Theatr Mwldan Film Society / Cymdeithas Ffilm Theatr Mwldan

Cert 12A

James Marsh | UK | 2007 | 90′

In 1974, Philippe Petit committed one of the world’s greatest “art crimes”: walking across a tightrope strung between the then unfinished World Trade Centre towers. James Marsh’s inspiring documentary Man on Wire tells artist Philippe Petit’s story from his early days as an aspiring performer of circus arts, through his wire walks between the towers of Notre Dame and across the Sydney Harbour Bridge, and up through the lengthy planning and execution of his famous World Trade Centre high-wire stunt. Filled with jaw-dropping footage of NYC and paced like a ’70s-era heist film, this is both thrilling and profound, a movie that reaches great heights.
Ym 1974, cerddodd Philipe Petit ar draws rhaff dynn rhwng tyrau Canolfan Masnach y Byd. Mae’r ffilm hon yn adrodd hanes Petit o’i ddyddiau cynnar fel perfformiwr mewn syrcas, i gerdded rhaffau rhwng tyrrau Notre Dame, ac ar hyd Pont Harbwr Sydney. Gyda golygfeydd anghredadwy o gyffrous, peidiwch ag edrych i lawr!

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Cert 15

Thomas McCarthy | USA | 2007 | 106′

In this gem of film from Tom McCarthy (The Station Agent), Richard Jenkins gives a brilliantly sustained performance that gives depth, resonance and spiritual transcendence. Jenkins plays a mid-50ish Connecticut professor, a widower who goes through the paces of academic life without enthusiasm or joy, and has pretty much withdrawn from life. When he finds two illegal aliens - a Syrian musician and his Senegalese girlfriend - in his Manhattan condo, he slowly becomes involved in their lives and takes us with him on a splendid emotional odyssey. The film works on several levels, and stands out as a wistful meditation on the psychological cost of 9/11. It’s also not afraid to show us, in a subtle, skillful and totally original way, an America that’s been increasingly dehumanized and vastly diminished by its new fear of the outside world.

Yn y ffilm arbennig hon, mae Richard Jenkins yn rhoi perfformiad penigamp fel athro a gweddw yn ei 50au o Gonneticut, sydd wedi colli blas ar waith ac ar fywyd. Mae’n darganfod dau fewnfudwr anghyfreithlon - cerddor o Syria a’i gariad o Senegal - yn ei fflat yn Manhattan, ac yn raddol mae’n dechrau ymwneud â’u bywydau. Ffilm fedrus sy’n dangos gwedd newydd ar America wedi 9/11.

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Cert 15

Sergei Bodrov | Germany | Kazakhstan | Russia | 2007 | 125’

Sergei Bodrov’s expansive and enthralling period biopic serves up sweeping action, drama and emotion like a Mongolian Braveheart as it chronicles the early years of the great Genghis Khan. As young tribal warrior Temudgin - the boy who would be Khan - grows to manhood on the remote plains of Central Asia, he fends off enemies, avenges his father’s death and finds true love (and family) with pugnacious bride Borte, before being kidnapped by slave-trading adversaries and unleashing the world-conquering warlord within. The movie paints a vividly accurate portrait of life in this unforgiving region: you can smell the yurts and yaks, and surrender to the exotic sounds of throat singing. The widescreen landscape photography is often ravishing, grey sky and green grass blurring in soft washes of misty morning pallor as sunlight creeps across the steppes.

Mae’r ffilm afaelgar hon yn croniclo blynyddoedd cynnar yr enwog Gengis Khan. Mae Temudgin - sef y Khan ifanc, yn cael ei fagu ar wastadoedd anghysbell Canol Asia, ardal anfaddeugar caiff ei phortreadu’n gelfydd yn y ffilm. Yn llawn emosiwn a drama, rhyfela, cariad a thalu’r pwyll yn ôl, cofiwch ddod i weld y Braveheart o Fongolia.

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Cert 15

Oliver Hodge | UK | 2007 | 87′

This interesting - and timely - documentary profiles unorthodox architect, eco-warrior and founder of Earthship Biotecture, Michael Reynolds. Since the late 1970s, the wild-haired 60-year-old has been setting up communities of increasing size in remote New Mexico locations based on his experimental, self-sufficient houses. His 1972-built ‘Thumb House’ pioneered his use of trash items - old glass and plastic, tin cans, earth-filled tyres - and enclosed sewerage, water and heat collection systems. Since then, his radical and increasingly urgent ideas on sustainable living and his lopsided, idiosyncratic DIY dwellings have brought him into dispute with US state and national planning and legal institutions. Director Oliver Hodge provides an engaging examination of this tireless, free-speaking innovator, a true humanitarian who offers a real alternative to modern living.

Ffilm ddogfen sy’n proffilio’r rhyfelwr-eco Michael Reynolds. Ers diwedd y 70au, bu’n sefydlu cymunedau mewn mannau anghysbell yn New Mexico wedi seilio ar ei dai arbrofol, hunangynhaliol. Mae’n defnyddio darnau gwastraff - ac yn cynllunio systemau o gasglu gwres a dŵr. Ers hynny, mae ei syniadau radical am fyw’n gynaliadwy wedi taro yn erbyn sefydliadau cynllunio America. Astudiaeth ddiddorol ac amserol efallai o ŵr sy’n cynnig ffordd o fyw arall yn yr oes sydd ohoni

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