Cinema Club

Events

The Camera Cinema Club events are the most unique cinematic experiences offered in the Bay Area. Special guests and celebrities who have talked with audiences about their films include actors John Malkovich and Peter Mullan, and a host of independent filmmakers who have gone on to celebrated careers. One of the all-time highlights for members was when Jessica Yu, Academy Award®-winning director of "Breathing Lessons: The Life And Works of Mark O'Brien", passed her Oscar around the audience during the Club's inaugural 1997-98 season.

For an overview of Club events from its inaugural season to the present, check out our CLUB HISTORY

Club Screen Gender-Bending Drama, Albert Nobbs

On Sunday, January 15th the Camera Cinema Club screened ALBERT NOBBS, starring award-winning actress Glenn Close in the title role of a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Director Rodrgio Garcia ("Six Feet Under", "Carnivale", "In Treatment") addressed Club Members in a Q&A via SKYPE.

See you in February,

Tim

Finding a Safe Harbor in Male Identity

By A. O. SCOTT

"Such a sweet little man," remarks a guest at a shabby-genteel Dublin hotel, referring to a waiter named Albert Nobbs. One of Albert's co-workers describes him, less kindly, as a "freak," and there is certainly something odd about this elfin, diffident, ginger-haired fellow, who attends to his duties with fastidious care. He is not, indeed, a fellow at all, but a woman who has lived most of her life disguised as a man. And not just any woman: this self-effacing, cautious character, whose name is also the title of Rodrigo Garcia's lively and touching new film, is played by the dazzling and infinitely resourceful Glenn Close.

Ms. Close does not exactly suppress her natural radiance to play Albert, whose practice is to hover half-invisibly at the edges of things, inscrutably observing the boisterous doings of the rest of humanity. Rather, she imparts a mysterious glow to his smallest gestures and actions, balancing nimbly on the line between comedy and pathos. On the streets of Dublin, wearing a bowler hat and a dark coat, wielding a rolled-up umbrella, Albert is a Chaplinesque figure. He walks stiffly and speaks in a low monotone, acting out a parody of masculinity that is charming, revealing and sad.

It is also effective enough to fool everyone at the hotel, a humming establishment run by Mrs. Baker, a shrewd and pretentious lady played with cooing, squawking relish by Pauline Collins. The film, based on a short story by George Moore and adapted by Ms. Close, Gabriella Prekop and the Irish novelist John Banville, entangles its protagonist in a skein of subplots, using minor characters to sketch a busy tableau of late-19th-century Ireland.

It is a place constrained by custom and defined by class hierarchy. A group of young aristocrats (led by Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) floats in and out of the hotel. Most of the drama - and the comedy - takes place among the hotel workers, who include the "Harry Potter" stalwarts Brendan Gleeson (as the house doctor) and Mark Williams (as one of Albert's fellow servers). A rough, handsome former militant named Joe (Aaron Johnson) is hired to fix the boiler and starts up an affair with Helen (Mia Wasikowska), a flirtatious maid who also becomes the object of Albert's wooing.

Albert dares to approach Helen - asking her to "walk out" with him in the city's parks and shopping districts - because he has encountered a kindred soul in the person of Hubert Page, a housepainter engaged by Mrs. Baker to do some sprucing up. It turns out that Hubert (Janet McTeer) is also a woman in disguise, and he becomes Albert's mentor and model. Both of them decided to live as men to escape male violence, but they inhabit their assumed identities in very different ways. For Albert, maleness is a way of disappearing in public, a protective cloak of anonymity that guarantees safety. For Hubert, being a man is a form of self-assertion. Tall and loose-limbed, a smoker and a talker, Hubert is happy to partake of the privileges of his adopted gender, including the company of a lovely and devoted wife (Bronagh Gallagher).

"Did he tell her he was a woman before the wedding, or after?" Albert wonders about this arrangement, believing, mistakenly, that it is more of a business deal than a romantic bond. His pursuit of Helen follows along this cautious, practical track: He is saving his tips and wages in the hopes of opening a tobacco shop, and he imagines that a wife could supply him with labor and legitimacy as well as company.

Nothing is that simple, and "Albert Nobbs" explores the complications with a light and sensitive touch. Ms. McTeer's sly, exuberant performance is a pure delight, and the counterpoint between her physical expressiveness and Ms. Close's tightly coiled reserve is a marvel to behold. The rest of the film is a bit too decorous and tidy to count as a major revelation, but it dispenses satisfying doses of humor, pathos and surprise.

Ms. Close, who played Albert Nobbs on stage in New York almost 30 years ago, has been trying for many years to bring his story to the screen. She found an ideal director in Mr. Garcia, notable for his sympathetic view of women - as seen in "Nine Lives" and "Mother and Child" - and his ability to keep melodrama within the bounds of good taste. This last quality may count as a limitation, because it is possible to imagine a wilder, campier, more radical rendering of "Albert Nobbs." (The Pedro Almodóvar version, for example, might be interesting).

But the sincere, sober, careful version we have is good enough, and it is in keeping with the way Ms. Close interprets the character, as a person for whom tact, formality and decency represent not the denial of feeling but its most profound and authentic expression.

Camera Cinema Club 2011-12 Event Summary

January 15th - ALBERT NOBBS

On Sunday, January 15th the Camera Cinema Club screened ALBERT NOBBS, starring award-winning actress Glenn Close in the title role of a woman passing as a man in order to work and survive in 19th century Ireland. Director Rodrgio Garcia ("Six Feet Under", "Carnivale", "In Treatment") addressed Club Members in a Q&A via SKYPE.

November 20th - THUNDER SOUL

the Club screened Thunder Soul, the acclaimed documentary which follows the extraordinary alumni from Houston's storied Kashmere High School Stage Band, who return home after 35 years to play a tribute concert for Conrad Johnson, the 92-year-old "Prof" and their beloved band leader. Director Mark Landsman spoke to the Club via teleconference from Los Angeles.

October 16th - MARGIN CALL

The Camera Cinema Club opened its 16th season with Margin Call, a riveting drama written and directed by J. C. Chandor starring Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, and Zachary Quinto. The film follows the actions of a group of investment bank employees during the financial collapse of 2007-2010. Special guest was Santa Clara Valley Metro newspaper film critic Richard Von Busack.