December 9th-15th: Yellow Bricks, Two by Ford, and Technicolor Goes Busby Berkeley! Dance On, Stockahz!
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Well, that was the first week of the last month of the year. Didn't go so badly, hm? Yes, we continue to say goodbye to some very important people from our collective celebrations, chief amongst these musician Greg Lake and America's astronaut John Glenn. Yet cause for many a huzzah exists as well, principally, and for the movie fanatic very warmly, the 100th day of life for actor/producer/philanthropist Kirk Douglas! Yes, this year has sucked the big hairy one for most of its 300 and hemminahw span thus far, so let's take every opportunity grand or meager to focus on the good when we can. Happy Centenary Kirk! In your honor I promise to go fom umbrage to outrage to utter contempt at least once today! But never, ever better than you could do it.
New and ongoing series this week include Kurosawa & Mifune at IFC Center, Film Forum Jr. and the Busby Berkeley trib at Film Forum, Modern Matinees: Le Grandi Donne and Pedro Almodóvar at MoMA, Maggie Cheung: Center Stage and Joe Carducci: Requiem for the Living Picture at Metrograph, Life is a Dream: The Films of Raúl Ruiz (Part One) at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, Dark Hopper at Anthology Film Archives, and the eternally swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. Let's go to da show;
Friday December 9th
IFC Center
SANJURO (1962) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Dir; Frank Capra
Film Forum
THE GANG'S ALL HERE (1943) Dir; Busby Berkeley
TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALLGAME (1949) Dir; Busby Berkeley
McCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971) Dir; Robert Altman
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (1991) Dir; Julie Dash
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Le Grandi Donne
THE HUNCHBACK OF NOTRE DAME (1956) Dir; Jean Delannoy
Metrograph
AS TEARS GO BY (1988) Dir; Wong Kar-Wai
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Life is a Dream: The Films of Raúl Ruiz (Part One)
THE TERRITORY (1981) Dir; Raúl Ruiz
THE STATE OF THINGS (1982) Dir; Wim Wenders
New York Historical Society
Justice in Film
BAREFOOT IN THE PARK (1967) Dir; Gene Saks
Anthology Film Archives
THE TEXAS CHANSAW MASSACRE PART 2 (1986) Dir; Tobe Hooper
WHITE STAR (1983) Dir; Roland Klick
Syndicated
LETHAL WEAPON (1986) Dir; Richard Donner
Rubin Museum
ONIBABA (1964) Dir; Kaneto Shindô
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
HOME ALONE (1991) Dir; Chris Columbus
Today's Pick? The double-bill of Busby Berkeley's TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME, a fairly standard Frank Sinatra musical from the late 40's, and the choreographer's utterly batcrap first foray into Technicolor; 1941's THE GANG'S ALL HERE, which I'm convinved influenced artist Peter Max to drop his first tab of acid in the 60's! The former features a helluva duet between Sinatra and Jimmy Durante, reminding once and for all why Tha Schnozz was such a beloved entertainer for decades. The latter trusts not merely Carmen Miranda with dialogue but bottom-of-the-ashtray voiced Eugene Palette with a song. Must be seeen to be believed. Screens at Film Forum as part of their Busby Berkeley series.
Saturday December 10th
IFC Center
SANJURO (1962) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Dir; Frank Capra
Film Forum
42ND STREET (1933) Dir; Lloyd Bacon
THE GANG'S ALL HERE (1943) Dir; Busby Berkeley
McCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971) Dir; Robert Altman
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (1991) Dir; Julie Dash
Metrograph
Joe Carducci: Requiem for the Living Picture
THE QUIET MAN (1952) Dir; John Ford
THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962) Dir; John Ford
MoMA
PEPI, LUCI, BOM (1980) Dir; Pedro Almodóvar
LAW OF DESIRE (1987) Dir; Pedro Almodóvar
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Life is a Dream: The Films of Raúl Ruiz (Part One)
BERENICE (1983) Dir; Raúl Ruiz
THE GOLDEN BOAT (1990) Dir; Raúl Ruiz
Syndicated
A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) Dir; Bob Clark
Anthology Film Archives
THE LAST MOVIE (1971) Dir; Dennis Hopper
Metrograph
DAYS OF BEING WILD (1990) Dir; Wong Kar-Wai
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
HOME ALONE (1991) Dir; Chris Columbus
Today's Pick? No question. The John Ford bill at Metrograph, concluding with his final masterpiece, 1962's SHE WORE A YELLOW RIBBON, but kicking off with what I argue is the geat filmmaker's masterpiece; 1952's THE QUIET MAN, the film he'd struggled for 20 years to realize on the big screen and the one that brought Ford the last of his 4 Best Director Oscars. While the western, an examination of violence and mythmaking, is discussed and debated incessantly, and rightfully so, the Ireland-set fable, while seemingly simple, is a deep and mutli-layered affair that rewards upon several viewings and says much not merely about the notions of Old World and New, but about the man who made it. Ford was famously no damn good when it came to sex in cinema, but with THE QUIET MAN he managed some of the cinema's most passionate and iconic romantic imagery. Never miss an opportinuty to catch whence screened large, and in 35mm! Screens as part of the one-day series Joe Carducci: Requiem for the Living Picture.
Sunday December 11th
Film Forum
HOT WATER (1924) Dirs; Fred C. Newmeyer & Sam Taylor
GOLD DIGGERS OF 1933 (1933) Dir; Mervyn Le Roy
FOOTLIGHT PARADE (1933) Dir; Lloyd Bacon
McCABE & MRS. MILLER (1971) Dir; Robert Altman
DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST (1991) Dir; Julie Dash
IFC Center
SANJURO (1962) Dir; Akira Kurosawa
IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE (1946) Dir; Frank Capra
MoMA
LABYRINTH OF PASSION (1982) Dir; Pedro Almodóvar
MATADOR (1986) Dir; Pedro Almodóvar
United Cultural Arts Palace
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) Dirs; Various but Oh Hell Victor Fleming Why Not?
Metrograph
POLICE STORY (1985) Dir; Jackie Chan
POLICE STORY 2 (1988) Dir; Jackie Chan
POLICE STORY 3: SUPERCOP (1992) Dir; Stanley Tong
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Life is a Dream: The Films of Raúl Ruiz (Part One)
BLACK GIRL (1965) Dir; Ousmane Sembene
Anthology Film Archives
WHITE STAR (1983) Dir; Roland Klick
MAD DOG MORGAN (1976) Dir; Philippe Mora
Syndicated
A CHRISTMAS STORY (1983) Dir; Bob Clark
Today's Pick? DAMN do I wanna give this day to Maggie Cheung, especially as the three-film set on hand today is the SUPERCOP trilogy she made with Jackie Chan. Alas, 3 factors come into play; I abhor the double-dip, and just made Metrograph my Pick yesterday; the 3 films don't actually come specially priced as a three-fer, not that the venue is compelled to do so but it'd sway me even further; and a venue I've long thrown shade to, for what I considered their somewhat shabby treatment of the moviegoing experience, just got that much closer to replicating its movie palace heyday. So here's to the United Palace of Cultural Arts, whose brand spankin' new DCP projection system, donated by none other than HAMILTON's Lin Manuel Miranda, makes its bow today, accompanied by film critic/historian Lou Lumenick and TCM host Tiffany Vasquez, in the service of screening Victor Fleming's 1939 masterwork THE WIZARD OF OZ! That's a pretty damn unbeatable combo, no? Glad they've finally gotten their projection issues in order, because that road should look glowingly yellow and that city a brght brisk shade of emerald. I look forward to covering this venue fully in the future.
Other notable screenings this upcoming week include the waning days of Julie Dash's DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST at Film Forum, and Monday night seems as good a turning of the earth as any to view this masterwork; Nobuhiko Obayashi's THE LITTLE GIRL WHO CONQUERED TIME, a later effort form the man newly-famed for the absolutely glorious screenplant know as HAUSU, unspooling at the Japan Society this coming Tuesday as part of their wonderful yet waning series Pop! Goes Cinema: Kadokawa Films & 80's Japan; the doppio omaggio to Italian cinema at MoMA this coming Wednesday, Mario Monicelli's BIG DEAL ON MADONNA STREET and Dino Risi's IL SORPASSO, screening as part of the series Modern Matinees: Le Grandi Donne and Dino Risi, respectively; and I may be unfamiliar with the man's work, but I consider that all the more reason to embrace his CV. The unknown is sexy, especially at these prices! Avail yoursef of a THREE-COUNT-'EM-THREE film package offered by the Film Society for this Thursday's screenings of Raúl Ruiz's THREE CROWNS OF THE SAILOR, THE HYPOTHESIS OF THE STOLEN PAINTING and THE SUSPENDED VOCATION, all screening in glorious 35mm as part of the series Life is a Dream, and I guarantee you will bark a happy cinephile in its immediate wake!
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.
