LAST TRAIN HOME Begins Nov. 5...

The remarkable Chinese documentary, LAST TRAIN HOME begins at Living Room Friday, November 5. The film is possibly the most critically praised film of the year and currently enjoys a very rare 100% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

Every spring, China’s cities are plunged into chaos as 130 million migrant workers journey to their home villages for the New Year’s holiday. This mass exodus is the world’s largest human migration—an epic spectacle that reveals a country tragically caught between its rural past and industrial future.

Working over several years in classic verité style Chinese-Canadian filmmaker Lixin Fan (with the producers of the award-winning hit documentary Up the Yangtze) travels with one couple who have embarked on this annual trek for almost two decades. Like so many of China’s rural poor, Changhua and Sugin Zhang left behind their two infant children for grueling factory jobs. Their daughter Qin—now a restless and rebellious teenager—both bitterly resents their absence and longs for her own freedom away from school, much to the utter devastation of her parents. Emotionally engaging and starkly beautiful, Last Train Home’s intimate observation of one fractured family sheds light on the human cost of China’s ascendance as an economic superpower.

CATFISH Begins Friday...

The quasi-documentary mystery, CATFISH begins a run at Living Room this Friday, October 22. Love and identity become twisted across the lines of the Internet in this “reality thriller” from filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman. Nev Schulman is a photographer who one day received a surprising e-mail message — Abby, an eight-year-old girl in Michigan, had seen his picture in a newspaper and wanted permission to paint a portrait from it. Nev gave his OK, and when he was given a copy of the painting, he was struck by how good it was, assuming that the girl was either a genius or a fraud. Nev tried to contact Abby’s family, and somehow ended up in contact with Megan, Abby’s sexy 19-year-old sister. As Nev fell into an increasingly complicated on-line relationship with Megan, he decided it was time to meet her in person, but when he traveled to Michigan and tracked her down, Nev learned that Abby and Megan’s family were not at all what he expected them to be.

Halloween at Living Room...

Living Room has a varied slate of Halloween programming this year.

Playing now though Thursday, Oct. 21 is MY SOUL TO TAKE, the newest film from the American horror master Wes Craven. This film is in 3D. In the sleepy town of Riverton, legend tells of a serial killer who swore he would return to murder the seven children born the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath been reincarnated as one of the seven teens, or did he survive the night he was left for dead?

Beginning tonight, October 15 is the sick, disturbing, uber-gross out THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE. Living Room is showing the unrated, director’s cut. During a stopover in Germany in the middle of a carefree road trip through Europe, two American girls find themselves alone at night when their car breaks down in the woods. Searching for help at a nearby villa, they are wooed into the clutches of a deranged retired surgeon who explains his mad scientific vision to his captives’ utter horror. They are to be the subjects of his sick lifetime fantasy: to be the first to connect people, one to the next, and in doing so bring to life “the human centipede.”

And beginning next Friday, October 29, we begin a run of the one the greatest thrillers ever made, Alfred Hitchcock’s PSYCHO! This is the first time this film has been available in high definition. In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen’s master of suspense (and perhaps the best-known film director in the world) when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen thriller. From its first scene, in which an unmarried couple balances pleasure and guilt in a lunchtime liaison in a cheap hotel (hardly a common moment in a major studio film in 1960), Psycho announced that it was taking the audience to places it had never been before, and on that score what followed would hardly disappoint.

PSYCHO in HD begins Oct. 29!...

Alfred Hitchcock’s masterpiece, and what is considered by many to be the greatest thriller of all time, PSYCHO, begins a run at Living Room Theaters on October 29. This is only the second Hitchcock film available in high definition (the first: North by Northwest we played in January) and is the 50th anniversary of its release.

Although Hitchcock is now one of the most revered directors in history, during his filmmaking career, he was somewhat of an auteur and often had disputes with movie studios. For Psycho, he waved his director salary, shot in black and white, and used a different crew than he normally used all to keep costs down so he could make the film. Psycho eventually went on to be Hitchcock’s highest money-maker and changed cinema forever.

In 1960, Alfred Hitchcock was already famous as the screen’s master of suspense when he released Psycho and forever changed the shape and tone of the screen thriller. From its first scene, in which an unmarried couple balances pleasure and guilt in a lunchtime liaison in a cheap hotel (hardly a common moment in a major studio film in 1960), Psycho announced that it was taking the audience to places it had never been before, and on that score what followed would hardly disappoint.

Marion Crane (Janet Leigh) is unhappy in her job at a Phoenix, Arizona real estate office and frustrated in her romance with hardware store manager Sam Loomis (John Gavin). One afternoon, Marion is given $40,000 in cash to be deposited in the bank. Minutes later, impulse has taken over and Marion takes off with the cash, hoping to leave Phoenix for good and start a new life with her purloined nest egg. 36 hours later, paranoia and exhaustion have started to set in, and Marion decides to stop for the night at the Bates Motel, where nervous but personable innkeeper Norman Bates (Anthony Perkins) cheerfully mentions that she’s the first guest in weeks, before he regales her with curious stories about his mother.

There’s hardly a film fan alive who doesn’t know what happens next, but while the shower scene is justifiably the film’s most famous sequence, there are dozens of memorable bits throughout this film.

MAO’S LAST DANCER Opens Friday!...

Based on Cunxin Li’s best selling autobiography, MAO’S LAST DANCER is the epic story of a young poverty stricken boy from China and his inspirational journey to international stardom as a world-class dancer, director by Bruce Beresfrord (Driving Miss Daisy).

The story begins when a young Li is taken from his peasant home by the Chinese government and chosen to study ballet in Beijing. Separated from his family and enduring countless hours of practice, Li struggles to find his place in the new life he has been given. Gaining confidence from a kind teacher’s encouraging guidance and a chance trip to America, Li finally discovers that his passion has always been dance.

MAO’S LAST DANCER weaves a moving tale about the quest for freedom and the courage it takes to live your own life. The film poignantly captures the struggles, triumphs and the intoxicating effects of first love and celebrity amid the pain of exile.

THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE – Unrated!...

For Halloween, Living Room Theaters will begin showing late night weekend screenings of the unrated, director’s cut of THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE in high definition on October 15. Easily the most disturbing film of the year, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE, is a one-of-kind movie experience!

During a stopover in Germany in the middle of a carefree roadtrip through Europe, two American girls find themselves alone at night when their car breaks down in the woods. Searching for help at a nearby villa, they are wooed into the clutches of a deranged retired surgeon who explains his mad scientific vision to his captives’ utter horror. They are to be the subjects of his sick lifetime fantasy: to be the first to connect people, one to the next, via their gastric system, and in doing so bring to life ‘the human centipede’.

Truly one-of-a-kind, Tom Six’s twisted biological horror film THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE confidently goes where few films have dared to go. The sick vision of a demented surgeon, a role portrayed so brilliantly by Dieter Laser it is sure to join Freddy, Jason, and Leatherface in the horror pantheon, is a 100% medically accurate nightmare.

LOVELY, STILL...

Academy Award winners Martin Landau and Ellen Burstyn star in the moving drama about love, aging and memory LOVELY, STILL. The film begins a run at Living Room on October 15.
With the approach of Christmas causing him to feel lonely in life and love, Robert Malone (Academy Award Winner Martin Landau) braves the wintery snow to arrive home from his job at the grocery store only to find a stranger (Academy Award Winner Ellen Burstyn) standing in his home.

What begins as an odd and awkward encounter quickly blossoms into what appears to be a romantic late life love affair that takes us on a heartfelt and wonderful journey which takes an unexpected turn. Skillfully and sensitively directed by Nik Fackler, the film also stars Elizabeth Banks and Adam Scott, and features original music by Conor Oberst and a score by Nate Walcott and Mike Mogis of Bright Eyes.