July 18th 2013. Pick Of The Day.
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Film Forum's short reprieve of last month's expired, exhaustive trib to Yasujiro Ozu today brings THE FLAVOR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE. Ozu's familiar theme of arranged marriage and the modern daughters who rail against the antiquated parctice serves as the film's central plot, which is eventually resolved around the titular dinner. A different Asian export declares a more kinetic emancipation from expected stereotypes today, and he does it outdoors. Bring water. Sorry again, Yaz.
Also at the Forum Michelangelo Antonioni's L'AVVENTURA, the filmmaker's breakout hit that marked him as an exciting voice in burgeoning world cinema, comes to the midway point of its two week booking. Chose this last Friday, so as my heart skips a beat at the sight of Monica vitti so do I skip this flick as today's Pick. She'll forgive.
Audrey Hepburn committed to celluloid perhaps her most iconic perf as Holly Golightly in Blake Edwards' adap of Truman Capote's BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S, screening for the second of its three day booking as part of MoMA's ongoing Auteurist History of Film series. I heart Audz incredibly, but I cannot let a chick flick take my top spot on a day when one of the greatest guy flicks of all-time screens. I've now passed up two of my biggest screen crushes to choose this quintessential action pic. Earn this...
BAM's month-long trib to American indie film godfather and guy flick icon John Cassavetes continues apace with yet another sparkling showcase for his wife, the luminous Gena Rowlands. MINNIE AND MOSKOWITZ pairs the brassy blonde with Seymour Cassell as two loners who meet cute and yeah figure out the rest. Impeccably sweet stuff from the man who once took on Lee Marvin in THE DIRTY DOZEN, but a far different romance, one betweeen fists of fury and the bones they break, gets the blood angried up this eve. JC's gonna be around for a while still...
Also at BAM, at their newly renovated Harvey Theater movie palace to be precise, Francis Ford Coppola's entry into the "greatest sequel all-time" contest, THE GODFATHER PART 2, makes yet another offer you can't refuse. Except I do. What can I say, a different type of criminal ringleader is challenged by the lightning quick hands of justice tonight. And in my Pick the good guys win.
Over at Anthology Film Archives their guest-programmed series Agnes B. Selects, featuring cinematic works deemed inportant to the fashion design icon's formative years, offers up Francois Truffaut's adap of Ray Bradbury's FAHRENHEIT 451 and Akira Kurosawa's taking of his homeland's post-Hiroshima temperature I LIVE IN FEAR. Casa De Mekas is a fine venue to watch the classics unspool indeed, but today even Kurosawa and star Toshiro Mifune are no match for the man who brought Hong Kong martial arts cinema to the world's box office. To be fair, there was only one Bruce Lee.
Lee Jun-fan was born in San Francisco and raised in Hong Kong. The name loosely translates to "return again" which he did as a teen, studying at the University of Washington until dropping out to open his own martial arts school, combining the training he'd recieved from mentor Ip Man in the Wing Chun style with a new approach he'd devised based on fluidity of movement and a desire to quickly and efficiently end any potential conflict based on the street fights he'd been involved in as a Hong Kong youth. His performance at a martial arts competition in Long Beach drew the attention of producer Willima Dozier, who soon cast the future legend in his first noteworthy role; Kato in the 60's GREEN HORNET TV series. Though it only lasted a year Bruce Lee, as he had by now Americanized his name, had gotten in the door, and he refused to leave the room. Serving for a time as personal martial arts instructor to screenwriter Sterling Silliphant and actor James Coburn, he was able to scare up the odd film appearance and even pitch to CBS the premise of what would become a very popular TV series in the 70's. The downside? The network decided to cast David Carradine as the lead in KUNG FU and thank Bruce Lee for his time. Their mistake would lead to Lee's cinematic glory.
Dejected at CBS' decision Lee returned to Hong Kong, where he was surpised to find the GREEN HORNET episodes had been recut as feature films to great success. He was a star already and had had no idea. Lee subsequently signed with prominent action studio Golden Harvest to star in a pair of martial arts flicks, THE BIG BOSS and FIST OF FURY. They were monster hits all across Asia and afforded Lee the creative control over all his action scenes in follow-up hit WAY OF THE DRAGON. He was off and running and wasn't slowing down for anyone or anything. However, Lee halted production on his nearly complete 4th feature GAME OF DEATH when Warner Brothers came a-callin'. Seems they smelled big profits to be made off the star's growing international popularity, and formed the first Hong Kong-Hollywood partnership, joining forces with Golden Harvest to produce Lee's most ambitious effort yet, a combination of his ruthless streetfighting persona with a James Bond inspired plot. The resulting film was insanely popular, spawning the Kung Fu craze of the 70's, and remains one of the most iconic action flicks in film history, cementing for all time Bruce Lee's status as bona fide movie star. Sadly, the actor never lived to see it, as he died mere days before the picture's premiere. His tragic early death no doubt added to the film's coffers and his own legendary status, as it had with James Dean nearly 20 years earlier, and we are left with the bummer question mark of what would have come in the wake of the film's success. Tonight though, let's just be glad he got the chance to star in the flick that made him not merely synonymous with the genre, but the prevailing yardstick all others must still best.
Robert Clouse's seminal martial arts actioner ENTER THE DRAGON, which also features early appearances from martial arts legends Jackie Chan and Sammo Hung, screens tonight outdoors at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Everybody will be Kung Fu fighting. Trust me.
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Check in with the good people at Occupy Sandy to see if you still mght be able to donate/volunteer to help some NY'ers who still need it.
Be safe and sound and make sure the next guy/gal is too. Thermometers are heading northwards toward 100 degrees today, Stockahz, so hydrate, stay cool and make sure your loved ones are prepped for the intense heat. Me? I LOVE this stuff. Anything that sends a giant Fuck You to the month of January. Do you hear me my lifelong foe? From Hell's Heart I stab at thee! Hell's Heart is my mountain bike's nickname!
-Joe Walsh
