RA
Saturday H October 22
Jitters (Órói)
Gigola
Lisner H 3 p.m. H $12
Lisner H 5 p.m. H $12
Like an Icelandic version of Skins, Jitters centers on Gabriel, a sensitive 16-year-old who goes to spend three weeks in an English language program in Manchester where he develops a bond with his roommate, Markus. After an evening of making out on their final night, Gabriel returns home changed by the experience and everyone notices. But he has to navigate between his overbearing mother and his large group of friends who all have their own teenage dramas and issues. These subplots take us into the lives of these kids with their drunken parties and family situations, but Gabriel is the axis around whom the film revolves. He must figure out what his experience with Markus really means about himself while dealing with his friends and family who have no idea that he may be gay, especially his closest friend Stella who is in love with him. Outstanding performances, especially by Atli Oskar Fjalarsson as Gabriel, led to Jitters winning several Icelandic film awards.
The stylish and sexy Parisian lesbian underworld of the 1960s is brought vividly to life in this star-studded thriller. It’s 1963 and Paris is sizzling with sex. The stylishly butch Gigola spends her days roaming chic Parisian cafés, taking on the male criminal underclass at its own game, enticing pretty femmes away from their pimps, breaking hearts and making a few enemies along the way. Her evenings are spent in famous lesbian cabaret bar Chez Moune, picking up rich older women who keep her in the decadent style she has become accustomed to. It’s not the life her parents wished for her, but it’s a life she enjoys, or so it seems, until an accidental overdose throws her in the path of a beautiful psychiatrist who reminds Gigola of her first and only love, long dead now, and she begins to question everything around her. Charpentier’s film evokes an era when femmes were femmes, butches paid for everything and sex was a way of life.
Dir. Baldvin Zophoníasson, 2010, Iceland, 97 min.
In French with English subtitles.
In English and Icelandic with English subtitles. Sponsor
TLA Releasing
90
get your tickets at reelaffirmations.org
Dir. Laure Charpentier, 2010, France, 102 min.