2024 BPC LENT

‘TRUST FALL’ FILM SERIES

with ERIC DAVID
 
We are so excited to announce that after a three-year hiatus, the Reel Christianity Film is back for a Lent film series. Led by longtime film series director Eric David, we offer six great hand-picked faith-related films from the past few years. You’re guaranteed to experience something informative and entertaining about our faith with each film and its discussion after.
 
WHEN/WHERE:
BPC, 12000 San Vicente Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90049
Wednesdays during Lent in Room 121
Popcorn and fellowship at 6pm, film rolls promptly at 6:30pm.
Theological and devotional discussion afterwards.
 
DATE (WEDNESDAY)                                             TITLE       
February 21                                  Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
February 28                                 The Most Reluctant Convert
March 6                                        Jesus Revolution
March 13                                       Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song   
March 20                                       Minari
March 27                                       Guillermo del Toro’s “Pinocchio” (2022)
                           
Week 6 – March 27, 2024
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio

This is definitely not your mother’s Pinocchio, but it’s much closer to the original novel. Geppetto takes his own trust fall in his hands as a puppet maker trying to bring his dead son back to life. Join us to see this new version of an old tale of art, resurrection, redemption and faith.

Description:

A father’s wish magically brings a wooden boy to life in World War II Italy, giving him a chance to care for the child. Among three recent versions of the classic tale, Guillermo del Toro’s is the best and most worthy of our discussion.

Rotten Tomatoes says, “Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio delivers fully on its title – which is to say it’s a visually stunning adaptation that embraces its source material’s darkness.”

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillermo_del_Toro%27s_Pinocchio

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1488589/reference/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Od2NW1sfRdA&ab_channel=Netflix

Week 5 – March 20, 2024
Minari

This Korean family takes a trust fall in the 1980s in rural America to start their lives anew and live the American dream. Join us to see their ups and downs in this Oscar-nominated film.

Description:

Rated PG-13. Minari follows a family of South Korean immigrants who try to make it in the rural United States during the 1980s. Religion plays a surprisingly large role in this highly acclaimed and Oscar-nominated film.

A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, “Minari is modest, specific and thrifty, like the lives it surveys. There’s nothing small about it, though, because it operates at the true scale of life.”

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minari_(film)

Imdb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10633456/reference/

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQ0gFidlro8&ab_channel=A24

Week 4 – March 13, 2024
Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song

We all know the famous song, “Hallelujah” by the late, great Leonard Cohen. Join us to see a compelling documentary about the creation of the song and Cohen’s Jewish and Buddhist faith.

Description:

Rated PG-13. The film wraps a biography of the singer around the story of the song, with archival footage and interviews with friends and admirers, focusing on both his Jewish and his Buddhist ideas.

* * * 

In The Atlantic, critic Kevin Dettmar said the film “documents the record’s long, strange trip to ubiquity. It’s a tale about the vagaries of recording history and the foolishness of industry suits, but it’s also about rediscovery and inspiration and reinvention.”

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hallelujah:_Leonard_Cohen,_A_Journey,_A_Song

Week 3 – March 6, 2024
JESUS REVOLUTION

Come see the true story of Calvary Chapel in the late ‘60s and the hippie Jesus movement that took this city by storm. Pastor of a withering church Chuck Smith takes a huge trust fall following prophet-like Lonnie Frisbee.

* * *

Rated R. The true story of a national spiritual awakening in the early 1970s and its origins within a community of teenage hippies in Southern California, just down the street from us. Jesus Revolution stars Chelsey Grammer and Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in the hit “The Chosen” TV series.
Film Threat writer Alan Ng gave the film an 8/10, saying, “I associate three things with faith-based films: bad acting, an outrageous, overly positive message, and a shoe-horned sermon. Thankfully, this film avoids all three elements.”
 
 
Week 1 – February 21, 2024
ARE YOU THERE GOD?
IT’S ME, MARGARET

 

We wanted to start with with a fun family movie; a story that moms (even grandmoms) and their daughters will appreciate. Based on Judy Blume’s seminal 1970 coming-of-age novel, Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret our first film is a 2023 comedy-drama film that takes the prayers and faith of a young girl seriously, as she becomes a young woman.
 
Pete Hammond of Deadline Hollywood called it a “rip-roaring, funny, human, wonderful studio movie comedy you might have forgotten Hollywood knew how to make anymore.”
 
Wiki:
Imdb:
Trailer: