Join fellow film fans in the Little Theater at Lenox to watch and discuss engaging and thought-provoking foreign films. We'll view the movie and then have time for focused discussion led by Lisa Kjellander from the SLP Library. Sponsored by Friends of the St. Louis Park Library. The movies in February:

February 4: My Life As A Dog (2003) Sweden
Ingemar is a working-class 12-year old boy who is sent to live with his uncle after his mother falls ill. There, he takes refuge from his troubles with the help of the town's warmhearted eccentrics. A bittersweet evocation of the struggles and joys of childhood and the pains of coming-of-age.

February 11: Faraw! Mother of Dunes (2016) Mali
Zamiatou is the mother of two quarrelsome boys and a depressed teenage girl. She is also the wife of a man arrested for political reasons who returned from prison mentally and physically destroyed. She struggles hard to survive in a poor and desolate area. She is ready to face anything to keep the family alive except prostituting her beautiful daughter.

February 18: Perfect Days (2024) Japan
Koji Yakusho plays a public-toilet cleaner in Tokyo whose rich inner world is gradually revealed through his small exchanges with those around him and with the city itself. Director Wenders crafts a serenely minimalist ode to the miracle that is the here and now.

February 25: The Crime Is Mine (2024) French
After a struggling actress stands trial for the murder of a lascivious producer in 1930s Paris, she ascends to scandalous stardom with her lawyer roommate. A new life of fame, wealth, and tabloid celebrity awaits, until the truth comes out.

The movies in May:

May 6: Rams (2015) Iceland
In a secluded valley in Iceland, Gummi and Kiddi live side by side, tending to their sheep. Their ancestral sheep-stock is considered one of the country's best and the two brothers are repeatedly awarded for their prized rams who carry an ancient lineage. Although they share the land and a way of life, Gummi and Kiddi have not spoken to each other in four decades. When a lethal disease suddenly infects Kiddi's sheep, the entire valley comes under threat.

May 13: Apples (2022) Greece
Amidst a worldwide pandemic that causes sudden amnesia, middle-aged Aris finds himself enrolled in a recovery program designed to help unclaimed patients build new identities. Prescribed daily tasks on cassette tapes so he can create new memories and document them on camera, Aris slides back into ordinary life, meeting Anna, a woman who is also in recovery. Through images deadpan, strange and surreal, Greek writer-director Christos Nikou posits a beguiling reflection on memory, identity, and loss, exploring how a society might handle an irreversible epidemic through one man’s story of self-discovery. Are we the sum of the images we compile and display of ourselves, or are we something richer, and deeper?

May 20: The Kid With A Bike (2012) Belguim
When Cyril's father abandons him, he obsessively searches for his bicycle - placing his last bit of hope in this symbol of their relationship. Almost by accident, he becomes the ward of a kind hairdresser, who seems surprised to find herself so determined to help him.

May 27: Godzilla vs. the Sea Monster: Ebirah-Horror of the Deep! (1966) Japan
A young man steals a boat to find his brother, but he and his shipmates become shipwrecked on a mysterious Letchi Island, where a terrorist organization developing nuclear weapons have enslaved the natives of Infant Island and command monstrous crustacean named Ebirah and a slumbering Godzilla.

The movies in August:

August 5: Genevieve (1953) United Kingdom
Two young couples participate in the Vintage Car Rally, a yearly race from London to Brighton. The title "character" is the 1904 Darracq automobile. At first treating the race as a lark, the two couples become increasingly--and hilariously--competitive as they near the finishing line.

August 12: Force Majeure (2015) France
An idyllic family skiing vacation takes a stunning turn when an avalanche threatens the ski lodge restaurant, sending people fleeing and demanding quick decisions that change the course of the family dynamics and trust.

August 19: Night of the Kings (2020) Côte d'Ivoire
A young man is sent to "La Maca", a prison of Ivory Coast in the middle of the forest ruled by its prisoners. With the red moon rising, he is designated by the Boss to be the new "Roman" and must tell a story to the other prisoners. Learning what fate awaits him, he begins to narrate the mystical life of a legendary outlaw and has no choice but to make his story last until dawn.

August 26: Phoenix (2016) Germany
German-Jewish cabaret singer Nelly survived Auschwitz but had to undergo reconstructive surgery as her face was disfigured. Without recognizing Nelly, her former husband Johnny asks her to help him claim his wife’s inheritance. To see if he betrayed her, she agrees, becoming her own doppelganger.

---------- Previous movies ----------

Oct 1: The Duke (2022) Great Britain
Set in 1961 when Kempton Bunton, a 60-year-old taxi driver, stole Goya's portrait of the Duke of Wellington from the National Gallery in London. It was the first (and remains the only) theft in the Gallery's history. Kempton sent ransom notes saying that he would return the painting on condition that the government agreed to provide television for free to the elderly.

Oct 8: Amour (2012) France
A touching tale of a loving couple whose unbreakable bonds of marriage are tested by life's greatest challenge.

Oct 15: About Elly (2009) Iran
With the return of their friend Ahmad from Germany, a group of old college pals decide to reunite on a weekend by the Caspian Sea. Sepideh has brought along Elly, her daughter's kindergarten teacher, in hopes of setting her up with recently divorced Ahmad. But seemingly trivial lies, which start accumulating at the seashore, suddenly swing round and come back full force when one afternoon Elly suddenly vanishes.

Oct 22: Andhadhun (2019) India
A blind pianist's life is turned upside down by a series of mysterious events, and a crime that he did not witness.