fanciful work of a child’s brain under stress?
November 9 & 16: “The Hundred Foot Journey” Helen Mirren stars in this film that deals with culture clashes in the world of fine dining and is “bursting with flavor.” An Indian family moves to France and opens a restaurant across the street from a Michelin-starred French restaurant owned by Mirren’s character. Helen Mirren is always worth watching and this role garnered her best actress nomination from the Golden Globe Awards.
December 7 & 14: “Mr. Turner” For consideration as our December film, “Mr. Turner” is the 2014 British, French, and German biographical drama of the life of a painter J. M. W. Turner (1775–1851). Turner is described as a great artist and a radical, revolutionary painter, of whom writer/director Mike Leigh explained, “I felt there was scope for a film examining the tension between this very mortal, flawed individual, and the epic work, the spiritual way he had of distilling the world.”