SCREENING

February Screenings: Notes on Tenderness

Notice:

Please note that the installation is unavailable on 12 Jan due to a booking for private event.

Kicking off Valentine’s season is a trio of films on longing and connection, featuring modern romance drama Her, the underrated and offbeat The Unbelievable Truth, and generation-defining ‘romcom’ The Worst Person in the World.

This February, we look at characters who grapple with loneliness in small towns and big cities alike.

In Her, a man searches for the ‘human’ in his relationship with an Artificial Intelligence (AI) operating system, who in turn is slowly developing their own selfhood and independence. In The Unbelievable Truth, a college-bound pessimist becomes enamoured with an ex-convict with unrelenting principles. In The Worst Person in the World, an approaching-30 millennial faces an existential crisis in her career and love choices.

Yearning for something bigger and sweeter, our earnest protagonists embark on a soul-searching journey for self-redemption and transformative love.

Notes on Tenderness continues with a second chapter in March that explores love in all its capacities and complexities, bringing love stories on the margins to the fore. More details coming soon.

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Her (2013), Spike Jonze

120 minutes | M18 (Nudity and Sexual References)

Showtimes

14 Feb, Wed, 2pm
18 Feb, Sun, 2pm
24 Feb, Sat, 4.30pm

A sensitive and soulful man earns a living by writing personal letters for other people. Left heartbroken after his marriage ends, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) becomes fascinated with a new operating system which reportedly develops into an intuitive and unique entity in its own right. He starts the program and meets "Samantha" (Scarlett Johansson), whose bright voice reveals a sensitive, playful personality. Though "friends" initially, the relationship soon deepens into love.
An exceedingly modern romance, Her is part commentary on humanity’s entanglement with technology, part unconventional love story. Spike Jonze imbues warmth and empathy in lonely, conflicted characters who struggle to find connection in an increasingly connected world, grounded by a quietly moving performance by Joaquin Phoenix.

The Unbelievable Truth (1989), Hal Hartley

90 minutes | PG

Showtimes

17 Feb, Sat, 2pm
18 Feb, Sun, 4.30pm
25 Feb, Sun, 2pm

A beautiful college bound girl disturbingly preoccupied with the threat of nuclear destruction falls in love with a handsome ex-con who is rumored to have murdered the father of his high school sweetheart. A warm-hearted satire about idealistic young love, capitalist moralizing in the home, and the need for work one loves.
A singular directorial voice of the mid-nineties, Hal Hartley's first feature and one of his most beloved comedies The Unbelievable Truth captures the ennui of small towns and the oddness of ordinary life, with a healthy dose of heart and sincerity.

Featuring the late Adrienne Shelly in her first mesmerising film role, Edie Falco, and frequent Hartley collaborator Robert John Burke.

The Worst Person in the World (2021), Joachim Trier

128 minutes | R21 (Sexual Scenes and Drug Use) | Norwegian with English subtitles

Showtimes

17 Feb, Sat, 4pm
24 Feb, Sat, 2pm
25 Feb, Sun, 4pm

Julie is turning thirty and her life is an existential mess. Several of her talents have gone to waste and her older boyfriend, Aksel – a successful graphic novelist – is pushing for them to settle down. One night, she gatecrashes a party and meets the young and charming Eivind. Before long, she has broken up with Aksel and thrown herself into yet another new relationship, hoping for a new perspective on her life. But she will come to realize that some life choices are already behind her.
Joachim Trier delves into the messy, dull, exciting, emotional life of a modern woman with sensitivity and nuance, while Renate Reinsve gives a transcendent and all too relatable performance as the eponymous ‘Worst Person’. About to retire from acting before Trier approached her to do the film, Reinsve subsequently won the Cannes Best Actress Award in 2021 for the role.