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last week's News

DEAR FRIENDS,

There is nothing more exciting for us than when audiences come out of movies buzzing about them. Both films in our double feature, A SERIOUS MAN and THE MAID generate lively discussions as audience's agree to disagree.

Thank you to all those who have helped make LA DANSE a success. We booked it for one week and it is going into its 3rd week. But all good things must end…in this case because we have two terrific movies opening on Dec. 25: Robert Downey Jr. as SHERLOCK HOLMES and IT’S COMPLICATED starring Meryl Streep, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Streep and Downey Jr. are sort of our patron saints as we have had successes with their previous films and both of these are terrific holiday entertainment.

SOME TELLURIDE NEWS

As many of you know the dream job that I have is co-director of the Telluride Film Festival (I do not take a salary for the Balboa…it is a labor of love to keep this neighborhood theater alive).

The Festival has just opened its first shop outside of the actual festival. Cinephiles the world over will love our hats, shirts, pens, posters, and other collectible items featuring the poster art designed by William Wegman and featuring his Weimaraner, Doris. Don't let Santa bring all the surprises this year! Click here to treat the film lovers in your life. Sales benefit the festival’s Education programs.

FOR KUROSAWA FANS – A Great Deal!

To celebrate the centenary of the birth of Akira Kurosawa, the Criterion Collection has created the gorgeous collector's set AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa. For a limited time, you can save money on your purchase while supporting the Telluride Film Festival.

Buy AK 100: 25 Films by Akira Kurosawa at criterion.com, enter the code TFF at the prompt, and you'll not only save 25% off the already discounted price of $319.00, you'll be making a $25 contribution to the Telluride Film Festival.

This deluxe, linen-bound set includes timeless masterpieces from one of cinema's greatest directors, films like Rashomon, Ikiru, Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and High and Low. Featuring twenty-five of the films he made over the course of his fifty years in movies—from samurai epics to postwar noirs to Shakespeare adaptations—AK 100 is the most complete set of his works ever released in this country, and includes four rare films that have never been available on DVD.

To take advantage of this special offer, shop at criterion.com and enter the code TFF at checkout. Criterion will take 25% off your order and send $25 to the Telluride Film Festival.

What a beautiful gift for the passionate cinephile!

EARLY PASSES AND CHANCE TO WIN AK BOX SET

This year’s Telluride audiences were the first to see UP IN THE AIR, THE ROAD, BAD LIEUTENANT, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY, THE LAST STATION, BRIGHT STAR, THE WHITE RIBBON and much more including meeting directors and actors who created these films. For the full schedule and interviews: www.telluridefilmfestival.org

The Telluride Film Festival’s general passes go on sale in March 2010 but an early bird offer for Patron’s Passes can be found at: www.telluridefilmfestival.org/show/passes

There are a limited number so be sure to act early! If you secure your pass before the end of the year, you can take advantage of your tax contribution in 2009. Click here to order your passes online. Or send an email at mail@telluridefilmfestival.org and you’ll get a downloadable form to return by post. All passes will go on sale to the general public in March.

Early Birds get more than a worm. If you purchase your patron pass by February 1, 2010, your name will be entered to win a Criterion Collection Box set of 25 of Akira Kurosawa's amazing films, valued at $400 dollars. This is a prized collection, make sure you are a part of the drawing. The winner will be announced February 15.

We’ll see you at the movies…the perfect break from holiday craziness.

Sincerely,
Gary and the Balboa Staff

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About This Week's Films

LA DANSE

Documentary master Frederick Wiseman’s 38th film in a career that has spanned more than that number of years, turns his attention to one of the world’s greatest ballet companies, the Paris Opera Ballet. John Davey’s camera roams the vast Palais Garnier, an opulent 19th century pile of a building: from its crystal chandelier-laden corridors to its labyrinthine underground chambers, from its light-filled rehearsal studios to its luxurious theater replete with 2,200 scarlet velvet seats and Marc Chagall ceiling. LA DANSE devotes most of its time to watching impossibly beautiful young men and women — among them Nicolas Le Riche, Marie-Agnès Gillot, and Agnès Letestu — rehearsing the choreography of Mats Ek, Wayne McGregor, Rudolf Nureyev and Pina Bausch. For balletomanes and the curious alike, LA DANSE serves up a scrumptious meal of delectable moments, one more glorious than the next, made even more precious by their ephemeral nature.

The Paris Opera Ballet is one of the world’s great ballet companies. The film follows the rehearsals and performances of seven ballets: Genus by Wayne McGregor, Le Songe de Medée by Angelin Preljocaj, La Maison de Bernarda by Mats Ek, Paquita by Pierre Lacotte, Casse Noisette by Rudolph Noureev, Orphée and Eurydice by Pina Bausch, and Romeo and Juliette by Sasha Waltz.

154 minutes - In English and French with French subtitles

Visit Website

Wiseman’s Zipporah Films Site

Jon Carroll writes about LA DANSE

"One of the finest dance films ever made, but there's more to it than that."
- A.O. Scott, New York Times

"Glorious! The American documentary master’s typically rigorous and compelling study of all that goes on in the rehearsal rooms, offices and finally on the legendary stage of the Paris Opera Ballet. A superb portrait of the perennial pas de deux between art and commerce."
– Jason Anderson, Eye Weekly (Toronto)

"Mr. Wiseman’s best movies, despite their aura of vérité purity, also have the heft and intricacy of great drama." - Dennis Lim, New York Times

"What Edgar Degas, that master of French Impressionism, did for the little "ballet rats" of the Paris Opera in the late 19th century, Frederick Wiseman, a master of American documentary filmmaking, has done for the radically different world of the same company in the early 21st century. In fact, he has done far more." - Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times

"A joyous experience!" - David Denby, The New Yorker

Read Mary Ellen Hunt’s Q & A with Wiseman in the SF Chronicle.

Interview with Frederick Wiseman from arts-meme

Become a Fan on Facebook

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A SERIOUS MAN (R)

A Serious Man is the story of an ordinary man’s search for clarity in a universe where Jefferson Airplane is on the radio and F-Troop is on TV. It is 1967, and Larry Gopnik, a physics professor at a quiet Midwestern university, has just been informed by his wife Judith that she is leaving him. She has fallen in love with one of his more pompous acquaintances, Sy Ableman, who seems to her a more substantial person than the feckless Larry. Larry’s unemployable brother Arthur is sleeping on the couch, his son Danny is a discipline problem and a shirker at Hebrew school, and his daughter Sarah is filching money from his wallet in order to save up for a nose job. Struggling for equilibrium, Larry seeks advice from three different rabbis. Can anyone help him cope with his afflictions and become a righteous person – a mensch – a serious man?

Rated R for language, some sexuality/nudity and brief violence – 105 minutes

Official Website

"See this film immediately."
- -Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out

"Coen Brothers’ latest is seriously humorous and heartfelt"
- Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

"A Serious Man has a script, a clarity and a tone that come from craftsmen and wits (dour ones, but wits all the same) at the peak of their game."
- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"Four Stars! Have I mentioned A Serious Man is so rich and funny? This isn't a laugh-laugh movie, but a wince-wince movie. Those can be funny too."
- Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun Times

"A seriously funny film about an angst-ridden Jewish professor seeking the answers to life's questions and getting a metaphysical pie in the face."
- Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter

"A Serious Man is an exquisitely realized work; the filmmakers' technical mastery of their craft, always impressive, has become absolute. The script reads like a novel, densely allusive, funny, and terse."
- Dana Stevens, Slate

"Resolutely paced, impeccably staged and lensed, it's comedy for people who can laugh at poetic car wrecks, obtuse rabbis, mysterious dental messages and an endlessly drained cyst."
- Peter Howell, Toronto Star

"A Serious Man is a wonderfully odd, bleakly comic and thoroughly engrossing film."
- Claudia Puig, USA Today

"The Coen brothers continue to grow in sophistication and subtlety."
- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

"A Serious Man is the kind of picture you get to make after you've won an Oscar."
- Todd McCarthy, Variety

VIDEO: An interview with Joel and Ethan Coen about their new movie, A Serious Man.

VIDEO: Behind the Scenes of “A Serious Man"

COENESQUE fan site

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THE MAID (NR)

A woman feels she must fight to hold on to her place in the household where she's been a servant for much of her life in this drama from writer and director Sebastian Silva. Raquel (Catalina Saavedra) works as a maid for a well-to-do Chilean family, and has been with the household so long that she's come to think of herself as part of the family. However, Raquel is also aware of the distance between herself and her employers, and though she's fiercely devoted to Mundo Valdes (Alejandro Goic), his wife, Pilar (Claudia Celedón), and their son, Lucas (Agustín Silva), she finds herself increasingly at odds with their rebellious daughter, Camila (Andrea García-Huidobro). Years of hard and unrelenting work have begun to take their toll on Raquel, and Mundo decides she could use some help; he hires a young au pair, Mercedes (Mercedes Villanueva), to assist her, but Raquel refuses to allow anyone to usurp her role in any way, and treats the girl so horribly she soon quits. Unaware of the conflict between Raquel and Mercedes, Mundo hires an older and more experienced women to work with Raquel, Sonia (Anita Reeves), and it's not long before the two domestics are locked in a fierce battle of wills.
Not Rated. 117 minutes - In Spanish with English subtitles.

Official website

"With a few brushstrokes, Sebastian Silva communicates the complicated social and moral dynamic involved in having a live-in maid."
- Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

"The Maid has that particular gift of leaving you off balance in the best possible way, and whenever something like that comes around you owe it to yourself to check it out."
- Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

"You think the story's going one way. Then it goes quite another. Throughout, Saavedra's increasingly desperate measures to protect her turf are at once startling, funny and weirdly poignant, as is the film itself."
- Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune

"Chilean television vet Saavedra goes through one of the most uncanny psychophysical transformations I've ever seen in a movie without the benefit of obvious makeup or other prosthetics."
- Scott Foundas, Village Voice

"The movie’s narrative design is at once simple and complex."
- Manohla Dargis, New York Times

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FREE POPCORN WITH YOUR "I’D RATHER BE AT THE BALBOA" DISCOUNT CARD! NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE

Now, as an added treat for our most regular movie-goers, each discount card gets you one free complimentary size popcorn per card. You choose the visit that you would like to redeem it--just bring your card to the concession stand to receive your free popcorn on us. Thank you.

For a limited time through the holidays, the Balboa Discount Card can be purchased online! The “I’d Rather Be At The Balboa” Discount Card admits the holder to five shows and costs $32.50 (plus Brownpapertickets fees of $1.74); for a gift value of $45.00! That is a savings of nearly $10.00!

Two people can use the card at each visit. Good for 6 months from date of purchase.

Order as many Gift cards as you wish. Give one to yourself too.

Upon receipt of your order we guarantee that we will mail the gift card with a classic movie gift card on or by the next business day (we pay the postage.) We make no guarantees about holiday arrivals once we've put it in the postal services hands. Please remember when placing your order to include the mailing address with zip code or we can't stuff your stocking.

Available anytime at our box office or online here:

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, 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.

Available anytime at our box office or online here

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THE HARD NUT

It’s hip. It’s hilarious. It’s utterly enchanting… It’s not your average Nutcracker.

• The Hard Nut–The Nutcracker with a Twist
• Mark Morris Dance Group
• Berkeley Symphony Orchestra
• Robert Cole, conductor
• Children of the Piedmont Children’s Choirs
• Robert Geary, director
• Dec 11-20
• Zellerbach Hall Tickets start at $36
• Ages 16 & under: Half Price for Fri, Dec 11, and Thu & Fri, Dec 17 & 18 performances

Tell Tchaikovsky the news! One of the Bay Area’s most beloved traditions is home for the holidays. Mark Morris’s whimsical and heartwarming masterpiece, set to Tchaikovsky’s complete original score, will leave you laughing breathlessly one moment and holding back tears the next through its ‘60s holiday party antics, leaping snowflakes, wayward waltzing flowers, and a deeply moving pas de deux.

Website

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SEE THE AMAZING “AURELIA’S ORATORIO

Prepare for some mesmerizing illusion.

Berkeley Rep invites you to see Aurélia’s Oratorio. Aurélia Thierrée literally grew up in the circus and has enthralled audiences around the world with this topsy-turvy time of tricks and transformations. Set to a quirky score of chamber music and gypsy jazz and conceived and directed by Victoria Thierrée Chaplin, this 70-minute fantasy has been described by The Australian as having “more magic than all the special effects of a Hollywood blockbuster.” Don’t miss this bewitching international sensation.

Plays through January 24, 2010.

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MURDER, MYSTERY, MAYHEM & LAUGHS! Just in Time for the Holidays!

Mix a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel, add a dash of Monty Python and you have...(mystery chords!) THE 39 STEPS, Broadway's most intriguing, most thrilling, most riotous, most UNMISSABLE comedy smash! The mind-blowing cast of 4 plays over 150 characters in this fast-paced tale of an ordinary man on an extraordinarily entertaining adventure.

To purchase tickets, go to shnsf.com, ticketmaster.com or call Ticketmaster Charge-By-Phone 415-512-7770. Tickets may also be purchased at the Orpheum Theatre Box Office (1192 Market at 8th St. , Mon - Sat 10am-6pm, Sunday 11am-6pm).

"The 39 Steps,” the absurdly enjoyable, gleefully theatrical riff on Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 film."
-Ben Brantley, New York Times

SHN presents 39 STEPS at the Curran Theatre Dec 9, 2009 - Jan 3, 2010. For much more information, video clips and ticket information: www.SHNSF.com

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SAN FRANCISCO FOOD BANK

At this time of year we usually are thinking about those less fortunate than ourselves. Unfortunately people are homeless and hungry all year. But it is during the holidays that the San Francisco Food Bank has collection barrels available for us to place in our lobby.

For several years we have had tremendous success collecting food for the Food Bank's program to feed those in need. The Balboa's audience is made up of compassionate people who want to help and we appreciate your cooperation. You can bring food during operating hours. There is no limit and no purchase necessary of course.

The foods most needed are rice, pasta, canned fruits and vegetables, canned tuna and meats, soups, stews, chili, peanut butter and cereal. They must be in unopened containers and not be perishable. No glass containers or items that require refrigeration please.

From the SF Food Bank: HUNGER SHOULDN'T BE AN OPTION

Skipping dinner. Eating less - or eating less well. Giving up food in order to pay rent. This is what 150,000 people in San Francisco face every day.

The San Francisco Food Bank is the critical link between food and people. We provide food to over 132,000 people every year through 600+ community food programs.

Hunger impacts people in all walks of life. We reach them all - from working families to senior citizens. Together, we will distribute over 33 million pounds of food this year to meet an ever-growing need in our community.

Our mission is to end hunger in San Francisco. Join us today.

We also urge you to make a monetary donation. With every $1 donated, the Food Bank can distribute $9 worth of groceries, fresh produce, bread, dairy products and meat into the community.

For more information: www.sffoodbank.org

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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.

NEIGHBORHOOD RESTAURANTS

One of the strengths of the Balboa is our neighborhood. Other than the bank, all the businesses are family owned and operated. The restaurants are especially wonderful. On the outer Balboa strip there are 24 eating establishments by my count. You can eat Chinese, Japanese, Egyptian, Italian, American, Mexican, Seafood and Vietnamese cuisines. The foods are fresh, distinctive and all reasonably priced. The media food critics have only discovered a few of them but the locals know a good thing. We encourage you to enjoy a meal at one of these fine eateries while visiting the Balboa. All are within easy walking distance. And please send us reviews and recommendations we can share with our other guests. Send reviews to balboafans@yahoo.com

We love it when you send us a review of a neighborhood restaurant you've enjoyed. We encourage you all to write about your culinary adventures in the Outer Richmond.

Check out the Menu Book in our lobby and our COMPLETE NEW RESTAURANT LIST.

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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 Balboa or #18 46th Ave stop at Balboa &37th., Also #5 Fulton and all 38 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 (60+) and Children (11-) $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 Dove, Toberlerone, and Ghirardelli chocolates.

We serve Caffe Trieste Coffees, fine Tazo teas, chai, hot chocolate, hot dogs, Aidells' poultry Sausages, Veggie Dogs, Dreyer's Dibs, and Delicious Cookies.

And of course fresh popcorn made with sunflower oil and 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

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