Sunday, January 12, 2014

mid January revivals







Hey all, Mike here with a quick revival list for the middle of January. A little late but this is what I can post, as well as all that I'm interested. Here we go:

 

REBECCA (1940) with post-film discussion with Lea DeLaria - Mon Jan 13 at 8- IFC Center- A one night only screening of Hitchcock's only Oscar winner for Best Picture, as part of IFC Center's Queer Art Cinema Series. You may prefer to wait for February or March, when it screens at the Film Forum as part of their Complete Hitchcock retrospective (dates and times TBA). I'm not sure if I can wait that long, so I'm posting it now.


Joan Fontaine stars in the first variation of the same character she would later play in Hitchcock's Suspicion. She gets swept away by a rich man, in this case widower Laurence Olivier. But after a whirlwind engagement that leads to a fairy tale wedding, the happy couple return to the husband's estate, Manderlay. Complete with creepy mansion, creepier questions as to what happened to Olivier's late wife Rebecca, and the creepiest of all servants, housekeeper Mrs. Danvers. Brrrr! That woman Danvers is an Artic Vortex unto herself.


Hitchcock's first American project, adapted from Daphne du Maurier's novel. A success of mood and style, that kept Hitch's ticket to Hollywood permanently punched. Oscar nominations for Olivier for Actor, Fontaine for Actress, Judith Anderson for Supporting Actress as Danvers, Hitch for Director, plus Screenplay, Editing, Score, Art Direction and Special Effects. Oscars for Picture and Cinematography. The only film to ever win for Best Picture without winning for either Director, Screenplay or in any of the acting categories.


After the film, there will be a discussion of the film's subtle and not-so-subtle aspects with actress/ performer Lea DeLaria. Some of you know her as a comedian, cabaret performer or from a Broadway revival of On The Town over ten years ago. Others may know DeLaria now from the Netflix series, Orange is the New Black. She's funny as hell and not always, eh, subtle. Should make an interesting post-film talk. But note that tickets should be bought at least ninety minutes prior, and Rebecca is 2 hours 10 minutes long, so be prepared for a long night if you do it:


 
IL SORPASSO- Mon Jan 13 and Wed Jan 15 at 7:30 and 9:40- Film Forum- A DCP screening, restored from the original camera negative. Don't know this jocular Italian road comedy, mainly because it's been out of circulation in the U.S. for quite a while. But this film, described by the Forum as a forefather to the likes of Borat and The Hangover, is something I'm curious about. As for the rest of this pitch, I'll have to do a cut and paste and let the Forum website do the work for me. Hey, if I knew the film, I'd do the rest of the write-up myself:


(1962) Vittorio Gassman’s just looking for a phone in a holiday-deadened Rome to say he’s already an hour late, while uptight law student Jean-Louis Trintignant just wants to keep on studying, but soon they’re whizzing past everything on the road as shameless hot dog Gassman rides that very distinctive horn, treats Trintignant to meals that he isn’t paying for, even crashing at his own ex-wife’s, where he’s horrified to find teenage daughter Catherine Spaak is… like him? But even as Trintignant switches from “Let’s go back” to “this is the best day of my life,” there’s one more thing to “surpass.” Smash road comedy, a long-unseen classic of the commedia all’italiana, from sadly-underrated titan Risi. Approx. 105 min. DCP. 



THE EVIL DEAD (1981)- Sat Jan 18 at Midnight- IFC Center- A DCP midnight screening of the cult horror classic that started Sam Raimi's career. A horror classic that, despite the ultra low budget this must have been shot on, holds up well. The screening is billed as some sort of uncut director's print. Don't know what that means exactly, except maybe no intentional darkening of a certain tree scene:



JAWS- Sat Jan 18 at Midnight- IFC Center- A DCP screening, and if it's the same DCP I saw at the Film Forum in the summer of 2012, then we're getting a good one. Jaws, a popular film over at IFC Center (file under Yeah: No Kidding), plays once again late at night all MLK weekend long. But I'm afraid like Evil Dead, Saturday the 18th is my only option, so it's one or the other. On both AFI Top 100 lists, but higher up for me. Also in my personal Top 35 as opposed to just one of one hundred. Don't underestimate the quality of this Spielberg film on the big screen. It's not just another fish film. 3 Oscars including John Williams's memorable score, and a nomination for Best Picture (along with One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon and Nashville; not shabby: 




That's all for now. The next list will be about as big, and more notable if you're a Fosse or Garland fan. Later all.

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