August 5th 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.
Back from my mini-jaunt to the Jersey Shore, a short but much-anticipated opportunity to indulge in one of my fave annual fortitude-testing repasts. I won't go into any garish gastrointestinal detail, I'll simply quote a great man, who knew a little something about blowin' it out, as it were;
What happens at the Clamfest, stays at the Clamfest. - Dean Martin.
Okay, it was Dean Cheswick Martin, founder and emeritus of the Center for Advanced Learning in Mollusk Sciences. But they sorta shared similar wildman philosophies. Ahem.
New and ongoing series today include The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy at MoMA, Classics in HD at Symphony Space, If You Meet Klaus Kinski, Pray For Your Death at Anthology Film Archives, and the 2nd 1/2 of BAM's comprehensive Luis Buñuel trib. Let's go sharkin';
Film Forum
DOUBLE INDEMNITY (1944) Dir; Billy Wilder
MoMA
THE BETTER 'OLE (1926) Dir; Charles Reisner
THE FALSE FACES (1919) Dir; Irvin V. Willat
Symphony Space
SEVEN SAMURAI (1954) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
Anthology Film Archives
BUDDY BUDDY (1982) Dir; Billy Wilder
VENOM (1981) Dir; Piers Haggard
BAM Cinématek
WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1954) Dir; Luis Buñuel
Tony Dapolito Recreation Center
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974) Dir; Mel Brooks
Today's Pick? As some of you might know by now I avail myself of the summer months to indulge in a most beloved filmmaker's CV, a audience-of-one series I like to call Summer With Kurosawa. For about 6 years now I've re-watched anywhere from 6 to 10 of the master's best, for some reason or other innately perceiving this time of year as that perfect span to rediscover and re-immerse myself in a body of work I deem nigh flawless. There are revisits that don't happen every year, such as the recently viewed DRUNKEN ANGEL and STRAY DOG, as well as Bucket List checkoffs, like last year's THE LOWER DEPTHS and what I hope will be this summer's long-time-coming RED BEARD. Then there are the unavoidables, the inevitables, the RAN's and THRONE OF BLOOD's and YOJIMBO's, the films that factor in annually, because they are instrumental to my addiction, not merely my love of the medium but my devotion to this artist and his catalog. I kicked off my Summer With Kurosawa this year with the one film that perhaps defines him most, the one that forever branded him a master of warrior cinema, that cemented his status as humanist, poet, as voice in World Cinema to be reckoned with. It was his biggest gamble, and his biggest payoff. And it helped give a beaten nation back its identity, maybe even its soul. There are few work of cinema that are forever spoken of in awestruck tones, films like CITY LIGHTS and CITIZEN KANE and THE GODFATHER, movies that define the genre, that could only exist as a work of the medium, that are among the slim ranks of its exemplars. You will find no more perfect example than what unspools tonight at the corner of 95th street and Broadway.
Akira Kurosawa's SEVEN SAMURAI screens tonight at Symphony Space as part of their Classics In HD series. I wrote a little somethin' bout it on the Nitrate Stock Tumblr page a few weeks ago, so if you'd like to know my true, and extensive, feelings about this monumental masterpiece, you can read more about it here.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in August '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview and other audio tomfoolery check out the 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. Excelsior, Stockhaz!
-Joe Walsh
P. S. Even though we've fully entered the summer months and therefore not often as mindful of the displaced, some of our fellow NY'ers are yet to be made whole since Hurricane Sandy hit nearly two years ago. Check in with the good folks at Occupy Sandy to see if you can't still volunteer/donate to our neighbors in need. Be a mensch.
