So many of us tend to only get down to The Plaza Theatre when there’s a special screening, but that’s part of the reason we could lose this Atlanta treasure if we’re not careful. So before you head down to the multiplex, how about instead seeing that first-run movie down on Ponce. You might even see a cool indie or foreign film that you didn’t even know about…
A CAT IN PARIS
Academy Award nominee for Best Animated Feature, A CAT IN PARIS is a beautifully hand-drawn caper set in the shadow-drenched alleyways of Paris. Dino is a pet cat that leads a double life. By day he lives with Zoe, a little mute girl whose mother, Jeanne, is a detective in the Parisian police force. But at night he sneaks out the window to work with Nico—a slinky cat burglar with a big heart, whose fluid movements are poetry in motion. The cat’s two worlds collide when young Zoe decides to follow Dino on his nocturnal adventures—and falls into the hands of Victor Costa, a blustery gangster planning the theft of a rare statue. Now cat and cat burglar must team up to save Zoe from the bumbling thieves, leading to a thrilling acrobatic finale on top of Notre Dame. A CAT IN PARIS is a warm and richly humorous love letter to classic noir films and the stylized wit of the Pink Panther cartoons. Dino, the literal cat burglar, manages to steal the show with little more than a subtle swish of the tail and quiet mew. In English. Plus short, “Extinction of the Saber-Toothed House Cat.”
HUNGER GAMES
Every year in the ruins of what was once North America, the evil Capitol of the nation of Panem forces each of its twelve districts to send a teenage boy and girl to compete in the Hunger Games. A twisted punishment for a past uprising and an ongoing government intimidation tactic, The Hunger Games are a nationally televised event in which “Tributes” must fight with one another until one survivor remains. Pitted against highly-trained Tributes who have prepared for these Games their entire lives, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence, WINTER’S BONE) is forced to rely upon her sharp instincts as well as the mentorship of drunken former victor Haymitch Abernathy (Woody Harrelson). If she’s ever to return home to District 12, Katniss must make impossible choices in the arena that weigh survival against humanity and life against love. Based on Suzanne Collins’ best-selling novel, the first in a trilogy that has developed a massive global following, the sci-fi action drama THE HUNGER GAMES also stars Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland and Lenny Kravitz, and is directed and co-written by Gary Ross (SEABISCUIT, PLEASANTVILLE).
Infused with songs and dancing, this serio-comic fable of a community beset by conflict between two faiths speaks out the desire of every citizen to live in peace. Set in a remote village where a Christian church and Muslim mosque stand side by side, director/co-writer/actress Nadine Labaki‘s (Caramel) ironically humorous drama follows the antics of the town’s women to keep their blowhard men from starting a religious war. Women heartsick over sons, husbands and fathers lost to previous flare-ups unite to distract their men with a variety of clever ruses, from faking a miracle to hiring a troop of Ukrainian strippers. Winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best Narrative Feature at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.
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