From Neal Peirce's syndicated column on urban affairs for the Washington Post Writers Group:
By Neal Peirce
PLYMOUTH, N.H.-- Steve Rand, owner-manager of the hardware store his grandfather founded in 1908, figured from the start that stopping the proposed Wal-Mart Superstore on the commercial highway outside Plymouth would be a losing battle.
“Plymouth is at a crossroads of major roads,” he said. “Wal-Mart looks at a map, decides it wants its store here, not some competitor’s. That’s how they dominate. We’re just one move on their huge chessboard. But stop them? They’re too large a Goliath for this David.”
Only a regional impact economic study, Rand figured, could have tripped the Wal-Mart project. But New Hampshire, like most states, leaves every town to fend for itself. Even if Plymouth had turned Wal-Mart down, neighboring towns would likely have welcomed the store and its tax base.
So now Wal-Mart has arrived and Steve Rand is closing an outlying branch he’d had for 33 years store near the Wal-Mart site -- one of the thousands of small-town retail outlets extinguished by the Goliath from Bentonville.
Still, walking around downtown Plymouth with Steve Rand -- he won’t even bother with a coat on a winter day -- you discover he has a survival strategy rolling.
His own downtown store, Rand explains, is solidly profitable. It sells specialized hardware and paint items acquired at attractive prices through a cooperative. It’s staffed by employees with extensive knowledge of customer needs. To meet the new competition, the store is now open seven days a week.
We pause at Plymouth’s handsome brick post office, facing directly onto the picturesque town common. It has a plaque commemorating its dedication in 1936, when James A. Farley was Postmaster General. But in the mid-’90s, U.S. Postal Service bureaucrats decided they’d like to move operations out of town to a one-story, one-stop facility, convenient for trucks.
Rand and his friends hit the panic button, contacting any- and everyone they knew in the political world, and got the decision reversed.
They did the same when a local selectman suggested moving Plymouth’s town offices to a single-story building, with lots of parking, far from Main Street. Rand & allies argued hard to renovate the historic courthouse building, also facing the town common, for town offices. They prevailed. Instead of becoming a pile of bricks, the courthouse underwent handsome redesign. We chat with one of the clerks; it’s clear she takes immense pride in working there.
Plymouth, it should be noted, isn’t just any old town-- it’s home to thriving Plymouth State University and its cultural arts center, where the New Hampshire Symphony plays and many theatrical performances are launched each year.
Still, a number of Main Street stores have struggled. Rand explains the history of each, how ugly post-World War II facades are being replaced and strategies developed to fill gaps. It’s no surprise to discover this is one of New Hampshire’s 19 officially designated Main Streets, with a full-time director and well developed strategy. (Nationally there are some 1,600, reports the National Trust for Historic Preservation, founder of the program.)
Flower barrels on Main Street, a jazz series on the Common, a Hallowe’en festival, a welcome day for college students and their families, merchants’ forums, a downtown cleanup day-- all are results of Plymouth’s Main Street program, now five years old.
I ask Rand who the principal supporters are and he replies, to my surprise, that they’re not predominantly merchants -- retailers are often “the last to see the forest for the trees.” Instead, Main Street’s most prominent rooters are regional institutions -- the local hospital, the university, a private school. The hospital and university, for example, have recruiting issues: their prospects of attracting a physician or professor are enhanced, notes Rand, when “downtown is a community--not a black hole.”
Put another way, Main Streets, like big city downtowns, are calling cards to the world, often important for a whole ring of communities. They’re the antithesis of the big box retail store -- constructed one month, open the next, easily vacant a few seasons later as the market shifts.
Successful Main Street programs, Rand notes, take years to mature -- four or five years to change attitudes and build initial confidence, five to ten or more years for owners to start reinvesting seriously, 15 or 20 for the full recovery and new growth to take solid root.
Such patience sounds a world away from the globalized world of the big chains -- Wal-Mart, for instance, with its expectation of opening hundreds of stores, hiring 160,000 more employees worldwide just this year.
And virtually no one foresees a time when Americans’ big-time retailing will focus again on Main Streets.
Yet as Plymouth shows, town history matters. And there can be a very real niche for community-based, smaller specialized stores, the places we know and are known when we go in. The rewards, for towns that care enough to nurture and patronize their own, can be immense.
Sperling continues to rank cities for various factors, this time on their stress levels. For the complete list, go to http://www.bestplaces.net/stress/stress_study3.asp
Sperling's BestPlaces ranks 331 Metro Areas with a New Stress Index
Portland, Oregon - Between international terrorism and a struggling economy, today's Americans are faced with more stress than ever. In this new study, America's favorite research gurus at Sperling's BestPlaces have identified the most and least stressful U.S. cities.
Which U.S. cities provide an environment that can help make our life more relaxed and enjoyable? Are there certain U.S. cities where residents regularly face particularly stressful conditions?
Our "Sperling Stress Index" is comprised of nine different factors which are associated with stress: unemployment rate, divorce rate, commute time, violent and property crime rates, suicide rate, alcohol consumption, self-reported "poor mental health", and number of cloudy days.
Study Highlights
Tacoma, Washington ranks as the most stressful city of the 100 largest metro areas. Galveston, Texas earns the dubious honor in the mid-size category, and Yuba City, California is the most stressful among the smallest metro areas.
On the brighter side, Albany, New York is the least stressful large metro area, while Provo, Utah anchors the top spot among the mid-size cities. Among the smallest metro areas, Bismarck, North Dakota in number one in a low-stress environment.
"Most of the top-ten stress cities are grappling with high unemployment," said Bert Sperling, president of Sperling's BestPlaces. "It affects the entire community, whether you presonally have a job or not. Rising unemployment has been tied to increased crime, and declining tax revenues force reductions in social services that affect young and old alike."
Las Vegas has a robust economy, but had the highest percentage of divorced residents and the highest rate of suicides. And despite Miami's #2 stress ranking, they maintained a positive mental attitude, with one of the lowest rates in residents reporting poor mental health.
Among the low-stress cities, there appears a common theme of state capitals and institutions of higher learning. "Government and universities provide a solid economic base to smaller cities, lessening the stress caused by economic cycles," reported Sperling.
There appears to be something special about Honolulu. In our studies, it seems that they have a unique attitude that allows them to be less affected by the stresses of today's busy lifestyle. A recent Sperling's BestPlaces study on the Best Cities for Sleep found Honolulu residents reporting the highest scores for restful and relaxing sleep. In this study, Honolulu also reported the lowest number of days that they felt anxious, tense, stressed or depressed.
An interesting footnote to this study was the discovery of a strong correlation between the rates of suicide and divorce. In the great majority of the cities we investigated, those areas with a high percentage of divorced residents was matched with a high suicide rate. And the opposite was true as well... places with few divorces also had few suicides.
This study will be updated regularly, and we have identified new categories for consideration in the next study. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.
Here is some analysis for the most and least stressful of the 100 largest metro areas:
Top Five Most Stressful Cities
Tacoma, WA
Tacoma residents contend with one of the highest divorce rates in the country as well as one of the highest unemployment rates. It's cloudy in Tacoma much of the time, and the suicide and property crime rates are high. On a brighter note, Tacomans can feel safe from bodily harm thanks to the low violent crime rate.
Miami, FL
Miami has the highest violent crime rate in our study as well as one of the highest property crime rates. Making Miami even more stressful is the long commute time, a high unemployment rate, and a high rate of divorce. Despite these factors, Miami residents manage to maintain a positive mental attitude.
New Orleans
Maybe New Orleans should be nicknamed The Big Un -Easy, due to a high violent crime rate and a high unemployment rate. There's also a significant number of suicides and divorces.
Las Vegas, NV
The turbulent lifestyle of Las Vegas produces some extremely stressful conditions-- the highest suicide and divorce rates in our study, as well as a great deal of alcohol use. Unfortunately, the greatest number of sunny days per year doesn't seem to translate to overall happiness-- residents of Las Vegas have a great number of days experiencing poor mental health.
New York, NY
Beginning and ending their days with the longest commute in the country, the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple can really stress people out. Unemployment is high and so is violent crime, which may explain why New Yorkers spend many of their days experiencing stress, depression, and problems with emotions. But New Yorkers are not quitters - the suicide and divorce rates are some of the lowest.
Top Five Least Stressful Cities
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY and
Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle, PA
These hardworking state capitals and their surrounding areas boast two of the lowest unemployment rates in the country. In fact, both areas score well in many categories- low divorce rates, short average commute times, a low overall crime rate, and low rates of suicide. One downside to these northeastern cities is their often-cloudy skies and dreary winters
Orange County, CA
Life really goes smoothly in "the O.C."- little crime, low unemployment, and a whole lot of sunshine. The commute can take awhile, but Orange County residents seem to be able to handle it. And their suicide rate is one of the lowest.
Nassau-Suffolk, NY
Although residents of Nassau and Suffolk counties have a very long commute, the area has the lowest violent and property crime rates in the country. The divorce and suicide rates are also among the lowest in the country, indicating a safe and stable place to live.
Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN
The Twin Cities have a low unemployment rate and a low violent crime rate. Despite many cloudy days, the suicide rate is low and the stress scores are generally favorable across the board.
About Sperling's BestPlaces
For nearly 20 years, Bert Sperling has been helping people find their own Best Place to live, work, play, and retire. As the foremost creator of these studies, his work appears in the national media nearly every month, where they enlighten and entertain millions.
Sperling has just completed "Cities Ranked & Rated: Your Guide to the Best Places to Live in the U.S. & Canada", published by John Wiley & Sons for release in March.
Sperling's firm has also performed a number of "Best Places" studies for corporate advertising campaigns including the recent "Most Photogenic Cities" (FujiFilm), "Most Romantic Cities" (Korbel Champagne), "Best and Worst Cities for Skin Care" (Keri Lotion), "Safest Cities" (Chevrolet), "Worst Places for Fleas" (Hartz Mountain), "Most Hazardous Places" (Duracell), "Pet Healthiest Cities" (Purina), "Asthma HotSpots" (Glaxo Smith Kline), "America's Sweetest Cities" (Hersheys), "Most UnWired Cities" (Intel), "Most Drivable Cities" (Pep Boys), "Most Fun Cities" (Cranium) and others.
From Marketing Intelligence:
Joanna L. Krotz
In case you haven't noticed, every state in America now hosts multicultural communities.
Whether you translate diversity into African-American, Asian-American, disabled, ethnic, female, gay, immigrant, Latino, minority, Native American, seniors, special needs, urban or any other group besides so-called mainstream white male, rainbow demographics are a fact of business life.
This is dramatically spelled out in a recent U.S. Department of Labor report, called "Futurework: Trends and Challenges for Work in the 21st Century":
"By 2050, the U.S. population is expected to increase by 50% and minority groups will make up nearly half of the population. Immigration will account for almost two-thirds of the nation's population growth. The population of older Americans is expected to more than double. One-quarter of all Americans will be of Hispanic origin. Almost one in 10 Americans will be of Asian or Pacific Islander descent. And more women and people with disabilities will be on the job."
What does this mean to you? Any company that wants to stay competitive must come to terms with diversity — inside and outside the organization.
Of course, the legal and moral arguments for diversity are unassailable. Discriminatory hiring practices not only demean the human spirit, they've been against the law for decades. Nonetheless, employers have been notoriously slow to change.
No one thought much about making the business case for diverse employment until reports of the changing workforce and consumer demographics added up to a new math as the table below shows.
United States Race/Ethnicity (2002)
White, Non-Hispanic 195,794,463 68.1%
Black, Non-Hispanic 34,827,233 12.1%
American Indian, Non-Hispanic 2,125,972 0.7%
Asian/Pacific Islander, Non-Hispanic 11,223,569 3.9%
Two or more races - Non-Hispanic 5,588,320 1.9%
Hispanic / Latino 37,980,261 13.2%
At the same time, social and political policies like "minority quotas" and "affirmative action" turned controversial for advocates and critics alike, and even ran afoul of the law, as with university admissions polices.
Nowadays, global corporations are busy recruiting diverse work groups because of profit motives. It's good for business. Small and mid-tier firms would be smart to follow that example.
Here are five key business reasons to hire a diverse staff.
All business is now international. There's no such thing as a local company anymore. "The Internet has influenced all commerce," says Ilene Wasserman at ICW Consulting. "I may be a Mom and Pop shop, but I can't afford a localized or provincial attitude about what we carry and serve."
Every business, whether small-town retailer or international marketer must be savvy about the future generations and how we will trade goods and services across national borders and in multiple languages.
Conflict is a good thing. Small-business owners may hesitate to hire qualified candidates different than themselves or the rest of the staff because of worries about resulting tension. But think about it. New ideas only emerge from friction and need. Innovation only arises out of conflict. Comfort zones are hardly the birthplaces of creativity. Plus, a company's values and culture begin at the top.
"Small businesses often grow up around a founder and lots of family members," says Adrian Savage, president of PNA, an e-business consulting group. "It's hard for outsiders to come into such a cozy environment. You either fit in with them or you don't fit in at all. But that makes the resulting business extremely inflexible." Diverse groups of people, points out Savage, will have better antenna to see opportunities that you will miss.
Small pools run dry. With competition fierce and markets international, why narrow your search for skilled help to shallow areas of the talent pool? "We often hire people because we 'like' them," says attorney Carol Merchasin, national director of training at Seyfarth Shaw, a labor law firm. "And we 'like' them because they look like us." Instead, suggests Merchasin, take away the screen of 'liking.' Focus on precise skills, competencies and experience to do the job you need done.
While you're at it, evaluate your preconceived notions. For example, Joyce Bender runs a 17-year-old technology consulting company, which partners with larger firms to provide employment for people with disabilities.
She often faces the perception that workers with disabilities are "sick" or "absent" a lot. The reality? "I offer a $400 bonus to workers each year who don't miss a day of work. And I can't tell you how many bonuses I've given to employees who haven't missed a day of work in five years. People with disabilities have to overcome obstacles and discrimination. They have to figure out how to get into and out of buildings. They've been in tough situations and it's made them flexible problem solvers. They're really good workers for small businesses."
Diversity drives sales. Nearly 80% of Fortune 500 companies now have some kind of diversity efforts in place, says Fred Miller in his book, "The Inclusion Breakthrough: Unleashing the Real Power of Diversity". Increasingly, government and corporate vendors will contract only with suppliers that can demonstrate "cultural readiness," according to Miller.
"The world is changing," says Miller, who runs the Kaleel Jamison Consulting Group. "If it's not on your doorstep now, it will be soon. You can't wait. Reaction time must be instantaneous."
Stable staffs are cost-effective. Suzanne and James Faustlin purchased their Tucson, Ariz., franchise for the Maids Home Service about five years ago. The business then had 13 employees and $250,000 in revenues, says Suzanne. By 2001, the couple had a staff of 34 people and $750,000 in revenues.
Like many home cleaning services, the staff is all female and more than 50% minority, in this case Hopi Native American and Hispanic. But unlike many such services, the Faustlins play up the cultural differences. "We think it's fun and the uniqueness of the traditions is an advantage," says Suzanne.
Every workday starts with an early potluck breakfast. "We get tamales from different types of corn and Hopi blue marble bread," she says. "We encourage intermingling of the teams. It's a way to deal with the stresses." Suzanne says the staff also celebrates many different holidays.
She credits those management policies with low staff turnover and easier recruitment. "We encourage employees to refer people and we offer a finder's fee." The result: A very stable staff. "We have several family members working together."
Creating an inclusive company culture that values and respects individual difference is likely to yield tangible, bottom-line results. "Nobody can afford a workforce that doesn't contribute its best work," says Miller. "Why settle for a sprint when you can win the marathon?"
Wednesday, 1/28 In America 6:30 & 8:30
Thursday, 1/29 In America 6:30 & 8:30
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NEW:
The Cooler
Alec Baldwin – Academy Award Nominee, Best Supporting Actor
"It's a pleasure to watch Macy, with customary craft and intelligence, create from the ground up an unlikely, yet plausible romantic lead." – Newsday. "From James Whitaker's seductive camerawork to Mark Isham's lush score, The Cooler places all the smart bets and hits the jackpot. William H. Macy is hilarious…Maria Bello dazzles! Alec Baldwin’s revelatory portrayal is the stuff Oscars are made of." – Rolling Stone. "A surprising, ingenious film." – Washington Post.
103 min. Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
Friday at 8:45, Saturday at 1:30PM & 6:15PM, Sunday at 1:00PM & 5:30PM, Monday at 8:30PM, Tuesday at 8:30PM, Wednesday at 6:30PM, Thursday at 6:30PM
In America 3 Academy Award Nominations
Samantha Morton – Best Actress, Djimon Hounsou – Best Supporting Actor, Best Original Screenplay
“One of the best pictures of the year… wondrous…luminous!”—Newsweek.
"In America is particularly adept at dealing with the immigrant experience, with lives lived on the knife edge of hope, poverty and despair that is in many ways this country's quintessential situation."—Los Angeles Times. "A classic story of losing and finding faith told with heart, humor and emotional heft."—USA Today. "Forceful, funny and impassioned."—Rolling Stone.
“Four Stars!”—Roger Ebert, USA Today, People, New York Post, Premiere.
104 min., Rated PG-13.
Friday at 6:15PM, Saturday at 4PM & 8:45PM, Sunday at 3:15PM & 7:30PM, Monday at 6:30PM, Tuesday at 6:30PM, Wednesday at 8:30PM, Thursday at 8:30PM
The Cooler
--Alec Baldwin & Maria Bello – Nominated for Golden Globes & Screen Actor’s Guild Awards--
In Vegas, the house always wins--especially when the house has employed Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy), a man whose luck is so bad that it rubs off everyone around him. In the old-school casino Shangri-La, this makes him a valuable staffer as what’s called a cooler. His talent is gracefully displayed in "The Cooler’s" opening scene as the camera weaves fluidly through the casino floor in Bernie’s wake. A simple brush of his hand against the roulette wheel or quiet presence as a spectator at the craps table quickly subdues a run on the house. Bernie’s luck begins the change, though, when he falls in love with cocktail waitress Natalie (Maria Bello) and, however unlikely, she with him. This does not bode well for Bernie, as he has been working off a debt to the owner of the casino, Shelly Kaplow (a menacing Alec Baldwin). Shelly, who handles cheats the old-fashioned way rather than calling in the authorities, is intent on keeping Bernie and his bad luck around. Mixed in as well are subplots involving a movement to modernize the aging Shangri-La, in a storyline critical of the current condition of the Vegas strip, and the sudden appearance of Bernie’s newly married son and his very pregnant wife. Helmer Wayne Kramer glamorizes the pastime, using fast motion at the cards and craps tables and a succession of stills to portray the games. Also vital to the classical atmosphere are a melancholy jazz score and a soundtrack that includes such favorites as "It’s Almost like Being in Love" and "My Funny Valentine." But Macy of course, anchors the film in the titular role, his singular features and consummate talent seemingly designed and destined for this very role. "It's a pleasure to watch Macy, with customary craft and intelligence, create from the ground up an unlikely, yet plausible romantic lead." – Newsday. "From James Whitaker's seductive camerawork to Mark Isham's lush score, The Cooler places all the smart bets and hits the jackpot. William H. Macy is hilarious…Maria Bello dazzles! Alec Baldwin’s revelatory portrayal is the stuff Oscars are made of." – Rolling Stone. "A surprising, ingenious film." – Washington Post. Running time: 103 min. Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
In America
Golden Globe Nomination for Best Screenplay – 6 Independent Spirit Awards
Lyrical, life-affirming, lovely. In America is a wondrously emotional film, one that sneakily dismantles your defenses and purges grief you didn't realize you had. What happens onscreen to the characters happens offscreen to the audience: Walls erected to protect vulnerable hearts are taken down in order to make a human connection. Jim Sheridan's film is about an Irish family - father, mother and two young daughters - that tells the authorities it has come to the States on holiday when it is planning to immigrate, legally or otherwise. The year is 1982. The place is Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan. The narrator is 11-year-old Christy (Sarah Bolger), who frames the family's unsentimental journey through the viewfinder of her camcorder. (Literalists, please understand that this is a metaphorical 1982, as the classic-rock stations, family-friendly Times Square, and personal camcorder we see are anachronisms in service of a larger emotional truth.) There's something off about Sarah's folks. For when the customs agent at the U.S.-Canada border asks how many children they have, her dad answers "three" and her mom "two." There are two children in the backseat, Christy and Ariel (Emma Bolger, Sarah's sister). But the restless spirit of a third, Frankie, crowds the car and the memories of his kin. Although no longer with them, Frankie has become the family genie, giving Christy three wishes. At critical moments she uses them to ensure her family's safe passage. As directed by Sheridan (My Left Foot), who wrote the semiautobiographical screenplay with his now-grown daughters, In America is a ghost story in which the living are first haunted and ultimately helped by the dead. Both in its story and in its gritty scenery, vividly captured by cinematographer Declan Quinn, the film is a stirring work of magic realism. Soon after their arrival, Christy's father, a struggling actor named Johnny (Paddy Considine), finds a crummy loft in Hell's Kitchen encrusted in pigeon poop and possibility. Her mother, Sarah (that life force Samantha Morton, a melding of the ethereal and the earthy), finds a job in an ice cream parlor. It is a measure of the enormous achievement of In America that the Hell's Kitchen ice cream parlor is called Heaven and no one groans. And that the shaman is an African named Mateo ( Amistad 's Djimon Hounsou in majestic-mystic mode) whom Sheridan permits to create a character far more complex than the noble Negro of standard Hollywood fare. As Morton and Hounsou endow the film with a transcendent, catch-a-falling-star magic, those Bolger girls root it in recognizable reality. For Christy and Ariel, being in this strange land with mysterious climatic conditions such as humidity and secular customs such as Halloween is a magical adventure much like E.T.'s visit to Earth. Although each actor is uniquely powerful, the blessing of Sheridan's movie is seeing them work in ensemble. This is a story that sees the family as a system, attentive to how the pressures on one member cause explosions and implosions among the others. In part, In America is the story of immigrant hopes, of creating a new life from the ashes of the old. But more profoundly it serves as proof that tortured people can go through hell and come out the other side to find heaven in Hell's Kitchen. 104 min., Rated PG-13.
When: Friday, February 13th, 2004
6:00pm to 9:00pm
Where: Fort Wayne Museum of Art
311 East Main Street
Cost: $35 each. Only 200 tickets will be sold!
Includes door prizes, hors d'oeuvres, beer and wine, and free play
money for blackjack and roulette tables.
Organized by the Articulates to benefit the Fort Wayne Museum of
Art, the Mardi Gras Party / Reverse Raffle promises an evening of
festive fun.
Each ticket is numbered, and the last ticket wins a $1500 Grand
Prize! Prizes for the best costumes too!
Casino fun supplied by Little Vegas, Inc.
Cajun cuisine provided by Annie's Half Moon Cafe
Fine microbrew courtesy of Mad Anthony Brewing Co.
To try your luck on February 13th, call for tickets at 260-422-6467
extension 342, or you can stop by the Fort Wayne Museum of Art,
or Bradley Gough Diamonds at 4321 West Jefferson Boulevard.
Wednesday, 1/14 Sylvia 6:30, The Station Agent 8:30
Thursday, 1/15 Sylvia 6:30, The Station Agent 8:30
Be sure to check out our website at http://www.cinemacenter.org/
Coming Soon – In America – Opens Friday, January 23
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Fort Wayne Cinema Center Movies for 1/16-1/22
Sylvia & The Station Agent (Last Shows for Both!)
Sylvia
"It is Plath's writing that represents ... her surest claim on our attention. The makers of Sylvia may, to some degree, have neglected this brilliant, unsettling and tragically foreshortened body of work, but they have not betrayed it." -- The New York Times. "An often painful, surprisingly illuminating and emotionally complex portrait of a woman who is ultimately as mysterious as her art."-- Detroit Free Press. "3 Stars"-- Roger Ebert. 110 min., Rated R (sexuality/nudity and language.)
Friday at 8:30PM, Saturday at 6:30PM, Sunday at 4PM, Monday at 8:30PM, Tuesday at 8:30PM, Wednesday at 6:30PM, Thursday at 6:30PM
The Station Agent
--3 Independent Spirit Award Nominations!--
--Number 3 on the National Board of Review’s Top Ten Films of the Year!--
“A movie with an intellectual existence both on and off the screen, as well as an emotional resonance that is difficult to shake."--Newsday. "A masterful film and a bracing movie experience."--Hollywood Reporter. "Yes, this is a comedy, but it's also sad, and finally it's simply a story about trying to figure out what you love to do and then trying to figure out how to do it."--Roger Ebert. "The best advice to filmgoers who appreciate smart, mature, humanist movies is, simply, Go."--Washington Post. "A delicate, thoughtful and often hilarious take on loneliness."—New York Times. "Dinklage's face and demeanor, his sense of solitude, ballasts some of the film's loonier episodes. There's always something on his mind, and you're always wondering what it is."—Boston Globe.
90 min., Rated R. (for language.)
Friday at 6:30PM, Saturday at 8:30PM, Sunday at 2PM, Monday at 6:30PM, Tuesday at 6:30PM, Wednesday at 8:30PM, Thursday at 8:30PM
Sylvia
As an unrelentingly somber take on the final seven years of arguably the most significant female voice in 20th-century American poetry, "Sylvia" is beautifully shot and awash with gray hues and settings that appropriately capture the suicidal disposition of the film’s subject. The film picks up Plath’s life in 1956, three years after the suicide attempt that she famously chronicled in the 1963 novel "The Bell Jar." In England as a Fulbright scholar, Plath (Gwyneth Paltrow) meets upcoming poet Ted Hughes (Daniel Craig), who engages her in a whirlwind romance that, after just four months, leads to their marriage. An idyllic beginning marked by mutual encouragement for each other’s writing breaks down with the passing years, giving way to Plath's anger and jealousy--both at her husband's critical and commercial success, which overshadows her own poetic accomplishments, and his extramarital affair. Hughes' decision to leave his wife and their two children for another woman results in a period of intense creative output for Plath and what is generally considered her most electrifying poetry--as well as her eventual suicide. Meticulous attention to detail, from the '50s-era clothing to the perfect recreation of Plath's changing hairstyles, is evident throughout "Sylvia," and Paltrow is convincing in capturing the poet's emotional highs and lows. Moreover, Craig's restrained portrayal of Hughes and Blythe Danner’s (Gwyneth Paltrow’s real life mother) depiction of Aurelia Plath, who represent opposing forces in Sylvia's life, skillfully avoid the respective traps of domineering, villainous husband and overprotective parent, favorite caricatures among Plath's most sympathetic biographers. The film's bleakness remains appropriately overpowering, from the opening quote of Plath's late poem "Lady Lazarus" ("Dying/Is an art, like everything else. /I do it exceptionally well. /I do it so it feels like hell") to her last lonely moments preparing breakfast for her two infant children before her suicide.
The Station Agent
An unexpected favorite at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was snapped up for distribution by Miramax and captured acting, writing and audience awards, “The Station Agent” is the gentle portrait of a tentative friendship among three quite disparate people. At four feet, five inches, Finbar McBride (Peter Dinklage) has been the object of curiosity and derision for most of his life. He has dealt with it by shutting himself off from most of the rest of the world. When his only friend and business partner dies, he inherits an abandoned train depot in lushly shot rural New Jersey and jumps at the chance to live there in isolation. It is not to be. He is immediately accosted by Joe (an infections Bobby Cannavale), who is bored to tears running the coffee truck nearby while his dad is laid up at home, and literally run off the road by painter Olivia (once again, the uber-talented Patricia Clarkson), who, estranged from her husband, is grieving the death of her young son. These chance meetings lay the foundation for solid friendships. “If you guys do something later, can I join you?” Joe asks Fin when he observes his budding relationship with Olivia. “We’re not doing anything later,” Fin replies. “But if you do,” Joe insists. The exchange goes on for comedic effect but also to intimate Joe’s desperation to make a human connection and Fin’s aversion to it. For Dinklage, particularly, this is the role of a lifetime. He is pitch-perfect as the monosyllabic conversationalist who is wholly satisfied to read about trains, watch trains and walk “the right of way” (along the train tracks) by himself. Yet he doesn’t truly enjoy the pastime without Joe and Olivia’s help, when he can finally chase trains in a car with a video camera. Clarkson, too, grapples with the complicated emotions of being friends with a man for whom she can be neither mother nor girlfriend. And Cannavale brings humor and energy to a storyline that could plunge into melodrama but doesn’t. Rarely has friendship--honest, genuine friendship--been portrayed so truthfully, with the gentle humor that belies real intimacy. (“I wanted to live near Joe,” Fin quips as the reason he moved into a deserted train station with no plumbing or electricity; “Can you come up here and talk?” Joe whines from the balcony where he is preparing dinner--he’s a great cook--as Fin and Olivia converse below. “Seriously, this sucks.”) And while theirs is a unique arrangement that they struggle with throughout the film, ultimately Fin, Joe and Olivia come to quite comfortable terms with it--their own. Running time: 90 min., Rated R.
-Coming Soon-
In America
Golden Globe Nomination for Best Screenplay
Lyrical, life-affirming, lovely. In America is a wondrously emotional film, one that sneakily dismantles your defenses and purges grief you didn't realize you had. What happens onscreen to the characters happens offscreen to the audience: Walls erected to protect vulnerable hearts are taken down in order to make a human connection. Jim Sheridan's film is about an Irish family - father, mother and two young daughters - that tells the authorities it has come to the States on holiday when it is planning to immigrate, legally or otherwise. The year is 1982. The place is Hell's Kitchen in Manhattan. The narrator is 11-year-old Christy (Sarah Bolger), who frames the family's unsentimental journey through the viewfinder of her camcorder. (Literalists, please understand that this is a metaphorical 1982, as the classic-rock stations, family-friendly Times Square, and personal camcorder we see are anachronisms in service of a larger emotional truth.) There's something off about Sarah's folks. For when the customs agent at the U.S.-Canada border asks how many children they have, her dad answers "three" and her mom "two." There are two children in the backseat, Christy and Ariel (Emma Bolger, Sarah's sister). But the restless spirit of a third, Frankie, crowds the car and the memories of his kin. Although no longer with them, Frankie has become the family genie, giving Christy three wishes. At critical moments she uses them to ensure her family's safe passage. As directed by Sheridan (My Left Foot), who wrote the semiautobiographical screenplay with his now-grown daughters, In America is a ghost story in which the living are first haunted and ultimately helped by the dead. Both in its story and in its gritty scenery, vividly captured by cinematographer Declan Quinn, the film is a stirring work of magic realism. Soon after their arrival, Christy's father, a struggling actor named Johnny (Paddy Considine), finds a crummy loft in Hell's Kitchen encrusted in pigeon poop and possibility. Her mother, Sarah (that life force Samantha Morton, a melding of the ethereal and the earthy), finds a job in an ice cream parlor. It is a measure of the enormous achievement of In America that the Hell's Kitchen ice cream parlor is called Heaven and no one groans. And that the shaman is an African named Mateo ( Amistad 's Djimon Hounsou in majestic-mystic mode) whom Sheridan permits to create a character far more complex than the noble Negro of standard Hollywood fare. As Morton and Hounsou endow the film with a transcendent, catch-a-falling-star magic, those Bolger girls root it in recognizable reality. For Christy and Ariel, being in this strange land with mysterious climatic conditions such as humidity and secular customs such as Halloween is a magical adventure much like E.T.'s visit to Earth. Although each actor is uniquely powerful, the blessing of Sheridan's movie is seeing them work in ensemble. This is a story that sees the family as a system, attentive to how the pressures on one member cause explosions and implosions among the others. In part, In America is the story of immigrant hopes, of creating a new life from the ashes of the old. But more profoundly it serves as proof that tortured people can go through hell and come out the other side to find heaven in Hell's Kitchen. "In America is particularly adept at dealing with the immigrant experience, with lives lived on the knife edge of hope, poverty and despair that is in many ways this country's quintessential situation."—Los Angeles Times. "A classic story of losing and finding faith told with heart, humor and emotional heft."—USA Today. "Forceful, funny and impassioned."—Rolling Stone. “Four Stars!”—Roger Ebert. 104 min., Rated PG-13.