December 19th 2013. Pick of the Day.
New York City's premiere resource for classic film screenings in the metropolitan area. Offering reviews, recommendations, venues and a host of links keeping classic film and the silver screens alive.
Continuing series today include Film Forum's comprehensive trib to Barbara Stanwyck, the Film Society's concurrent celebrations of George Cukor, ace studio-era helmer, and filmmaker Ingmar Bergman's work with muse Liv Ullmann, and MoMA's ongoing Auteurist History of Film. The cinematic mishegoss as follows;
IFC Center
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Dir; Frank Capra
Film Forum
REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1955) Dir; Nicholas Ray
THERE'S ALWAYS TOMORROW (1956) Dir; Douglas Sirk
ALL I DESIRE (1953) Dir; Douglas Sirk
Film Society of Lincoln Center
RICH AND FAMOUS (1982) Dir; George Cukor
THE MARRYING KIND (1952) Dir; George Cukor
FACE TO FACE (1975) Dir; Ingmar Bergman
HOUR OF THE WOLF (1968) Dir; Ingmar Bergman
MoMA
GERTRUD (1964) Dir; Carl Theodore Dreyer
POLYESTER (1981) Dir; John Waters
BAM Cinematek
STALKER (1979) Dir; Andrei Tarkovsky
BowTie Chelsea Cinemas
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) Dir; Elia Kazan
Today's Pick? Dunno, some people want one flick, some people want another, and then everything switches back again. You're tearing me apart.
So I'm going with a kindred spirit as my Pick today, someone who really gets me, y'know, the whole trauma of trying to live up to the world's expectations while simultaneously seeking my own purpose and panache. As I bang on Ed Platt's desk. Okay maybe I identify too much with the hero of Nick Ray's film, what remains the ultimate valentine to romantic teen angst, as embodied by none other than the iconically tragic (or tragically iconic) late great James Dean, in his most famous role as the near-feral Jim Stark. But I could choose worse cinematic youths to identify with. Like McDowell's Alex in A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. Or the scamps in Van Sant's ELEPHANT. But then again the Dean worship did Sal Mineo little good, semi-spoiler alert. Wait, now I'm torn all over again. What was it I was going on about...?
Oh yeah, Nick Ray's REBEL WTHOUT A CAUSE snags my Pick today, the last that finds it screening at Film Forum in its new 4K resto. All your fave moments have been spit-shined to their original CinemaScope release print quality; the red jacket, the milk bottle, the drag race, hey is this movie about something I'm not aware of?
For more info on these and all NYC's classic screenings in the last month of 2013 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter! Back tomorrow with a new Pick, til then make sure no nickels you accept are of the wooden variety and hip the other kids to do likewise.
-Joe Walsh
