November 11th-13th: Capra, Chaplin, and the Cinema of Hope. Welcome.
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Hello, Stockahz, hello. I hope this missive finds you in healthy body and spirits. It's been a tough week, no doubt, for a great many of us. General elections every 4 years tend to have that effect on us, whether we voted for the winner or the loser. We are of course in a different situation that we're used to, here at home and those viewing from abroad. Different players, different stakes, different consequences. I neither want to make light of the situation in an attempt to soothe wounds, nor concede that it is proof of the Sissyphean nature of our efforts, those of us who desire progress. The truth is we don't know the world we live in at the moment. Not yet. We're in a limbo state, where all we can rely on are the signposts that brought us to this moment in the dark, and depending on what you were looking for on this road, those signs bade quite ill indeed.
So while I don't want to spread disingenuous platitude like so much laquer on an old chair, I do want to propose the notion that perhaps our darkest hour may not have arrived, or that it may still be thwarted going forward. It's going to take a great deal of strength and hope and work, but if I can offer this weekly column as anything more than just glib weekend cinema-going suggestion, it's to propose that optimism, like energy, can never be destroyed. It can be displaced, it can be dispersed, it can be made to shift from one area to another without our control. It can sometimes seem to disappear, never to return. Here's the thing, and after days of searching for something, ANYthing worth a damn to say in the wake of such despair, I think I've landed on this pertinent reminder: optimism never goes away. Never. Optimism belongs to us, it's never far from us, and it is the seed from which great ideas and their ultimate realizations spring. So in that spirit, I've chosen to focus on some of the choicest examples of the Cinema of Hope this weekend. If nothing else maybe it'll just help make you forget the events of this week for a couple of hours, which might be Medication enough. Maybe though, just maybe, it'll inspire.
New and ongoing screenings this week include Kurosawa and Mifune at IFC Center, 3D Auteurs and Film Forum Jr. at Film Forum (you guessed it!), Bresson on Cinema at BAM Cinématek, To Save and Project: The 14th Annual International Festival of Film Preservation and Tom Hanks: A Tribute at MoMA, Memorable Fantasies: Jorge Luis Borges & Adolfo Bioy Casares on Film and The Medium is the Massacre at Anthology Film Archives, Total Verhoeven at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and the serenely cool Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. The shenanigans be thus;
Friday November 11th
IFC Center
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
BLUE VELVET (1986) Dir; David Lynch
DUNE (1984) Dir; David Lynch
ALIENS (1986) Dir; James Cameron
Film Forum
GUN FURY (1953) Dir; Raoul Walsh
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
TAZA, SON OF COCHISE (1954) Dir; Douglas Sirk
BAM Cinématek
BRIEF ENCOUNTER (1945) Dir; David Lean
BICYCLE THIEVES (1948) Dir; Vitorio de Sica
MoMA
To Save and Project: The 14th Annual International Festival of Film Preservation
THE VENERABLE ONES (1962) Dir; Manuel Antín
STORY OF THE NIGHT (1979) Dir; Clemens Klopfenstein
Anthology Film Archives
Memorable Fantasies: Jorge Luis Borges & Adolfo Bioy Casares on Film
INVASION (1969) Dir; Hugo Santiago
THE SPIDER'S STRATAGEM (1970) Dir; Bernardo Bertolucci
DEMONS (1985) Dir; Lamberto Bava
Film Society of Lincoln Center
ROBOCOP (1987) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
Rubin Museum
LOST HORIZON (1937) Dir; Frank Capra
Today's Pick? Let's embrace a little Utopia today at the end of a week when we so desperately seem to need it. Frank Capra's LOST HORIZON will be unfolding in all its paradisic glory, in its recently restored iteration, at that ode to eternal swank, the screening lounge at the Rubin Museum. You can knock back a smooth cocktail, stretch your legs, and take in a pearly white and black version of the better angels of our nature. Yes, you'll still have the real world to deal with afterwards, but hey: the movies only ever promise approximately 2 hours or so of escapism. Sometimes, though, that's all it takes to recharge our batteries. Give it a shot.
Saturday November 12th
IFC Center
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
BLUE VELVET (1986) Dir; David Lynch
DUNE (1984) Dir; David Lynch
ALIENS (1986) Dir; James Cameron
Nitehawk Cinema
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) Dir; John Huston
MoMA
To Save and Project: The 14th Annual International Festival of Film Preservation
ADIEU BONAPARTE (1985) Dir; Youssef Chahine
THE VENERABLE ONES (1962) Dir; Manuel Antín
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) Dir; George A. Romero
'THE BURBS (1989) Dir; Joe Dante
Film Society of Lincoln Center
FLESH + BLOOD (1985) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
SPETTERS (1980) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
TOTAL RECALL (1990) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
BAM Cinématek
A MAN ESCAPED (1956) Dir; Robert Bresson
CITY LIGHTS (1931) Dir; Charlie Chaplin
Library for the Performing Arts
CHICAGO (1927) Dir; C. B. De Mille
Anthology Film Archives
Memorable Fantasies: Jorge Luis Borges & Adolfo Bioy Casares on Film
CELINE AND JULIE GO BOATING (1974) Dir; Jacques Rivette
ORBIE'S CRIME (1950) Dirs; Leopoldo Torre Nilsson & Leopoldo Torre Ríos
THE OTHERS (1974) Dir; Hugo Santiago
ANGUISH (1987) Dir; Bigas Luna
Film Forum
DIAL M FOR MURDER (1954) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
IT CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1953) Dir; Jack Arnold
Today's Pick? Let's indulge in some big-hearted humanity, for which there are few greater reservoirs than the immortal Charles Chaplin. Specifically his 1931 masterpiece CITY LIGHTS, produced and released in the silent format he'd helped to revolutionize in utter defiance of that passing fashion of the day, the "talkie". And honestly, thank heavens for his stubborness, because neither I nor, I'd wager, any fan of this film could possibly imagine it with a soundtrack! It is sheer visual poetry of the variety that only Chaplin himself could concoct, and it will help remind those inclined to believe such things that the human heart is essentially good and worthy of our faith and industry. Screens at BAM Cinématek as part of their Bresson series.
Sunday November 13th
IFC Center
THRONE OF BLOOD (1957) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
Film Forum
LABYRINTH (1986) Dir; Jim Henson
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON (1954) Dir; Jack Arnold
REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955) Dir; Jack Arnold
MAN IN THE DARK (1953) Dir; Lew Landers
THE GLASS WEB (1953) Dir; Jack Arnold
INFERNO (1953) Dir; Roy Ward Baker
Nitehawk Cinema
THE MALTESE FALCON (1941) Dir; John Huston
MoMA
To Save and Project: The 14th Annual International Festival of Film Preservation
THE DARK ROAD (1921) Dir; F. W. Murnau
DAY SHALL DAWN (1958) Dir; Aaejay Kardar
BIG (1988) Dir; Penny Marshall
BACHELOR PARTY (1984) Dir; Neal Israel
Syndicated
THIS IS SPINAL TAP (1984) Dir; Rob Reiner
Film Society of Lincoln Center
TURKISH DELIGHT (1973) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
THE 4TH MAN (1983) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
BUSINESS IS BUSINESS (1971) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
KATIE TIPPEL (1975) Dir; Paul Verhoeven
Anthology Film Archives
Memorable Fantasies: Jorge Luis Borges & Adolfo Bioy Casares on Film
PANDORA'S BOX (1927) Dir; G. W. Pabst
LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD (1960) Dir; Alain Resnais
ON TOP OF A WHALE (1982) Dir; Raúl Ruiz
BAM Cinématek
DIARY OF A COUNTRY PRIEST (1951) Dir; Robert Bresson
THE GOLD RUSH (1925) Dir; Charlie Chaplin
Today's Pick? Who better to round out the weekend's warm cinematic huggery than Tom Hanks himself, the actor with perhaps the most reassuring screen presence since Jimmy Stewart. In Penny Marshall's first great film, 1988's BIG, Hanks portrays childhood rushed violently into adulthood, balancing perfectly the wide-eyed prepubescent gaze with a slowly, too-early maturation. Ultimately he imbues and/or invokes the spirit of childish wonder in the jaded grown-ups in his circle, inspiring their positivity rather than succumbing to their drone pessimism. And hey, that sounds like a solid reminder that we sorely need right about now, that while some outcomes sometimes seem to be unbearably soul-crushing, the possibilties will always remain endless, and well worth working towards. Screens at MoMA as trib to the Hollywood icon.
Other notable screenings this week upcoming include Jean Cocteau's THE TESTAMENT OF ORPHEUS, screening this Monday at BAM Cinématek as part of the Bresson on Cinema program; Paul Verhoeven's action/black satire classic ROBOCOP, screening this Tuesday at the Walter Reade Theater as part of the Film Society's trib to the director, and intro'd by the Dutch Touch himself; Roy Ward Baker's 3D western potboiler INFERNO, recently restored and screening at the Film Forum as part of their 3D Auteurs series; and one of the great Anthony Mann's best late-40's noirs, the mad-bomber detective procedural HE WALKED BY NIGHT, newly restored in 35mm and showcasing ace noir DP John Alton's stunning B&W photography, screening Thursday as part of MoMA's annual and always awesome To Save and Project program. Now that, my friends and fam, is what I call a quality calendar of movie happenings in our fair metropolis. Have fun.
So there ya have it, my advice for your next 7 days' best time expenditure. We'll check in again a week from now for the purposes of once more rummaging through the reels and making the tough yet wonderful choices regarding our chosen love. Til then be sure to follow me on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, and be SURE to catch my new YouTube channel, Nitrate Stock TV, where I'll be checking in at screenings all over the city and giving my 2 cents on the film, the venue, the audience, any damn thing that comes to my mind. Which, as some of ya know, can be quite entertaining. Til next time Stockahz, remember: be safe, be sound, and make sure the next guy and gal are too. Excelsior!
- Joe Walsh
P. S. As you know I like to beat the drum for what I consider worthwhile causes. Lately the strain of xenophobia which, sadly has always been present in our countyr, mostly dormant, but at times very awoken and tangible. Sadly, the latter is the present case, and the subject of Syrain refugees has become a veritable powderkeg. To those of you who believe we can aid these people, our fellow human beings who are desperate for our help, I suggest the heroic efforts of the good men and women at DoctorsWithoutBorders. They're providing boots-on-the-ground relief, everything from surgery and medicine to clean water. It's a small something to be sure in this maelstrom of madness, but is is just that: something.
