A collection of reviews of films from off the beaten path; a travel guide for those who love the cinematic world and want more than the mainstream releases.
Greg Mitchell's latest is a quiet, but powerful punch in the face. Using a touch football game held in the ruins of Nagasaki as a focal point, the film reveals how how little we knew about atomic energy and how what we knew was controlled by the American government. It also makes it abundantly clear that there was absolutely no reason that the bomb should ever have been dropped.
Greg Mitchell’s ATOMIC BOWL is going to rattle your cage. The film is a look at the football game that was played in the ruins of Nagasaki on first of January 1946. It’s a film that shows how uninformed the American government was in the early days of the atomic age.
As with all of Mitchell’s films we aren’t getting just the story of the football game, but something more. This being a film from Greg Mitchell we get the well-researched and very detailed story of the events that led up to the game. But also we get the real story that he wanted to tell, which is how the Nagasaki bombing changed the world and no one is talking about it. As Mitchell makes clear this second bombing wasn’t needed. The bombing was done because General Groves felt it had to be done. We can argue about whether the decision was right or wrong historically, but as the film points out the bombing changed warfare forever, it made civilian targets okay. The reason it made them okay is that the city had no military value. The bombing was just a show of force (one that should have brought more casualties but the bomb went off course.)
The scary thing is that as Mitchell points out no one talks about the second bomb much. It’s an after thought that even discussions or films on the atomic bombs glance over (it’s only fleetingly mentioned in OPPENHEIMER). Mitchell tells us the story of the football game not because it’s a great story, but because it allows him to discuss something that needs to be talked about. We need to know why its now okay to kill children.
The film is also a look at the damage everyone suffered as a result of the radiation. While you can chalk some of it to the fact that we didn’t know what the long term effects of the radiation, but as the film makes painfully clear a lot of it was the result of the American government hiding the horrors.
As I said at the top this film is going to rattle your cage. It’s slow building gut punch that is going to leave you feeling battered and broken at the unexpected sadness of it. This is probably going to be the first great film of 2025 you’ll see.
In recent months I’ve noticed a stream of articles describing a new phenomenon infecting much of the content being produced by streaming giants like Netflix. I use the word “infecting” because I can think of no better way to describe its pernicious influence on media. Named “second-screen shows,” these are programs which are specifically designed to be partially ignored in the background by audiences as they putter about on their phones. The results are overly expository dialogue where characters will painfully state and restate what they’re thinking about and doing and unnecessary superficial narration. This is diet entertainment, artistic “content” stripped of all nuance and subtlety. Perhaps it was with this trend in mind that I found Mike Flanagan’s The Life of Chuck such a breezy breath of fresh air. Based on a novella by Stephen King, the film plays like an anti-second-screen show. It demands attention, not because of the complexity of its plot or dialogue, but because so much of the film lives and dies in the corners of what is not explained, what is not made tangible. Here is a film that takes bold narrative risks with its story, assuming that its audience can follow its emotional arcs and implications without everything being spelled out or explained. It demands attention, and those willing to give it will find one of the most rewarding films so far released in 2025.
The film is told in three chapters, charting the life and premature death of accountant Charles “Chuck” Krantz (Tom Hiddleston) in reverse chronological order. Surprisingly, Chuck is barely a background character in this first part as the film follows the lives of several of Chuck’s neighbors and acquaintances as the world ends, and I mean that literally. Earthquakes knock California into the sea, wildfires consume the farms of the Midwest, famine ravages Asia. One day the internet goes out. Then televisions, then phone networks, then electricity. And amidst it all, middle school teacher Marty Anderson (Chiwetel Ejiofor) tries to reconnect with his ex-wife Felicia Gordon (Karen Gillan) as one-by-one the stars wink out of the night sky. But no matter where Marty goes, he keeps seeing signs, billboards, and advertisements that say “Charles Krantz: 30 Great Years! Thanks, Chuck!” What do these signs mean, and who is Chuck, Marty wonders. He has a vague memory of someone he might once have known, but he still can’t quite place him. Does he have something to do with the end of the world? The first segment literally ends mid-sentence as we’re spirited away nine months previously to the second act where a narrator (Nick Offerman) explains that in less than a year Chuck will be dead of a brain tumor. But for now he’s alive and attending a banking conference. In between meetings he has an unexpected encounter with a drum busker named Taylor (Taylor Gordon) where he goes into an impromptu dance with a young woman suffering from a recent breakup. Why does this mild-mannered man break into dance? What moves him? Before we can know we’re transported to the last act where Chuck, now a child, lives with his grandparents and is warned away from their house’s cupola where there reportedly live ghosts.
There is more to this film’s narrative, and I’m skipping over many crucial things and characters from each act, but the point remains that The Life of Chuck is a wonderful jigsaw puzzle of people and incidents that all point towards common emotional revelations: the purpose of living, survival through grief, wonder at the infinitude of the self among an even more infinite cosmos. I’ve repeatedly seen the film compared to Frank Capra’s reality-warping Christmas classic It’s a Wonderful Life (1946), and indeed both films seem concerned with the full measure of a man and the weight of the choices and circumstances that define their main characters’ lives. But whereas It’s a Wonderful Life leaves things all neat and tidy by the film’s end, The Story of Chuck leaves many of its riddles unanswered. Here is a film that rewards repeat viewings and active imagination to understand. That’s about as anti-second-screen as things get.
With 1946 opening Friday here is my post from last years DOC NYC when it premiered
1946 is one of the most important films of the decade. That’s not hyperbole, it’s a statement of fact. An examination of how the mistranslation of a phrase in 1946 set in everyone’s mind that homosexuality was a bad thing.
Framed by director Sharon "Rocky" Roggio‘s relationship with her dad, an evangelical minister, the film begins as a question of whether a gay person can be a christian. The film follows as Roggio discovers Kathy Baldock who was doing research on when the word homosexual entered the bible. Baldock was on a crusade to find out why her best friend wasn’t loved by god. What she found out was that the negative attitude toward being gay comes from the fact that the translators didn’t truly understand what several words meant so they fudged it. The film shows how it happened and why and it puts the whole discussion in the context of two thousand years of translations and culture. If you have an open mind the film will rock your world.
As the film clearly points out, the mistranslation, and the inability to instantly correct the mistake (that’s a story) has resulted in decades of death and destruction as people took the mistake to mean they could destroy the mistakenly labeled abominations. I was crushed by the realization.
I was also shocked at how Roggio doesn’t sugar coat her father’s refusal to look at the evidence that the translation is wrong. In his refusal to see the world as it is we see the vast majority of those who will not change their mind even when confronted with irrefutable evidence. (Hell, the film points out that there are forces dead set against the facts because it will change their world view)
But lest you think this is all negative, the truth is there are the moments of great joy and soul saving hope. When we are introduced to the man who first spotted the mistake I began to cry. The simple statement “Hi David” had me reaching for a tissue. I also sobbed at the conclusion of the film which was filed with so much hope and love – the film is ultimately a discussion of forgiveness and the ability to bridge view points. And it will leave you feeling good.
This film is magnificent and an absolute must see.
One the truly great films of 2022 or any other year.
Starting this week is the excellent Hot Springs Festival. A magnificently curated fest it is one I always try to cover.
This year because of life and the collision of other fests I am not able to wade into the cinematic goodness… then again I’ve seen a large portion of the titles already so it was hard for me to ask for a remote slot for only a few films.
I got to meet one of my favorite actors of all time Hiroshi Abe.
I met director Shinji Higuchi who did Shin Ultraman and Shin Godzilla.
I met one of my favorite directors Marq Evans in person and his son and we got to talk vampire movies and NOSFERATU in particular.
And I got to interview another of my favorites Signe Bauman while sitting in a graveyard. It was rescheduled interview that went way better than it would have had we not had to reschedule (this is one of my most favorite interviews I’ve ever done and one of the reasons I love Ms Bauman)
BEST BITS
Bill Nighy in LIVING is magnificent and the reason to see the film
S. S. Rajamouli director of RRR showing Hollywood how to make a movie and creating one of the greatest dance numbers ever put on film (see above).
The swarm sequence in UNTIL BRANCHES BEND, a sequence so amazing you will wonder how they did it
The 19 minute single take in RMN transcends fiction and will convince you the film is a documentary
Moments in del Torro's Pinocchio will reduce you to tears when you are screaming in terror
BEST WHOLE FILMS
TANTURA- the official history says nothing happened ... but stories say otherwise- As a historian I'm horrified how good people bury their past.
STRANGER THAN ROTTERDAM- A funny true story about what it took to get Stranger Than Paradise made
1946 THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED A CULTURE is possibly the most important film of the decade or perhaps more. Its a crushing look at how the inability to translate a few words has caused death and destruction on a grand scale as being gay was wrongly made a blight in god's eye
ᎤᏕᏲᏅ (What They’ve Been Taught)- a life time of wisdom in 10 minutes
BRIAN AND CHARLES-a man builds a friend and gains the world
POPPY- a 97 minute smile as a young woman with Down’s Syndrome proves she is a force to in her own right
FIRE OF LOVE- The year’s best love story is also about volcanos.
FREEBIRD - I dare you not to cry during this look at the arc of a life a man with Downs Syndrome
REACHER- I don't watch series but an 8 hour killer thriller makes me say I want more
MAMA HAS A MOUSTACHE- children talk about their parents with love
FRANK AND EMMET one of the absolute best films of the year is about a friend saying goodbye. It will crush you
THIS MUCH I KNOW TO BE TRUE- Nick Cave in performance is a religious experience
GETTING IT BACK: THE STORY OF CYMANDE the story of one of the most influential rock groups you never heard of but whose work you know.
FAVORITE DAUGHTER A magic story about mothers and a daughters.
CHILDREN OF THE MIST- a moving look at an out dated practice of getting a bride which answers the question should a filmmaker ever get involved. Yes, yes they should.
ONDONA-10,000 NIGHTS The story of a soldier who refused to come home for decades after the war ended.
VENGEANCE IS MINE ALL OTHERS PAY CASH-comedy action romance craziness of the best sort
OMOIYARI: A SONG FILM BY KISHI BASHI is an unexpected film that's part concert, part autobiography, part examination of the Japanese internment during WW2. Its all magic.
TROLL – who knew Norway could make a wicked giant monster film?
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON this deeply moving film about a shell and his grandmother will cause the kids to laugh and the parents to sob. A joy
THE LETTERMEN the true story of two men in love during the Second World War told via letters.
STRANGER AT THE GATE what happens when hate meets love? This is the moving story of a man who wanted to commit a massacre who was changed by meeting the people he was going to kill
TURN EVERY PAGE the story of Robert Caro and his editor as they work to finish one last book.
THE FORE-MEN- time traveling Science Fiction film that will leave you wanting more (a feature is coming)
INU-OH perhaps the best animated film of the year tells a story we haven’t see before in a way that makes us marvel.
IMMEDIATE FAMILY- the best backing band in the world tells the stories of their hits. Guaranteed to make you sing along
ENNIO seeing this bio of Ennio Morricone on the big screen was one of the greatest things I’ve ever experienced in a theater
CASA SUSANNA is a moving film about some trans women trying to find a place to be safe.
GARY MULE DEER: SHOW BUSINESS IS MY LIFE, I JUST CAN'T PROVE IT one of the funniest men I’ve run across tells his story and tells jokes in the the year's best comedy
RETURN TO SEOUL – a gloriously unexpected film about a young woman trying to find her past and future.
The 'VOUS a glorious look at a BBQ place and the people who make it the place to be.
ALL THAT BREATHES a beautiful about men and birds
GOD DAMNED ASURA troubling drama about a crime and how it effects a number of people. It would rock your world
PRETTY PICKLE is a film that is wrong on so many levels
THE ROUND UP truly great action film kicks ass and takes names. If you need something until John Wick comes out do I have a film for you
MATTER OF TRUST a multi story drama about the levels of trust in our lives. It will haunt you for days
HEAVEN TO THE LAND OF HAPPINESS the greatest Choi Min Sik performance in a film about not wasting our time on earth
CAVE OF ADALLUM moving film about one man trying to change the world one person at a time
STORY OF BONES What do you do when the bones of slaves are in the way of progress? It’s a film about how the past affects the present
OUR FATHER THE DEVIL Chilling thriller was an unexpected discovery at Tribeca. Anyone who saw it was scarred by it and could stop talking about it
MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH MARRIAGE Signe Bauman’s jaw dropping animated Broadway-esque musical. This isn’t an its medium but something transcendently alive. I wanted to stand and applaud when I saw it.
HALLELUJAH the story of Leonard Cohen’s song is glorious
NICHOLAS BROTHERS STORMY WEATHER we may never see the like of the Nicholas Brothers again but damn some people are gonna try.
HAULOUT late addition to this list is the tale of how the melting ice is dooming the walrus. Visually one of the greatest films I've seem in decades, its proof that the Academy and other awards groups are shorting the work of those making shorts, documentaries and short documentaries when it comes to cinematography
1946 is one of the most important films of the decade. That’s not hyperbole, it’s a statement of fact. An examination of how the mistranslation of a phrase in 1946 set in everyone’s mind that homosexuality was a bad thing.
Framed by director Sharon "Rocky" Roggio‘s relationship with her dad, an evangelical minister, the film begins as a question of whether a gay person can be a christian. The film follows as Roggio discovers Kathy Baldock who was doing research on when the word homosexual entered the bible. Baldock was on a crusade to find out why her best friend wasn’t loved by god. What she found out was that the negative attitude toward being gay comes from the fact that the translators didn’t truly understand what several words meant so they fudged it. The film shows how it happened and why and it puts the whole discussion in the context of two thousand years of translations and culture. If you have an open mind the film will rock your world.
As the film clearly points out, the mistranslation, and the inability to instantly correct the mistake (that’s a story) has resulted in decades of death and destruction as people took the mistake to mean they could destroy the mistakenly labeled abominations. I was crushed by the realization.
I was also shocked at how Roggio doesn’t sugar coat her father’s refusal to look at the evidence that the translation is wrong. In his refusal to see the world as it is we see the vast majority of those who will not change their mind even when confronted with irrefutable evidence. (Hell, the film points out that there are forces dead set against the facts because it will change their world view)
But lest you think this is all negative, the truth is there are the moments of great joy and soul saving hope. When we are introduced to the man who first spotted the mistake I began to cry. The simple statement “Hi David” had me reaching for a tissue. I also sobbed at the conclusion of the film which was filed with so much hope and love – the film is ultimately a discussion of forgiveness and the ability to bridge view points. And it will leave you feeling good.
This film is magnificent and an absolute must see.
The always wonderful DOC NYC opens Wednesday and we are better for it. A summing of of the year in documentaries and an indication of the big ones that are going to be talked about next year (the world Premieres carry over) it is the must attend for anyone who loves true life tales.
And if you are not in New York and love documentaries, not to worry if you don’t live in New York because the fest is having a virtual component so you too can watch the goodness.
I’ve been covering the festival every year except the first one. Somehow I missed the first year but I’ve been there every year since then and having a blast all along the way.
In all seriousness this is a great festival. Its not just the fact the screenings are so much fun, but its knowing that the festival is so well programmed that the odds are very much in your favor that what you are going to see is going to delight you. In all seriousness after a dozen years and literally several hundreds film the number of truly bad films I have seen could be counted on one hand with some fingers missing.
I love this festival to death, and at a time I’m serious considering not going whole hog into festival coverage I waded in and I’m already hip deep in the selections. Hey what can I say there are just too many good films I don’t dare miss.
I knew the festival was going to be gangbusters because walking in the door I already had seen about two dozen of their selections
Of the one's we've previously seen (click on the links above for our thoughts): SR ALL THAT BREATHES BAD AXE DESCENDANT OUTTA THE MUCK THE VOUS SAM NOW TERRITORY FIRE OF LOVE
Of the ones we have screened for this festival:
QUEEN OF THE DEUCE- is a look at the woman who controlled a large number of NYC porno palaces-but the story before that is the important part
1946: THE MISTRANSLATION THAT SHIFTED A CULTURE is one of the great films of 2022. A look at how a mistake in translating the Bible in 1946 has resulted in the death of millions.
CASA SUSANNA is a deeply moving film about Trans women in the 1960's. Simply told it is a film of enormous power.
IMMEDIATE FAMILY - the story of a group of musicians who started to play with friends and ended up being one of the greatest backing bands ever.
MAYA AND THE WAVE has some of the most awe inspiring surfing images I've ever seen- a must on a big screen
THE CONSPIRACY is a vital and important film about how the myth of a Jewish conspiracy affected three families and how the lies are still causing chaos today.
I'm sure there will be more but we haven't seen them yet.
A word of warning to filmmakers and festival organizers, because of my schedule I will be running coverage long past the end of the festival. My time of late has been a balancing act of watching films or writing and this year I’m going to watch and review later
Tom Huang’s Dealing With Dad is the Opening Night Selection, Kurdwin Ayub’s Sonne is the Closing Night selection, and So Yun Um’s Liquor Store Dreams is the Spotlight choice
Austin, TX (May 25, 2022) – The Austin Asian American Film Festival (June 23-26) announced the film lineup for this year’s 14th edition of the film festival. Taking place June 23-26, AAAFF’s headliner screenings include Tom Huang’s comedy Dealing With Dad, which will open the film festival, So Yun Um’s Liquor Store Dreams, which is the Spotlight selection, and Kurdwin Ayub’s Sonne, which will close the film festival. All screenings will take place at the AFS Cinema (6406 N I-35, Unit 3100).
AAAFF will screen 11 feature films (6 Narrative, 5 Documentary), and 16 short films as part of their ongoing mission to produce programs that champion Asian and Asian American stories through film, educate about AAPI issues, and build community through partnerships with creatives and other organizations. The in-person/in-theater event will feature several filmmaker appearances and post-screening Q&As, as well as a red carpet gala presentation prior to the Closing Night screening on Saturday, June 25.
Austin Asian American Film Festival Executive Director Hanna Huang, said, “As our biggest program of the year, the film festival is packed with a lineup of the latest emerging independent films along with events for audiences and filmmakers to have conversations about AAPI representation in front of and behind the camera.”
AAAFF Creative Director Ray Lloyd and Program Director Jenny Nulf, added, “This year’s lineup includes a wide array of genres and themes from a diverse spread of countries and Asian American communities. We’re ecstatic to present our lineup this year and celebrate independent film with our supportive film festival community here in Austin.”
Opening Night will feature Tom Huang’s festival favorite dysfunctional family comedy Dealing With Dad about an Alpha mom/corporate manager tasked with going home to deal with her overbearing dad, who is now despondent and won’t leave the house. What she and her siblings discover is that their dad is actually, much more pleasant in his depressed state, so they wrestle with the decision to “fix” him or not.
AAAFF’s Spotlight film will be So Yun Um’s documentary Liquor Store Dreams which draws a line from the ‘92 LA Uprisings to the current-day BLM movement as it looks at two Korean American children of liquor store owners who work to overcome the history and stereotypes that plagued their parents.
Closing Night will present Kurdwin Ayub’s drama Sonne about three teenage girls from Vienna who deal with the fallout of becoming a viral sensation after a YouTube video of them twerking in hijab and singing a pop song takes off. They each become famous overnight, especially among Kurdish Muslims, which forces them to face their feelings and relationship to the culture as well as making them unexpected targets. The film won Best First Feature at the Berlin International Film Festival.
Additional narrative features include Kit Zauhar’s drama Actual People, about a biracial girl in her final week of college, whose desperation to get a boy to like her leads to escalating anxieties about everything in her life. Victor Villanueva’s Lucid follows a woman who lives a full satisfying life…in her dreams. That is, until a mysterious man she meets in her dreams challenges her to make them more adventurous until she questions if it is worth staying in her dream state or not. Qiu Jiongjiong’s fantasy A New Old Play focuses on a man who was a leading clown-role actor in 20th-century Sichuan opera, as he reluctantly is escorted to the Ghost City. Throughout his trip, earthly scenes from the past creep into the mists of the Netherworld. The film won a Special Jury Prize at Locarno. Faran Moradi’s love story Tehranto pairs two young students with very different upbringings from a divided Iranian community in Toronto as they fall in love against the backdrop of the city.
A trio of feature-length documentaries include Samarth Mahajan’s Borderlands looks at how everyday lives intertwine with borders in the Indian subcontinent via six characters whose lives are defined by personal and political borders. Julie Ha and Eugene Yi’s Free Chol Soo Lee explores the efforts by Asian Americans to free Chol Soo Lee, a Korean immigrant who was wrongly convicted of a gang murder. However, once released, he was ill-equipped to handle the attention and status that his celebrated case brought upon him. Violet Du Feng and Qing Zhao’s Hidden Letters tells the story of two Chinese women trying to balance their lives as independent women in modern China while confronting the traditional identity that defines but also oppresses them. Shanti Thakur’sTerrible Children looks at an Indian family’s struggle and growth generationally after the filmmaker’s Indian father gives her a letter, which he left unopened for 20 years. The letter inspires her to discover her father’s history of trauma and renewal—of family violence, boyhood in a right-wing paramilitary group, Muslim-Hindu violence during Partition, and family banishment for marrying a Danish woman.
To purchase badges, tickets and for more information More information please go to: www.aaafilmfest.org.
2022 Austin Asian American Film Festival Official Selections
Lest you think things have gone loopy with the numbering of Nate's Quarantine Quapsules,I have not. Nate didn't start sending me the capsules until he had reached number 5. In order to keep the set complete I'm posting the first four over the next couple days as bonus pieces.
The first ten minutes of Vincent Sherman’s Affair in Trinidad are one of the great fake-outs of 50s Hollywood cinema. Six years after Rita Hayworth and Glenn Ford made Hollywood magic in the timeless noir Gilda (1946), they reunited for what at first glance appears to be a better-late-than-never victory lap. The first scene sees Hayworth in a nightclub, singing and dancing a shockingly risqué (for the early 50s) calypso number, flashing more bare legs than a line of can-can dancers while her strapless bustier proves more stubbornly defiant of gravity than Anita Ekberg’s sweetheart neckline during the Fontana di Trevi scene in Fellini’s La Dolce Vita (1960). Sherman even gives a knowing nod to Gilda’s most famous moment—Hayworth’s infamous head pop/hair flip into the frame for her introduction—with a quick close-up hair toss near the start of the dance. Could this film be a greatest hits of Gilda, we wonder?
Alas, it’s not to be. Immediately after this show-stopping number Affair in Trinidad reveals its true colors as an idiot rip-off of Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious (1946): it follows a woman forced by government authorities local cops to infiltrate a group of ex-Nazi expats living in Brazil Trinidad and Tobago by faking romantic interest in their leader while actually falling in love with a different man, all of which leads to a climactic party sequence where she steals valuable information and escapes down a staircase narrowly misses getting killed on a staircase.
I call it an idiot ripoff because everyone in the film acts like a total and complete ignoramus the whole time, best demonstrated in a scene where Ford, the brother of a man murdered by de facto ex-Nazi leader Max Fabian (Alexander Scourby), barges into his home, waves damning evidence in his face, and…sticks around. (The longer the film goes on the more and more one develops an intense kinship with Juanita Moore’s Dominique, the West Indian housekeeper of Ford’s brother’s estate who can barely hide her exasperation with all the stupid white people running around her islands.)
Only Hayworth seems to be trying here; the usually dependable Ford is a charisma sinkhole who’s not so much stoic as non-responsive and non-reactive. When we see them fall in love, we see the mechanics of a hackneyed script, not a believable story development.
The Quad presents the whimsically erotic "Iberian Passion Trilogy" from Spanish director Bigas Luna: Jamón Jamón ('92), Golden Balls ('93), and The Tit and the Moon ('94)—all imported 35mm prints
Featuring early performances from Penélope Cruz, Javier Bardem, and Benicio Del Toro. With special guests Professor Santiago Fouz Hernández (Durham University UK), Bigas Luna's daughter, Betty Bigas, and more in person
In the 1970s, maverick Spanish filmmakers brought forth pictures that bucked the repressive establishment ethos of their country. While Pedro Almodóvar is the best-known, his contemporary Bigas Luna (1946-2013) cut a distinctive stylistic swath that turned heads. Luna initially concentrated on dark and twisted thrillers but later enjoyed making international audiences blush; his proclivity for erotic stories yielded increasingly free rein and naughty whimsy, as he enlisted up-for-anything actors to be co-conspirators in his visions—most memorably, future real-life couple Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem. The Quad remembers this seductive storyteller with his “Iberian Passion Trilogy,” through which Luna’s design background and painter’s eye add to the enveloping feel of these contemporary fairy tales marbled with social and sexual studies.
Co-presented by The Bigas Luna Tribute, a series of global homage events organized by Bigas Luna’s daughter, Betty Bigas, and Bigas Luna specialist Santiago Fouz Hernández (Professor in Hispanic Studies and Film Studies at Durham University, UK).
Jamón Jamón
Bigas Luna, 1992, Spain, 95m, 35mm
Bubbling over with torrid sex sequences, voluptuous food content, and winkingly outrageous melodrama, the first of Luna’s “Iberian Passion Trilogy” became his biggest success at home and abroad while hot-listing its younger leads for stardom. Jordi Mollà plays a poor little rich boy who falls for local Penélope Cruz (in her film debut), but as she is the daughter of madam Anna Galiena, his mother Stefania Sandrelli won’t abide the match — and hires Javier Bardem to horn in.
Official Selection: Venice Film Festival, Miami International Film Festival
Winner: Silver Lion, Venice Film Festival
In Spanish with English subtitles
“The funniest sexy movie [...] since Like Water For Chocolate.” — Roger Ebert
Golden Balls
Bigas Luna, 1993, Spain, 95m, 35mm
Javier Bardem gets his swagger on for the sly second film in Luna’s trilogy, oozing toxic masculinity as a cocksure aspiring industrialist who operates in acquisition mode both personally and professionally. The supporting cast includes pre-Pulp Fiction Maria de Medeiros, pre-The Usual Suspects Benicio Del Toro, Maribel Verdú (later of Y Tu Mamá También), character actor Ismael [“East”] Carlo, and (in her final film) María Martín of Luna’s Bilbao.
Official Selection: Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
In Spanish with English subtitles
The Tit and the Moon
Bigas Luna, 1994, Spain, 93m, 35mm
Luna caps his “Iberian Passion Trilogy;” although Javier Bardem has only a cameo, cinematographer José Luis Alcaine and composer Nicola Piovani top their previous contributions for the director in most fanciful and fantastical style. Nine-year-old boy Biel Duran feels overshadowed by his new baby brother, and fixates on hoping for the miracle of mother’s milk from another source—perhaps the stunning ballerina (played by Mathilda May of Lifeforce infamy) visiting his village?
Official Selection: Venice Film Festival, Karlovy Vary International Film Festival
In Catalan, Spanish and French; with English subtitles
ALWAYS IN SEASON is a shattering look at lynching in America
Jacqueline Olive’s film is nominally focused on the case of Lennon Lacey a 17 year old African American who was found hanging from a swing set in North Carolina in 2014. While his death was ruled a suicide there are indications that it may not have been, from his not really having a reason to the fact his grave was desecrated. While the FBI did get involved they found the evidence hopelessly tainted. The result is a a great feeling of unease for many in the community.and in particular In order to explain why Olive masterfully explores the history of lynching, and the 1946 Moore's Ford Lynchings in Georgia when four people were pulled from their car by a mob and killed, horribly. Olive uses a re-enactment of the killings to explore people's thoughts and feelings to lynching and all things related to it.
Watching the film I was left stunned. Even in this age of Presidentially fueled racial hatred ALWAYS IN SEASON was a stark reminder of just how deep hatred runs and how evil even supposedly good men and women can be. In reading on the film, (I was so stunned watching the film I didn't take notes and put into such a dark place I didn't want to revisit the film to get the information I wanted to have) that the one thing that many people writing on it called it infuriating and noted how it makes you angry. I agree, there is much to be angry about. But also there is a profound sadness that despite claims to be good, many of us really aren't.
ALWAYS IN SEASON floored me. Watching it it left me struggling to find words. There was a sense that no matter what I had to say was meaningless because most of you are just going to glance at my words and move on, which is wrong. What I felt I needed to do was find away to just make you see the film. Yea my words may be nice, but they are no match for the power and importance of Jacqueline Olive's film. It is a vitally important missive about the state of America that we all must see.
Do yourself and your fellow human beings a favor and take the time and see this film
For tickets and more information on the Cinematters: Social Justice Film Festival screening on Sunday go here.
Still relatively early on in his career, Makoto Shinkai has established himself as perhaps the great rising hope for the future of Japanese animation, a potential inheritor to the mantle of Hayao Miyazaki, exhibiting the maestro’s same combination of popular appeal, emotional intelligence, and unmatched artistry. For twenty years now, beginning with the release of his monochrome 1999 short She and Her Cat, Shinkai has produced movies that expertly balance the spectacular and the intimate, made with an artisanal attention to the smallest detail—Shinkai often participating in nearly every aspect of the filmmaking process, including concept designs, music composition, and even voice acting. Sublime, cosmic films, made with a human touch. Titles include 5 Centimeters Per Second (2007) and Children Who Chase Lost Voices (2011). A members-only screening of Shinkai's latest, Weathering with You (2019), will be on Friday, January 3. A weeklong engagement of Your Name (2016) begins Friday, February 7.
Opens January 24
Hal Hartley A Retrospective of the American Independent Giant, with Films Starring Isabelle Huppert, Adrienne Shelly, PJ Harvey, Martin Donovan, Sarah Polley, etc. Hartley to Appear In-Person!
Hal Hartley appeared on the scene in the “indie” movie boom of the early ‘90s, but even in these years of mainstreaming, he remained an outsider’s outsider; his independence not a temporarily convenient brand, but an entire ethos. His milieu was a blue-collar, bridge-and- tunnel New York, populated by workaday philosophers expressing themselves in a deadpan, declamatory performance style heavy on aphorism and unusual articulacy. This, combined with Hartley’s austere, geometric mise-en-scene, has invited comparisons to Robert Bresson, but his singular combination of off-kilter humor and throbbing romanticism can really only be called “Hartley-esque.” From breakthrough early works introducing stars Adrienne Shelly and Martin Donovan to latter-day masterstrokes like Ned Rifle, join us in following this remarkable artist through the different-drummer march that his career has been. Titles include The Unbelievable Truth (1989), Trust (1990), Amateur (1994), Henry Fool (1996), and more!
Opens February 1
To Hong Kong w/ ️ (To Hong Kong with Love)
The Hong Kong protests were in the news for the better part of 2019, and the subject of widespread debate, much of it by outside observers with a vested interest in imposing their own narratives. From its days as a British colony to its present status as a Special Administrative Region in China, small Hong Kong’s fate has been largely decided by great powers, without consultation of its citizens—this including the 1997 Handover. As a corrective, To Hong Kong w/ ️ is made up of films that show Hong Kongers speaking for themselves, pairing classic fiction films that explore the soul of the city with new documentaries that give voice to those who are out in the streets, fighting to keep their vision of that soul intact. Narrative features include Comrades: Almost a Love Story (1996), Rouge (1988), Teddy Girls (1969), and Nomad (1982); documentary titles include Yellowing (2016), Lost in the Fumes (2017), Ten Years (2015), and Umbrella Diaries: The First Umbrella (2018). Co-programmed by Katherine Cheng.
Opens February 7
Valentine's Day at Metrograph
Marlene Dietrich tramping off into the desert in burning hot pursuit of her man (Morocco, 1930), Bacall purring “You know how to whistle, don’t you?” (To Have and Have Not, 1944), the plangent longing between Newland Archer and Countess Ellen Olenska (The Age of Innocence, 1993)—these are just a few of the immortal cinematic expressions of amour in our wild ride of a Valentine’s Day series, which finds space for loves spiritual and carnal, animated and live-action, and everything in-between. A great date for a special someone, someones, or just yourself—and don’t forget, The Commissary is now taking dinner reservations for the 14th. Additional titles include Written on the Wind (1956), Casablanca (1942), Trouble in Paradise (1932), and more!
Opens February 21
Climate Crisis Parables Guest Presenters Include Author/Activist Naomi Klein
“I don’t know what the future will bring. We have to choose despite uncertainty.”— First Reformed
Cinema has been reckoning for some time with the question of ecological collapse. In a moment when there is a real, palpable fear that time is really and truly running out, we turn to these visceral depictions of impending crisis. Climate Crisis Parables collects movies that envisage the rough road ahead, depicting humankind’s reckless restructuring of the natural environment, imagining the catastrophic results of this unchecked meddling and what might come after the fall of man.This program is comprised of all but one scripted film, in the belief that the existential threat posed to future generations can uniquely be explained and explored through speculative storytelling. These films are often grave in tone, yet ecstatic and spectacular in scope and scale, and they offer ominous cautions against the dire consequences of the damage done by the unfettered pursuit of profit. Climate change experts will introduce screenings, using these films’ fictional scenarios as entrance points to discuss real-world issues, anchoring our increasingly surreal daily reality with research and perspective, and highlighting the imperative actions that must be taken right now to reverse our path towards the brink. Titles include The Devil, Probably (1977), Stalker (1979), Blade Runner (1982), Red Desert (1964), Interstellar (2014), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), Still Life (Jia Zhangke, 2006), Melancholia (2011), Snowpiercer (2013), and more! In partnership with Harper’s Magazine and Extinction Rebellion Lower East Side Neighborhood Group.
ONGOING SERIES
Throughout January and February
Welcome To Metrograph A-Z: Round 2
When Metrograph opened its doors over three years ago, we did so with Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z, a way to introduce moviegoers to our particular take on cinema history. It was to be our own idiosyncratic alphabet: one film per director, neither canon nor anti-canon, but rather a selection of our favorite films that serve as life-changing revelations or enduring personal passions, and ultimately films of which Metrograph exists to spread the gospel. And so, in the interest of getting reacquainted and playing some movies we love that we think you’ll love too, we’re taking it one more time from the top—with all new selections. Titles include Bad Lieutenant (1992), Les Bonnes Femmes (1960), Black Rodeo (1972), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Breaking the Waves (1996), Buffalo '66 (1998), and Le bonheur (1965).
Throughout January and February
Playtime
Playtime is Metrograph’s regularly recurring weekend matinee series of studio standards, animated adventures, and foreign-language frolics, kid-friendly in content but selected because their quality has been proven plain to moviegoers of all ages. As we head into the holiday months, we’re getting into the spirit with some of our favorite seasonal standards, movies only a true Scrooge could resist. Revisit the movies you know by heart, take a chance on something you’ve never heard of—and be sure to hang around to talk about your favorite scenes over brunch in the upstairs Commissary. Titles include The Sound of Music (1965), Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981), Gremlins (1984), Little Women (1933), Miracle on 34th Street (1947), The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992), It's a Wonderful Life (1946), and Where the Wild Things Are (2009).
Throughout January and February
Late Nites at Metrograph
Welcome back to Late Nites at Metrograph, the Thursday, Friday, and Saturday series that’s rapidly become a weekend tradition, dedicated to the after-hours denizens of this insomniac town who want to wind down with a movie and a bite. This time through we’re bringing you class warfare thrillers from Kurosawa (High and Low, 1963), Welles (The Lady from Shanghai, 1947), and De Palma (Scarface, 1983); some of the baddest stunts of all time courtesy Jackie Chan (Police Story, 1985) and Zoë Bell (Death Proof, 2007); and identity-blurring psychological mind-benders by Bergman (Persona, 1966) and Teshigahara (The Face of Another, 1966). A series for connoisseurs of cocktails and nocturnal film freaks to hobnob, clink glasses, and see some of the best and most bizarre in cinema, with the Commissary serving drinks and a special late-night menu into the wee hours.
Throughout January and February
Academy at Metrograph
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Continues its Residency at Metrograph with Upcoming Winter 2020 Programming
Two Calendar Program Highlighting the 92nd Oscars Governors Awards Honorees
Seven Beauties by Lina Wertmüller, the First Woman Ever Nominated for the Best Director Oscar, Screens January 11 and David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. and The Alphabet Screens February 22
ACADEMY AT METROGRAPH continues in January and February 2020, highlighting the recent 2019 Governors Awards honorees in a two-calendar program. Lina Wertmüller, the first woman ever nominated for the Best Director Oscar, will be honored on Saturday, January 11, with a screening of Seven Beauties (1976), which garnered four Oscar nominations. David Lynch's Mulholland Dr. (2001), for which he was nominated for Best Director, along with his groundbreaking short film The Alphabet (1968) will screen on Saturday, February 22.
The controversial, absurd, and uproarious film that made director Lina Wertmüller the talk of film culture and garnered her the first Best Director Academy Award nomination for a woman, Seven Beauties (January 11) follows a comedy of errors that begins when Neapolitan hustler Giancarlo Giannini inadvertently murders the lover of one of his septet of homely sisters. Worse luck follows bad, and Giannini—also an Oscar nominee—lands in a concentration camp where, in order to survive, the practiced lothario must service the Nazi kapo, played unforgettably by zaftig The Honeymoon Killers star Shirley Stoler. A heady cocktail of comedy and horror.
Voted the best film of the ‘00s by Film Comment and numerous other mastheads, Mulholland Dr. (February 22) began its life as an aborted TV pilot concerning blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts, transcendent) and an amnesiac brunette (Laura Harring), then transformed into something strange, sorrowful, and maddeningly mysterious as it was expanded into a film noir-inflected feature, following the sleuthing duo into the enigmatic night club Silencio, and outlining a series of unforgettable incidents and transformations. Heartbreaking, hilarious, and terrifying by turns, while always on the razor’s edge of the inexplicable. With The Alphabet, the anxious short film that gained Philadelphia-based art student Lynch the attention of the nascent American Film Institute, and started him on his way.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) began a yearlong residency at Metrograph in July 2017, bringing exciting and entertaining programs to the big screen. Programs in ACADEMY AT METROGRAPH have and continue to feature onstage conversations with filmmakers and scholars of motion pictures, tributes, newsreels, rarely seen clips from past Oscar® ceremonies, and home movies from Hollywood legends. This monthly series highlights unique archival elements, including recent restorations and film prints from the Academy Film Archive by celebrating classic moments from the Academy’s 90-year history.
SPECIAL EVENTS
January 3
Members-only screening of Makoto Shinkai's latest film, Weathering with You (2019).
January 17
The world premiere of Alex Ross Perry's new short film Paul Schrader: Man in a Room, produced by the Criterion Channel, paired with Schrader's The Canyons (2013). Schrader and Perry will appear in-person. In the sixth installment of the Criterion Channel’s Meet the Filmmakers series, director Perry (Her Smell, Listen Up Philip) spends time with the iconoclastic director Paul Schraderon the set of his 2017 masterwork First Reformed and at his home, where he reflects on his legendary career, the rewards of slow cinema, and the influences that continue to shape him. The Criterion Channel will be showing a nine-film Schrader retrospective beginning in January 2020, and Paul Schrader: Man in a Room will be available after its preview at Metrograph.
January 25
A special Chinese New Year screening of Tsui Hark's The Chinese Feast (1995). 祝大家新年快樂, 萬事如意 ! (Happy Year of the Rat)!
February 9
The 92nd Academy Awards Ceremony will screen throughout Metrograph, in both theaters, the Commissary, and Lobby. Dress well and join us in our annual ballot competition. Metrograph Members Only: to reserve a table in the Commissary write to members@metrograph.com. Seating is limited.
Ben Hecht's major off the rails story about the possible murder of a ballet's star's first wife.
It's a very deliberate film full of beyond purple prose and performances that are way to over the top to be anything but deadly serious. Laughably bad, I sat staring at the screen for fifteen minutes wondering what the heck I was watching, unsure if I should be laughing or not- finally I just started to laugh and went with it...
I had no clue why anyone would chose to do this deliberately- especially when its some one who should know better. It was painfully awful in a way that only films that are supposed to be works of art can be. It's a film to make you go- you have got to be f-ing kidding me over and over again
In theaters in New York now and opening in LA and other theaters Friday ALWAYS IN SEASON is a shattering look at lynching in America and stands a good chance at getting Oscar short listed.
Jacqueline Olive’s film is nominally focused on the case of Lennon Lacey a 17 year old African American who was found hanging from a swing set in North Carolina in 2014. While his death was ruled a suicide there are indications that it may not have been, from his not really having a reason to the fact his grave was desecrated. While the FBI did get involved they found the evidence hopelessly tainted. The result is a a great feeling of unease for many in the community.and in particular In order to explain why Olive masterfully explores the history of lynching, and the 1946 Moore's Ford Lynchings in Georgia when four people were pulled from their car by a mob and killed, horribly. Olive uses a re-enactment of the killings to explore people's thoughts and feelings to lynching and all things related to it.
Watching the film I was left stunned. Even in this age of Presidentially fueled racial hatred ALWAYS IN SEASON was a stark reminder of just how deep hatred runs and how evil even supposedly good men and women can be. In reading on the film, (I was so stunned watching the film I didn't take notes and put into such a dark place I didn't want to revisit the film to get the information I wanted to have) that the one thing that many people writing on it called it infuriating and noted how it makes you angry. I agree, there is much to be angry about. But also there is a profound sadness that despite claims to be good, many of us really aren't.
ALWAYS IN SEASON floored me. Watching it it left me struggling to find words. There was a sense that no matter what I had to say was meaningless because most of you are just going to glance at my words and move on, which is wrong. What I felt I needed to do was find away to just make you see the film. Yea my words may be nice, but they are no match for the power and importance of Jacqueline Olive's film. It is a vitally important missive about the state of America that we all must see.
Do yourself and your fellow human beings a favor and take the time and see this film
JB saw WHITE FANG at Sundance last year. With the film playing at Animation First in NYC this weekend here is a repost of his review.
Jack London’s bestselling animal adventure novel has been adapted as Japanese anime, a 1970s Italian franchise starring Franco Nero, a Disney live-action movie, a 1926 Hollywood silent featuring Strongheart the Dog, and a 1946 Soviet version Red Jack probably would have liked best. Clearly, the story’s popularity has never flagged, but the most visually accomplished take now happens to be a Francophone production (subsequently dubbed into English). The Yukon Territory is still a savage environment for London’s titular wolf-dog, but he will adapt and survive in Academy Award-winning animator Alexandre Espigares’ White Fang, which screens during this year’s Sundance Film Festival.
White Fang grew up under the watchful eye of his mother Kiche, a former sled dog gone wild. The winter has already been hard on the dogs, when an encounter with a lynx leaves Kiche badly injured. Nevertheless, White Fang will nurse her back to sufficient health for her to seek out and rejoin the pack dogs driven by Native trapper Grey Beaver. Although the other dogs resent White Fang’s strength and spirit, he will eventually claim his place as top dog. Unfortunately, he will also attract the unwanted attention of Beauty Smith, a nefarious dog-fighter intent on swindling him away from Grey Beaver.
Smith’s brutal training will mold White Fang into a ferocious fighter, but as we see in the in media res opening, the wolf-dog never develops a taste for fighting. Eventually, he will cross paths again with Weedon Scott, an honest lawman, with whom he had a brief encounter years ago, while he was still just a pup.
In a way, White Fang was like the Dog’s Purpose of 1906, following the wolf-dog as he changes hands and passes through metaphorical lives, except it features animal savagery in place of New Age spirituality. Espigares’ animated feature debut (he won the Oscar for his short, Mr. Hublot) is a manageable ninety minutes, but it feels pretty epic and remains relatively faithful to the source novel. However, the trio of screenwriters, Serge Frydman, Philippe Lioret, and Monique Monfrey water-down the abuse Grey Beaver metes out in the novel. While that might sound like a politically correct decision, it is wise to give younger viewers a respite from London’s harshness.
Espigares’ animation is indeed superb, merging a lush, painterly style with motion-capture technology. His wolves and dogs look scrupulously realistic, but exhibit distinctive personalities. The vibrant landscapes and vistas also evoke N.C. Wyeth’s great James Fenimore Cooper illustrations.
For the English dub, the voice of Paul Giamatti is perfectly cast as the scheming Smith. Nick Offerman and Rashida Jones are fine as Weedon and Maggie Scott, but probably the most distinctive vocal turn comes from Eddie Spears as Grey Beaver.
Espigares and his team have produced a White Fang that is lovely to look at, but is still quite tough minded. They have simplified London’s narrative to a minor extent (sorry One-Eye, maybe next film), but they definitely retained its essence. Enthusiastically recommended for adults and older kids, White Fang screens Sunday at Animation First.
January and February 2019 Repertory and Special Events Calendar Announced
Opens January 4
Pier Paolo Pasolini: A Future Life, Part 1 All 35mm!
A retrospective of the cinematic works of Pier Paolo Pasolini, poet, composer, public intellectual, and provocateur, will stretch across three calendars at Metrograph, but when thinking of where to start with this singularly brilliant filmmaker, there was only one logical place—at the end. Pasolini thought constantly of his own demise, and that of the earth, especially as, entering middle-age, he became increasingly influenced by Antonin Artaud and the Marquis de Sade. Setting out to make his film of de Sade’s Salò, Pasolini explained “The most sincere thing I could do at that moment was to make a film about a mode of sexuality whose joyousness is a compensation for repression—a phenomenon that was about to come to an end, forever.” It was, he said, a film that was to make him “A new director. Ready for the modern.” Three weeks before its premiere, however, Pasolini was dead, murdered on the beach at Ostia, a shadowy event believed by many to be politically motivated. Decades later, Pasolini looms larger than ever in in our cultural consciousness as one of the most radical, uncompromising artists who ever lived. “Death,” he once said, “is not being unable to communicate; but no longer being able to be understood.” He is speaking to us still. Titles include La terra vista dalla luna, part of the omnibus film The Witches (1967), Pasolini's "Trilogy of Life": The Decameron (1971), The Canterbury Tales (1972), and Arabian Nights (1974), as well as Salò, or the 120 Days of Sodom (1975).
Opens January 11
Kay Francis: The Queen of Pleasure First-Ever Retrospective Celebrating Ms. Francis' Legacy
A top box-office attraction in the 1930s and an idiosyncratic and can’t-take-your-eyes-off-her screen presence, Kay Francis was undisputed royalty on the Warner Bros. lot. The Oklahoma-born Francis was a tall, striking, raven-tressed beauty, the first infamous onscreen clotheshorse, a verifiable superstar whose face decorated scores of gushing fan magazines, though privately her life was far more risqué than the Pre-Code vehicles that established her fame, including comedies like Trouble in Paradise and Jewel Robbery(opposite frequent partner William Powell) or melodramas like One Way Passage, a doomed romance set on a champagne and martini-soaked trip set aloft an ocean liner, in which she was equally effective. Even at the height of her fame, Francis’ magnetism was never without a melancholy lining; she was oft-quoted to say that she couldn’t wait to be forgotten—and indeed her stardom would dim by the end of the ‘30s—but no performer so magnetic, in love, laughter, and tears, could ever really disappear, and so Metrograph is pleased to reintroduce a new generation to the woman who, in imitation of her charming speech impediment, was sometimes called “Wavishing Kay Fwancis.” Titles include Trouble In Paradise (Ernst Lubitsch, 1932), Jewel Robbery (William Dieterle, 1932), Wife Wanted (Phil Karlson, 1946), British Agent(Michael Curtiz, 1934), Cynara (King Vidor, 1932), Transgression (Herbert Brenon, 1931), One Way Passage (Tay Garnett, 1932), Stolen Holiday (Michael Curtiz, 1937), The Cocoanuts (Robert Florey & Joseph Santley, 1929), Let's Go Native (Leo McCarey, 1930), The Virtuous Sin (George Cukor & Louis J. Gasnier, 1930), and Girls About Town (George Cukor, 1931).
Opens January 18
Hiroshi Teshigahara 8-Film Retrospective and Shorts Program
A towering crest of the Japanese New Wave, Hiroshi Teshigahara crashed down on the world of art house cinema in the 1960s. He is best known today for his films of this fecund period, particularly the four atmospheric, endlessly beguiling, avant garde-adjacent movies that he made working with novelist and screenwriter Kōbō Abe, unclassifiable works that explore the mysteries and vagaries of identity: Pitfall,Woman of the Dunes, The Face of Another, and The Man Without a Map. Undeniably major as these awesome accomplishments are, however, they reveal only a portion of the creative genius of this multihyphenate artist, who worked as a painter, sculptor, designer, and Noh theater director in addition to his cinematic pursuits, and whose cinema exists at an intersection between the high international modernism of Antonioni, Bergman, and Resnais, and the traditional Japanese fine arts (his father was founder and master of the world-famous Sogetsu School of Ikebana now run by his daughter.) At Metrograph, you can discover the full measure of Teshigahara’s restless genius, including early shorts and extraordinary features about AWOL American GIs (Summer Soldier), a brilliant Catalan architect (Antonio Gaudi), and the famed face-off between a Zen monk and a warlord (Rikyu). The sum total shows a cineaste who is much more than his brilliant ‘60s run, and nothing less than a titan of Japanese cinema. Titles include Pitfall (1962), Woman in the Dunes (1964), The Face of Another (1966), Antonio Gaudi(1984), Rikyu (1989), Basara (1992), The Man Without a Map (1968), Summer Soldiers (1972), and a shorts program. Presented with Teshigahara’s grandson, New York composer and artist Tristan Teshigahara Pollock, in-person.
Opens January 25 Hou Hsiao-hsien In the 21st Century
4-Film Retrospective Includes Imported 35mm Print of Café Lumière
Spending his formative years in Taipei, a distinctly modern city that had swiftly grown into a metropolis in the years following the Chinese Civil War, Hou Hsiao-Hsien has always been principally an urban filmmaker, his view of the life in the concrete jungle perhaps summed up in the title of one of his breakthrough movies: City of Sadness. As the city has changed, Hou the artist has changed with it, producing at the turn of the century one of his most radical departures, Millennium Mambo (2001), a film that found the director searching for the digital pulse of a new era with a new freewheeling style. This daring and still-misunderstood work will play with a trio of 21st century Hou films, movies in which the alienation and exhilaration of life in the anonymous contemporary cityscape is distilled into unforgettable images as only this poet of urban anomie can. Titles also include an imported 35mm print of Café Lumière(2003), Three Times (2005) and Flight of the Red Balloon (2007)
Opens January 26
Produced by David O. Selznick 8-Film Overview of the Legendary Hollywood Producer
More than any single figure, David O. Selznick codified prestige-with-a-capital-P filmmaking during the Golden Age of the Hollywood studios, a creative producer in the truest sense who was renowned for his attention to detail, as exemplified by his novel-length memos. Selznick began his life in movies working for father Lewis J. Selznick’s production companies before moving to MGM, where he filled the enormous shoes of the studio’s legendary second-in-command, Irving Thalberg, and eventually became the son-in-law of studio head Louis B. Mayer. Selznick had the keys to the kingdom at MGM, but soon he was bucking for independence, and in 1935 went his own way with Selznick International Pictures, throwing himself into worrying and willing a string of enduring classics into being, including Rebecca (Alfred Hitchcock, 1940), and the highest grossing American film ever, Gone With the Wind (Victor Fleming, 1939). Overseeing every aspect of the filmmaking process on his movies, from writing to casting to editing to directing, Selznick in his brilliant career garnered ten Academy awards nominations. He also brought Hitchcock to America; gave his second wife, Jennifer Jones, her greatest roles; and, in the words of biographer David Thomson, “cared for every facet of making a film and had a greater sense of how to photograph individuals, how to use sets and music, and how to construct picture than many directors.” Let this retro stand as incontrovertible evidence that the “Selznick touch,” though hard to classify, was nevertheless very real—and close to a guarantee of movie magic. Titles include What Price Hollywood?(George Cukor, 1932), Dinner at Eight (Cukor, 1933), Spellbound (Hitchcock, 1945), Duel in the Sun (King Vidor, 1946), The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949), and Portrait of Jennie (William Dieterle, 1948).
Opens February 8
Valentine's Day at Metrograph
Colliding cars, cannibalism, and a sentimental song at Rick’s Café—these are just a few of the ways that lovers have of expressing their emotions in our wild ride of a Valentine’s Day series, which finds space for loves queer and straight, spiritual and carnal, and everything in-between. A great date for a special someone, someones, or just yourself—and don’t forget, The Commissary will be serving an especially romantic prix fixe menu. Reserve in advance. Titles include Heaven Can Wait (Ernst Lubitsch, 1943),Moonlight (Barry Jenkins, 2016), Casablanca (Michael Curtiz, 1942), Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001), Crash (David Cronenberg, 1997), and Querelle (R.W. Fassbinder, 1982).
ONGOING SERIES
Throughout January and February
Playtime
Playtime is Metrograph’s regularly-recurring weekend matinee series of studio standards, animated adventures, and foreign-language frolics, kid-friendly in content but selected because their quality has been proven plain to moviegoers of all ages. This time around we’ve got adventures galore on the agenda, so come on down with Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (Charles Lamont, 1955), munch some marmalade with Paddington (Paul King, 2014)and Paddington 2 (King, 2018), and take a few hacks at the plate with Wonderboy (The Natural, Barry Levinson, 1984). Revisit the movies you know by heart, take a chance on something you’ve never heard of—and be sure to hang around to talk about your favorite scenes over brunch in the upstairs Commissary. Titles also include Beauty and the Beast (Jean Cocteau, 1946), Shaun the Sheep Movie (Mark Burton & Richard Starzak, 2015), Song of the Sea (Tomm Moore, 2014), and Inside Out (Pete Docter & Ronnie Del Carmen, 2015).
Throughout January and February
Late Nights at Metrograph
Introducing Late Nights at Metrograph, new to this calendar and a staple to every calendar going forward. A combination of established favorites, movies we’ve been dying to find an excuse to book, and cult curios playing every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, it’s a new way to end your day on a voluptuous cinematic experience—and don’t worry, the Commissary will still be serving food and lots of drinks from a special late night menu when you get out, so no need to go to bed hungry. Titles include Mind Game (Masaaki Yuasa, 2004), Ghost in the Shell (Mamoru Oshii, 1995), News from Home (Chantal Akerman, 1977),Weekend (Jean-Luc Godard, 1967), Trouble Every Day (Claire Denis, 2001), The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (Luis Buñuel, 1972), Branded to Kill (Seijun Suzuki, 1967), and Kaili Blues (Bi Gan, 2015).
Throughout January and February
Academy at Metrograph
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Continues its Residency at Metrograph with Upcoming Winter 2019 Programming
Stephen Bogart Presents The African Queen on January 12 and Eve's Bayou with Director Kasi Lemmons on February 9
ACADEMY AT METROGRAPH continues in January and February of 2019, with upcoming programming that includes The African Queen presented byStephen Bogart on January 12, and Eve's Bayou, with director Kasi Lemmons on February 9.
The African Queen will be presented by Stephen Bogart, son of Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, on January 12. One of John Huston’s best-loved films and one of the most entertaining odd-couple pictures ever made, this action-comedy-romance, shot in Uganda and the Congo, teams Humphrey Bogart as a crass Canadian supply boat skipper and Katharine Hepburn as his bluestocking cargo, a prudish missionary who he’s transporting through c. 1914 German East Africa when war breaks out and all hell breaks loose.
On February 9, Eve's Bayou will be presented by director Kasi Lemmons. One of the essential works of African-American cinema of the 1990s, and just selected for the Library of Congress' National Film Registry, Eve's Bayou is a film of rich, steamy sexuality and an incredible sense of place, that follows the loss of innocence that occurs when the daughter of a well-to-do Louisiana family (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) catches her father (Samuel L. Jackson) in a moment of infidelity. Boasting an impressive line-up of actresses, including living legends Lynne Whitfield and Diahann Carroll, Debbi Morgan, and Meagan Good, it’s a seductive tour de force in an atmosphere thick with voodoo, other Creole legends, and household magic.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) began a yearlong residency at Metrograph in July 2017, bringing exciting and entertaining programs to the big screen. Programs in ACADEMY AT METROGRAPH have and continue to feature onstage conversations with filmmakers and scholars of motion pictures, tributes, newsreels, rarely seen clips from past Oscar® ceremonies, and home movies from Hollywood legends. This monthly series highlights unique archival elements, including recent restorations and film prints from the Academy Film Archive by celebrating classic moments from the Academy’s 90-year history.
SPECIAL EVENTS
January 5
Nico Baumbach Presents Jean-Luc Godard's Film Socialisme
Godard: “This movie was titled Socialism, at first, but it seemed to have too many connotations. Film Socialism is different: a philosopher wrote me 12 pages saying how wonderful it is to see ‘film’ alongside ‘socialism,’ since that has another meaning altogether, even hope.”
"His twin obsessions: film in its relation to the history of twentieth century politics, but also the possibility of an equality of images or images of equality, a film manifesto in the tradition of Vertov, “a smile that dismisses the universe.” Godard’s first feature shot entirely on video is about the death of both film and socialism and the signs of their persistence and potential. It features Patti Smith and Alain Badiou on a cruise ship, an intrigue about gold Stalin stole from Spain, a llama, a YouTube cat video, and ends with an attack on the idea of intellectual property. Required viewing for everyone living in the 21st century, whether or not you wish to participate in the promotion of my book, Cinema/Politics/Philosophy published by Columbia University Press." —Nico Baumbach, who will be on hand to present the film and sign copies of Cinema/Politics/Philosophy after the screening.
January 11
The Unholy Three with Live Store by Gary Lucas
Maestro of the macabre Tod Browning (Freaks, Dracula) directs frequent collaborator Lon Chaney to a masterfully sinister—and occasionally quite moving—performance as a warped ventriloquist masterminding an underhanded Christmas Eve crime along with dastardly dwarf Harry Eales and strongman Victor McLaglen. This sinful syndicate will stop at nothing, including a cross-dressing turn by Chaney, to get what they want in this sleeper sickie, remade five years later as Chaney’s first talkie but never surpassed in this visually ingenious sideshow thriller, which has the added inducements of Mae Busch as a pulchritudinous pickpocket and a maniacal chimpanzee. Featuring live performance by Gary Lucas accompanying the film.
February 2
Hilton Als on James Baldwin
In conjunction with God Made My Face: A Collective Portrait of James Baldwin at David Zwirner in January in February, the curator of that exhibition, author and scholar Hilton Als will present a selection of films and visual excerpts of Baldwin on screen.
