Syosset Cinema

Water for Elephants (Friday, February 10)

Robert Pattinson, Reese Witherspoon and Christoph Waltz star in this film about a veterinary student who abandons his studies after his parents are killed and then joins a traveling circus as their vet.

Water for Elephants, 2010, Rated: PG, 120 min.

A Screaming Man (Sunday, February 26)

Present-day Chad: Adam, sixty something and a former swimming champion, is the pool attendant at a smart N'Djamena hotel. When the hotel is taken over by new Chinese owners, he is forced to give up his job to his son Abdel. Because of this, Adam feels socially humiliated and terribly resentful.

Film Movement Series - French and Arabic with English subtitles

A Screaming Man, 2009, Not Rated, 91 min.

The Ides of March (Friday, March 9)

This American political thriller and Oscar-nominated film centers on an idealistic staffer (Ryan Gosling) for an up and coming presidential candidate (George Clooney). The staffer gets a crash course on dirty politics during his stint on the campaign trail. Clooney directed the film and co-wrote the Oscar-nominated adapted screenplay with Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon.

The Ides of March, 2011, Rating: R, 101 min.

Midnight in Paris (Friday, March 23)

Woody Allen wrote and directed this romantic comedy that has been nominated for four Oscars. The film is about a family traveling to the French capital for business. The party includes a young engaged couple (Owen Wilson and Rachel McAdams) forced to confront the illusion that a life different from their own is better.

Midnight in Paris, 2011, Rated: PG-13, 94 min.

Karen Cries on the Bus (Sunday, April 15)

Soon after a rising young singer-songwriter gets involved with a fallen, emotionally unstable country star, the pair embark on a career resurrection tour steered by her husband/manager, that includes a beauty-queen-turned-singer. Between the concerts, romantic entanglements and old demons threaten to derail them all.

Film Movement Series - In Mandarin with English subtitles

Karen Cries on the Bus, 2011, Not Rated, 98 min.

The Descendants (Friday, May 11)

Matt King (George Clooney) is a Honolulu-based lawyer and the sole trustee of a family trust that controls 25,000 acres of pristine land on the island of Kauai. The trust will expire in seven years because of the rule against perpetuities, so the King family has decided to sell the land to a Kauai native for development. Just before family members are ready to formally endorse the deal, which Matt favors, a boating accident near Waikiki renders Matt's wife, Elizabeth, comatose. The film has been nominated for five Academy Awards.

The Descendants, 2011, Rated R, 115 min.

A Film Unfinished (Wednesday, May 16)

This film is about an unfinished film. The unfinished film portrays the people behind and before the camera in the Warsaw Ghetto, exposing the extent of the cinematic manipulation forever changing the way we look at historic images. Yael Hersonski's powerful documentary achieves a remarkable feat through its penetrating look at another film - a now-infamous Nazi-produced film about the Warsaw Ghetto. This unfinished work has no soundtrack and was discovered shortly after WWII. It quickly became a resource for historians seeking an authentic record of the Holocaust. The later discovery of a long-missing reel complicated earlier readings and showed the manipulations of camera crews in these "everyday" scenes.

Documentary with English subtitles and presented, with discussion, by the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center of Nassau County.

A Film Unfinished, 2010, Rated: R, 88 min.

The Piano in a Factory (Sunday, May 20)

Steelworker Chen has a passion for music and plays the accordion in a local band with a close group of friends. When his estranged wife returns one day after years of absence, she demands a divorce and sole custody of their daughter. Chen is at a loss. He doesn't mind divorcing a woman who has become a stranger but he can't bear to part with his daughter. Chen has worked hard to give her a respectable life and has taught her his love of music. When asked if she'd rather stay with her father or go with her mother, the girl gives a practical, devastating answer: she'll go with whomever can provide her with a piano. Chen cannot afford such a luxury item - but the piano becomes his last hope to save what little is left of his family. With the help of his loyal friends and the support of his lover - the singer in his band - Chen concocts several plans to fulfill his daughter's wish.

Film Movement Series - In Mandarin with English subtitles

The Piano in a Factory, 2010, Not Rated, 105 min.