Friday, December 1 — Thursday, December 14

US THEATICAL PREMIERE....ROXIE RELEASING PRESENTS

Panic

Midlife crises are a normal event for many forty-plus American males, and Alex (Bill Macy) seems no different from the average. He is going through a very difficult time. He has a marriage that’s been through the normal ups and downs but is now struggling, a young son who he’s devoted to but worried about, and a particularly stressful job: he works for his father in the family business…and kills people for a living. More than the specific tensions that this particular occupation brings with it, Alex is tired of hiding what he does from his wife and child and wants to leave the profession. Feeling tormented, he seeks the services of a good therapist to unload his burdens but finds unexpected solace in the waiting room, where he meets Sarah (Neve Campbell). She’s manic, confused, and at loose ends; he’s repressed and trapped in career and domestic turmoil, but somehow this odd couple manages to connect, and each one makes the other feel like life’s worth living. With the potential for an affair looming on the horizon but an increasingly problematic professional life, Alex is caught in a difficult family bind whose resolutions will not be easy. Also starring Donald Sutherland, John Ritter, Tracey Ullman. Written and directed by Henry Bromell. In Color. 35mm. 90 mins. 1999. U.S. THEATRICAL PREMIERE. Nightly at 6:00, 8:00, 10:00; Sat, Sun, Wed matinees at 2:00 and 4:00. DIRECTOR IN PERSON after the 6:00 and before the 8:00 shows!

Panic opens in theaters nationwide. Click here to find out where.

THE CRITICS ARE IN A PANIC

• "Funny, frightening and provocative. The best movie you may never see this year is called PANIC.-- Stephen Hunter, Washington Post
• "4 STARS! PANIC is so good I almost couldn't believe it. "It's one of the best movies I've seen this year. I love this movie!"
  -- Jeff Anderson, S.F.Examiner
• "Panic is a tightly wound, sharply written, superbly acted film. It's that rare article: a smart, taut, witty movie that deserves to be seen!"
  -- Sura Wood, SF Weekly
• "A sly tale of lust, murder and one spectacular mid-life crisis that edges into dark comedy. ..a bright, energetic first feature full of wit and surprises… William H. Macy heads a cast in which every player is really is at the top of his or her game…."Panic" could be a sleeper hit and even with the wrong marketing, the film appears destined to become a cult favorite. It looks like Bromell will have to take more time off from television to write and direct movies…. Macy, gives yet another clearly articulated, delicately nuanced study in urban neurosis. Campbell brings tremendous sexual energy to this young woman."
  -- Kirk Honeycutt Hollywood Reporter.
  
• "A sharp-edged and wicked comedy. It's for you and me, and you and other moviegoers who like films that don't fit into safe and predictable focus group mentalities. We deserve to see PANIC on the big screen !"
  -- Roger Ebert, Roger Ebert at the Movies
• "PANIC isn't for everyone. But if you're willing to take a risk on something that bears no resemblance to the typical Hollywood product, this may be the movie for you. "-- Bay Area Reporter
• "A gently subversive outing full of nicely limned characters …the film's charm evolves from its measured, unhurried rhythms, and originality from the tone: quirky yet convincing, irreverent yet moral. Production design is sleek and clean, in contrast to the sordid subtext"-- Lisa Nesselson Variety
• "Darkly funny, "Panic" takes a sinister turn at its climax that's both startling and inevitable, giving its plot a certain weight where it could have relied on novelty." - Boxoffice Magazine.
• "PANIC" is far superior to AMERICAN BEAUTY in its study of a midlife crisis. The acting is superior throughout!" - Richard von Busack, The Metro
• "Brilliantly observant, darkly humorous and immaculately acted! Writer-director Henry Bromell creates an utterly original spectacle. -- Rob Blackwelder, Spliced Online

Friday, December 15 — Thursday, December 21

Look at almost any photograph of Native North Americans taken between 1900 and 1930, and you will see a small piece of the remarkable lifework of Edward S. Curtis. Coming to Light interweaves the story of Curtis’s life with the results of his work, and through it, we see the world he sought to preserve. Many of the Hopi, Navajo, Cupig, Blackfoot, Blood, Piegan, Suquamish, and Kwakiutl people who knew Curtis or descended from those who worked with him appear in the film, and through their voices, these old sepia-toned photographs evoke their ancestor’s lives, inspiring them to continue their traditions. Written, produced and directed by Anne Makepeace. Color. 35mm. 86 mins. 1999. USA. WEST COAST THEATRICAL PREMIERE. Nightly at 6:00, 8:00, 10:00; Sat, Sun, Wed matinees at 2:00, 4:00. Also showing at the Rafael Film Center

"Riveting!" -- S.F. Chronicle

Friday, December 22 — Thursday, December 28

Trouble in Paradise

Friday, December 29 — Thursday, January 4

When the enigmatic and hugely talented young film critic Jean-Luc Godard completed this, his first feature, he dedicated it to Monogram Pictures, the Hollywood "B" movie factory notable for cranking out scores of cheap, black and white "potboilers" in the 1930’s and 40’s. Godard’s brilliantly innovative film, Breathless, captured the essence of the pugnacious "B" gangster film: a smarmy but irresistible hood (Jean-Paul Belmondo) is on the run from the cops, stealing cars and blasting his way to imaginary immortality with his American girl friend (the ravishing Jean Seberg) by his side. But their relationship is steeped not only in Monogram "B" movie atmosphere, it is also quite drenched in its own French milieu of boudoir philosophy, blank stares and plenty of deep cigarette inhalation. Godard took what was ostensibly a story outline by fellow Cahiers du Cinema critic Francois Truffaut and created one of the benchmarks of the burgeoning French New Wave, seemingly reinventing cinema itself as well as rocketing its romantic leads to world stardom. The films pace is non-stop (as much a reflection of its title as anything else) thanks to the startling, then revolutionary use of jump-cutting and an apparent disregard for conventionality. Breathless is being presented in a brand new 35mm print. Also in the cast are Daniel Boulanger, Liliane David and New Wave godfather himself, Jean-Pierre Melville. Directed by Jean-Luc Godard. Black & White. 35mm. 89 mins. 1959. In French, with English subtitles. Nightly at 6:00, 8:00, 10:00; Sat, Sun, Mon and Wed matinees at 2:00 and 4:00.