An appreciation of film is all it takes to join this group. The 2024-25 season is our 26th year of celebrating the medium!
Our group meets at 7 pm, on the first Tuesdays of each month from September through May, except December. We view the selected film on our own and then come together to discuss it. Typically, around a dozen people attend. In pre-COVID times, we met in members’ homes, but now we gather on Zoom; please contact info@fpcpaloalto.org for the link.
We talk about character transformation, cinematic values, etc, plus our perspectives on the faith and ethical issues raised by the films. Our discussions are rich with multiple views and observations, as well as lots of laughs and caring, all enriching our relationships. And we close with prayers of the people.
Here is our 2024-25 schedule, chosen through our election process in the spring:
| Sept 3 | To Kill a Tiger |
| Oct 9 | Worth |
| Nov 12 | The Holdovers |
| Jan 7 | The Station Agent |
| Feb 4 | American Symphony |
| Mar 4 | American Fiction |
| April 1 | Minari |
| May 6 | Breath of Life |
THE STATION AGENT (2003)
Director: Tom McCarthy
Availability: Amazon Prime, libraries
Finbar McBride, a quiet man with dwarfism, has a deep love of railroads and lives a solitary existence. He works in a model railroad hobby shop owned by his elderly and similarly taciturn friend Henry.
When Henry dies, Fin learns that the hobby shop is to be closed, and that Henry has bequeathed him a rural property with an abandoned train depot on it. He moves into the old building hoping for a life of solitude but becomes reluctantly enmeshed in the lives of his neighbors. Joe Oramas operates his father’s roadside snack truck while the elder man recovers from an illness, and artist Olivia Harris is trying to cope with the sudden death of her young son two years earlier and its ramifications on her marriage to David, from whom she is separated. Cleo is a young girl who shares Fin’s interest in trains and wants him to lecture her class about them. Emily, the local librarian, is a young woman dismayed to discover she is pregnant by her boyfriend.
Faith Issues: The importance of finding unconditional love in a community, learning to love yourself, finding solace from grief and loss in friendships
American Symphony (2023)
Directed by Michael Heineman
Availability: streaming on Netflix
In early 2022, composer and instrumentalist Jon Batiste was nominated for 11 Grammy Awards with an upcoming concert date at Carnegie Hall for the “American Symphony” he was writing. However, this excitement was tempered with distressing news from his long-time partner and later wife Suleika Jaouad. The cancer that she had contracted years ago and recovered from was back, and she was facing extensive treatment. This documentary (nominated for a 2024 Academy Award) follows Jon and Suleika through the ups and downs of these extremes: Jon traveling the country to collect samples of the American soundscape with the intention of including these different styles into a symphony that goes beyond the traditional form. Suleika dealing with her illness and finding her own source of creativity. How does soul, hope, imagination and love play a part in both the creative and healing process?
American FIction (2023)
Directed by Cord Jefferson
Availability: Amazon Prime and others
Thelonious “Monk” Ellison is an intellectual Black professor and writer struggling to find a publisher for his next book. Frustrated by the lack of interest in his work and the popularity of stereotypical depictions of Black people in media (slaves, gangsters, absent fathers, etc.) he writes a book under a pen name that is the most stereotypical Black book he can think of. To his surprise, it becomes a huge hit. He has to juggle a fake persona and feeling like a hypocrite while caring for his ailing mother and the rest of his dysfunctional family.
The movie is really clever with a lot of funny moments and great commentary on the depictions of race in American media. It also has touching depictions of Monk interacting with his family.
MINARI (2021)
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung
Availability: Amazon Prime and others
A tender and sweeping story about what roots us, Minari follows a Korean-American family that moves to a tiny Arkansas farm in search of their own American Dream. The family home changes completely with the arrival of their sly, foul-mouthed, but incredibly loving grandmother. Amidst the instability and challenges of this new life in the rugged Ozarks, Minari shows the undeniable resilience of family and what really makes a home.
BREATH OF LIFE (2023)
Directed by BB Sasore
Availability: Amazon Prime and others
The film begins in England by following the life of Timi, a young man who excelled academically, spoke 16 languages, and became the first African clergyman in the Church of England. After marrying Bridget and having a daughter, he returns to the city of Ibadan in southwest of his native country Nigeria and leads a fulfilling life until tragedy strikes. His family falls victim to Baby Fire, a local thug, leading to a series of tragic events that turn Timi into an angry recluse.
The film then introduces Elijah, bright-eyed youth who has just concluded his National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) service year and moves to Ibadan for greener pastures. Elijah also harbors a desire to become a clergyman. Timi hires Elijah to be his houseboy. This provides the foundation for the father-son relationship between Timi and Elijah as their lives intersect and intertwine in what become a drama of redemption for Timi and life fulfillment for Elijah. “Breath of Life” showcases some of the well known actors and actresses of “Nollywood”, the Nigerian film industry.