Okay, who of my long-term readers remembers what a Sessão da Tarde is? Yes, of course you do, loyal fans, it is the escape for an afternoon movie, and your Weston Public Library wants you to play hooky. Not you, students of Weston Public Schools–you shall be in class.

The weekly WPL Film Club program is run by Doc Crane and takes place on Thursday afternoons at 1:30 pm at the Weston Art & Innovation Center (and sometimes in the WPL Community Room).  The current series is “New York On Screen” and will be screening Me and Orson Welles on October 27 at the WAIC, and the documentary Man on Wire on November 3 at the WPL Community Room.

New York on Screen Film Club

October 27, 1:30 pm at WAIC (356 Boston Post Road)

ME AND ORSON WELLES  2008  114 minutes

Before Orson Welles stormed Hollywood with Citizen Kane, he was the wunderkind of New York, blazing an insolent trail with his Mercury Theater troupe.  This film by Richard Linklater explores that period, offering a look into Welles’ renowned “Blackshirt” adaptation of Julius Caesar, as experienced by a high-school student cast in a small but pivotal role. Played by Zac Efron, the teen-ager comes under Welles’ charismatic sway, only to find that the great man could also be a tyrant––often taking credit for the work of his collaborators. 

This film is an engaging back-stage story, but what makes it notable is the performance of English actor Christian McKay, who catches the mischievous charm and rapacious ego behind the Welles legend.

BE ADVISED: This film is rated PG-13, with smoking, drinking, profanity, and sexual overtones, as well as Shakespearean (and theatrical) back-stabbing.

November 3, 1:30 pm at the Weston Public Library Community Room, (87 School Street)

MAN ON WIRE  2008  94 minutes

If this documentary comes across as a heist film, it is totally intentional, because when Phillipe Petit set out to tight-rope walk between the World Trade Center towers in 1974, it was an illegal undertaking. Petit and his collaborators planned the stunt like a clockwork robbery and the film covers every nail-biting detail. Man on Wire also offers a fascinating window into a time when the towers were not venerated, as the majority of New Yorkers considered them an ungainly eyesore, but Petit took the first steps to change that perception by giving the buildings a human dimension.

BE ADVISED: This film is rated PG-13 for some sexuality and nudity, depicting what transpired on August 7, 1974, and does not address events that took place on September 11, 2001.