By Mabel Pais

The Insult

“Compelling ….Rich with feelings that transcend the sprawling national backdrop.” Eric Kohn, IndieWire

The Insult by Lebanese director Ziad (“The Attack”) Doueiri’s gripping political drama, is short-listed for the 2018 Academy Award® for Best Foreign Language Film.

The movie is inspired by an incident in the director’s own experience, several years ago in Beirut.  In today’s Beirut, a civilian dispute blown out of proportion finds Tony (Adel Karam), a Lebanese Christian, and Yasser (Venice Film Festival Best Actor winner Kamel El Basha), a Palestinian refugee, facing off in court. As the media circus surrounding the case threatens a social explosion in divided Lebanon, Tony and Yasser reconsider their values and beliefs as revelations of trauma complicate their understanding of one another.

After leaving Lebanon during its Civil War, Ziad Doueiri moved to the US to study film at San Diego State University.  He went on to work as a camera operator on Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction and Jackie Brown.

His directorial debut, the critically acclaimed Cannes Film Festival Directors Fortnight selection West Beirut, put him on the map as one of the most promising directors from the Middle East. His third film The Attack, a controversial drama about an Arab Israeli surgeon whose life is shattered after discovering his wife was a suicide bomber, was a critical and box office hit. The Insult is Mr. Doueiri’s fourth film.

Directed by: Ziad Doueiri.  Written by: Ziad Doueiri & Joëlle Touma. Starring: Adel Karam, Kamel El Basha, Camille Salaamed, Diamand Bou Abboud, Rita Hayek.  Rating: R.  Running time: 1h 52 m.  Genre: Drama.

The Insult opened in New York on Friday, January 12 (Lincoln Plaza Cinema and The Quad), and Los Angeles on Friday, January 19 followed by a national roll out.  It is running at several theatres in New York City.

 Double Lover

Double Lover, Francois Ozon’s twisted erotic thriller loosely based on the Joyce Carol Oates novel Lives of the Twins. Starring Marine Vacth and Jérémie Renier.

Chloé, (Young and Beautiful’s Marine Vacth) is a fragile young woman who falls in love with her psychoanalyst, Paul (Jérémie Renier,) soon after starting therapy to try and uncover the roots of her mysterious symptoms. Several months later the couple moves in together, but Chloé discovers that her lover is keeping part of his identity a secret. Visually striking, often outrageous, and chock full of mischievous cinematic references, Double Lover is a guilty pleasure that keeps the audience guessing.

A master at playfully exploring sexual repression and the inner lives of women, François Ozon returns with Double Lover to several of the themes and genres he has delved into throughout his prolific career.

His films include Water Drops on Burning Rocks, Criminal Lovers, Under the Sand, 8 Women, Swimming Pool, In The House, Young & Beautiful, The New Girlfriend and Frantz.

Written and directed by Francois Ozon.  Loosely based on the Novel “Lives of the Twins” by Joyce Carol Oates. Produced by Eric & Nicolas Altmeyer.

Cinematography by Manu Dacosse. Starring Marine Vacth, Jérémie Renier, Jacquline Bisset, Myriam Boyer, Dominique Reymond.  Rating: NR. Running time: 1 h 47 m.  Genre: Drama, Romance, Thriller.

Double Lover is scheduled to open in New York (AMC Empire, The Quad) Los Angeles, San Francisco and Philadelphia on Wednesday, February 14 followed by a national roll out.

 Animal House 40th Anniversary (The Film) at NJPAC

New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), located in downtown Newark, N.J., has the most diverse programming and audience of any performing arts center in the country, and is the artistic, cultural, educational and civic center of New Jersey – where great performances and events enhance and transform lives every day. NJPAC brings diverse communities together, providing access to all and showcasing the state’s and the world’s best artists while acting as a leading catalyst in the revitalization of its home city. Through its extensive Arts Education programs, NJPAC is shaping the next generation of artists and arts enthusiasts. NJPAC has attracted more than 8 million visitors (including over 1.6 million children) since opening its doors in 1997, and nurtures meaningful and lasting relationships with each of its constituents.

 “One of the most successful American film comedies of all time”

                                                                                       The Oregon Encyclopedia (OE)

The New Jersey Performing Arts Center presents Animal House 40th Anniversary. Whether you’re a Delta or an Omega, everyone can share the hilarity of 1978’s groundbreaking campus comedy Animal House, shown on the wide screen with a live appearance by Tim (“Otter”) Matheson. Wear a toga (a loose flowing outer garment worn by the citizens of ancient Rome)!

An evening that’ll make you wanna shout! Hosted by film critic Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine, this movie about the antics of a pack of riotous frat boys features classic performances by some of the best comedians of the Seventies, including (the late) John Belushi and Stephen Furst.

Tim Matheson – the smooth-talking Eric “Otter” Stratton – will appear on stage following the screening with one of his cast mates, Peter Riegert, as special guest.

An actor, director and producer over the past 50 years, Tim Matheson received two Emmy nominations for his role in television’s The West Wing and recently starred in Killing Reagan on National Geographic. Some of his other popular feature films include 1941, To Be or Not To Be, Fletch and Van Wilder. He began his career at the age of 13 in Robert Young’s comedy series Window on Main Street and in 1964 provided the voice of the title character in the animated cartoon Jonny Quest.

Faber College has one frat house so disreputable it will take anyone. It has a second one full of white, Anglo-Saxon, rich young men who are so sanctimonious no one can stand them except Dean Wormer. The dean enlists the help of the second frat to get the boys of Delta House off campus. The dean’s plan comes into play just before the homecoming parade to end all parades for all time.

The film is directed by John Landis and written by Harold Ramis, Douglas Kenney and Chris Miller. It stars John Belushi, Tim Matheson, John Vernon, Verna Bloom, Thomas Hulce, Stephen Furst, and Donald Sutherland.  It is produced by Matty Simmons of National Lampoon (the original American humor magazine from 1970 to 1998) and Ivan Reitman for Universal Pictures. It was inspired by stories written by Chris Miller and published in National Lampoon. Its genre is Romance/Comedy.  Its running time is 1h 49m.

For more information and tickets, visit www.NJPAC.org or the NJPAC Box Office, or call 888.GO.NJPAC (888.466.5722).

(The author writes on The Arts and Entertainment, Social Issues, Health and Wellness, and Spirituality)