Repertory Series

Boston Filmed
November 16–22, 2007

Boston’s rediscovery by Hollywood has been much touted in recent press and the Brattle applauds the invasion of starpower to the Hub. However, we also want to take the opportunity to shine a spotlight on some of the remarkable features that have been filmed here in the past. We are pleased to highlight Boston as the location for gritty crime-dramas (MYSTIC RIVER) and classic romances (LOVE STORY), as well as period pieces (THE BOSTONIANS) and cutting-edge independents (BETWEEN THE LINES). Paramount Pictures has even turned up an archival print of the remarkable FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE starring Robert Mitchum. We are particularly pleased to welcome back former Brattle employee and now internationally known director Brad Anderson for an evening of films featuring his Boston-shot NEXT STOP WONDERLAND and SESSION 9.

Film Descriptions, Dates & Showtimes

Friday 11/16 at 5:00, 7:15, 9:30

Love Story
(1970) dir Arthur Hiller w/ Ali McGraw, Ryan O'Neal, John Marley, Ray Milland [99 min]
The quintessential tear-jerking romance of the 1970s, LOVE STORY follows the story of Jennifer (McGraw) and Oliver (O’Neal), a couple of Harvard kids who fall madly in love and marry despite Oliver’s uppercrust father’s opposition. Cut off from his inheritance, Oliver nonetheless starts a life with Jennifer, until they discover that she is dying of a rare blood disease. Told in flashback and with the kind of charm rarely seen in today’s romantic films, LOVE STORY really is a true classic.

"It looks to be clean and pure and without artifice, even though it is possibly as sophisticated as any commercial American movie ever made." — Vincent Canby, The New York Times

Saturday 11/17 at 2:45, 7:00

Double Feature w/SESSION 9
Next Stop Wonderland
(1998) dir Brad Anderson w/ Hope Davis, Alan Gelfant [104 min]
Director Brad Anderson will be present for tonight's 7:00 & 9:30 screenings!
In Brad Anderson’s breakout feature, Hope Davis plays Erin, a woman unlucky at love, whose more man-savvy mother takes out a personal ad on her behalf. Meanwhile, Alan (Gelfant) is a marine biology student pursued by both a political scandal and a slightly-obsessed woman. As their respective stories unfold, and their paths repeatedly come close to crossing, we begin to ask pointed questions: Are these two destined for each other? Will they ever meet? Is running away to Brazil the best way to solve a problem? Effectively using a wide variety of Boston locations and some very witty filmmaking, Anderson has crafted one of the most charming indie romantic comedies of the 90s.

Saturday 11/17 at 5:00, 9:30

Double Feature w/NEXT STOP WONDERLAND
The Machinist
(w/Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón]
Director Brad Anderson will be on hand for tonight's 7:00 & 9:30 screenings!
Please note: due to the unavailability of a film print, SESSION 9 will not be screened today.

In a machine shop, occupational hazards are bad enough under normal circumstances; yet for Trevor (Bale) the risks are compounded by fatigue. Trevor has lost the ability to sleep. In fact, he hasn’t slept for a year... This is no ordinary insomnia... Trevor won’t seek help, however. He hides his illness like some dark and shameful secret.
As his insomnia continues, Trevor becomes afflicted by vivid and violent hallucinations. He loses control of his thoughts and actions. He fights to hang onto his job and his sanity but he’s obviously losing his grip. Especially when he’s told that the disturbing new employee at the shop, Ivan, doesn’t really exist. Is this true? Or is there a plot afoot to force Trevor from the shop
THE MACHINIST Trailer

Sunday 11/18 at 6:30

Double Feature w/THE DEPARTED
Mystic River
(2003) dir Clint Eastwood w/ Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Kevin Bacon, Laurence Fishburne, Marcia Gay Harden, Laura Linney [137 min]
Unquestionably, the success of Clint Eastwood’s MYSTIC RIVER contributed to the renaissance of Boston as a film city. With Oscar acting wins for both Sean Penn and Tim Robbins, the film finds three friends inextricably tied to a murder case and its connection to a haunting childhood incident. This gritty tale of a community’s dissolution after the death of a teenage girl works as both a gripping thriller and a Shakespearean tragedy.
MYSTIC RIVER Trailer

Sunday 11/18 at 3:30, 9:15 (Just Added: Mon 11/19 at 9:30)

Double Feature w/MYSTIC RIVER
The Departed
(2006) dir Martin Scorsese w/ Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Martin Sheen, Ray Winstone, Vera Farmiga, Alec Baldwin [151 min]
Martin Scorsese’s slick, masterful interpretation of the great Hong Kong thriller Infernal Affairs features Boston as a backdrop to the story of two men separated by the thin line between law and order. One is a criminal under the thumb of a Whitey Bulger-esque crime boss who has infiltrated the police force; the other is a cop from the wrong side of the expressway who has been sent undercover into the same operation. Highlighted by bravura performances by Jack Nicholson (as the crime boss), Mark Wahlberg, and Alec Baldwin alongside more understated but still powerful turns by Matt Damon, Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Sheen.

Monday 11/19 at 4:30, 7:00, 9:30

The Bostonians
(1984) dir James Ivory w/ Christopher Reeve, Vanessa Redgrave, Madeline Potter, Jessica Tandy, Linda Hunt [122 min]
Please Note: Today's 4:30 show has been cancelled. THE DEPARTED will screen at 9:30 in place of THE BOSTONIANS. We regret any inconvenience. Tonight's films will NOT play as a double feature.

Though still typically mannered, Merchant/Ivory’s adaptation of Henry James’ novel brings to light some of the intrigues that are only suggested in the original. THE BOSTONIANS takes place at the dawn of the Suffragette Movement and has a young woman torn between the attentions of a handsome Southern lawyer (Reeve) and a young Suffragette leader (Redgrave). THE BOSTONIANS exhibits one of Boston’s most attractive qualities to moviemakers – its historical locations.

Intelligent and subtle and open to the underlying tragedy of a woman who does not know what she wants, a man who does not care what he wants, and a girl who does not need what she wants.” – Roger Ebert

Tuesday 11/20 at 5:00, 7:15, 9:30

Between The Lines
(1977) dir Joan Micklin Silver w/John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, Jeff Goldblum, Jill Eikenberry, Bruno Kirby [101 min]
Please Note:Today's 5:00 show has been cancelled. THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE will screen at 9:30 in place of BETWEEN THE LINES. We regret any inconvenience. Tonight's films will NOT play as a double feature.
Not available on video.

Joan Micklin Silver’s film about the tensions between the staff at an alternative paper when the politics they espoused in the 60s giveway to the materialism of the 70s and big business rears its ugly head. Set in the Back Bay, the film’s paper is called The Mainline but it bears more than a passing resemblance to both the Boston Phoenix and the Real Paper (not surprising since screenwriter Fred Barron worked for both). BETWEEN THE LINES, featuring a cast of (at the time) up-and-coming actors, is a little gem of 70s filmmaking that is often overlooked. One highlight of the film is the early performance by Jeff Goldblum as the paper’s comedic foil and rock critic.

Wed 11/21 & Thu 11/22 at 7:15 (Just Added: Tue 11/20 at 9:30)

The Friends Of Eddie Coyle
(1973) dir Peter Yates w/ Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle [102 min]
Not available on video.
Eddie Coyle, a smalltime hood, is trying hard not to go back to prison for probably the last time by selling information on gun runners to the authorities while simultaneously dealing guns to a group of bank robbers plaguing the city of Boston. Eddie realizes this is a dangerous game but, since it’s his only game, it’s the one he plays. Robert Mitchum plays up his broken-down hounddog look to remarkably sympathetic effect as Eddie and director Peter Yates (Bullitt) finds some of Boston’s grittiest corners to film in.

Wednesday 11/21 at 5:00 & Thursday 11/22 at 5:00, 9:30

The Thomas Crown Affair
(1968) dir Norman Jewison w/ Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway [102 min]
A mirror image of FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE, THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR casts Steve McQueen as Beacon Hill playboy Thomas Crown in this super-suave heist thriller. Crown orchestrates an elaborate, flawless bank heist even though he clearly doesn’t need the money – perhaps it’s just for fun. Faye Dunaway plays the insurance investigator who has her eye on him – both for the crime and for certain other extracurricular activities, including the most sexually charged game of chess ever filmed.

Boston Filmed November 16–22, 2007