Bayview Street Cinema

May 4 - 10 BREACH Nightly at 7pm, Fri & Sat 7 & 9pm, Sun Mat at 3pm. PG13 110min. D:Billy Day. Chris Cooper, Ryan Philippe. Chris Cooper gives a remarkable performance as complicated and bitter FBI agent Robert Hanssen, a computer specialist who, after 25 years of service, is put under surveillance as a suspected sex offender. Eric O’Neill is the ambitious young upstart they put on the job, assigning him to pose as Hanssen’s new clerk in order to win his trust and keep an eye on his every move. Just when Eric is about to give up the case, he discovers that it is much bigger than he ever imagined finding himself in the middle of an investigation into the biggest security breach in U.S. history, forcing him to resort to dramatic and ingenious tactics in order to bring down the suspect. “Filled with tension, deception and bravura acting, Breach is a crackling tale of real-life espionage that doubles as a compelling psychological drama.” Ken Turan, LA TIMES

May 11 - 17 THE LIVES OF OTHERS (Oscar Winner-Best Foreign Film) Nightly at 7pm, Fri & Sat 7pm, Sun Mat at 3pm. R 137min. D: Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck. Martina Gedeck, Ulrich Muene. At once a political thriller and human drama, the film begins in East Berlin in 1984, five years before Glasnost and the fall of the Berlin Wall and ultimately takes us to 1991, in what is now the reunited Germany, tracing the gradual disillusionment of Captain Gerd Wiesler, a highly skilled officer who works for the Stasi, East Germany's all-powerful secret police. His mission is to spy on a celebrated writer and actress couple. Five years before its downfall, the former East-German government ensures its claim to power with a ruthless system of control and surveillance via the Stasi, a vast network of informers that at one time numbered 200,000 out of a population of 17 million. Their goal is to know everything about "the lives of others." “A potent narrative about the transformative effect of involvement in other people's stories, Lives turns its own story into a python-tight embrace of nuanced tension and emotional connection.” Ken Turan, LA TIMES

A Must See!!!

May 18 - 24 INTO GREAT SILENCE Nightly at 7pm, Fri & Sat 7pm, Sun Mat at 3pm. NR 164min. D: Philip Groning. Nestled deep in the postcard-perfect French Alps, the Grande Chartreuse is considered one of the world’s most ascetic monasteries. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning wrote to the Carthusian order for permission to make a documentary about them. They said they would get back to him. Sixteen years later, they were ready. Gröning, sans crew or artificial lighting, lived in the monks’ quarters for six months—filming their daily prayers, tasks, rituals and rare outdoor excursions. This transcendent, closely observed film seeks to embody a monastery, rather than simply depict one—it has no score, no voiceover and no archival footage. What remains is stunningly elemental: time, space and light. One of the most mesmerizing and poetic chronicles of spirituality ever created, INTO GREAT SILENCE dissolves the border between screen and audience with a total immersion into the hush of monastic life. More meditation than documentary, it’s a rare, transformative theatrical experience for all. “Pure cinema at its purest and most exalted … a transcendent meditation on the human pursuit of meaning, on man as a religious and social creature; on the rhythm of work and prayer, day and night, winter and spring.” Steven D. Greydanus DECENT FILMS GUIDE

May 25 - 31 AVENUE MONTAIGNE. Nightly at 7pm, Fri & Sat 7 & 9pm, Sunday Matinee 3pm. PG13 106min. D:Daniele Thompson. Cecile de France, Claude Brasseur. Taking place on the fashionable Paris street, from which the film takes its name, people from a theater, an auction house, and a concert hall gather in and around a central bistro where Jessica has wiggled her way into a temporary job, having just moved to the big city. Featuring unique, interesting characters, excellent acting, and a lot of fun and fascinating talk about art, music, theater, food, and other cultural delights. “An absolute must for Francophiles and a great choice for anyone who loves a vibrant ensemble dramedy, Avenue Montaigne is a bustling delight, a slice of Parisian artistic life that will have you dialing Air France the morning after you see it.” Don Willmott, filmcritic.com

June 1 - 7 OFFSIDE Nightly at 7pm, Fri & Sat 7 & 9pm Sun Mat at 3pm. PG 88min. D:Jafar Panahi. Ida Sadeghi, Mohammad Kheyrabadi. Many Iranian girls love soccer as much as their countrymen and sport fans all over the world but they are prevented by law from attending live soccer matches in their country. Inspired by the day when his own daughter was refused entry to a soccer stadium in Iran, Jafar Panahi's OFFSIDE follows a day in the life of a group of Iranian girls attempting to watch their team's World Cup qualifying match against Bahrain at the stadium in Tehran. “The great virtue of Offside is that it never degenerates into an us-versus-them situation. [Director Pahani] understands that a repressive system victimizes the oppressors as much as the oppressed.” Ken Turan, LA TIMES

June 8 - 14 THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (Winner-Best Film, Cannes 2006) Nightly at 7pm, Fri & Sat 7 & 9pm, Sun Mat at 3pm. PG13 127min. D: Ken Loach. Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunnigham. Set in 1916 in Ireland, Damien is a young Irishman about to fulfill his lifelong dream of becoming a doctor. When his friend is brutally murdered for standing up to a band of British soldiers, Damien abandons his medical career and joins his brother Teddy in the fight for freedom. “Winner of the Best Film at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival, this powerful political saga is not merely a cinematic masterpiece from start to finish but a righteous rallying cry for disenfranchised masses anywhere with nothing left to lose but their chains.” Kam
Williams, NEWS BLAZE

June 15 - 21 PAGE TURNER Nightly at 7pm, Fri & Sat 7 & 9pm, Sun Mat at 3pm. NR 85min. D:Denis Dercourt. Catherine Frot, Deborah Francois. A small-town butcher's daughter, Mélanie, age ten, seems to have a special gift for the piano. She takes the Conservatory entrance exam, but fails after being distracted by the thoughtless behavior of the chairwoman of the jury, a well known concert pianist. Bitterly disappointed, Mélanie gives up the piano. Reminiscent of Hitchcock and Chabrol, THE PAGE TURNER is elegant yet suspenseful, a revenge potboiler of a high degree. “One of those delectable, upstairs-downstairs affairs worth savoring, and a suspenseful psychological thriller which rates right up there with the best of the genre.” Kam Williams NEWS BLAZE