Product Description The acclaimed new work from filmmaker Patrick Wang (In the Family), featuring a remarkable performance from actress Tyne Daly, is the story of The Bread Factory, a community arts center in the small town of Checkford, told in two films. In part one, after 40 years of running The Bread Factory, Dorothea (Daly) and Greta (Elisabeth Henry) are suddenly fighting for survival when a celebrity couple performance artists from China come to Checkford and build an enormous complex down the street catapulting big changes in their small town. Part two revolves around rehearsals for the Greek play Hecuba. But the real theatrics are outside the theater where the town has been invaded by bizarre tourists and mysterious tech start-up workers. 2-DISC SET | SPECIAL FEATURES Discussion between Patrick Wang and critic Jonathan Rosenbaum (51 minutes) Filming Hecuba, a featurette on A Bread Factory s creation (23 minutes) Music video for Chip Taylor s Sir Walter (3 minutes) Theatrical Trailer Review "A major new work by a singular American artist. A Bread Factory has an immense cast, a deliberate pace and thematic ambition to spare but it also has a ground-level, plain-spoken modesty that renders it hypnotic. Critic's Pick!" --Bilge Ebiri, The New York Times"My favorite film of the year by far. As of this writing, I've seen both parts three times. With each viewing, I notice new things and am more moved by the characters... This film is miraculous, and we are lucky to have it." --Matt Zoller Seitz, RogerEbert.comA vibrant and moving drama that s also an agreeably flaked-out ensemble comedy... It s as if Eric Rohmer had made a Christopher Guest film... Tyne Daly is formidable. --Owen Gleiberman, Variety
A**R
Wild, strange, funny, poignant
This pair of films has it all! It's a musical. It's a drama. It's a comedy. It's a study of small towns under demographic change. It has mystery. It has James Marsters. Best bit: a powerful performance by Elisabeth Henry as Greta performing "Hecuba".
J**.
Woww
Intelligent, whimsical and audacious!
A**R
Sublime and Vital
Set in the imagined community of Checkford, New York, a modest arts centre known as The Bread Factory struggles to retain both its relevance and resources as their annual funding from the city council risks being diverted to a decidedly more corporate arts institution fronted by an ostentatious pair of performance artists. As The Bread Factory’s founders Dorothea (Tyne Daly) and Greta (Elisabeth Henry-Macari) rally the community for support, a cavalcade of eccentric personalities are introduced, each character with their own personal discord to resolve, and each buoyed by an exceptional performance. You’ll learn of an ancient thespian’s 50-year feud with a theatre critic and watch a lovesick teenager rise up to meet a newfound responsibility. You’ll also bear witness to the growth of a performer over the course of a production of Euripides’ “Hecuba” and marvel at how patiently and precisely writer/director Patrick Wang weaves these threads and others across a series of exquisite vignettes and even outright musical numbers, each thoughtfully photographed on gorgeously grainy 16mm. The end result, across two epic halves, is a profound reminder of the transformative power of art and a communal tapestry as vivid and endearing as the wholesome portions of TWIN PEAKS.Patrick Wang is a master on the level of Ozu, Rivette, Bergman and Lynch, and this is, by a country mile the best American film since... well... Wang's IN THE FAMILY.
G**H
Snooze
A series of slightly connected vignettes encased in allusion, satire, parody, sarcasms, spoofing clichés concerning a small town arts theatre & school at risk of losing funding when a famous, out-of-town, group build a larger one down the street. Seemed to me, in my uneducated humble way, as cutesy over-intellectualizing, rambling, small town gossip. But, if you're into staged theatre humor it might be your cup-of-tea.
N**K
😁
👍👍👍👍
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