| CANADA |
| THE CORPORATION |
Jennifer
Abbott, Mark Achbar |
Ever since the emergence of the corporation
as a legal “person” in the mid-1800s, the debate
as to the consequences of the rights given and actions taken
by the capitalist economies’ first citizens has been
central to our social, economic and political debate. How
do corporations work? Should they control us? How should we
control them? How do citizens whose sole motive is profit
interact with those whose values have other priorities? Richly
illustrated with sometimes hilarious, sometimes shocking archival
footage, Abbott and Achbar’s timely film surveys historic
and contemporary case studies, while observers as diverse
as political philosopher-linguist Noam Chomsky, Academy Award-winning
director Michael Moore, Nobel Prize-winning economist Milton
Friedman and a range of CEOs offer their visions of where
we’ve been while reflecting upon a range of controversies,
moral dilemmas and possible future outcomes. Based on Joel
Bakan’s bestseller of the same name, The Corporation
provides provocative insights that challenge many of the common
assumptions about the business of business. (165 mins.) Print
courtesy of Films Transit.
Filmography: Mark Achbar—Manufacturing Consent: Noam
Chomsky and the Media (92), Two Brides and a Scalpel: Diary
of a Lesbian Marriage (99); Jennifer Abbott—A Cow at
My Table (98).
SHOWTIME: 2/17, 7pm GU. |
|
| THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD |
Guy Maddin |
Maddin’s inspired, visually magic film
hovers in a self-created twilight-zone somewhere between melodrama
and surrealist musical comedy. Featuring simply astonishing
art direction and inspired performances, the twisted story
is set in 1933, in the snowy depths of depression-era Winnipeg.
To boost beer sales, legless Muskeg Brewery baroness Lady
Port-Huntly (Isabella Rossellini), announces an international
competition to determine the saddest music in all the world.
After all, the sadder the music the more people want to drink.
The contest attracts musical acts from all over the globe—everywhere
from Siam to Mexico to Scotland. Entering from America is
Canadian-born Chester Kent (as in Busby Berkeley’s Footlight
Parade), who is accompanied by Narcissa, an amnesiac nymphomaniac
who has a tapeworm that talks to her. Chester’s lovelorn
brother, Roderick, happens to represent Serbia, while their
father sings “Red Maple Leaves” for Canada. The
Kent family intertwines family secrets and rivalries amidst
the manipulative backstage dealings of the contest while Lady
Port-Huntly judges sad song battles, sending the winners down
a slide into a pool-size vat of beer. Filmed in flickering
black and white, Super 8mm and “Melancolor,” Maddin
has created a highly entertaining and unforgettable vision.
(100 mins.) Print courtesy of IFC Films. Sponsored by Music
Millennium.
Selected Filmography: Tales From the Gimli Hospital (88),
Archangel (90), Careful (92), Twlight of the Ice Nymphys (97),
Hearts of the World (00), Dracula: Pages From a Virgin’s
Diary (02).
SHOWTIMES: 2/14, 8:45pm
WH and 2/18, 7pm GU. |
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