Cinema Sundays 11/8, "The Messenger"   Cinema Sundays Fall 2009 Series 46! Sunday November 8th, 2009 Cinema Sundays at the Charles continues its 46th series on November 8th, with the Baltimore Premiere The Messenger. Directed Oren Moverman. Written by Oren Moverman and Alessandro Camon. Starring Ben Foster, Woody Harrelson, Samantha Morton, Jena Malone, Steve Buscemi. 2009 USA. Rated R. Running time 105 minutes. Synopsis The Messenger is a powerful and tender story about a returned war hero making his first steps toward a normal life. Ben Foster stars as Will Montgomery, a U.S. Army officer who has just returned home from a tour in Iraq and is assigned to the Army's Casualty Notification service. Partnered with fellow officer Tony Stone (Harrelson) to bear the bad news to the loved ones of fallen soldiers, Will faces the challenge of completing his mission while seeking to find comfort and healing back on the home front. When he finds himself drawn to Olivia (Morton), to whom he has just delivered the news of her husband's death, Will's emotional detachment begins to dissolve and the film reveals itself as a surprising, humorous, moving and very human portrait of grief, friendship and survival. Click on the following for reviews and trailer. http://www.themessengermovie.com/ This week Cinema Sundays leaves the world of fashion and Coco Chanel behind for more sober fare. The Messenger is both the directorial debut of Oren Moverman and the first leading role for Ben Foster. The Messenger approaches a very difficult aspect of war with restraint and intelligence not typical of many films. I am delighted to say that we have another fabulous speaker for this week. Andrew Duck spent twenty years in the military and has graciously agreed to share his experience and knowledge with us. It’s a pleasure to welcome him to Cinema Sundays. I also want to thank last week’s speaker Sally Di Marco for her excellent knowledge and experience and also for bringing those fabulous Chanel garments! Looking forward to seeing you on the 8th. Jonathan Palevsky Jpalevsky@aol.com If you’ve never been to Cinema Sundays before, see below for our stimulating, updated, yet official description. Precisely at 9:45 on a given Sunday morning, while birds chirp in the most musical manner, the doors at the Charles Theatre swing open to reveal a lobby replete with tasty bagels, hot coffee and friendly volunteers ready to serve them to you. All of our volunteers have been pre-tested for a complete lack of morning grouchiness and provide the nicest service…within reason!  Guarded carefully by the enormous lobby penguin bagels, coffee and scintillating yet improvised conversation continues until 10:30. At precisely 10:30:07 some brief opening remarks by yours truly will be followed by a few remarks from our guest speaker who will never do either of two things. First he or she will never ever give away the plot of the film and second the speaker will not go on too long…especially if the film is one of those 2.5 hour Soviet era documentaries on the Romance of the Seven Tractor Drivers. Following a brief admonition not to talk during the film and a recommendation to sublet your cell phone to a starving student from the third world the screening will take place. Upon completion of the screening a robust question and answer session featuring our guest speaker will include your fascinating observations upon the recently screened movie. This flowery description barely describes the sublime joy and excitement which is Cinema Sundays. If there is a better way to spend Sunday mornings it simply hasn’t occurred to me….yet! Jonathan Palevsky Host of Cinema Sundays and completely reachable at JPalevsky@aol.com Please feel free to visit us at… Http://www.cinemasundays.com Tickets: $15 at the door. Or buy a mini-membership. 1711 N. Charles St. 410-727-3464 info: karenskicsc@comcast.net