BRATTLEBORO — The Latchis Theatre's popular Off the Beaten Path film series, which showcases recent films that may have slipped under the radar, but shouldn't have, continues in December with two more films.
The series, presented in collaboration with the Brattleboro Film Festival, features films on Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m., through Dec. 12 and 13.
Off the Beaten Path continues Dec. 5 and 6, with Jimmy's Hall. A period drama rich in sociopolitical themes, the film is set in Ireland in 1921. “Jimmy Gralton's sin was to build a dance hall at a rural crossroads in an Ireland on the brink of civil war,” according to a description provided by the theater.
“The dance hall was a place where young people could come to learn, to argue and to dream ... but, above all, to dance and have fun. As the hall grew in popularity, its socialist and free-spirited reputation brought it to the attention of the church and politicians, who forced Jimmy to flee and the hall to close.” Jimmy's Hall is rated PG-13.
Off the Beaten Path concludes on Dec. 12 and 13 with Coming Home. Lu Yanshi (Chen Daoming) and Feng Wanyu (Gong Li) are a devoted couple forced to separate when Lu is arrested and sent to a labor camp as a political prisoner just as his wife is injured in an accident.
Released from prison during the last days of the Cultural Revolution, he finally returns home only to find that his beloved wife has amnesia and remembers little of her past. Unable to recognize Lu, she patiently waits for her husband's return.