Sony Pictures Classics, now in its fourth decade as one of the leading U.S. specialized film distributors, graced our holiday program last year with Oscar-nominated Bill Nighy in Living, and the inspiring saga of Robert Caro and the late Robert Gottlieb in Turn Every Page.
This year they’ve offered us two more brand new releases for New Plaza Cinema’s full time holiday residence (December 22 through January 1) at Macaulay Honors College:
- Freud’s Last Session, opening on December 22, showcases two-time Oscar winner Anthony Hopkins as Sigmund Freud and Matthew Goode (Brideshead Revisited) as C.S. Lewis engaging in an imaginary encounter; as Variety critic Peter Debruge puts it, “these two titans of 20th century thought meet at the psychoanalyst’s London home in early September 1939 to discuss God, father figures both spiritual and psychological and, of course, sex.”
Also populating their spirited dialogue are Liv Lisa Fries (Babylon Berlin) as Anna Freud, and Stephen Campbell Moore (Downton Abbey) as J.R.R. Tolkien.
- The Teachers’ Lounge, opening on December 25, is Germany’s Oscar submission for Best International Feature Film. Those of you who’ve seen the intense trailer we’ve been screening in recent weeks know that this is the chronicle of a young German middle school teacher (the riveting Leonie Benesch) whose efforts to identify a classroom misdeed spiral into unexpected confrontation and chaos. Dwight Brown, one of NYC’s longest-serving film critics, sums it up succinctly: “The director, screenwriters, production team and cast turn a small story about a well-intentioned teacher into a modern parable. An amazing achievement.”
The Oscar international film “short list” will appear later this week, and I predict that we’ll see The Teachers’ Lounge on it…
Also, following last Sunday’s full-house screening of David Lean’s Brief Encounter, we’ll be reprising this impeccable classic on Sunday, January 7, with some after-discussion…
Happy Holidays!
Gary Palmucci. Film Curator
New Plaza Cinema |
