February 10th-16th: Duck Soup, Andrzej Wajda Gets His Trib, and Ms. May Saves Valentine's Day! Read the Card!
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We are past the Super Bowl, heading for the Oscars. January lies dormant in its temp grave, February '17 teeters on the brink of existence, yet topples not yet. So we have this season yet to endure, this mini-epoch of weather quizzical, be it political or meteorological. We're weathering some bad winds, some sleet, some tundrous blanketing in certain regions. Truthfully, was there any other way this year could begin? With events normally catastrophic seeming like a lull? With looming disaster met by preparedness and resolve? With the proposition of icy approach met with salt? I am, of course, speaking about the weather conditions that met the NYC area these last few days. Any other message you may read into my words, well...
Okay, to the rep film circuit. New and ongoing series incude Autocratic for the People: An Unpresidented Series of Star-Spangled Satires at IFC Center; Modern Matinees: Hollywood & the Great Depression, 1933 at MoMA; the trib to Polish master Andrzej Wajda at the Film Society; the Valentine's Day Massacre 2017 at Anthology Film Archives; Film Forum Jr. at, y'know, Film Forum; and the eternally swank Cabaret Cinema at the Rubin Museum. The moving image mishegoss be thus;
Friday February 10th
IFC Center
Autocratic for the People: An Unpresidented Series of Star-Spangled Satires
DUCK SOUP (1933) Dir; Leo McCarey
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Hollywood & the Great Depression, 1933
THE EMPEROR JONES (1933) Dir; Dudley Murphy
BAM Cinématek
MAKE WAY FOR TOMORROW (1937) Dir; Leo McCarey
TOKYO STORY (1955) Dir; Yasujiro Ozu
Film Society of Lincoln Center
MAN OF IRON (1981) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
THE PROMISED LAND (1975) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
THE CONDUCTOR (1980) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
Syndicated
REAR WINDOW (1954) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
VERTIGO (1958) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Anthology Film Archives
WE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER (1972) Dir; Maurice Pialat
MODERN ROMANCE (1981) Dir; Albert Brooks
Rubin Museum
DUCK SOUP (1933) Dir; Leo McCarey
Nitehawk Cinema
THE DECAMERON (1971) Dir; Pier Paolo Pasolini
Today's Pick? I'm gonna go nuts here and go all in with the Leo McCarey fest this day, suggesting you wake early for the screening of DUCK SOUP at IFC Center, as part of their Autocratic for the People: An Unpresidented Series of Star-Spangled Satires series, then puddle-hop to BAM for their screening of the entirely emotional-180 MAKE WAY FOR TOMMORROW, then smuggling yerself back across the border to catch the evening's repetitive but never redundant encore of DUCK SOUP as part of the Rubin Museum's excellent Cabaret Cinema series. As frivolous the suggestion may seem, I cannot imagine a pairing more timely, as the kickoff perfectly captures the current chaos underway in our most scared chambers of government, and the middle exposes our ongoing neglect for the elderly in so-called civilized society. I'm tacking on the late screening of SOUP because 1.) after TOMORROW you're gonna need a laugh and 2.) I simply can't resist making this a Marx Brothers sandwich. As it were. Oh, get your mind outa Groucho turf.
Saturday February 11th
IFC Center
Autocratic for the People: An Unpresidented Series of Star-Spangled Satires
DUCK SOUP (1933) Dir; Leo McCarey
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
Syndicated
THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939) Dir; Victor Fleming
Film Society of Lincoln Center
A GENERATION (1955) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
KANAL (1957) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
ASHES AND DIAMONDS (1958) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
THE MAIDS OF WILKO (1979) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
Mid-Manhattan Library
SHANE (1953) Dir; George Stevens
Anthology Film Archives
A NEW LEAF (1971) Dir; Elaine May
THE HEARTBREAK KID (1972) Dir; Elaine May
POSSESSION (1981) Dir; Andrzej Zulawski
Nitehawk Cinema
THE DECAMERON (1971) Dir; Pier Paolo Pasolini
Today's Pick? Though we are far from the 5th month's arrival, I am declaring this May Day, because 2 works from a most prized autuer screen in 35mm as part of a celebration/visceration of romance, and what could be more appropriate when discussing l'affairs l'amour, or the filmmaker herself? The great, groundbreaking, ceiling-shattering, Groucho-intimidating Elaine May is repped at Anthology Film Archives by her first two films, which account for fully HALF of her directorial output to the eternal shame of Hollywood. !971's A NEW LEAF, which paired her for the first with co-star Walter Matthau, and 1972's adap of Neil Simon's THE HEARTBREAK KID, boasting perhaps the great Charles Grodin's finest 2 hours, unspool back-to-back tonight at Anthology Film Archives as part of their accurately pessimistic series Valentine's Day Massacre 2017! I heart EM tremendously and forever, and this is my Valentine to her.
Sunday February 12th
Film Forum
IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934) Dir; Frank Capra Jr.
IFC Center
Autocratic for the People: An Unpresidented Series of Star-Spangled Satires
DUCK SOUP (1933) Dir; Leo McCarey
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
Syndicated
A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951) Dir; Elia Kazan
ON THE WATERFRONT (1954) Dir; Elia Kazan
Anthology Film Archives
MODERN ROMANCE (1981) Dir; Albert Brooks
WE WON'T GROW OLD TOGETHER (1972) Dir; Maurice Pialat
POSSESSION (1981) Dir; Andrzej Zulawski
Film Society of Lincoln Center
MAN OF MARBLE (1977) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
INNOCENT SORCERERS (1960) Dir; Andrzej Wajda
Today's Pick? I don't favor them normally, mostly for lack of a proper 35mm projection facility. But, y'know, Syndicated is screening Kazan's STREETCAR and WATERFRONT back-to-back, so even if the viewing quality's slightly more than passable, I think that's the bet today. At least it's a contender.
Other notable screenings this week include Robert Wise & Jerome Robins' WEST SIDE STORY, Monday at my beloved Nitehawk Cinema; a tough, TOUGH call for this Tuesday, Valentine's Day, between several screenings, including Forman's LOVES OF A BLONDE at the Walter Reade, Rupert Julian's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at Nitehawk, and what I deem Lubitsch's masterpiece, TO BE OR NOT TO BE, at BAM, but really, how can I take sides against Preston Sturges' THE LADY EVE, screening at Metrograph, on this day devoted to l'amour bizarre; Kubrick's THE SHINING screening in an equally antiquated setting where ghosts dwell, though benevolently, the Tarrytown Music Hall, this Wednesday; and Mervyn Le Roy's iconic GOLDDIGGERS OF 1933, this Thursday at MoMA.
Once again, there you have it, my picks and pontifications regarding your next 7 days' worth of rep filmgoing! We'll check in again a week from now, in the early days of a whole new spin 'round the sun, 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. Xenophobia has sadly always been present in our country, mostly dormant, but at times very awoken and tangible. Sadly, the latter is the present case, and the subject of Syrian 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 it is just that: something.
