Horem Padem (Up and Down)
The 2005 winner of the Czech Lion award for Best Film, Up and Down is a movie that’s hard to pin down. The tagline calls it, “A drama that makes you laugh. A comedy that makes you cry.” Too true. The story starts with an Indian baby brought to a pawn shop, but branches out from there into multiple storylines which randomly intersect. Martin is a man returning to Prague for the first time in over a decade at the behest of his mother, only to find that the broken down pieces of his family may be too much to handle. Franta and Miluska are an urban couple unable to have children, much to the dismay of Miluska, who wants nothing more than to be a mother. But there are other, even more provoking elements behind security guard Franta’s character. Despite the smuggled baby aspect, the film remains very down-to-earth, and if you are willing to sit down and read the subtitles, you can’t help but feel something for at least one of the characters.
Search: PN1995.9.F35 H67 2005 DVD
Wallace and Gromit in Three Amazing Adventures
This movie is definitely not going to make you cry unless you think the Wensleydale cheese Wallace loves to eat can feel pain. Wallace and Gromit are an odd pair that have been going strong since their first clay animation short in 1989. Created by Nick Park, Wallace is an eccentric inventor (is there any other kind?) living with Gromit, a silent but superiorly intelligent beagle. This DVD is a collection of the first three short films that gave the duo their claim to fame in the ’90s, if mostly for a British audience. Cute little stories which shouldn’t be thought about too hard, they are a great distraction when you really don’t want to do any more reading.
Search: PN1997.5 .W343 2005 DVD
McLibel
We all know fast food is bad. Morgan Spurlock showed us so in his documentary Super Size Me. But McLibel is a film that will make you realize just how evil McDonald’s truly is. It documents the longest-running court action in English history, which all started with a pamphlet about the many sins of Ronald McDonald. The pamphlet was published in 1986 by a small group called London Greenpeace (not associated with the international group), but when McDonald’s decided to respond to the small publication with a libel suit…well, I don’t want to give it all away. The film was made in 1998, but had to be updated in 2005 to include the final verdict. Another great way to procrastinate for about an hour and a half, plus you get to indulge in a little righteous indignation against corporate America.
Search: KD373.M42 M35 2005 DVD