April 30th 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.
Now seems as good a day as any to discuss our fave works of Cinema Deluge. Aronofsky's NOAH? Peter Weir's THE LAST WAVE? Mikael Salomon's HARD RAIN? How about the tsunami subgenre? Cameron's THE ABYSS? Juan Antonio Bayona's THE IMPOSSIBLE? Any number of films directed by Roland Emmerich? Musicals? Kelly and Donen's SINGING IN THE RAIN, Jacques Demy's THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG? Am I bitter about the weather? What a strange question, why do you ask?
New and continuing series today include An Auteurist History of Film and Marco Bellocchio: A Retrospective at MoMA, and the weeklong trib to Ellen Burstyn at BAM Cinématek. The racing between the raindrops looks thus;
Film Forum
OTHELLO (1952) Dir; Orson Welles
MoMA
THE FIREMEN'S BALL (1967) Dir; Milos Forman
DEVIL IN THE FLESH (1986) Dir; Marco Bellocchio
BAM Cinématek
THE EXORCIST (1973) Dir; William Friedkin
IFC Center
GODZILLA (1954) Dir; Ishiro Honda
Today's Pick? Friedkin's EXORCIST tempts, but Ms. Burstyn herself, in whose honor this unspools, will make a personal appearance at a future screening in this series, so today I withhold. Welles' OTHELLO grants me a further 8 days to make it my Pick, so I'm gonna bide my time. Having just chosen Honda's GODZILLA as recently as last week I resist the urge to double-dip, although the combo of Pacific Rim weather and my subsequent desire to crush buildings beneath my giant scaly feet* makes this a most appealing proposition. So I'm going with an early, essential example of the 60's Czech New Wave, Milos Forman's THE FIREMAN'S BALL, screening at MoMA as part of the Auteurist History of Film series. I've never seen it, Forman is a fave helmer, and I hear them Czechs got up to some pretty entertaining shenanigans during the Bloc occupation in the late 60's. Plus MoMA has them handy umbrella bags so you're not dripping all over the joint. Or is that BAM? Whatehvz, I'm not leaving the theater until it's June anyway.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in April '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the May '14 overview listen in to the new podcast, posting tomorrow! For reviews of contemporary cinema and my streaming habits (keep it clean!) check out my Letterboxd 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 if the rain gets really bad follow the nearest guy wearing flowing robes and a long beard. He'll either part the East River or bowl ten frames against you.
-Joe Walsh
P. S. Should you be feeling charitable during this still 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.
*I've since disovered epsom salts. Just sayin'.
