May 17th 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.
Yanks fightin' it out for first place in the AL East? The NBA Conference finals dominating the airwaves? Something called the NHL still accessible by tweaking the rabbit ears? You guys have fun with that. My attention is squarely focused on one competitive sport that stirs the adrenaline like no other. That's right, the Annual Scripps Spelling Bee is 12 days away. Can you use "disquietude" in a sentence?
Ongoing series today include An Auteurist History of Film Reprise, Part Two at MoMA, Cool Worlds: The Animation of Ralph Bakshi at BAM Cinématek, Fassbinder: Romantic Anarchist Part One at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, the Kenji Mizoguchi retrospective at Moving Image, and From Mae West to Punk: the Bowery on Film at Anthology Film Archives. The tomfoolery as follows;
Nitehawk Cinema
BEDKNOBS AND BROOMSTICKS (1971) Dir; Robert Stevenson
GODZILLA (1954) Dir; Ishiro Honda
FRIDAY THE 13TH (1980) Dir; Sean Cunningham
Film Forum
DR. STRANGELOVE or HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB (1964) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
MoMA
THE COUSINS (1959) Dir; Claude Chabrol
WOMAN IN THE DUNES (1964) Dir; Hiroshi Teshigahara
Mid-Manhattan Library
THE NAKED SPUR (1953) Dir; Anthony Mann
BAM Cinématek
FRITZ THE CAT (1972) Dir; Ralph Bakshi
IFC Center
GODZILLA (1954) Dir; Ishiro Honda
THE WARRIORS (1979) Dir; Walter Hill
Film Society of Lincoln Center
THE MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS (1971) Dir; Rainer Werner Fassbinder
LOVE IS COLDER THAN DEATH (1969) Dir; Rainer Werner Fassbinder
GODS OF THE PLAGUE (1970) Dir; Rainer Werner Fassbinder
WHY DOES HERR R. RUN AMOK? (1970) Dir; Rainer Werner Fassbinder
Museum of the Moving Image
THE FACE OF ANOTHER (1966) Dir; Hiroshi Teshigahara
THE DOWNFALL OF OSHEN (1935) Dir; Kenji Mizoguchi
STRAITS OF LOVE AND HATE (1937) Dir; Kenji Mizoguchi
Anthology Film Archives
THE BOWERY (1933) Dir; Raoul Walsh
ON THE BOWERY (1956) Dir; Lionel Rogosin
Today's Pick? I haven't seen Ralph Bakshi's original desecration of the American animated feature, 1972's FRITZ THE CAT, on the big screen in quite some time, but my travel ambitions are greater today than a simple jaunt in and out of a neighboring borough. The Film Society's trib to German New Wave godfather Rainer Werner Fassbinder enters the second of its 17-day run at the Walter Reade Theater, offering amongst today's itinerary a new DCP resto of the Teutonic titan's THE MERCHANT OF FOUR SEASONS. That particluar selection has four more screening days in its future, though, and the series itself extends even further, so I'll bide my time. Museum of the Moving Image hies on with its comprehensive retrospective to the surviving works of master filmmaker Kenji Mizoguchi, an artist whose work I've long only read about and am now gaining a grateful appreciation of. However, while it has been awhile since I've made this unmissable series my Pick, the opportunity today to borough-hop in order to catch two crucial entries in the CV of another Japanese auteur, one who also unspools at Moving Image, takes the top spot.
Hiroshi Teshigahara came from the avant-garde world, having graduated from the Tokyo National Academy of Fine Arts and Music as a master painter and sculptor, but like many before him and since the allure of narrative cinema proved an irresistable temptation. An avid reader of the works of novelist Kobo Abe, Teshigahara instantly desired to film the author's prize-winning 1960 effort, regarding a day-tripping entomologist who seeks shelter in a strange beach encampment, and his Sisyphean attempts to escape. He eventually got the opportunity, and was awarded the Special Grand Jury Prize at the 1964 Cannes Film Fest. The director teamed up with scribe Abe again for his follow-up, the tale of an engineer horribly disfigured in an explosion, who submits to an experimental procedure to restore his face. Well, to give him a face. Identity is the common theme between these films, prisons geographical and physical their source of tension.
Lucky for you then, my Cinegeek brethren, that two simple swipes of the Metrocard can jet you to screenings of both works today. The latter, 1966's THE FACE OF ANOTHER, begins your day in Teshigahara at the Museum of the Moving Image at 3pm, and is accompanied by a Q&A with star Tatsuya Nakadai. The former, 1964's WOMAN IN THE DUNES, unspools tonight at 8pm as part of MoMA's Auteurist History of Film Reprise, Part Two. Begin in Astoria, finish in Midtown. What better way to declare the arrival of venue-transitory weather than to catch an informal two-fer via subway, two works that absolutely bellow "springtime"?
Okay, maybe we're not completely there yet, but we're making progress.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in May '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview listen in to the new podcast, and follow me on SoundCloud! 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 safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too.
-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.
