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DEAR FRIENDS,

We have a special treat for you Francophiles….a double feature of two current and terrific movies that will immerse you in France….almost as good as being there. Enjoy!

I don’t know if I’ll get around to writing up my adventures in India attending the Mumbai and Kolkata Film Festivals but if you are interested in a little flavor, read this.

There are many more officials hiding in their offices here at the Kolkata Film Festival than Mumbai. They like to promise things and then send you elsewhere for them. But the people at elsewhere send you back. It has taken 3 days to get a program book...which included "sit...and have tea....we will get it for you" more times than I want to remember. One free boxed lunch should never have been offered as Indian. Hour plus waits yielded no hope, even seasoned Kolkata fest goers got the same runaround with an afterthought, "They'll be delivered to your hotel." Yeh, sure.....

To appease us a box lunch was served. What a waste of a meal in this country with amazing foods.

I tried press offices, Fest Director assistants, the film information center.... I just wanted to know what the films playing are about to make choices. Finally I heard a booth nearby might be selling them soon. I got there as a shipment from the printer arrived and was second in line....others behind me got theirs first. But even buying them isn't easy. It is 200 rupees (about $4.50). I only had a 1000r bill. He insisted I needed correct change. I said "I saw lots of money in his box". People behind me were throwing their money at him and saying "here, sell us and you'll have change."

And then he opened the money box and pulled out a huge stack of 100r bills.

But it isn't over. You have to sit down while one guy fills out half a receipt with your name and then passes it to another guy who fills out the other half of the receipt. How many people does it take to........in India it seems likes dozens.

I long ago learned not to hang with the crowd of moochers and I assume the "seasoned ones" are still waiting.

Surprisingly, the program book is very nicely designed and better than most. The schedule isn't easy to refer back from, but not the worst I’ve seen.

I was told the bad projection at Mumbai would look stellar compared to here. My first movies today weren't bad except one anxious projectionist who didn't wait for cue marks to make changeovers, meaning we missed dialog on a solid Canadian doc on Ariel Dorfman. But things went downhill and the last two films, both pretty good ones, shown in the nicest auditorium, were shown in multiple aspect ratios as the projectionist changed his mind with every reel; bad, intermittent, jumpy picture and getting worse as the show progressed. Out of focus subtitles and the right side of the screen always out of focus. A scope film was shown tilted like a sinking ship.

And of course nobody on staff understands my request/suggestions about fixing it. And projection booth doors are in a mystery place even I could not find...just to keep people like me away.

Anyway, now I can figure out tomorrow's movies.

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About This Week's Films

THE MEN WHO STARE AT GOATS

Starring George Clooney, Ewan McGregor, Jeff Bridges, Kevin Spacey.

In this quirky dark comedy inspired by a real life story you will hardly believe is actually true, astonishing revelations about a top-secret wing of the U.S. Military come to light when a reporter encounters an enigmatic Special Forces operator on a mind-boggling mission.

Reporter Bob Wilton (Ewan McGregor) is in search of his next big story when he encounters Lyn Cassady (Academy Award® winner George Clooney), a shadowy figure who claims to be part of an experimental U.S. Military unit. According to Cassady, the New Earth Army is changing the way wars are fought. A legion of “Warrior Monks” with unparalleled psychic powers can read the enemy’s thoughts, pass through solid walls, and even kill a goat simply by staring at it. Now, the program’s founder, Bill Django (Oscar® nominee Jeff Bridges), has gone missing and Cassady’s mission is to find him.

Intrigued by his new acquaintance’s far-fetched stories, Bob impulsively decides to accompany him on the search. When the pair tracks Django to a clandestine training camp run by renegadepsychic Larry Hooper (two-time Oscar® winner Kevin Spacey), the reporter is trapped in the middle of a grudge match between the forces of Django’s New Earth Army and Hooper’s personal militia of super soldiers. In order to survive this wild adventure, Bob will have to outwit an enemy he never thought possible.

The Men Who Stare at Goats was inspired by Jon Ronson’s non-fiction bestseller of the same name, an eye-opening and often hilarious exploration of the government’s attempts to harness paranormal abilities to combat its enemies.

Rated R for language, some drug content and brief nudity -– 93 minutes.

Official Website

"A serendipitous marriage of talent in which all hearts seem to beat as one."
-- Derek Elley, VARIETY

"Clooney's natural charm is here, channeled into a man who found himself when he discovered supernatural talents he never knew he had."
-- Amy Nicholson, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE

"George Clooney dazzles and Jeff Bridges shines in a scattershot but often hilarious military farce."
-- Damon Wise, EMPIRE

"As an insider, I know that GOATS is not 100% true, but it’s true enough to enjoy." --Victoria Alexander, FILMS IN REVIEW

WATCH Interview with star Ewan McGregor

READ Interview with the author of the book, Jon Ronson

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Coco Before Chanel (PG-13)

Starring Audrey Tauto a film by Anne Fontaine. Fri - Thu: (2:35), 7:00

Several years after leaving the orphanage to which her father never returned for her, Gabrielle Chanel finds herself working in a provincial bar. She's both a seamstress for the performers and a singer, earning the nickname Coco from the song she sings nightly with her sister. A liaison with Baron Balsan gives her an entree into French society and a chance to develop her gift for designing increasingly popular hats. When she falls in love with English businessman Arthur Capel further opportunities open up, though life becomes ever more complicated.

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and smoking – 105 minutes

Official Website

"Look for Tautou in the remarkable scene in which Coco watches her models wearing her designs. The focus is intense, that of someone who has concentrated everything she has and everything she is into this one act of self-creation."
- Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Audrey Tautou could make lovability into a career."
- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"Coco is played by Audrey Tautou, and she's phenomenal--self-contained, tightly focused, sparing with her smiles, miserly with her joy, often guarded to the point of severity, yet giving off a grave radiance at every moment she's in front of the camera."
- Joe Morgenstern, WALL STREET JOURNAL

"This refreshing alternative to the usual potted biopic provides an absorbing look at a singular, steely determination as it was forged and annealed, long before it made itself known to the world."
- Ann Hornaday, WASHINGTON POST

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Paris (R)

Starring Juliette Binoche and Romain Duris.

The exhilarating new film from Cédric Klapisch (L'Auberge Espagnole), Paris is a cinematic love letter to the city that seems to hide a story behind every corner. While waiting for a heart transplant, Pierre (Romain Duris) has his world invaded by his sister Elise (Juliette Binoche) and her three children. The growing awareness of his impending mortality, as well as the re-discovery of his sister and her life, gives Pierre a very different sense of how he might spend the time still left to him. The young man observes Paris and its people with a new outlook, learning to cherish even the smallest details and everyday things. Meanwhile, a respected professor (Fabrice Luchini) hopes for one more great romance in his life, while a vendor at an open-air market (Albert Dupontel) wonders what life is left for him now that he’s split from his wife.

Rated R for language and some sexual references – 130 minutes

Official Website

"Klapisch captures the bittersweet quality of those human contacts that seem to hold promise, but life goes by too fast for them to take root."
- Mick LaSalle, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

"Every character has life and depth. It's unusual for an episodic film to involve us so well in individual lives; as the narrative circles through their stories, we're genuinely curious about what will happen next."
- Roger Ebert, CHICAGO SUN-TIMES

"This is a kaleidoscopic valentine to a great city from a director who knows and loves his subject."
- Joe Williams, ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH

"Binoche shows off her rarely seen comic skills and, like Duris, gets a charming scene in which her dancing succinctly expresses much about her character, although Luchini's own hilarious-yet-graceful gyrations steal the show."
- Leslie Felperin, VARIETY

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WIN TICKETS TO SEE Druid Ireland Theatre Company’s The Walworth Farce

Founded in 1975, the acclaimed Druid Ireland theater company stands proudly as one of the pioneers of the modern cultural development of Ireland. Back in Berkeley by popular demand, the company will perform Enda Walsh's tender and visceral The Walworth Farce, commissioned and first performed by Druid in 2006. Walsh is one of today's most innovative and thrilling playwrights, and productions of his works at the Edinburgh Festival have won three Fringe First Awards. In this brilliant gothic comedy (which somehow combines six cans of Harp, 15 crackers with spreadable cheese, and five deaths), Walsh "has outdone himself with a new play more complex, dark, and emotionally rich than any of his previous efforts...a theatrical experience that claws at the imagination for days afterwards" (Variety).

For more information on the show, videos, and buying tickets: Click Here

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HOW TO WIN TICKETS

We are giving away tickets for Thursday November 19 at 8pm. To qualify, send an email with your name and email address in the body of the email and IRELAND in the subject line. To qualify all entries must be received no later than Sunday, Nov. 15 at noon.

Please be certain that you can attend, as the tickets are not transferable. One entry per person. Multiple entries will disqualify all of them. If you have won tickets in a Balboa contest during the past three month, please do not enter.

Please send your entry to balboafans at yahoo.com . (Change (at) to @. (We are trying to avoid spam.)
Good luck.

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LOST LANDSCAPES OF SAN FRANCISCO 4

Friday, December 4, 2009 at 7:30 pm (doors 7:00 pm)
Herbst Theatre, 401 Van Ness Avenue at McAllister, San Francisco.

Rick Prelinger, a guerrilla archivist who collects the uncollected and makes it accessible, presents the fourth of his annual Lost Landscapes of San Francisco screenings. As in past years, Lost Landscapes 4 will be an eclectic montage of rediscovered and rarely-seen film clips showing life, landscapes, labor and leisure in a vanished San Francisco as captured by amateurs, newsreel cameramen and industrial filmmakers.

This year's Lost Landscapes will include much new and unseen material from Prelinger Archives and other collections, including newly discovered films shot by longtime San Francisco residents. Unlike most film screenings, Lost Landscapes relies on audience members for the soundtrack -- we encourage viewers to interact with the film, shout out questions and identify mystery scenes.

How we remember and record the past reveals much about how we address the future. Prelinger will preface the screening with a brief talk on how historical memory is shifting away from mass culture towards individual expression, and what consequences will arise from the emerging massive matrix of personal records.

Rick began collecting ephemeral films -- advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur works -- in 1983. In 2002, his collection of over 200,000 items was acquired by the Library of Congress; many key films are available online at the Internet Archive.

In 2004 Rick and Megan Prelinger opened the Prelinger Library in downtown San Francisco, which includes over 60,000 pieces of print ephemera, books, periodicals, maps and zines and is open to the public. Library information and hours are at prelingerlibrary.org.

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HOW TO GET THE BEST MOVIE DEALS - Even Free!!

The Balboa has the lowest prices in town and you get to see the hottest new movies in the comfort of an independently owned neighborhood theater with history. It was built in 1926 and, as we are told over and over, we’ve got the friendliest staff in town!

Just a reminder, that on your Birthday, you are our guest. That’s right. You get in free with proof of your birth date.

And at all other times you can get the "I’d Rather Be At the Balboa" Discount Card.

What a deal! 5 tickets to the Balboa for $32.50. That is only $6.50 per show. Good every day and night. And two people can use the card at once. You can go on a date even when you are low on cash with your Balboa Card. A savings of up to $12.50! Makes a perfect gift as well.

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PHOTOS IN THE LOBBY
QUANG-TUAN LUONG’S NATIONAL PARKS

Quang-Tuan Luong celebrates the splendor and variety of the natural and human heritage with his photography. He has been privileged to travel through an immense geographic range, from the top of the coldest mountain on earth to under tropical seas.

Born to Vietnamese parents in Paris, France, he was trained as a scientist (PhD U. Paris). The revelation of the high Alps led him to become a mountain climber and wilderness guide. When he came to the US to conduct research in the fields of Artificial Intelligence and Image Processing for what was to be a short stay, he chose UC Berkeley, because of the proximity to Yosemite--a world class rock climbing destination.

There, he felt in love with the National Parks and decided to photograph all of them with a 5x7 large format camera, a single-handed, self-financed, monumental project that had not been completed by anyone before. To that effect, he settled in the San Francisco Bay Area and started criss-crossing this country to capture it's diverse beauty. Luong's in-depth coverage of the Parks often dictated long hikes into the backcountry, with a 75 lb backpack, and only his passion and dedication to keep him company. By 2002, he had visited each of the 58 National Parks. He subsequently left his distinguished career as a scientist to work as a full-time photographer.

His photographs have been published in many books, and have appeared in several publications from National Geographic, Time, Life, Outside, Scientific American, GEO, and many others in dozens of countries around the world. However, he reached his largest audience through www.terragalleria.com, one of the most extensive and most visited of all individual photographers websites.

In the course of researching locations for their new documentary "The National Parks: America's Best Idea" (aired on PBS), Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan saw the images on that website, and used them to help plan their production. Impressed by their wealth and quality, they used some of his images to fill missing sequences in their cinematography. Intrigued by the story of Luong's life and project, they featured him as one of the few living characters in the film, a newcomer who was deeply moved by America's natural beauty, who has dedicated his efforts to raise awareness and respect for our national treasures.

All photographs are available as limited edition prints. To view them, or contact Quang-Tuan Luong, please visit www.terragalleria.com

To learn more about Ken Burns’ THE NATIONAL PARKS

Local showings on KQED

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KIM SON VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT DISCOUNT

With Balboa ticket stub 10% off food at Kim Son. Our staff and customers think this Vietnamese restaurant in one of the best places to eat in the neighborhood. Want to eat there before the show? Buy your ticket at the box office first and then show it at dinner. Make sure you keep it to get into the theater. This is an ongoing discount so you can also use it on your next visit to the neighborhood. Kim Son is just a few doors away from the Balboa at 3614 Balboa St

Read what others say.

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THE BAYLIST

Thanks for all of you who voted for the Balboa and other independent theaters on the SF Gate's BayList. We are proud of your comments and to be in the Top 5:
BayList

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ROGER EBERT'S MOVIE GLOSSARY

Kung Fu Wake-Up

To prove how aware/crazy/focused a movie character is, a friend will wake the sleeping character. The character will instantly, ferociously, leap up from a deep sleep and pull a knife/gun or kung-fu chokehold on his friend, before apologizing for almost killing him. As seen in "Lethal Weapon," "Gladiator," etc.
—Joe Coulter, Manchester, N.H.

For more: www.RogerEbert.com

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BALBOA THEATRE INFO

3630 Balboa Street (37th Ave)
San Francisco 94121
(415) 221-8184
www.BalboaMovies.com

Bike Rack in front of the Balboa
Muni Bus #31 or #38 Ocean Beach
Also #5 Fulton and all Geary Street buses stop two
(long) blocks from Balboa.
Relatively easy Parking

San Francisco's Favorite Neighborhood Theatre
Voted by the Bay Guardian, SF Weekly, SF Gate's A List and San Francisco Magazine

General Admission: $9.00
Seniors and Children $6.50
Bargain Matinees: All Seats $6.50 for shows in ( )

SCHOOL NIGHT - Mondays are School Days and Nights. With proof of being a student, faculty or staff member, your admission is only $6.50 on Mondays.

The Balboa is Wheelchair and Handicapped Accessible

On Your Birthday, You Are Our Guest.

YOUR FAVORITE SNACK BAR

Great Snack Bar selection at reasonable prices. Your favorite candies including Lindt, Toberlerone, and Ghirardelli chocolates.

We serve Caffe Trieste Coffees, fine Tazo teas, chai, hot chocolate, Hebrew National Kosher hot dogs, Aidells' poultry Sausages, Veggie Dogs, IT'S-IT ice cream sandwiches, Ben and Jerry's Ice Creams, and Delicious Cookies.

We are proud of making a great fresh popcorn with real butter.

No More Naked Popcorn.

Have you tried our complimentary popcorn seasonings?

We have a wide assortment from Kernel Seasonings.

Try White Cheddar, Caramel, Parmesan, Garlic and more...

We also have Nutritional Yeast that has proven to be one of our most popular toppings. And now hot sauce!

Questions, comments, complaints, compliments, gossip? Send us a note

PoppinMedia.com