July 16th 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 Le Durs at Film Forum, Seriously Funny: The Films of Leo McCarey at MoMA, Eternity and History: The Films of Theo Angelopoulos at Astoria's Moving Image, the roiling Cassavetes/Rowlands at the Metrograph, Four More Years: An Election Special at BAM Cinématek, and Voyeurism, Surveillence and Identity in the Cinema at Anthology Film Archives, who famously love to keep it succinct. The anamorphic amour be thus;
Film Forum
LES DOULOS (1962) Dir; Jean-Pierre Melville
LE TRAVERSEE DE PARIS () Dir; Claude Autant-Laura
ILLUSTRIOUS CORPSES (1976) Dir; Francesco Rosi
BREATHLESS (1959) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
MoMA
Seriously Funny: The Films of Leo McCarey
BATTLE OF THE CENTURY (1927) Dir; Leo McCarey
PART TIME WIFE (1930) Dir; Leo McCarey
RUGGLES OF RED GAP (1935) Dir; Leo McCarey
Mid-Manhattan Library
COOL HAND LUKE (1967) Dir; Stuart Rosenberg
Museum of the Moving Image
Eternity and History: The Films of Theo Angelopoulos
DAYS OF '36 (1972) Dir; Theo Angelopoulos
Metrograph
HUSBANDS (1970) Dir; John Cassavetes
A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974) Dir; John Cassavetes
BAM Cinématek
Four More Years: An Election Special
THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE (1962) Dir; John Frankenheimer
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976) Dir; Alan J. Pakula
Syndicated
SUSPIRIA (1977) Dir; Dario Argento
Anthology Film Archives
Essential Cinema
THE PARSON'S WIDOW (1921) Dir; Carl Theodore Dreyer
VAMPYR (1931) Dir; Carl Theodore Dreyer
Voyeurism, Surveillence and Identity in the Cinema
REAR WINDOW (1954) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Today's Pick? Holy good goddam bejeezus, I'm overwhelmed! I love the fact that the NYC rep circuit is only growing more and more, but wow does it make it more difficult to make a choice! The haeavy-hiter stoday are Pakula PREZ, Cassavetes' INFLUENCE, McCarey's RUGGLES, and Godard's lone justification for existence, BREATHLESS. Just outside the bubble are gems like Argento's SUSPIRIA and Dreyer's VAMPYR. Like I said, a tough field to cull from. But I have managed to make a selection. Because it's a perfect film for a NYC summer heat wave. Becuase it's screening in glorious 35mm. But mostly because I consider it the best work from a man who crafted many masterpieces, defined many of the cinematic rules still obeyed to this day, and literally so mastered a particluar style of moviemaking that he evolved into a genre unto himself. Plus, acording to Mel Brooks, he could decimate an entire five course dinner twice in a single sitting. You have no idea how long I've wished I could do that. Maybe after I direct something as good as a single-setting puzzle box starring Jimmy Stewart & Grace Kelly. I can dream.
Alfred Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW unspools on the media intended, and in the venue intended, as part of the series Voyeurism, Surveillence and Identity in the Cinema at the NYC cinephile's fave collapsing structure, Anthology Film Archives. It remains the definition of absolute perfection. And is still my Pick not just for the day, but for Big Al's all-time best. Let's have the conversation. But in the meantime don't miss this.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in July '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. Summer seems to have finally graced 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!
