Family Is What You Make of It
Movies not infrequently feature characters with irregular family or living situations. Orphans, exiles, runaways, and so forth. For this month’s display, we’ll be featuring films with characters who, by circumstance or choice, forge connections with people or animals beyond their biological parents/children.
You can see this theme even in our movie nights for November. First, on Wednesday, November 4, we will be showing The Lego Batman Movie, in which famous orphan Batman (Will Arnett) must care for the boy he has unwittingly adopted (Michael Cera) and maybe, possibly learn to not always be a loner in order to foil the latest scheme of the Joker (Zach Galifianakis). Later, on Wednesday, November 18, we will be showing The Sheep Detectives. Join us for a cozy mystery in which a flock of sheep led by the clever Lily (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) attempts to unravel the murder of their shepherd George (Hugh Jackman) using detective tropes they learned from listening to George reads novels aloud. All screenings are at 6:00 PM in Room 406 of the Chester Fritz Library.
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is a cheerleader. She is also a vegetarian, lines her school locker with pictures of women, and hates kissing her boyfriend. Her parents (Mink Stole and Bud Cort) worry that she must be a lesbian and send her off to New Directions, a “sexual redirection” program. Under the supervision of Mary (Cathy Moriarty) and Mike (RuPaul), she is to learn how to be a gender-conforming heterosexual alongside other gay and lesbian teens. However, the lessons in respectable womanhood fail to take root, and Megan draws close to the confident Graham (Clea DuVall), who plans to fake her way through camp to avoid disinheritance. (1999, dir. Jamie Babbit, 85 minutes)
A black cat’s forest home is submerged in a great flood. Having swam to the safety of a boat, the cat joins with a capybara, a lemur, a secretarybird, and a Labrador Retriever to navigate in search of dry land. The mismatched crew must adapt to life on the seas in the meantime. (2024, dir. Gints Zilbalodis, 85 minutes)
Cyril (Thomas Doret) has been left at a children’s home in Liège. His father (Jérémie Renier) said he would only have to stay there a month, but he hasn’t kept his promise. In fact, Cyril hasn’t seen his father at all after being dropped off. When Cyril tries to break into his old home, a passing woman intervenes (Cécile de France) and offers to foster him on the weekends. Yet Cyril remains unsatisfied and struggles to accept his abandonment. (2011, dir. Jean-Pierre & Luc Dardenne, 87 minutes)
Three sisters – Sachi (Haruka Ayase), Yoshino (Masami Nagasawa), and Chika (Kaho) – live together in Kamakura. They travel to the countryside to attend the funeral of their father, whom they haven’t seen in 15 years. There, they are surprised to meet their shy teenage half-sister Suzu (Suzu Hirose). Realizing she is now an orphan, the sisters invite her to live with them and help her settle in to her new home. Adapted from the Umimachi Diary manga series by Akimi Yoshida. Available for streaming on AVON. (2015, dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda, 126 minutes)
Sosuke (Hiroki Doi), a 5-year-old boy, rescues a stranded goldfish on the beach and names it Ponyo. Unbeknownst to him, the “fish” (Yuuri Nara) is a daughter of the undersea wizard Fujimoto (George Tokoro). Wowed by her trip to dry land, Ponyo uses magic to transform into a human, much to her father’s consternation. Ponyo’s exploits unbalance the forces of nature, flooding Sosuke’s village. The two search for Sosuke’s mom (Tomoko Yamaguchi) while Ponyo’s goddess mother (Yuki Amami) devises a magical solution to the crisis. (2008, dir. Hayao Miyazaki, 101 minutes)
Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld), is determined to avenge her father by capturing Tom Chaney (Josh Brolin), who killed him for two pieces of gold. Recognizing she cannot go it alone at age 14, Mattie recruits the one-eyed, drink-addled U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn (Jeff Bridges) and willful Texas Ranger LaBoeuf (Matt Damon) to track Chaney. To apprehend their target in the Oklahoma wilderness, they will have to reconcile their contrasting approaches to justice. Adapted from the novel by Charles Portis. (2010, dir. Joel & Ethan Coen, 110 minutes)
One day, rabbit seer Fiver (Richard Briers) has a vision that their warren shall be destroyed. Disbelieved by the owsla that runs the warren, Fiver’s brother Hazel (John Hurt) leads a small party into exile before a human housing development crushes the warren. Fiver and Hazel wander the English countryside alongside the strong Bigwig (Michael Graham Cox) the storyteller Dandelion (Richard O’Callaghan) as they and their comrades evade predators and hostile rabbits in search of a permanent home. Adapted from the novel by Richard Adams. (1978, dir. Martin Rosen, 102 minutes)
Wendy (Michelle Williams) is homeless, living out of her car with her dog Lucy while driving the Pacific Northwest. En route to Alaska for a job at a cannery, her car breaks down in Oregon. She is briefly detained for shoplifting dog food for Lucy; when the police release her, she cannot find Lucy where she left her. (2008, dir. Kelly Reichardt, 80 minutes)
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