Ring in the season of buds and blooms with films that give new life to their characters.
When approaching a spring-themed film feature, the first impulse is to gear it around the fertile and floral imagery associated with the season, opting to look at movies that reflect its colors and hallmarks. But spring also is a time of rebirth, a theme that just so happens to be about as popular in cinema as good versus evil. Be them superheroes, mutants, gangsters or reincarnated uncles, the characters in these films run the born-again gamut, and any one of their tales would serve as a fine way to usher in the season.
Orlando (1992)
In director Sally Potter?s adaptation of Virginia Woolf?s gender-bending novel ?Orlando: A Biography,? a still-emerging Tilda Swinton stars as the androgynous title character, a nobleman born into the Elizabethan Age who promises the dying queen that he?ll never grew old. Not only does he keep his promise, but after centuries he awakes as a female, and is forced to fight for land ownership rights. The lush film netted Oscar nods for costumes and art direction, and featured raconteur Quentin Crisp as Elizabeth I, further blurring the project?s gender lines.
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Spider-Man (2002)
Every superhero film essentially boasts a story of rebirth, but few have been more vivid than that of Sam Raimi?s ?Spider-Man,? which rendered the mutant maturation of Peter Parker with bold colors and palpable energy. The trilogy ultimately faltered, but not so much that we needed a reboot, which hits theaters in mere months. Raimi?s vision and Tobey Maguire?s endearing portrayal led to a Parker ? and thus, a Spider-Man?to root for.
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Groundhog Day (1993)
Bill Murray has perhaps never been better than he is in Harold Ramis?s modern classic, which follows an egotistical weatherman as he lives through the same day over and over again, trapped in Punxsutawney for perpetual groundhog shadow play. The tale of jerk redemption has been chewed up and spit out more times than Murray?s Phil Connors smacks his alarm clock, but here, a beautifully realized conceit gives it rare distinction. After repeatedly attempting suicide, then finally using his curse as a gift with which to court his sweetie (Andie MacDowell), Connors begins anew as an appreciative life-embracer.
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My Fair Lady (1964)
The ultimate makeover film, this Audrey Hepburn-led translation of the popular stage musical ?Pygmalion? paved the road for everything from ?Pretty Woman? to ?Miss Congeniality,? typifying the cinematic tale of a wrong-side-of-the-tracks gal going from ugly duckling to high-society swan. Groomed by Rex Harrison?s arrogant professor to pass as a duchess, Hepburn?s Eliza Doolittle is nearly as iconic as her Holly Golightly.
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A Prophet (2009)
Well, no one said negative rebirths were off limits. In this stunning French crime drama, one of the best movies of its year, 19-year-old Malik (Tahar Rahim) enters prison as an illiterate innocent charged for a minor crime. But soon he?s climbing the ranks of a mafia circle run from behind bars, and after six brutal years, he?s but a shadow of the soft young man he was. The character development in this gripping film is masterful, and watching the transformation leaves you both impressed and unnerved.
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