Friday, April 6th, 2007
PWPL purchases most of the Oscar winning films each year and some of the nominees as well. Among the noteworthy titles just added to the Library’s collection is LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE. The indie treat garnered two Oscars this year. Olive is a young girl who dreams of winning the “Little Miss Sunshine” beauty pageant held in California . Determined to make her dream come true, Olive’s family takes a cross-country trip in their VW bus. But the group is so quirky and dysfunctional they can barely make it through a day without a disaster.
Director Deepa Mehta’s controversial film WATER is set in the 1930s during India ’s struggles against British colonial rule. The Oscar nominated film tells the profoundly moving story of a girl married and widowed at eight-years-old. She is forced to move to a home with other Hindu widows. The girl’s feisty presence deeply affects the other residents causing each to confront their faith and society’s prejudice.
A number of other Oscar winners and contenders are already on the library shelves. Martin Scorsese’s THE DEPARTED won Best Picture and Best Director. In the film an undercover cop infiltrates the mob. An audience favorite, DREAMGIRLS is inspired by the story of the Supremes. Tragedy strikes a married couple on vacation in the Moroccan desert in the complex drama, BABEL . C.R.A.Z.Y. charts the tricky trajectory of closeted gay adolescence. In Pedro Amoldovar’s fantasy VOLVER, a mother returns to her hometown after her death in order to fix the situations she couldn't resolve during her life.
Al Gore scored an Oscar hit with a documentary about global warming, AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH. The irreverent mockumentary BORAT delivers edgy humor that has viewers wondering whether to laugh or get angry. The documentary JESUS CAMP offers a fascinating first-ever look into an intense training ground that inspires born-again Christian children to become an active part of America 's political future. The Library’s CineArts Film Series features award-winning independent and international films. After showing a film, the DVD is then available to check out. Most of the CineArts films are unrated and may not be appropriate for younger viewers. In the past year, the CineArts Series included films from South Korea , India , Australia , Belgium and Canada . Named one of Canada ’s top ten films, A SIMPLE CURVE, is a thoroughly delightful story set in beautiful British Columbia . The film tells the tale of twenty-seven-year-old Caleb’s quiet revolt against his idealistic father, Jim whose small carpentry shop is struggling to stay in business. Caleb senses that the time to forge his own path has arrived. The film’s portrayal of an independent back-to-nature lifestyle is by turns funny and thought provoking.
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
by Jonathan Safran Foer
Book Summary: Oskar Schell is an inventor, Francophile, tambourine player, Shakespearean actor, jeweler, pacifist. He is nine years old. And he is on an urgent, secret search through the five boroughs of New York to find the lock that fits a mysterious key belonging to his father, who died in the attacks on the World Trade Center. An inspired creation, Oskar is endearing, exasperating, and unforgettable. His search for the lock careens from Central Park to Coney Island to the Bronx and beyond. But it also travels into history, to Dresden and Hiroshima, where horrific bombings once shattered other lives. Along the way, Oskar encounters a motley assortment of humanity—a 103-year-old war reporter, a tour guide who never leaves the Empire State Building, lovers enraptured or scorned—all survivors in their own ways. Ultimately, Oskar ends his journey where it began, at his father's grave. But now he is accompanied by the silent stranger who has been renting the spare room of his grandmother's apartment. They are there to dig up his father's empty coffin.