"Love and Friendship" opens The Arts Array's Spring 2017 season. In 18th-century England, the widowed Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) attempts to solve her financial problems by landing a wealthy husband.
Virginia Highlands Community College kicks off the Spring 2017 Arts Array Film Series Jan. 16. Show times are Monday and Tuesday evenings at 4 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Abingdon Cinemall, unless otherwise noted. Admission is free for all students and staff members of VHCC, Emory & Henry College, King University, East Tennessee State University and Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, including participants in the College of Older Adults who purchase an Arts Array pass. Community admission is $7.75. VHCC's partnering sponsors for the Arts Array Film Series include the Virginia Commission for the Arts, the Southwest Virginia Higher Education Center, and Emory & Henry College. Here is an overview of January's line-up:
"Love and Friendship" is shown Jan. 16 and 17, In 18th-century England, the widowed Lady Susan Vernon (Kate Beckinsale) attempts to solve her financial problems by landing a wealthy husband during a visit to her in-laws. However, her scheming is complicated by the sudden appearance of her teenage daughter Frederica (Morfydd Clark), and soon the two women are caught up in a love rectangle with a courtier (Xavier Samuel) and a suitor who's as rich as he is stupid (Tom Bennett). Chloë Sevigny co-stars as a friend of Susan's who tries to help with her matchmaking. Written and directed by Whit Stillman (who adapted the script from an early work by Jane Austen), "Love & Friendship" made its world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.
"Hell or High Water" is on screen Jan. 23 and 24. Two desperate brothers – one a divorced father (Chris Pine), the other a hard-living ex-con (Ben Foster) – commit a string of bank robberies in order to raise the money needed to protect their family farm from foreclosure. Meanwhile, an aging sheriff (Jeff Bridges) tracks the heists in an attempt to hunt down those responsible. This crime drama was written by Taylor Sheridan ("Sicario") and directed by David Mackenzie ("Starred Up").
"The Lobster" is shown Jan. 30 and 31. After his wife leaves him, David (Colin Farrell) is sent to a hotel for single adults and urged to find a new significant other within 45 days. If he fails, he will be transformed into an animal of his choosing. David eventually meets a runaway from the hotel (Rachel Weisz), and the two begin a secret romance. This absurdist dystopian comedy is the first English-language feature from Greek director Yorgos Lanthimos, and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival.
