Sunday, May 6, 2018

Kurt Brokaw's up coming film classes at the 92nd Y

Senior Film Critic for The Independent and good friend of Unseen Films Kurt Brokaw is teaching two continuing education classes at the 92nd Y later this year and if you want to be enlightened you should sign up and take his classes.

I’ve known Kurt for almost a decade and it’s been a treat. You cannot talk to Kurt and not learn something. Not only has he seen more movies than is healthy, he also has been a part of the film community long enough that he has actually met many of the film makers he’s talking about. Quite frequently we’ll be discussing a film and he’ll say something about one filmmaker or another and you realize that he’s actually met and talked to the director or actor we are talking about and gotten some wonderful piece of information from them. He is a living encyclopedia of film knowledge.

This year he is teaching two classes at the Y, one on Femme Fatales of Film Noir which starts in July (register here) and another on Samurai films which is happening this fall (registration opens in August). Both classes should not only be informative but also make for great conversations. Kurt is, if nothing else, an absolute delight to talk to and even when we don’t agree we end up having just great talks that go in unexpected directions. I can only imagine what it will be in a room full eager students and film fans.

Below is the information on both classes.


FEMME FATALES OF FILM NOIR
Explore the way "bad girls" were portrayed in six classic films noir. View and discuss the characters, actresses, female perspectives and directors.

Dead Reckoning (1947)
War vet Humphrey Bogart is duped by cabaret songbird Lizabeth Scott in John Cromwell's glossy, slug-'em-and-love-'em noir mystery.

Gun Crazy (1950)
Peggy Cummins is the carny sharpshooter, John Dahl is her weak husband, together they rob banks in Joseph H. Lewis' bargain basement classic.

Nightmare Alley (1947)
Helen Walker plays the glamorous $25-an-hour Park Avenue psychiatrist who ruins mentalist Tyrone Power's hustle in this bitter, riches-to-rags tale.

Woman in the Window (1944)
Just off Sutton Place, escort Joan Bennett (with oily Dan Duryea) traps Edward G. Robinson into murder in Fritz Lang's warmup to Scarlet Street.

Angel Face (1953)
Otto Preminger directs Jean Simmons as the unhinged, rich LA heiress in the intense Freudian noir with Robert Mitchum and Herbert Marshall.

Niagara (1953)
"Even nature can't control" trampy Marilyn Monroe as Joseph Cotton's faithless wife, in the taut, fatalistic Technicolor thriller with Jean Peters

Sessions Start: Tue, Jul 10, 2018, 7 pm - 9:30 pm

Price: from $145.00
Instructor: Kurt Brokaw
Day(s): Tuesday
Sessions: 6
Location: Lexington Avenue at 92nd St
registration via 92Y.org (continuing ed., film/theater), or 212-415-5500, or at The 92nd Street Y boxoffice.


SAMURAI CINEMA!
Eight weeks starting Tues.Oct.23, 7:00PM!
VIEW/DISCUSS 8 CLASSICS OF JAPANESE AND WORLD CINEMA—THE SWORD-SWINGING BEST OF KUROSAWA, MIFUNE, NAKADAI, KATSU, OKAMOTO—EVEN THURMAN AND CRUISE! (JAPANESE W/ENGLISH SUBTITLES).
HOSTS AND DISCUSSION LEADERS KURT BROKAW & NELLA WILLIAMS (WHO IS FLUENT IN JAPANESE). BY SUBSCRIPTION ONLY. REGISTER AT 92.Y.ORG (CONT.ED., FILM/THEATER), THE 92ND ST. Y
BOXOFFICE, OR PHONE 212-415-5500. 70 SUBSCRIPTION LIMIT, $195. Registration opens in August

Samurai Assassin (1964) 1860 Edo, as ronin Toshiro Mifune, seeking his father, must slay an Elder in Kihachi Okamoto’s stately drama

 Chushingura (1962) 47 loyal retainers from Ako  become masterless samurai (led by hot-headed
 drama Mifuni) in the epic palace intrigue saga (207 min)

Sword of Doom (1967) Ferocious Tatsuya Nakadai plus his fencing teacher (Mufune) in Okamoto’s starkest showdown       

The Last Samurai (2003) Civil War vet Tom Cruise  entwines his life with samurai leader Ken Watanabe in Edward Zwick’s birth of modern Japan

Samurai Rebellion (1967) An overlord’s mistress stirs Mifune/Nakadai to revolt in Kobayashi’s Venice hit.”Year’s best”-Don Ritchie

 Kill Bill (Vol.1, 2003) Uma Thurman is The Bride,- Lucy Liu her vengeful enemy in Quentin Tarantino’s outrageously entertaining splatter drama

Zatoichi Meets Yojimbo (1970) Shintaro Katsu, the blind swordsman, vs. Mifune’s Yojimbo in Okamoto’s giddy and rowdy jidaigeki romp

 Seven Samurai (1954) Akira Kurasawa’s stupendous epic of 16th century warriors (Mifune led) defending a peasant village. (Uncut, 208 min.)

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