March 29th 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.
Today's continuing series include Tout Truffaut at Film Forum, See It Big! Comedies at Museum of the Moving Image, Richie's Electric Eight: The Bold and the Daring at the Japan Society, and Auteurs Gone Wild at Anthology Film Archives.
Nitehawk Cinema
STRIPES (1981) Dir; Ivan Reitman
LABYRINTH (1986) Dir; Terry Jones
Film Forum
SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER (1960) Dir; Francois Truffaut
THE 400 BLOWS (1959) Dir; Francois Truffaut
BREATHLESS (1959) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
Museum of the Moving Image
SIDEWALK STORIES (1989) Dir; Charles Lane
THE LADIES MAN (1961) Dir; Jerry Lewis
M.A.S.H. (1970) Dir; Robert Altman
Japan Society
THE EMPEROR'S NAKED ARMY MARCHES ON (1987) Dir; Kazuo Hara
THE CEREMONY (1971) Dir; Nagisa Oshima
Anthology Film Archives
BROKEN LULLABY (1932) Dir; Ernst Lubitsch
THE SAGA OF ANATHAN (1953) Dir; Joseph von Sternberg
YOU AND ME (1938) Dir; Fritz Lang
IFC Center
THE SHINING (1980) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
Nitehawk Cinema
THE APPLE (1980) Dir; Menahem Golen
Today's Pick? I skipped the Forum's Francois Truffaut series yesterday beacuse Annie and Alvy beckoned me hie to Astoria, but today I'm showing some love to what I feel is the maestro's underappreciated sophomore effort, which I believe has earned said status mostly because it resides on his CV between two of his most iconic films; debut feature THE 400 BLOWS and, perhaps the ultimate romantic work of the Nouvelle Vague, 1961's JULES AND JIM. The tweener effort saw the filmmaker still in search of a voice, and this made for a playful juggling of influences; from Italian Neo-Realism to Hollywood's fatalist crime noir of the 40's, all the way back to the anarchic antics of the silent cinema. The result is not so much a mess as it is overflowing with ideas, but I maintain it coalesces into a cohesive whole, as important and informative to that burgeoning French film movement as anything from the early days of Godard and Chabrol and Resnais. And those films didn't have the smoky cool Charles Aznavour as their lead. Chew on that Jean-Luc Claude Alain!
Francois Truffaut's SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER screens as part of Film Forum's Tout Truffaut series. No smoking in the theater. Offscreen.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in March '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 tomorrow with a brand new Pick, til then be sure to take an umbrella. Doesn't have to be your umbrella, ANY umbrella!
-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 the 2012 hurricane. Be a mensch.
