Page 63 - Sonoma County Gazette Juy 2019

When They See Us
Raven Film Center
By Diane McCurdy
Ava DuVernay is a rara avis. Not only is
415 Center St. Healdsburg, 707-525-8909, santarosacinemas.com/raven
COMING SOON: Spider-Man: Far from Home
she one of only a few female film directors she is a black female film director.
Our SELECTION of FILMS you may enjoy.
Rialto Cinemas,
6868 McKinley S, Sebastopol. Showtimes & INFO: 707 525-4840, rialtocinemas.com
Jun 5 - Jul 11 ~ Exhibition On Screen: Van Gogh & Japan ~ Van Gogh never visited Japan but it’s the country with the most profound influence on his art. $16 6/5: 1p & 7p, 7/11: 1p
Jun 27 - Jul 13 ~ National Theatre Live: Small Island ~ Small Island embarks on a journey from Jamaica to Britain, through the Second World War to 1948. $18-$26, 6/27: 7p, 7/13: 10a
Jul 10 ~ Met Opera Summer Encores: Il Barbiere di Siviglia ~ Juan Diego Florez proves why he is one of the world’s greatest Rossini singers. $12.50, 1p & 6:30p
Jul 17 ~ Met Opera Summer Encores: Aida ~ Soprano Anna Netrebko sings her first Met Aida, with mezzo-soprano Anita Rachvelishvili as Amneris. $12.50, 1p & 6:30p
Outdoor Movies
First coming to national notice with the searing drama, Selma, she proved her versatility by helming the fantasy, Wrinkle
Family Movies on the Green
in Time. Also notable is her documentary, 13th, whose premise rests on the supposition
FREE. All mvoies begin 15 minutes after sunset on the Wndsor Town Green, McLelland Drive, Windsor
that our prison system is a perpetuation of black slavery.
July 9 - Zootopia. In a city of anthropomorphic animals, a rookie bunny cop and a cynical con artist fox work together to uncover a conspiracy.
July 16 - Incredibles 2. The hero family takes on a new change in family roles: Bob Parr (Mr Incredible) must manage the house while his wife Helen (Elastigirl) goes out to save the world.
July 23 - The Sandlot: a 1993 American coming of age sports comedy film co- written, directed, and narrated by David Mickey Evans which tells the story of a group of young baseball players during the summer of 1962.
July 30 - Monsters Inc. Two monsters – “Sulley” Sullivan and his one- eyed partner and best friend Mike Wazowski – employed at Monsters, Inc, toy factory which generates power by scaring human children.
When They See Us is DuVernay’s latest, a miniseries on Netflix unfolding in four separate segments that reveals the story of the
Central Park Five. The docudrama recounts the apprehension and subsequent incarceration of five boys, four black and one Latino.
In the early Spring of 1989, a large group of meandering teens were congregating in Central Park in New York. Rowdy and mischievous, they were not angels. The police were called to disperse them.
In this piece and in another documentary that preceded it, it seems five youngsters were selected almost randomly as scapegoats. Coincidentally and unfortunately a jogger was raped, beaten, thrown into the bushes and left for dead on that same night.
The unlucky five who were caught were kept without food and water and badgered, intimidated, threatened and lied to, in order to obtain confessions. The kids were terrified to the point where they would have admitted anything. Nothing linked them to the crime: no blood, no fingerprints, no DNA. The jogger, Trisha Meili hovered between life and death. She remembered nothing of the attack. The semen in her did not match any of the boys.
Enter Donald Trump. He paid for full page ads in New York newspapers advocating for the reinstatement of the death penalty so the five could be executed. His brief cameo, captured on a TV screen characterizes him as a buffoon, a point not belabored but well-taken.
Riley, is uprooted from her Midwest life when her father starts a new job in San Francisco. FREE. 8:45p Healdsburg Plaza, Healdsburgs Ave @ Matheson Streets, Downtown Healdsburg
When New Yorkers whipped into mob mentality find the five guilty, the four younger boys are sent to juvenile detention and the older one is removed to the notorious Riker’s Island prison. We follow his story in detail in the last episode.
Sep 7 ~ American Graffiti - Four teenagers on their last summer night before college. Gates open @ 6p. Movie @8 Live music 6:30 -n8p Costume Contest. Raffle. PRESALE: Cars @ $40 per OR $12 per person (bring your own chair). Cloverdale Citrus Fair Drive-In, Citrus Fair Dr. Cloverdale
Felicity Huffman plays the prosecutor in the Manhattan D A’s office who seems surrealistically compelled to seek a conviction. The irony here is that Huffman will be in court herself having been involved in the college entrance manipulation scandal. Vera Farmiga is the other prosecuting attorney and John Leguizamo is the father of the Latino youngster. The other actors are lesser known but competent especially the five who are able to convey the overwhelming fear they felt on that fateful night when in custody.
Sebastiani Theater,
Alexander Valley Film Society
476 1st St East, Sonoma, 707-996-2020, sebastianitheatre.com
INFO: www.avfilmsociety.org
Jul 15 ~ Yankee Doodle Dandy - Vintage Film Series ~ A film about the renowned musical composer, playwright, actor, dancer and singer George M. Cohan. $10, 7p Sebastiani Theatre, 476 1st St East, Sonoma, 707- 996-2020, sebastianitheatre.com
Summerfield Cinemas,
551 Summerfield Rd, Santa Rosa, 707-525- 8909, summerfieldcinemas.com
Los Angeles.
Jul 12 ~ Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am ~ offers an artful and intimate meditation on the life and works of the acclaimed novelist.
Jul 12 ~ Wild Rose ~ A musician from Glasgow dreams of becoming a Nashville star.
Jul 20 ~ Ghostbusters ~ Three former parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service. $40 - Car, $14 - Individual, 7:11p Citrus Fair Fairgrounds, 1 Citrus Fair Drive, Cloverdale, 707-893-7150,
Aug 10 ~ Selena - Selena Quintanilla was a major figure in Tejano music when she was murdered. This biopic concentrates on Selena’s family and her rise to fame. Spanish (English subtitles). @ Healdsburg Community Center, 1557 Healdsburg Ave. Healdsburg. FREE. 5p 707-480-5608
Jul 5 ~ Papi Chulo ~ A solitary and Photo for Netflix by Atsushi Nishijima alienated television weatherman “hires” a middle-aged Latino migrant worker to be his friend, in this darkly comedic reflection on class, ethnicity, and companionship in contemporary
Aug 13 ~ Inside Out En Espagnol .
To this day the DA and the police department admit to no wrong doing
even though years later Matias Reyes confessed to the crime he had
committed alone. His DNA matched that found on Ms. Meili. The five were exonerated and received 41 million dollars in compensation. But what price can be put on the theft of a childhood?
Slow in parts and and with odd cinematography that is brightly backlit making actors, at times, appear almost in silhouette, the series begs to be seen. It hovers between entertainment and atonement, an indictment of our judicial system.
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