August11th-17th: Lean's Desert, Coppola's Cars, et Belle Jeanne. To Le Snack Counter!
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New and ongoing series this week include Summer Double Features at Film Forum; Modern Matinees: The Impeccable Deborah Kerr and Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction at MoMA; Jonathan Demme: Heart of Gold at BAM Cinématek; On Fire Island and Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z at Metrograph; '77 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center; The Beguiling Bujold at the Quad Cinema; See it Big: 70mm! at Museum of the Moving Image; and the swankily surreal Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. The unctuous unspool be thus:
Friday August 11th
IFC Center
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) Dir; John Frankenheimer
ROAD GAMES (1981) Dir; Richard Franklin
Film Forum
BLESSED EVENT (1932) Dir; Roy del Ruth
EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE (1933) Dir; Roy del Ruth
SCARFACE (1932) Dir; HAWKS!!!
SCARFACE (1983) Dir; de palma
Jeanne Moreau
ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1957) Dir; Louis Malle
DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID (1964) Dir; Luis Buñuel
MoMA
Modern Matinees: The Impeccable Deborah Kerr
THE KING AND I (1956) Dir; Walter Lang
Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction
INVASION (1968) Dir; Hugo Santiago
THE YEAR OF THE PLAGUE (1979) Dir; Felipe Cazals
BAM Cinématek
SWING SHIFT (1984) Dir; Jonathan Demme
LAST EMBRACE (1979) Dir; Jonathan Demme
Metrograph
STICKS AND STONES (1970) Dir; Stan Lopresto
LAST SUMMER (1969) Dir; Frank Perry
Film Society of Lincoln Center
THAT OBSCURE OBJECT OF DESIRE (1977) Dir; Luis Buñuel
OPENING NIGHT (1977) Dir; John Cassavetes
THE LAST WAVE (1977) Dir; Peter Weir
Quad Cinema
THE WAR IS OVER (1966) Dir; Alain Resnais
ISABEL (1968) Dir; Paul Almond
TROUBLE IN MIND (1985) Dir; Alan Rudolph
Museum of the Moving Image
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) Dir; David Lean
Anthology Film Archives
GREENWICH VILLAGE STORY (1963) Dir; Jack O'Connell
WNYC Transmitter Park
GREASE (1978) Dir; Randall Kleiser
Rubin Museum
BARTON FINK (1991) Dirs; Joen & Ethan Coen
Today's Pick? Against all the great series this night, the Film Forum's double Feature bargain, and several other makeshift double- or triple- or quadruple- features you'd need to shell out extra dough for but with great reward, series dedicated to the luminous Genevieve Bujold, the recently departed Jonathan Demme, and that year that leaft us too soon, 1977, I am compelled to pick a Top Tenner, screening in the format is was designed for, in a venue not only prepped fully for its proper present, but magic in its own right. David Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARIABIA will screen multiple times over the course of this weekend, all in 70mm, at the golden Museum of the Moving Image, as part of their awesome See it Big: 70mm! series. But why wait, really? For the zealous film lovers amongst us, there is only the desert.
Saturday August 12th
IFC Center
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) Dir; John Frankenheimer
ROAD GAMES (1981) Dir; Richard Franklin
Metrograph
TRAFIC (1971) Dir; Jacques Tati
THAT DARN CAT! (1965) Dir; Robert Stevenson
TUCKER (1988) Dir; Francis Ford Coppola
LAST SUMMER (1969) Dir; Frank Perry
PARTING GLANCES (1986) Dir; Bill Sherwood
Film Forum
RAGING BULL (1980) Dir; Martin Scorsese
THE SET-UP (1949) Dir; Robert Wise
Jeanne Moreau
ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS (1957) Dir; Louis Malle
DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID (1964) Dir; Luis Buñuel
Quad Cinema
SWASHBUCKLER (1976) Dir; James Goldstone
THE TROJAN WOMEN (1971) Dir; Michael Cacoyannis
ACT OF THE HEART (1970) Dir; Paul Almond
ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS (1969) Dir; Charles Jarrot
MoMA
Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction
THE FACE OF ANOTHER (1966) Dir; Hiroshi Teshigahara
SHIVERS (1977) Dir; David Cronenberg
VIDEODROME (1983) Dir; David Cronenberg
Film Society of Lincoln Center
WIZARDS (1977) Dir; Ralph Bakshi
ON THE SILVER GLOBE (1977) Dir; Andrzej Zulawski
ERASERHEAD (1977) Dir; David Lynch
THE CAR (1977) Dir; Elliot Silverstein
Museum of the Moving Image
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) Dir; David Lean
PATTON (1970) Dir; Franklin J. Schaffner
BAM Cinématek
THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS (1991) Dir; Jonathan Demme
Willowbrook Park, Staten Island
BACK TO THE FUTURE PART III (1989) Dir; Robert Zemeckis. He alone is to blame.
Today's Pick? I now must relenquish all control to the ethereal beauty and imposing talent that summed up the late great Jeanne Moreau, and implore your forking over of separate admission prices to two of her all-timers, breakthrough perf ELEVATOR TO THE GALLOWS, and signature turn DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID, from auteurs Louis Malle and Luis Buñuel respectively, at that venue most sympathetique to the Francophile, the beloved Film Forum. No more appropriate venue exists within our glorious rep circuit to lay a flower at her feet. Pay your respects.
Sunday August 13th
IFC Center
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) Dir; John Frankenheimer
Metrograph
THAT DARN CAT! (1965) Dir; Robert Stevenson
TRAFIC (1971) Dir; Jacques Tati
TUCKER (1988) Dir; Francis Ford Coppola
PARTING GLANCES (1986) Dir; Bill Sherwood
STICKS AND STONES (1970) Dir; Stan Lopresto
Film Forum
EMPLOYEES ENTRANCE (1933) Dir; Roy del Ruth
BLESSED EVENT (1932) Dir; Roy del Ruth
TOP HAT (1935) Dir; Mark Sandrich
SWING TIME (1936) Dir; George Stevens
MoMA
Future Imperfect: The Uncanny in Science Fiction
INVASION (1968) Dir; Hugo Santiago
THE YEAR OF THE PLAGUE (1979) Dir; Felipe Cazals
Quad Cinema
THE MODERNS (1988) Dir; Alan Rudolph
TIGHTROPE (1985) Dir; Clint Eastwood
THE WAR IS OVER (1966) Dir; Alain Resnais
DEAD RINGERS (1988) Dir; David Cronenberg
BAM Cinématek
MELVIN AND HOWARD (1980) Dir; Jonathan Demme
Film Society of Lincoln Center
HIGH ANXIETY (1977) Dir; Mel Brooks
AIRPORT '77 (1977) Dir; Jerry Jameson
CEDDO (1977) Dir; Ousmane Sembene
HOUSE (1977) Dir; Nobuhiko Obayashi
Museum of the Moving Image
PATTON (1970) Dir; Franklin J. Schaffner
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962) Dir; David Lean
Anthology Film Archives
GREENWICH VILLAGE STORY (1963) Dir; Jack O'Connell
Today's Pick? I'm gonna go with a left-field toss toda, with so many great series and programs on the dock, and choose a single film; Francis Ford Coppola's TUCKER, unspoling in glorious 35mm at the wonderful Metrograph as part of their series inventively entitled Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z! It's a feel-good flick with perhaps not the happiest ending, it might be FFC's last great movie, it trumpets the talets of stalwarts like Jef Bridges and Joan Allen, heralded the rise of Christian Slater, and birthed the recently passed Martin Landau his 2nd and perhaps finest act. It's a wondrous, whip-pan of a flick, one in which he strong-armed the financing from buddy/bitter little bro George Lucas, who talked the elder filmmaker out of making it a musical even though those blueprints still show through in the final product! It might just serve as a sober tonic to the truly optimistic amongst us still, that while some dreams may not make it all the way they might serve as inspiration for the next set of dreamers. Coppola's still my guy.
Other notable screenings this upcoming week include Big Al's NORTH BY NORTHWEST, unspooling this Monday night at Bryant Park as that fest slowly winds down; Charles Burnett's groundbreaking, ceiling-fracturing KILLER OF SHEEP, at the Film Society this Tuesday as part of their celebration of the cinematic year '77; Tim Burton's still-unique BEETLEJUICE, screening outdoors this Wednesday at Pier One, Riverside Park; and the too-many-directors-to-waste-time-naming CASINO ROYALE, the first 007 film to be made outside the EON tent, with not one not two but 3-COUNT-'EM-3 actors playing James Bond, and serving as the basis for the Austin Powers franchise. It's a unique artifact of its time period, an oddity within the Bond franchise, but more importantly an exceptional opportinty for a bloody brilliant cameo from one Deborah, in whose name this series, The Impeccable Deborah Kerr, unspools. At MoMA.
Once again, there you have it, my picks and pontifications regarding your next 7 days' worth of rep filmgoing! We'll check in again a week from now, in the early days of a whole new spin 'round the sun, for the purposes of once more rummaging through the reels and making the tough yet wonderful choices regarding our chosen love. Til then be sure to follow me on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and be SURE to catch my new YouTube channel, Nitrate Stock TV, where I'll be checking in at screenings all over the city and giving my 2 cents on the film, the venue, the audience, any damn thing that comes to my mind. Which, as some of ya know, can be quite entertaining. Til next time Stockahz, remember: be safe, be sound, and make sure the next guy and gal are too. Excelsior!
- Joe Walsh
P. S. As you know I like to beat the drum for what I consider worthwhile causes. Xenophobia has sadly always been present in our country, mostly dormant, but at times very awoken and tangible. Sadly, the latter is the present case, and the subject of Syrian refugees has become a veritable powderkeg. To those of you who believe we can aid these people, our fellow human beings who are desperate for our help, I suggest the heroic efforts of the good men and women at DoctorsWithoutBorders, the outreach and safe haven offered by the International Rescue Committee, and the decades-old and ongoing good works from the folks at UNICEF. Collectively they're proving that the greatest investment we can make as a human race is in each other, and that helping to save someone else in troubled circumstances is indeed nothing more than saving ourselves. It's a small something to be sure in this maelstrom of madness, but it is just that: something.
