Tower Theater

English Subtitles 9:15 PM

Although it presents itself as merely the story of a professional basketball player named Kevin Sheppard, who, never quite making it to the NBA, has spent his career playing in lesser leagues overseas, The Iran Job ends up being quite a bit more:... More »

Although it presents itself as merely the story of a professional basketball player named Kevin Sheppard, who, never quite making it to the NBA, has spent his career playing in lesser leagues overseas, The Iran Job ends up being quite a bit more: an underdog sports story, a fish-out-of-water tale, and an outsider's perspective on Iran's almost-revolution of early 2009. "I try to stay away from politics—as far as possible," the genial baller says early on as a clear (and intelligent) defense mechanism, but politics doesn't stay away from him: His time in Iran overlaps not only with its failed uprising but also the election of President Obama back home. That said, the film could hardly be described as anti-Iran. Sheppard—and, just as importantly, director Till Schauder—never fails to distinguish between the regime and its people, and in fact makes friends with nearly everyone he meets. By far the most poignant development is his burgeoning friendship with three women who, very much at their own peril, break several laws by engaging in such radical activities as spending time in a man's apartment and speaking openly about their subordinated status in Iran. (The contemporaneous death of Nedā Āghā-Soltān only adds to the palpable unease of these scenes.) The trio is both modest and moving, which is to say they personify The Iran Job's best traits. « Less

English Subtitles 6:50 PM

Jean-Luc Godard said, "All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun." But really, all you need is a girl, preferably a charismatic one with a secret in her heart. Director and actress Sarah Polley has found that girl: her own mother. Polley's... More »

Jean-Luc Godard said, "All you need for a movie is a girl and a gun." But really, all you need is a girl, preferably a charismatic one with a secret in her heart. Director and actress Sarah Polley has found that girl: her own mother. Polley's documentary, Stories We Tell, attempts to unravel some of the mysteries of her own family's life. This wondrous, absorbing little picture covers a great deal of winding meta-territory, reflecting on the ways in which a single family's story can be told—or maybe, more accurately, examining the idea that there’s no such thing as a "single story." One girl, as Sarah Polley learns, can actually be many girls in one. Polley opens by introducing us to her cast of characters: her father, Michael Polley, an assortment of family friends, and various siblings and stepsiblings, all of whom look a little like Polley-- and yet don't. The director has assembled this tribunal to reassemble the story of her late mother, Diane, a woman we get to know gradually through home-movie footage, re-creations that have the look and feel of that home-movie footage, and recollections from the people who knew and loved her. She shapes the picture into a riddle that keeps us guessing every minute, and what she ends up with is so oddly shaped that it could be categorized an experimental film. But it's too warm to be off-putting. There's no way, Polley concludes, to tell a reliably true tale. But this particular story, which begins and ends with a woman’s face, feels true enough. « Less

9:10 PM

Spanish Subtitles 6:40 PM