Coming Attractions
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A Christmas Tale   11/21
Catherine Deneuve, Mathieu Amalric (The Diving Bell And The Butterfly), and Chiara Mastroianni star in this bittersweet, darkly comic tale of a family in crisis, directed by Arnaud Desplechin, with a nod to Charles Dickens's A Christmas Story. Deneuve and Amalric play Abel and Junon Vuillard, who, as a young couple, conceived a child in the hope of saving another of their children with a rare genetic condition. The Vuillard family has never quite recovered from this tragedy and although many years have passed, family relationships are more strained than ever. Masterfully directed and acted, by turns savage, bittersweet and very moving. "...a big hearted, formally frisky family tale with pitch-perfect work by some of France's plum performers, among them Mastroianni's indomitable mother, Catherine Deneuve." Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly. In French w/subtitles.

The Boy in the Striped Pajamas   11/21
Adapted from John Boyne's best-selling novel, this moving film is a fictional story told through the eyes of an eight-year-old boy largely shielded from the reality of World War II. It follows the friendship that forms between Bruno, the son of a Nazi commandant, and Shmuel, a Jewish boyheld captive in a concentration camp. Though a barbed wire fence separates the two physically, their friendship grows and their lives become inescapably intertwined. Starring David Thewlis, Vera Farmiga, Rupert Friend, Asa Butterfield and Jack Scalon.

ROMEO & JULIET (Gounod)   11/23, 11/24
See opera listings below
From the Salzburg Festival, an Opera in 5 Acts (3 hours)
Sunday, November 23 at 12:00pm
Monday, November 24 at 6:30pm

Australia   11/26
Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman star in Baz Luhrmann's (Moulin Rouge) latest film, a romantic epic set in northern Australia before World War II. An English aristocrat (Kidman) who inherits a sprawling ranch reluctantly pacts with a cattle driver (Jackman) in order to protect her new property from a takeover plot. As the pair drive 2,000 head of cattle over an unforgiving landscape, they experience firsthand the bombing of Darwin, Australia, by Japanese forces.

Synecdoche   11/28
The directorial debut of Academy Award Winner Charlie Kaufman premiered earlier this year at the Cannes Film Festival. It is an extremely ambitious film that challenges the viewer in many different ways. The title is defined as a figure of speech in which a part is used for the whole, but the film also references the city of Schenectady. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays theater director Caden Cotard, who is mounting a new play. His life catering to suburban audiences at the local regional theater in Schenectady is looking bleak. His wife Adele (Catherine Keener) has left him to pursue her painting in Germany; his therapist, Madeleine Gravis (Hope Davis), is better at plugging her best-selling book than she is at counseling him. A new relationship with the alluringly candid Hazel (Samantha Morton) has prematurely run aground. And a mysterious condition is systematically shutting down each of his autonomic functions, one by one. Also starring Michelle Williams, Emily Watson and Jennifer Jason Leigh. "Kaufman has created a seamless and complicated alternate reality, unsettling nearly every expectation a moviegoer might have about time, psychology, and narrative structure. The feelings it explores are clear and accessible. A movie bristling with paradoxes and conundrums. Extremely funny." A.O. Scott, The New York Times.

OTELLO (Verdi)     11/30, 12/1
See opera listings below
From the Salzburg Festival, an Opera in 4 Acts (2 hours, 10 minutes)
Sunday, November 30 at 12:00pm
Monday, December 1 at 6:30pm

A Secret   12/5
Adapted from Philippe Grumbert's best selling novel, set during the Holocaust, this is a story of passion and guilt in troubled times. The story unfolds as a young teenager uncovers the truth about his parents past. He finds out that before the war, his father Maxime was married to Hanna, when he fell madly in love with his mother Tania. As a young Jewish couple living in Nazi-occupied France, Maxime and Tania had to make difficult choices to survive the war and the Holocaust. In French w/subtitles. Directed by Claude Miller.

DON GIOVANNI (Mozart)   12/7, 12/8
See opera listings below
From the Salzburg Festival, an Opera in 2 Acts (3 hours)
Sunday, December 7 at 12:00pm
Monday, December 8 at 6:30pm

Ashes Of Time Redux   12/12
Wong Kar Wai's film is his only martial arts film and was inspired by characters from Louis Cha's martial arts novel, The Eagle-Shooting Heroes. It is set in five parts - five seasons that are part of the Chinese almanac. The story takes place in the jianghu, the world of martial arts, and centers on a man named Ouyang Feng, who has left his home in the White Camel Mountains when the woman he loved chose to marry his elder brother. His wounded heart has made him pitiless and cynical, but his encounters with friends, clients and future enemies make him conscious of his solitude. Wong Kar Wai's original film has a legendary reputation among his fans, and is known as an abstract masterpiece rarely seen in the West. In this version, the acclaimed director has returned, restored and clarified his masterpiece. In Chinese w/subtitles.

Milk    12/12
Sean Penn stars in Gus Van Sant's electrifying film about Harvey Milk, who became the first openly gay man to be voted into major public office in America. In 1977, Milk was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. His victory was not just a victory for gay rights; he forged coalitions across the political spectrum and, before his untimely death in 1978, became a fighter for equal rights and opportunity for all. Also starring Emile Hirsch, Josh Brolin, Diego Luna and James Franco.

I've Loved You So Long   12/12
Kristin Scott Thomas gives an outstanding performance as Juliette, a woman who, just released from a long prison sentence, is trying to reconcile with her sister. The film begins with Lea (Elsa Zylberstein), the younger sister by fifteen years, picking Juliette up at the airport. We soon realize that the two sisters are almost complete strangers to each other. Lea was still a teenager when Juliette, a doctor, was sent off to prison. Juliette's gradual reconnection with her sister and reintegration into a free life is profoundly moving and psychologically complex. Expertly directed by Philippe Claudel and masterfully acted by the two leads. In French w/subtitles.

Slumdog Millionaire   12/19
Danny Boyle's latest film is part exhilarating love story, part eye-catching journey into the underbelly of the so-called "maximum city" of Mumbai. It is a sweeping, intoxicating tale of an Everyman's triumph against a harsh, cynical world, a Dickensian epic for the 21st Century. At the heart of its exuberant storytelling lies the intriguing question of how anyone comes to know the things they know about life and love. The story follows a penniless, eighteen year old orphan from the slums of Mumbai who is one question away from winning a staggering 20 million rupees on India's Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?

The Reader  12/25
Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Billy Elliot) directs this powerful, disturbing film, with a screenplay by David Hare, and starring Kate Winslet and Ralph Fiennes. The film is set in Post WWII Germany. Nearly a decade after his affair with an older woman came to a mysterious end, law student Michael Burk is reunited with his former lover (Winslet) as she defends herself in a war-crime trial.

The Spectrum 8 Theatres is proud to announce our 2008-2009 Opera Calendar.

All operas are presented in Digital High Definition, with Dolby Digital Surround Sound.

Tickets to the opera showings are $20 each. To reserve opera tickets, please call: 449-8995 x10. There is a limit of 4 tickets per reservation. On the day of the show, tickets must be claimed at the box office at least 20 minutes before showtime. When you claim your tickets, you will need to pay by cash or check. Please note that at this time, the Spectrum does not accept credit cards. We do have an atm in our lobby.

ROMEO & JULIET (Gounod)
From the Salzburg Festival, an Opera in 5 Acts (3 hours)
Sunday, November 23 at 12:00pm
Monday, November 24 at 6:30pm

OTELLO (Verdi)
From the Salzburg Festival, an Opera in 4 Acts (2 hours, 10 minutes)
Sunday, November 30 at 12:00pm
Monday, December 1 at 6:30pm

DON GIOVANNI (Mozart)
From the Salzburg Festival, an Opera in 2 Acts (3 hours)
Sunday, December 7 at 12:00pm
Monday, December 8 at 6:30pm

HANSEL AND GRETEL (Glyndebourne Festival)
Sunday, January 18 at 12:00pm
Monday, January 19 at 6:30pm

GIULIO CEASARE (Glyndebourne Festival)
Sunday, February 1 at 12:00pm
Monday, February 2 at 6:30pm

DON CARLO (La Scala)
Sunday, February 22 at 12:00pm
Monday, February 23 at 6:30pm

RIGOLETTO (Italy's Grand Operas)
Sunday, March 15 at 12:00pm
Monday, March 16 at 6:30pm

LADY MACBETH OF THE MTSENSK DISTRICT (Italy's Grand Operas)
Sunday, March 29 at 12:00pm
Monday, March 30 at 6:30pm

DAS RHEINGOLD (Wagner)
Sunday, April 19 at 12:00pm
Monday, April 20 at 6:30pm

290 Delaware Ave., Albany, NY