April 19th 2016. 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 this day include Japan Sings! The Japanese Musical Film at the Japan Society, Chantal Akerman: Images Between the Images at BAM, and the year-long Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z at the Metrograph. The flickering frolic be thus;
Japan Society
Japan Sings! The Japanese Musical Film
A TREATISE ON JAPANESE BAWDY SONGS (1967) Dir; Nagisa Oshima
BAM Cinématek
Chantal Akerman: Images Between the Images
LETTERS HOME (1986) Dir; Chantal Akerman
Metrograph
DUCK, YOU SUCKER! (1971) Dir; Sergo Leone
Today's Pick? Very tempted to shine some Kliegs at the recently departed Chantal Akerman, one of the pioneering female voices of the modern era. And I realize, in the wake of that statement, how completely inappropriate this selecton might seem, as it celebrates machismo elevated to its highest peak. It celebrates unshaven, unshowered drunkards who routinely womanize, and not only resort to violence, involving differing proportions of gunpowder, they gleefully make it their first choice! Stars Rod Steiger and James Coburn both offer up two of the worst affected foreign accents in film history, the former Mexican and the latter Irish. And yet it contans some of the cinema's finest poetry, and remains an interesting political comment from a very radical era. Come for the booze, bullets and broads, stay for the editorial. As much as Sergio Leone strived to keep his narratives as simple as possible, he always wound up with a thinly-vieled cultural statement.
Leone's DUCK, YOU SUCKER! aka A FISTFUL OF DYNAMITE aka ONCE UPON A TIME IN THE REVOLUTION unspools in glorious 35mm at the newly-opened Metrograph Cinema, as part of their year-long hallo entitled Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z! Support our rep scene Stockahz, and pay these fine folks a visit for tonight's screening! Check yer guns at the door!
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in April '16 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. 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 soon with new Picks 'n perks, til then safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too!
P. S. Winter's icy grip seems to have loosened on our fair metropolis, but milder weather aside some of our fellow NY'ers have still yet to be made whole in the wake of the 2012 storm. Should you be feeling charitable please visit the folks at OccupySandy.net, follow their hammer-in-hand efforts to restore people's lives, and donate/volunteer if you have the inclination and availability. Be a collective mensch, Stockahz!
