Greenwich Library’s longest-running program, the Friends Friday Films series, is back with a full slate of movies, beginning on January 6.
The Friends Friday Film Series seeks to provide audiences with a diverse array of films to enjoy. Featuring new Hollywood hits, award winners, documentaries, international titles, and films that highlight concurrent events at the Library, there is something for everyone in this lineup. English language films are shown with closed captions, and international titles will be subtitled.
Throughout the season, special guests will join for occasional post-movie Reel Talks, including Dr. Roberta Seret, the director of advanced English and film at the United Nations for the Hospitality Committee and a professor at NYU, who will host a talk on January 20 following the film Persepolis. More Reel Talk guests will be added throughout the season.
All films will be screened in the Berkley Theater beginning at 7 p.m. on their given week.
The lineup:
Elvis (2022)
Come see the story of the King of Rock ‘n’ Roll told with Baz Luhrmann’s signature maximalist style, with a star-making performance by Austin Butler. The film is a colorful explosion of music and passion tracing Elvis Presley’s meteoric rise and stumbles under the watchful eye of his manager, Colonel Parker (Tom Hanks).
Starring: Austin Butler, Tom Hanks, Olivia DeJonge. Director: Baz Luhrmann.
Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 2h30m.
The Lost City (2022)
In this comedic adventure update of Romancing the Stone, an eccentric billionaire (Daniel Radcliffe) kidnaps an archaeologist-novelist (Sandra Bullock) to be the brains on a treasure hunt. With the aid of the charming but vapid cover model for her books (Channing Tatum), the introverted scholar must escape while protecting the ancient sites from being looted.
Starring: Sandra Bullock, Channing Tatum, Daniel Radcliffe. Directors: Aaron and Adam Nee.
Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 1h50m.
Persepolis (2007)
In conjunction with the Flinn Gallery’s show Self, Assembled, join us for the autobiographical story of a rebellious girl’s life in pre-and post-revolutionary Iran. Set against the background of growing tensions as fundamentalists control the political climate in the 1970s and 1980s Iran, the animated film’s story of perseverance is woven with humor and poignancy.
Starring: Chiara Mastroianni, Catherine Deneuve. Directors: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Paronnaud.
Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 1h35m. The film is in French with English subtitles.
Reel Talk: After the film, join us for a Q&A with Dr. Roberta Seret, who has used Persepolis in her NYU course “Global Hotspots Through Foreign Film,” as well as a Political Film course at the United Nations through NGO, International Cinema Education.
Vengeance (2022)
In an attempt to cash in on the popularity of true crime stories, a New York podcaster (The Office’s B.J. Novak, who also wrote and directed the film) travels to rural Texas to investigate the death of a girl he’d had a brief fling with. Along the way in this black comedy, he learns more than he expected about cultural differences and settling scores.
Starring: B.J. Novak, Boyd Holbrook, Dove Cameron, Issa Rae. Director: B.J. Novak.
Rated: R. Runtime: 1h48m.
Ticket to Paradise (2022)
Come escape the cold with a trip to the tropics in this breezy throwback to the 2000s rom-com. George Clooney and Julia Roberts star as bitter exes who join forces to stop their daughter from rushing into marriage on her Bali vacation.
Starring: Julia Roberts, George Clooney, Kaitlyn Dever, Billie Lourd. Director: Ol Parker.
Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 1h44m.
Mr. Malcolm’s List (2022)
In this Jane Austen-flavored period comedy, a young woman in 19th century England (Freida Pinto) helps her friend (the hilarious Zawe Ashton) to get revenge on a suitor who rejected her for failing a requirement on his list of qualifications for a bride.
Starring: Freida Pinto, Sope Dirisu, Zawe Ashton, Theo James. Director: Emma Holly Jones.
Rated: PG. Runtime: 1h57m.
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song (2022)
This definitive documentary on singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen explores him through the prism of his internationally renowned hymn, “Hallelujah,” weaving together extremely rare archival and personal material of Cohen’s with testimonies of the artists his work has inspired.
Directors: Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine. Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 1h55m.
Till (2022)
In this powerfully realized drama, Mamie Till-Mobley (Danielle Deadwyler) seeks justice for her young son Emmett after he is lynched in 1955 Mississippi. Told with sensitivity, it honors Till-Mobley’s legacy of bravery in Civil Rights activism and captures a searing testament of a turning point in the movement.
Starring: Danielle Deadwyler, Jalyn Hall, Frankie Faison. Director: Chinonye Chukwu.
Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 2h10m.
Beyond the Visible: Hilma af Klint (2019); Friday, March 3
Shown in conjunction with the Flinn Gallery’s show Glow, this illuminating documentary sheds a light on the groundbreaking Swedish artist Hilma af Klint, who introduced concepts of abstract art at the turn of the 20th Overlooked because of her gender, af Klint has a remarkable legacy in art history that the film seeks to reclaim. Director: Halina Dyrschka Rated: Unrated. Runtime: 1h33m.
Where the Crawdads Sing (2022)
The adaptation of the best-selling novel brings vivid life to the story of an abandoned girl raising herself in the marshlands of North Carolina, reaching almost folkloric status in a community that is both fascinated by and afraid of her. As she comes of age, she learns to navigate trust and love and becomes entangled in a dark mystery that haunts the town.
Starring: Daisy Edgar-Jones, Taylor John Smith, Harris Dickinson. Director: Olivia Newman. Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 2h5m.
The Woman King (2022)
Viola Davis and John Boyega lead the compelling tale of General Nanisca (Davis) as she readies a new generation of recruits for the Agojie, an all-female unit of warriors protecting the African kingdom of Dahomey from invaders in the 1820s. An action-packed story is peopled by characters based on historical figures brought to life in a transportive manner.
Starring: Viola Davis, Thuso Mbedu, John Boyega. Director: Gina Prince-Bythewood.
Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 2h15m.
Corsage (2022)
Led by the terrific Vicky Krieps, this refreshingly irreverent biopic covers a year in the life of Austria’s Empress Elisabeth. Officially deemed an old woman when she turned 40 in 1877, with her role diminished to purely performative, Elisabeth’s zest for life makes her increasingly restless in Vienna.
Starring: Vicky Krieps, Florian Teichtmeister, Katharina Lorenz. Director: Marie Kreutzer.
Rated: Unrated. Runtime: 1h42m. The film is in German, French, and Hungarian with English subtitles.
See How They Run (2022)
Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, and Adrien Brody lead this star-studded comic caper, a meta Agatha Christie mystery. The story takes place in 1950s London when a performance of Christie’s “The Mousetrap” goes fatally awry and an unlikely team must come together to solve the case.
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Saoirse Ronan, Adrien Brody, Ruth Wilson. Director: Tom George.
Rated: PG-13. Runtime: 1h38m.
The Friends Friday Films Series is made possible through the support of the Friends of Greenwich Library and the contributions of generous donors. This schedule is subject to change due to winter weather conditions.
With 1,800 programs and events per year, Greenwich Library seeks to serve as a cultural and intellectual pillar of the community. Take advantage of in-person and online training and enrichment opportunities at the Libraries, including bestselling and local authors, conversations with thought leaders, world-class musicians, dancers, and performers, and timely and age-appropriate technology, science, genealogy, writing, and health workshops. Find an event on the Library’s online calendar.
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