U S F E AT U R E S
Ready? OK!
The Sensei
Steam
Tu esday Jun e 24 I 7:00 pm I Victoria
Saturday June 28 I 9 : 1 5 pm I Roxie
Monday J u n e 2 3 I 6 : 3 0 pm I Castro
$9 mem bers I $10 general I
$9 members I $10 general I SENS28R
$9 mem bers I $10 genera l I STEA23C
Set in a conservative Colorado hamlet during the mid '80s, The Sensei is an am bitious, genre-bending indie feature that touches on AIDS hysteria, religious intol erance, misogyny, racism and homophobia - a l l woven together with plenty of ass-kicking martial arts. McClain (whose story echoes Matthew Shep ard's) is a high school student ostracized and tor mented for being gay. His commun ity is gripped by fear and hate, and the general consensus is that AIDS is a punishment for a s i nfu l , gay l ifestyle. After McClain is severely beaten by classmates, he forms an unlikely bond with Karen, a martial arts expert who secretly becomes his sensei and teaches McClain how to defend himself. All assumptions a re questioned as the story twists through Karen's and McCla in's past. And, per haps controversially, while McClain is explicitly being taught to defend hi mself, we get to see the tables turned and violence being fought off with violence. True to the film's martial arts roots, questions of honor and the plight of the defenseless are at the heart of the film and explored from many perspectives. The Sensei was written and directed by veteran stunt-actress and martial artist D. Lee Inosanto, who also stars as Ka ren and who has crafted a story meant to clearly connect the multiple forms of bigotry that continue to plague our culture.
Th ree very different women weave a fragile bond at their local steam room, where they hope the hot wate r vapor m ight wash away t h e i r lon e l i n ess, confusion and fear. During her first year at college, El izabeth (Kate Siegel, Curse of the Black Dahlia) questions her sex ual identity and struggles to break free from her strict Catholic parents. Mi dd le-aged La urie (Al ly Sheedy, High Art) is a si ngle mother dealing with the psycho logical ga mes played by her ex-husband and the pote ntial problems in a re lati onsh i p with a much younger man. And recent Academy Award nominee Ruby Dee (American Gangster) gives another award worthy performa nce as Doris, an older woman facing feelings of despair and emptiness after the death of her husband. When she meets an other man, she opens herself up once again to the vulnerabil ity of giving one's heart to another. Un beknownst to the m , these women s h a re many of the same struggles and joys a nd separately learn to find strength, joy and beauty in their unique circumstances. By interweaving the stories of their individual jou rneys, di rector Kyle Sch ickner shows how age, race, class and religion have little to do with matters of the heart - ultimately, we all want the same things : love and happiness. At times playful and uplifting and other times hea rtbreaki ng, Steam speaks to the universality of human experience and the resilient spirit that allows us to rebound from struggle and emerge triumphant.
READ24V
Thursday Jun e 26 I 7:00 pm I Elmwood $9 mem bers I $10 general I READ26E
As a harried si ngle mother in Normal Heights, USA, Andrea is having a tough time of it. Although her son Joshua is a smart, happy and enthusiastic ten-year old, she worries that he's on the wrong track. With each summons to the Mother Superior's office at Joshua's private school, Andrea searches for answers to a nagging problem : How can she convi nce him that aspiring to be on the cheerleading squad, relishing the art of the French braid and calling Maria von Tra pp his most influential role model is just not what little boys do? When you wish for a son on the wrestling team, how do you deal with one who loves fashion, dolls and pyramid formations? In this quirky and touching take on the modern family, one woman must strip away all her illusions to seek a kind of peace with herself and her son. Some hard advice from her gay next-door neighbor Charlie (pl ayed by everyone's favorite v i l l a i n from Lost, Michael Emerson) helps Andrea turn her focus in the right direction: inward. Embracing Joshua's individu ality rather than fearing it might be the only answer, but can she do it? With comically truthfu l perfo rm a n ces and a healthy dash of wacky farce, Ready? OK! explores a fa mily on the verge of either destruction or elevation. Sometimes all it takes to figure things out is a deep breath and the perfect cheer. - KRISTINE KOLTON
THE SENSEI dir D. Lee Inosanto 2007 USA 103 min
READY? OK! d i r James Vasquez 2008 USA 91 min
- NORA ISAACS STEAM dir Kyle Schickner 2007 USA 120 min
SPONSORED BY
joie de vivre® H
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