BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, December 15, for a screening of the crime thriller “Julia” (2009), starring Tilda Swinton as a hopeless alcoholic who becomes snared in a kidnapping plot gone awry.
JULIA | 2009 | DIRECTOR: Erick Zonka | WITH: Tilda Swinton, Adian Gould, Saul Rubinek, Kate del Castillo | RUNNING TIME: 2H 24M | RATED R for sexual content, brief nudity, brief violence, gore, language and adult themes | DIGITAL PROJECTION
Julia is a self-destructive drunk. She loses her job in real estate and at an A.A. meeting meets a neighbor, Elena, an addled Mexican woman who talks about having lots of money and a plan to kidnap her own son from the boy’s grandfather, a wealthy businessman. Elena wants Julia’s help. Julia says yes — secretly planning to do the crime alone and take the ransom money for herself.
““Julia” should have a big ad campaign and be making a lot of noise, stirring up word-of-mouth. It’s being treated as an art film. It’s good enough to be an art film, but don’t let anyone pigeonhole it for you. It’s one doozy of a great thriller. And the acting here is as good as it gets — not just from Swinton, but from Saul Rubinek as her one remaining friend, and by Bruno Bichir as Diego, who she meets in Tijuana. You want to be careful who you meet in Tijuana.
“We have not seen this Tilda before — but then, we haven’t seen most of the Tildas before. This one is an alcoholic slut who lacks what we are pleased to call normal feminine emotions. She’s just been fired from another job. Her pattern is to get sloppy drunk every night and drag a strange man to bed. She needs money. Her neighbor Elena, comes to her with an offer. Her young son is now living with his millionaire grandfather, who won’t allow her to see him. She needs somebody to help her kidnap the child.
“This is the beginning of Julia’s nightmare journey through a thorny thicket of people you do not want to meet. If there’s one thing that’s consistent about her behavior, it’s how she lies to all of them. This is not one of those tough heroines you sort of like. You don’t like her. She makes not the slightest effort to be liked. She doesn’t give a damn. She cuts back on the drinking, however, perhaps because she is constantly fleeing — both away from, and toward. Swinton here is amazing. She goes for broke and wins big time.” — Roger Ebert
Tickets are $5 and available at link above. Students use code UMSTUDENT at checkout for free admission (must show Cane card at the door).
