February 6th 2014. 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.
New and continuing series today include MoMA's slowly expiring Roadshow: The Fall of Film Musicals in the 60's, and their ongoing Auteurist History of Film, and the Nitehawk Cinema's Driven! The utter savagery as follows;
MoMA
BLACK GIRL (1965) Dir; Ousmane Sembene
FUNNY GIRL (1968) Dir; William Wyler
MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT (1975) Dir; Lino Brocka
CAMELOT (1967) Dir; Josh Logan
BowTie Chelsea Cinemas
REBECCA (1940) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Nitehawk Cinema
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN: THE FABULOUS STAINS! (1982) Dir; Lou Adler
Today's Pick? I'm going with a film representative of sultrier climes, that for the longest time served as the production playground for Z-movie exploitation filmmaking overseen by the likes of Roger Corman and like-minded Drive-In Movie Moguls, taking advantage of (to put it mildly) the financial incentives, lax safety conditions and cheap labor offered by the Ferdinand Marcos regime. For a brief moment back in the 50's, a gem of Filipino filmmaking, Manuel Conde's GENGHIS KHAN, had outgrown its country's borders and become a legitimate bell rung in the courtyard of World Cinema. However, the conditions of utter poverty, combined with the endemic corruption and exploitation of the island nation from forces within and without, tamped down what might have been a very interesting cinematic flame indeed. It wasn't until the 70's that a new film would cause a stir among the film fests, in particular the 1975 Cannes soiree, by addressing these very conditions: the tale of a provincial youth who makes his way to the city of Manila, and the inevitable disillusionment and despair he finds as a memebr of a Third-World country that has no control of its own fate. It was restored last year in a brand new 4K DCP, and it begins a weeklong reprise at MoMA this eve. Never seen, so I'm damned curious to say the least.
Lino Brocka's MANILA IN THE CLAWS OF LIGHT screens tonight at MoMA. Wait, I just said that, didn't I?
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in February '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on both Facebook, where I provide further info and esoterica on the rep film circuit and star birthdays, and Twitter, where I provide a daily feed for the day's screenings and other blathery. Back with a brand new Pick tomorrow, til then I'm considering using old DVD's to strike sparks over tinder. I'm pretty sure I seen Les Stroud do this. Pretty sure.
-Joe Walsh
P. S. Should you be feeling charitable during this harsh weather period please remember to check in with the good folks over at Occupy Sandy. Some of our NY neighbors are still feeling the effects of last year's hurricane. Be a mensch.
