a highly-opinionated selection of things happening around town, and sometimes out of town. this month's page here.
fri. jan. 1
duck soup 5 PM, the cocoanuts @ aero
chimes at midnight 4:30 7:30 PM @ silent movie theater
true romance MIDNIGHT @ nuart
reservoir dogs MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
sat. jan. 2
midnight, remember the night @ aero
chimes at midnight 2:00 5:00 7:30 PM @ silent movie theater
riki-oh: the story of ricky 10 PM @ silent movie theater
indiana jones trilogy 5 PM @ egyptian
sun. jan. 3
the thin man, libeled lady @ aero
to have and have not 2 PM @ silent movie theater
chimes at midnight 4:45 7:30 PM @ silent movie theater
the blade (1995) 10 PM @ silent movie theater
batman (1966) 5 PM, munster go home! @ egyptian
mon. jan. 4
chimes at midnight 4:30 7:30 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
tue. jan. 5
sherlock: the abominable bride (fathom events) @ amc century city, universal city, burbank; cinemark hughes, north hollywood
chimes at midnight 4:30 7:30 PM @ silent movie theater
zu warriors 11 PM @ silent movie theater
the brand new testament (w/ q&a) @ aero
wed. jan. 6
sherlock: the abominable bride (fathom events) @ amc century city, universal city, burbank; cinemark hughes, north hollywood
beasts of no nation (w/ q&a) @ hammer
chimes at midnight 4:30 PM @ silent movie theater
doc-u-mania 10:30 PM @ lost & found film club @ silent movie theater
room (w/ q&a) FREE (RSVP) @ awardsline @ landmark
cinema shiro 8 PM @ epfc
thu. jan. 7
chimes at midnight 4:30 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater
kyle mooney and nathan fielder's youtube treasures 7 PM @ silent movie theater
carol, far from heaven @ egyptian
mustang (w/ q&a) @ aero
no la 8 PM @ epfc
clerks @ laemmle noho 7
fri. jan. 8
room (w/ q&a) @ hammer
nasa space universe (7:00) @ timewarp records
big trouble in little china MIDNIGHT @ nuart
pulp fiction MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
chimes at midnight @ silent movie theater
mustang 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
sat. jan. 9
electra glide in blue 10:30 PM @ bv cinemas
shark toys, rearranged face, sea lions @ bootleg
ty segall, sex stains, etc @ the smell's 18th birthday party @ smell
the underworld story, try and get me @ ucla film archive
the man who fell to earth, the hunger @ egyptian
fargo, lost highway @ aero
peter pan (1924) 2 PM @ the silent treatment @ silent movie theater
the graduate (w/ q&a) 7 PM @ silent movie theater
experimental music yearbook 8 PM @ epfc
sun. jan. 10
to have and have not 1 PM @ silent movie theater
taking off 8:45 PM @ silent movie theater
the argyle secrets 7 PM, inflation, gentleman joe palooka @ ucla film archive
performance, ned kelly @ egyptian
dark city, the matrix @ aero
world on a wire FREE 7 PM @ reel grit @ afi
53rd ann arbor film festival traveling tour 16mm program @ epfc
kathe kollwitz: images of a life FREE 1 PM @ lacma
mon. jan. 11
and when i die i won't stay dead 8:30 PM @ redcat
99 homes (w/ q&a) @ hammer
mustang 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
tue. jan. 12
carol (w/ q&a) @ hammer
women in motion: marion davies and marvelous mavens of early film comedy
excalibur @ arclight hollywood
mustang 4:30 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
chimes at midnight @ silent movie theater
the philadelphia story 1 PM @ lacma
wed. jan. 13
true romance @ arclight sherman oaks
chimes at midnight @ silent movie theater
tangerine @ hammer
thu. jan. 14
rams FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc stark
the fifth element @ arclight hollywood
the big sleep @ egyptian
news from home (w/ live accompaniment) 10 PM @ silent movie theater
trainspotting @ laemmle noho 7
the hand that feeds FREE 7 PM @ armory
medium cool FREE 8 PM @ veggie cloud
fri. jan. 15
jafar panahi's taxi (w/ q&a) @ hammer
ty segall & the muggers, cfm, vial @ teragram
yojimbo, sanjuro @ egyptian
american psycho, memento @ aero
jackie brown MIDNIGHT @ new beverly
sat. jan. 16
ty segall & the muggers, cfm @ teragram
women without men 6:30 PM @ bv cinemas
the shining (forwards and backwards at the same time) 10:30 PM @ bv cinemas
hell drivers, sea fury @ ucla film archive
the seven samurai @ egyptian
note to self: psychosexual films of nazli dinel 8 PM @ epfc
the quarter after, the creation factory @ hm157
doomed love 6 PM @ redcat
sun. jan. 17
the big sleep 2 PM @ silent movie theater
zulu 7 PM @ ucla film archive
the hidden fortress, throne of blood @ egyptian
gambling gods and lsd 6 PM @ epfc
mon. jan. 18
the professional @ arclight sherman oaks
sixty six 8:30 PM @ redcat
tue. jan. 19
aferim! FREE (RSVP) 7 PM @ usc stark
blade runner 7 PM @ arclight santa monica
notorious 1 PM @ lacma
wed. jan. 20
the look of silence (w/ q&a) @ hammer
white dove FREE @ the lost knight
thu. jan. 21
casablanca 7 PM @ arclight santa monica
the master (70mm) @ aero
films by fern silva 8 PM @ epfc
salaam cinema FREE 8 PM @ veggie cloud
fri. jan. 22
l.a. witch @ roxy
the trial of vivienne ware, night editor @ ucla film archive
high and low, the bad sleep well @ egyptian
silverado (70mm) @ aero
pierrot le fou 7:30 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
los alamos rolodex FREE 7 PM @ clui
sat. jan. 23
dead reckoning 6 PM, thieves after dark @ bv cinemas
series 7: the contenders 8:30 PM @ bv cinemas
life of brian 10:30 PM @ bv cinemas
the whistler, the power of the whistler @ ucla film archive
rashomon, ikiru @ egyptian
the general (8mm, 1926, w/ live accompaniment) @ retro format @ spielberg @ egyptian
lawrence of arabia (70mm) @ aero
pierrot le fou 9:45 PM @ silent movie theater
sun. jan. 24
dark passage 2 PM @ silent movie theater
red beard @ egyptian
vertigo (70mm) @ aero
venice film fest FREE 7 PM @ beyond baroque
pierrot le fou 4:45 10:00 PM @ silent movie theater
mon. jan. 25
the goonies (35mm) @ arclight pasadena
pierrot le fou 7:30 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
sex stains FREE @ cha cha
tue. jan. 26
upset @ bootleg
triptides, levitation room @ echoplex
north by northwest 1 PM @ lacma
pierrot le fou 7:30 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
lafms: how low can you go? @ hyperion tavern
wed. jan. 27
telecaves, white out @ smell
heart of a dog (w/ q&a) @ hammer
pierrot le fou 7:30 10:15 PM @ silent movie theater
thu. jan. 28
winter @ echo
one day in the life of andrei arsenevich FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
mind meld, prettiest eyes @ resident
lisa prank, upset @ smell
khartoum (70mm) @ egyptian
facts make the difference: mystery films of los alamos 8 PM @ epfc
faces FREE (RSVP) @ lacma
planes trains and automobiles @ laemmle noho 7
pierrot le fou 10:30 PM @ silent movie theater
after hours 11 PM @ meltdown
fri. jan. 29
blow-up MIDNIGHT @ nuart
dudes @ ucla film archive
it's a mad mad mad mad world (70mm) @ egyptian
things to come, invaders from mars @ aero
sat. jan. 30
julia holter @ teragram
a trip to the moon @ bv cinemas
the great silence 8:30 PM @ bv cinemas
art deco architecture in hollywood 2 PM @ egyptian
ben-hur @ egyptian
gone with the wind @ aero
in india - 1903 to 1949: the 78rpm phenomenon (lecture) @ velaslavasay panorama
lee noble @ complex
the creation factory (11:00) @ psychedelic ball @ 601 s clarence
sun. jan. 31
key largo 2 PM @ silent movie theater
neil hamburger @ satellite
the limping man 7 PM, the master plan @ ucla film archive
foreign correspondent, bulldog drummond @ aero
haskell wexler tribute FREE 7 PM @ beyond baroque
mr. freedom FREE 8 PM @ veggie cloud
black sea @ my bloody valentine tribute night @ echo
the bride wore black FREE 7 PM @ reel grit @ afi
mon. feb. 1
goodfellas 8 PM @ arclight pasadena
dick tracy meets gruesome, the shadow (chapters 13-15)
tue. feb. 2
rebecca 1 PM @ lacma
thu. feb. 4
godspeed you black emperor @ the cathedral sanctuary @ los angeles immanuel presbyterian
ivan's childhood FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
fri. feb. 5
godspeed you black emperor @ warner grand theatre (san pedro)
branded to kill, youth of the beast @ ucla film archive
sat. feb. 6
tokyo drifter, fighting elegy @ ucla film archive
corners, mystic braves, the creation factory, etc @ teragram
el haru kuroi @ tropico de nopal
sun. feb. 7
chandu the magician 7 PM, chandu on the magic island @ ucla film archive
mon. feb. 8
kanto wanderer, the call of blood @ ucla film archive
tue. feb. 9
spellbound 1 PM @ lacma
thu. feb. 11
andrei rublev FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
fri. feb. 12
vertigo MIDNIGHT @ nuart
gate of flesh, story of a prostitute @ ucla film archive
sat. feb. 13
tattooed life, carmen from kawachi @ ucla film archive
the silence of the lambs 8 PM @ street food cinema @ million dollar theater
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind 9 PM @ cinespia @ palace theater
sun. feb. 14
peter pants @ smell
tue. feb. 16
strangers on a train 1 PM @ lacma
wed. feb. 17
mysterious island @ ucla film archive
thu. feb. 18
solaris (1972) FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
the treasure of the sierra madre @ alex theater
fri. feb. 19
ghostbusters MIDNIGHT @ nuart
sun. feb. 21
pistol opera 7 PM, a tale of sorrow and sadness @ ucla film archive
mon. feb. 22
passport to darkness, eight hours of fear @ ucla film archive
three films by jennifer reeder 8:30 PM @ redcat
tue. feb. 23
suspicion 1 PM @ lacma
wed. feb. 24
city of gold (w/ q&a) FREE @ hammer
thu. feb. 25
the mirror FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
ashes and embers 8:30 PM @ redcat
fri. feb. 26
i love a mystery, the unknown @ ucla film archive
sat. feb. 27
tyondai braxton (8:30) @ redcat
the sleeping beast within, smashing the o-line @ ucla film archive
thu. mar. 3
shark toys @ echo
stalker FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
fri. mar. 4
sands of the kalahari @ ucla film archive
sat. mar. 5
punch-drunk love (w/ live score) @ ace hotel
the killing fields of dr. haing s. ngor FREE @ ucla film archive
heron oblivion @ resident
sun. mar. 6
ziguernerweisen 7 PM @ ucla film archive
no age, la witch, etc. @ los angeles is berning @ smell
mon. mar. 7
kagero-za @ ucla film archive
wed. mar. 9
cage/cunningham FREE @ hammer
thu. mar. 10
nostalghia FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
fri. mar. 11
sorry wrong number, the phantom of crestwood @ ucla film archive
sat. mar. 12
yumeji @ ucla film archive
where the chocolate mountains 8:30 PM @ redcat
sun. mar. 13
capone cries a lot 3 PM @ ucla film archive
thu. mar. 17
the sacrifice FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
fri. mar. 18
crashout, jet storm @ ucla film archive
sat. mar. 19
fire @ ucla film archive
sun. mar. 20
calling dr. death 7 PM, the frozen ghost @ ucla film archive
mon. mar. 21
bewitched, crime doctor's man hunt @ ucla film archive
wed. mar. 23
faust @ union
wed. mar. 30
bauhaus in america FREE @ hammer
thu. mar. 31
failure as a generative process: expanded cinema experiments of stan vanderbeek FREE @ hammer
mon. apr. 4
chantal akerman: portraits of the artist as a young girl 8:30 PM @ redcat
thu. apr. 7
the tree of life FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
tue. apr. 12
everything we do is music: music from black mountain college FREE @ hammer
wed. apr. 13
edwin parker FREE @ hammer
thu. apr. 14
antichrist FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
mon. apr. 18
radical intimacies: the 8mm cinema of saul levine 8:30 PM @ redcat
tue. apr. 19
cage tudor and the visual language of indeterminacy (lecture & performance) FREE @ hammer
thu. apr. 21
uncle boonmee who can recall his past lives FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
ex hex @ echo
mon. apr. 25
textures of life: film and the art of tacita dean 8:30 PM @ redcat
thu. apr. 28
meek's cutoff FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
mon. may 2
fantasia of color in early cinema 8:30 PM @ redcat
thu. may 5
the turin horse FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
bleached @ teragram
thu. may 12
leviathan (2014) FREE 7 PM @ csun armer
fri. may 13
charles bradly @ ace hotel
WHAT IT IS:
AFERIM!
Eastern Europe, 1835. Two riders cross a barren landscape in the middle of Wallachia. They are the gendarme Costandin and his son. Together they are searching for a gypsy slave who has run away from his nobleman master and is suspected of having an affair with the noble's wife. While the unflappable Costandin comments on every situation with a cheery aphorism, his son takes a more contemplative view of the world. On their odyssey they encounter people of different nationalities and beliefs: Turks and Russians, Christians and Jews, Romanians and Hungarians. Each harbors prejudices against the others which have been passed down from generation to generation. And even when the slave Carfin is found, the adventure is far from over... Running time: 106 minutes. In Romanian, with English subtitles. Directed by Radu Jude.
And When I Die I Won't Stay Dead
Billy Woodberry introduces the US premiere of his long-awaited new film And When I Die I Won’t Stay Dead, a feature-length documentary about jazz-inspired beat poet Bob Kaufman, sometimes called the “black American Rimbaud." Woodberry’s landmark 1984 film Bless Their Little Hearts was honored with a jury award at the Berlin International Film Festival and was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry. The program begins with Marseille après la guerre, a short montage crafted from images found in a longshoremen’s union hall.
The Argyle Secrets (1948)
Based upon director Cy Endfield's own successful play for radio's Suspense series, this independent production concerned the pursuit by a dogged reporter of a rumored dossier containing the names of American businessmen who had sought to make deals with Nazi Germany, to buttress their own interests whatever the outcome of WWII. A labyrinthine mystery, the economically-made film lent noirish interest to its grim geopolitical premise. 16mm, b/w, 64 min. Director: Cy Endfield. Based on the radio play The Argyle Album by Cyril Endfield on Suspense.
Art Deco Architecture in Hollywood
Members of the Art Deco Society's Preservation Advocacy Committee will give an hour-long illustrated presentation on Art Deco architecture in Hollywood, followed by the 1932 film WHAT PRICE HOLLYWOOD? which features Hollywood icons, Grauman's Chinese Theatre, The Brown Derby and the First United Methodist Church. The neighborhood in and around Hollywood Boulevard is a treasure trove of historic blocks that have managed to survive decades of development and includes many Art Deco beauties. This illustrated presentation will spotlight the architectural legacy of several of these gems, while sharing the rich social histories of buildings where Hollywood the town and Hollywood the industry, blossomed in the 1920s and 30s. Included in the talk are the dazzling Pantages, the Hollywood Citizen News building, the stream-line moderne Palladium, the Earl Carroll Theatre and of course, the Redwine Building, which is currently under consideration for historic cultural monument status by the city of Los Angeles.
ASHES AND EMBERS (1982)
A disillusioned veteran of the Vietnam War attempts to come to terms with his past and his current place as a black man in America. This little seen screen gem will serve as entry into a candid post-film dialogue about nationalism, liberty, and race relations. Engaging the audience in this conversation is a high-profile quorum of actors, musicians, and scholars, plus filmmaker and ARRAY founder Ava DuVernay.
Bauhaus in America
This must-see documentary chronicles the impact of the Bauhaus on American architecture and design. Notable Bauhaus émigrés include the artists Anni and Josef Albers, two influential faculty at Black Mountain College. (1995, dir. Judith Pearlman, 86 min.)
Bewitched (1945)
Mild-mannered, newly engaged Joan (Phyllis Thaxter) is hiding a terrible secret from her fiancé: a tormenting, depraved inner voice struggling to take over. Joan’s attempt to live a normal life and thwart the homicidal impulses of “Karen” unleashes a deadly drive for vengeance. Famed radio writer Arch Oboler directs the adaptation of his gripping psychological thriller. 16mm, b/w, 65 min. Director: Arch Oboler.
Branded to Kill (Japan, 1967)
(Koroshi no Rakuin)
This fractured film noir is the final provocation that got director Seijun Suzuki fired from Nikkatsu Studios, simultaneously making him a counterculture hero and putting him out of work for a decade. An anarchic send-up of B-movie clichés, it stars Jo Shishido as an assassin who gets turned on by the smell of cooking rice, and whose failed attempt to kill a victim (a butterfly lands on his gun) turns him into a target himself. Perhaps Suzuki’s most famous film, it has been cited as an influence by filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino, Jim Jarmusch, Park Chan-wook and John Woo, as well as the composer John Zorn, who called it, “a cinematic masterpiece that transcends its genre.” DCP, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 91 min.
THE BRAND NEW TESTAMENT
(LE TOUT NOUVEAU TESTAMENT)
2015, 113 min, Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Dir: Jaco Van Dormael
According to director Jaco Van Dormael’s (MR. NOBODY, TOTO THE HERO) surreal satire, those hoping to find God should focus their search on an apartment building in Brussels, where the deity (Benoit Poelvoorde) spends his days making human life more difficult. His daughter (Pili Groyne) hopes to put a stop to this and sets off to recruit some new apostles (Catherine Deneuve among them). “A religiously incorrect but irresistibly funny work of the imagination.” - Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter. In French with English subtitles. Discussion following with writer-director Jaco Van Dormael.
BULLDOG DRUMMOND
1929, Park Circus/UA, 89 min, USA, Dir: F. Richard Jones
Crackling good mystery/romance with Ronald Colman firing on all cylinders as the ex-WWI officer Captain Hugh “Bulldog” Drummond, who makes it his business to seek out trouble. He finds it, in the form of a sadistic trio of thieves out to steal the fortune from lovely Joan Bennett’s uncle. Fans of James Whale’s THE OLD DARK HOUSE should check this out for a similar, almost unclassifiable mixture of Gothic weirdness and black humor.
Cage/Cunningham
Elliot Caplan’s documentary chronicles the 50-year collaboration between two of the country’s most influential artists, the choreographer Merce Cunningham and the composer John Cage, examining their integration of Buddhism into their work and their lives together. (1991, dir. Elliot Caplan, 100 min.)
Calling Dr. Death (1943)
Foregoing the trademark creaking door opening of radio’s Inner Sanctum Mysteries in favor of a floating head attesting that “Yes—even you, without knowing, can commit murder!” the psychological terror of the Inner Sanctum carries over to Universal’s film adaptation, in which neurologist Mark Steele (Lon Chaney Jr.), after blacking out, finds his adulterous wife murdered and himself the prime suspect. 35mm, b/w, 63 min. Director: Reginald LeBorg.
The Call of Blood (Japan, 1964)
(Oretachi no chi ga Yurusanai)
Though director Seijun Suzuki created it in the midst of his stylistic breakthrough, The Call of Blood (1964) has never received the same amount of attention as other films he made around the same time. Nikkatsu icons Hideki Takahashi and Akira Kobayashi star as brothers—one a gangster, the other an ad man—who unite to avenge their yakuza father’s death 18 years before. The film features a bold use of color; an absurdist concluding gunfight; and, in one memorable scene, an impressively illogical use of rear projection, as the brothers argue in a car while ocean waves rage around them. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 97 min. Based on a novel by Kenro Matsuura
Capone Cries a Lot (Japan, 1985)
(Kapone oi ni naku)
In this surreal comic confection, a traditional naniwa-bushi singer moves to Prohibition-era San Francisco. He goes in search of Al Capone, whom he mistakenly believes is president, hoping to impress the gangster with his singing and popularize the art form in the States. Filmed mostly in an abandoned amusement park in Japan, director Seijun Suzuki’s vision of 1920s America is an anarchic collage of pop culture images, from cowboys to Charlie Chaplin. One reason Capone is so rarely seen is that it reflects the racial attitudes of the time in which it is set by including, for example, a minstrel band in blackface. Such discomfiting images are balanced by scenes featuring an actual African American jazz ensemble that joins the film’s hero in jam sessions mixing blues, jazz and naniwa-bushi. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 128 min. Based on a novel by Sueyuki Kajiyama.
Carmen from Kawachi (Japan, 1966)
(Kawachi Karumen)
A 1960s riff on the opera Carmen (including a rock version of its famous aria “Habanero”), this picaresque tale sends its heroine from the countryside to Osaka and Tokyo in search of success as a singer. Her journey is fraught with exploitation and abuse at the hands of nefarious men—until Carmen seeks revenge. Mixing comedy, biting social commentary and director Seijun Suzuki’s customarily outrageous stylistic flourishes, this fast-paced gem is an overlooked classic from his creative late period at Nikkatsu Studios. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 89 min. Based on a novel by Toko Kon.
Chandu on the Magic Island (1934)
A cult of cat worshippers lure the Egyptian princess Nadji to the faraway island of Lemuria, where they intend to sacrifice her in a ceremony to resurrect their leader. Chandu (this time played by Bela Lugosi), races to her rescue, pitting his yogic powers against the black magic of the cult’s high priest in a dramatic supernatural duel. 16mm, b/w, 67 min. Director: Ray Taylor. Based on the radio series created by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M. Oldham and R. R. Morgan.
Chandu the Magician (1932)
Public interest in magic, hypnotism and mysticism coalesced in the radio-original character of Frank Chandler, alias Chandu the Magician, an American with mind control and invisibility powers learned from a Hindu yogi. Translating extravagant audio storylines with special effects and exotic sets, Chandu is rife with occult tricks, deadly traps and sinister laboratories as its title mystic battles megalomaniac, death ray–wielding Roxor (Bela Lugosi). 16mm, b/w, 75 min. Director: Marcel Varnel, William C. Menzies. Based on the radio series created by Harry A. Earnshaw, Vera M. Oldham and R.R. Morgan. Cinematographer: James Howe.
CHANTAL AKERMAN: PORTRAITS OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG GIRL
Presented as part of the citywide retrospective in memory of the late Chantal Akerman, this trio of rarely screened films focuses on the cinema icon’s whimsical, humorous and achingly intimate view of youthful femininity. Saute ma ville (1968) introduces Akerman, then only 18, as a female Charlie Chaplin who cheerily mistreats the appliances in her tiny kitchen before committing an act of radical rebellion. In I Am Hungry, I Am Cold (1984), a pair of runaways scamper across Paris, practice kissing, sing for their supper, and nonchalantly cast aside desiring men. The third, longer work, Portrait of a Young Girl from the Late Sixties in Brussels (1993), follows Akerman’s teen double as she sublimates a secret crush for her heterosexual classmate into a surprise gift, conveying the generous violence of female desire.
Cinema Shiro
Many years ago, Vienna based artist, Albert Allgaier recorded an obscure Japanese experimental film playing on television late in the night. Never officially released and overdubbed in German, the film has become a cult classic among Albert’s circle of peers and so Cinema Shiró was born; an international film festival dedicated to a single movie. An exercise in endurance for the audience and Albert alike, Cinema Shiró has become a monument to a virtually unknown director which enfolds in the ephemeral setting of the screening frame by frame. Previous screenings include Batumi (Georgia), Hokkaido (Japan), the Catholic Workers Union of Porto (Portugal), and a nudist colony in Neringa (Lithuania). CURATOR IN ATTENDANCE!
CITY OF GOLD
Some restaurant critics get ink traversing the globe; Jonathan Gold forged a more challenging route: the San Gabriel Valley hole-in-the-wall, a dull strip mall closer to home, a food truck that presaged the fad. Gold teases Angelenos’ tongues by mining culinary greatness in offbeat locales as he serves up vats of knowledge on global cuisine. City of Gold captures the process that won Gold the Pulitzer Prize. (2015, dir. Laura Gabbert, 96 min.) A Q&A with Jonathan Gold follows the screening.
Crashout (1955)
Before leaving the U.S. for his period of exile, director Cy Endfield sold a screenplay to producer Hal E. Chester, which became this feature about a prison breakout and its disastrous aftermath. Blacklisted, Endfield received no screen credit, though Crashout (1955) remains a fascinating part of his legacy, including such emblematic markers as a scene of card tricks (Endfield was an expert magician) and the presence of a character named "Cy Endaby." 35mm, b/w, 91 min. Director: Lewis R. Foster.
Crime Doctor's Man Hunt (1946)
Former criminal Robert Ordway (Warner Baxter), reformed after an amnesiac blow to the head and now a renowned criminal psychologist, investigates the murder of a veteran experiencing fugue states, as the young man’s worried fiancée looks on. Directed by William Castle from a script by Leigh Brackett, appearances are deceiving in this entry in Columbia’s prolific Crime Doctor mystery series. 16mm, b/w, 61 min. Based on the radio series created by Max Marcin.
Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947)
When escaped convict Gruesome (Boris Karloff) perpetrates a brazen bank heist using incapacitating nerve gas, ridding the city of his menace is a job for square-jawed detective Dick Tracy (Ralph Byrd). Colorful villains and familiar sidekicks bring author Chester Gould's sensibilities to this crime caper, the penultimate film adaptation for the detective of long-running comic and radio fame. 16mm, b/w, 65 min. Director: John Rawlins.
DOC-U-MANIA
Strange but true! We’ve rounded up a selection of our favorite independent documentary filmmakers for a slice-of-life celebration! The 16mm film format allowed for a new generation of highly mobile moviemaking on a budget, and the personal statements that emerged from early film schools brought america in touch with its unseen underbelly. Let’s give it a scratch. This is real life and it will real weird as we learn about plants, dance, drugs, punks, poops, tour guides, nudists, delicatessens & more. Our all-16mm program of oddball documentaries includes:
* Jerry’s Deli – (1976) dir. Tom Palazzolo – A cold cut case of American salesmanship.
* Full Circle – (1974) dir. Doris Chase – The pioneering multimedia artist describes her design process.
* Hard Core Home Movie (1989) dir. Greta Snider – Visit SF’s petting-zoo/theater/punk rock emporium The Farm.
* Sneakin’ N Peekin’ – (1976) dir. Tom Palazzolo. Two buddies attempt to bust in on an Illinois nudist colony.
* P – (1999) dir. Yuri A – A 6-minute history of shit.
* Observeillance – (1976) dir. Tyler Turkle – A guided tour down Florida’s Wakulla River. Without the river.
* God Respects Us When We Work, But Loves Us When We Dance – (1968) dir. Les Blank – The first ever “Love-In,” LA’s Elysian Park, Easter Sunday 1967.
+ Other Surprises!
DOOMED LOVE
(Amor de Perdição)
When he died in April 2015 at the age of 106, revered Portuguese filmmaker Manoel de Oliveira left behind one of the most extraordinary oeuvres in the history of art cinema: 31 features and more than 30 documentaries and shorts—most of which were completed after he had turned 70. Amor de Perdição, the epic work that introduced his unique style of mise-en-scène to the international film community, is an enduring masterpiece. Adapting the eponymous 1862 novel by Camilo Castelo Branco, de Oliveira focused on the author’s elegantly constructed, sonorous text rather than a naturalistic staging of the doomed affair between 18th-century aristocrats Teresa and Simão. The result is a mesmerizing synthesis of literary, theatrical and cinematic traditions, as de Oliveira overlays a haunting off-screen voice atop the sumptuous visuals captured by his deliberative moving camera. Portugal, 1978, 265 min., 16mm
Dudes (1988)
“Sick of waiting for the world to end,” three restless New York punks (Jon Cryer, Daniel Roebuck, Flea) pile into a VW bug for California but find discouraging words and much worse waiting for them out on the inhospitable range. Written by fellow UCLA alumnus Randall Jahnson, director Penelope Spheeris’ punk rock, western, road movie, comedy, action mash-up defies all conventions as it barrels across a subcultural American landscape, from big city mosh pits to wide frontier skies. 35mm, color, 97 min. Director: Penelope Spheeris. With: Jon Cryer, Catherine Mary Stewart, Daniel Roebuck, Lee Ving, Calvin Bartlett. In-person: Jon Cryer, Randall Jahnson, Penelope Spheeris.
Edwin Parker
The British artist Tacita Dean directed this film on painter and Black Mountain College student Cy Twombly and titled it with the latter’s given name, an act that “implies intimacy, an encounter with the man behind the myth” (Guardian). Following the screening, David Breslin, chief curator at the Menil Drawing Institute, offers insights on Black Mountain College’s pivotal interconnection with the New York art scenes of the 1950s and 1960s. (2011, dir. Tacita Dean, color, 29 min.)
Eight Hours of Fear (Japan, 1957)
(Hachijikan no kyôfu)
When their train is trapped by a landslide, passengers—including a murderer escorted by police officers—pile into a bus to proceed through the rugged countryside. Meanwhile, two bank robbers are loose in the vicinity. As the travellers’ journey continues, the danger mounts and tempers begin to fray. Bizarre camera movements and compositions provide a glimpse of the experimentation that took over in director Seijun Suzuki’s later films, but Eight Hours of Fear (1957) stands on its own as a gripping, eccentric adventure yarn. 35mm, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 77 min.
FACTS MAKE THE DIFFERENCE: MYSTERY FILMS OF LOS ALAMOS
This screening is inspired by the discovery of a 16mm film near the Los Alamos Nuclear Laboratory. It is called, “Facts Make the Difference,” and in the clandestine spirit of Los Alamos, organizers Lauren Steinberg and Eve LaFountain decided to wait until this event to watch it. Participants will show material (original or appropriated) in line with the history, geography and general mystery of New Mexico. CURATOR/FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!
Failure as a Generative Process: Expanded Cinema Experiments of Stan VanDerBeek
This screening of HD transfers of Stan VanDerBeek’s short animated films, as well as unpublished documentation from his Cine Dreams projects, examines the utopian film experiments that he undertook after his studies at Black Mountain College. VanDerBeek’s works anticipate contemporary art’s moving- image, installation, and participatory practices. Introduction by the art historian Gloria Sutton.
FANTASIA OF COLOR IN EARLY CINEMA
Attention, lovers of the celluloid image: here is an opportunity to travel back in time by way of a ravishing treasure trove of hand-colored cinematic visions and wonders from more than a century ago. Beautiful restorations of these rare films are showcased in the new book Fantasia of Color in Early Cinema, the revelatory, lavishly illustrated exploration of the first-ever uses of applied color in movies. Accompanied by live music, superb digital transfers of restored work from the archives of EYE Film Institute Netherlands can now take viewers to when colored moving images truly opened a portal into otherworldly magic and the uncanny—and yet could also heighten realism. Two of the book’s authors, film scholar Tom Gunning, of the University of Chicago, and painter, illustrator and animator Jonathon Rosen, of the School of Visual Arts, introduce this delightful cinematic phantasmagoria. In person: Tom Gunning, Jonathon Rosen
53RD ANN ARBOR FILM FESTIVAL TRAVELING TOUR 16MM PROGRAM
Please join us for an evening of contemporary, award winning, and acclaimed 16mm films from the latest edition of North America’s longest running independent and experimental film festival. With many Los Angeles premieres, this program highlights the eclectic depth of the festival programming and functions as an illuminating cross-section of some of the most interesting independent artists’ films being created today. Program Director David Dinnell will participate in a Q and A with featured local filmmakers following the screening. Screening:
* A Symptom – Ben Balcom, (Milwaukee, WI, 2014, 16mm, 7 min) The Colorlab / Niagara / ORWO Award for Best Cinematography
* The Song Remains The Same – Mark Toscano (Los Angeles, CA, 2014, 16mm, 5 min) Prix DeVarti for Funniest Film
* Poetry for Sale – Friedl vom Gröller (Vienna, Austria, 2014, 16mm, 3 min) Streitler
* The Dragon is the Frame – Mary Helena Clark (Berkeley, CA, 2014, 16mm, 14 min)
* The Peacock – Andrew Kim (Los Angeles, CA, 2015, 16mm 12 min) 53rd AAFF Juror Award
* vindmøller – Margaret Rorison (Baltimore, MD, 2015, 16mm, 3 min) The Colorlab / Niagara / ORWO Award for Best Cinematography
* Things – Ben Rivers (London, UK, 2014, 16mm, 21 min) The Stan Brakhage Film at Wit’s End Award
* Blue Loop, July – Mike Gibisser (Iowa City, IA, 2014, 16mm, 5 min) The Colorlab / Niagara / ORWO Award for Best Cinematography
* Falling – Robert Todd (Boston, MA, 2015, 16mm, 7 min)
* Color Neutral – Jennifer Reeves (New York, NY, 2014, 16mm, 3 min)
* a certain worry – Jonathan Schwartz (Brattleboro, VT, 2014, 16mm, 3 min)
* 7285 – Sarah J Christman (Brooklyn, NY, 2015, 16mm, 6 min)
* Accent Grave on Ananas – Tamara Henderson (with sound by Dan Riley) (Vancouver, Canada, 2013, 16mm, 3 min)Leon Speakers Award for Best Sound Design
Fighting Elegy (Japan, 1966)
(Kenka Erejii)
Set in the 1930s, this darkly comic film is the story of Kiroku, a high school kid who lusts after the pure, Catholic daughter of the family with whom he boards. The only relief he can find for his immense sexual frustration is through fighting, which at first gets him into trouble, but later makes him perfect cannon fodder for the Sino-Japanese War. As with Story of a Prostitute (1965), the subject of militarism inspired director Seijun Suzuki to make one of his most personal and impassioned works. “One of Suzuki’s indisputable masterpieces, this subversively funny account of the making of a model fascist goes where no film had gone before in search of comic insights into the adolescent male mind.” —Tony Rayns. 35mm, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 86 min. Based on a novel by Takashi Suzuki.
FILMS BY FERN SILVA
Fern Silva (b. 1982, USA/Portugal) uses moving image to produce a sonic and cinematographic language for the hybrid mythologies of globalism. His films consider methods of narrative, ethnographic, and documentary filmmaking as the starting point for structural experimentation. FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE
Fire (Canada, 1996)
Filmmaker Deepa Mehta’s stirring drama recounts the intimate relationship that develops between a new bride in a loveless marriage, and her similarly neglected sister-in-law in a shared household in New Delhi. Exciting intense controversy in India, the picture ignited movie screens with its unprecedented depiction of love between women, and its attendant suggestions about their autonomy and liberation. The film garnered honors worldwide, including the Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature at Outfest 1997. 35mm, color, 104 min.
FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT
1940, IPMA, 120 min, USA, Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
With the advent of World War II looming, action reporter Johnny Jones (Joel McCrea) is assigned the job of European correspondent for his New York newspaper and told to track down the secret treaty made by two unnamed European countries and a famous diplomat, Mr. Van Meer. Of course this assignment proves more treacherous than Johnny bargained for, and a deadly, positively Hitchcockian game of cat-and-mouse ensues. Look for the now-famous umbrella sequence, tracking a killer’s getaway, and the eerily cinematic windmill scene. With Laraine Day and George Sanders.
The Frozen Ghost (1945)
A guilt-ridden stage mentalist (Lon Chaney Jr.) and a disgraced plastic surgeon (Martin Kosleck) are two key figures in the strange goings-on at a wax museum. When the eccentric owner of the museum disappears, the ensuing intrigue illuminates the Inner Sanctum’s traffic in suggestion, hypnosis, and the power of greed, jealousy and revenge to drive ordinary people to do extraordinary things. 35mm, b/w, 61 min. Director: Harold Young.
Gambling, Gods and LSD
A filmmaker’s inquiry into transcendence becomes a three-hour trip across countries and cultures, interconnecting people, places and times. From Toronto, the scene of his childhood, Peter Mettler sets out on a journey that includes evangelism at the airport strip, demolition in Las Vegas, tracings in the Nevada desert, chemistry and street life in Switzerland, and the coexistence of technology and divinity in contemporary India. Everywhere along the way, the same themes are to be found: thrill-seeking, luck, destiny, belief, expanding perception, the craving for security in an uncertain world. Fact joins with fantasy; the search for meaning and the search for ecstasy begin to merge. Dir. Peter Mettler, Canada/Switzerland, 2002, 180 min
Gate of Flesh (Japan, 1964)
(Nikutai no Mon)
Part social realist drama, part sadomasochistic trash opera, Gate of Flesh (1964) paints a dog-eat-dog portrait of postwar Tokyo. The film takes the point of view of a gang of tough prostitutes working out of a bombed-out building. When a lusty ex-soldier lurches into its midst, the group’s most sensitive member is tempted to break one of its most important rules: no falling in love. From the women’s bold, color-coded dresses to the unorthodox use of superimposition effects and theatrical lighting, this is director Seijun Suzuki at his most astonishingly inventive. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 90 min. Based on the novel by Taijiro Tamura.
Gentleman Joe Palooka (1946)
Championship boxer Joe Palooka is a publicist’s nightmare (too virtuous!) but a boon to scheming politicians who finagle Joe's endorsement of a land-use scheme that cloaks their actual corrupt designs. Joe's morals and wits prove a match for his fists and wrong is soon put to right in this Poverty Row trifle written by Cy Endfield, whose attention to machine politics harmonizes with his later works. 16mm, b/w, 72 min. Director: Cy Endfield. Based on the comic strip Joe Palooka created by Ham Fisher.
THE GREAT SILENCE
A mute gunfighter defends a young widow and a group of outlaws against a gang of bounty killers in the winter of 1898, and a grim, tense struggle unfolds. Featuring Jean-Louis Trintignant and Klaus Kinski. (Sergio Corbucci; Italy 1968; 105 min) With Student Short film screening.
THE HAND THAT FEEDS
Conscientious Projector’s feature documentary this month examines the plight of workers in the food service industry. Filmmakers Rachel Blears and Robin Blotnick’s dramatic and inspiring film tells the story of undocumented workers at a popular Upper East Side New York City café/bakery who endure sub-legal wages, abusive managers and unsafe working conditions. Then one of them persuades a small group of his co-workers to join him in fighting back. Risking deportation, a lockout, and the loss of their livelihood, they band together, and with the help of an innovative team of young organizers, form their own independent union. Their struggle tests the limits of their resolve as they attempt to win dignity, justice, and a contract that could set an historic precedent for low-wage workers in the U.S. Our community discussion will feature workers and organizers from the Pasadenans for a Livable Wage (PLW) campaign.
HASKELL WEXLER TRIBUTE
Paul Cronin's documentary on Medium Cool plus rare film clips & fiery discussion. The documentary “Look Out Haskell, It’s Real!” details the production of Haskell Wexler’s 1969 feature Medium Cool alongside an exploration of historical events and conceptual ideas of the period. It features outtakes of the film and interviews with its cast and crew, as well as commentators and historical figures.
Hell Drivers (UK, 1957)
This stark and shocking exposé, director Cy Endfield's first film for the prestigious Rank Organization, sees out-of-work ex-convict Stanley Baker take a job with a trucking company, whose drivers are expected to make so many trips in a day they become a collective high-speed menace on the narrow country roadways. This British version of the film restores many minutes cut from the American release. 35mm, b/w, 108 min. Director: Cy Endfield. Based on a short story by John Kruse. With: Stanley Baker, Herbert Lom, Peggy Cummins, Patrick McGoohan, William Hartnell, Sean Connery.
I Love a Mystery (1945)
An eerie prophecy of death, a mysterious peg-legged lurker and a nearly fatal encounter with a flaming dessert drive a man to enlist detectives Jack Packard and Doc Long in preventing his unhappy fate. With a secret religious order, a million-dollar inheritance and a wheelchair-bound wife also in the mix, I Love A Mystery’s jam-packed plotlines evoke its lively radio antecedent. 16mm, b/w, 69 min. Director: Henry Levin. Based on the radio series created by Carlton E. Morse.
Inflation (1943)
This rarely seen, fanciful short about American consumer culture, made for MGM's short film unit, drew unfortunate attention to emerging director Cy Endfield. Depicting a satanic business tycoon cozily assuring Adolf Hitler that rampant consumption and inflation will cripple America, the film was quickly withdrawn from distribution. 35mm, b/w, 17 min. Director: Cy Endfield. Based on a story by E. Maurice Adler and Julian Harmon.
IN INDIA - 1903 to 1949: The 78rpm Phenomenon
An illustrated lecture by Robert Millis with musical demonstration by Jonathan Ward. The lecture is a result of Millis' year spent in India photographing record collections, interviewing collectors, and visiting archives and record markets: photographs of shelves groaning under the weight of unimaginable titles, beautiful label and sleeve designs from long gone eras, wind up talking machines, crammed antique shops, forgotten artists, and more that somehow survived the difficult "archival" issues of India. This presentation will feature several short Sublime Frequencies films, rare music from 78rpm discs, glimpses of the city of Calcutta, the shellac industry, and 78rpm record collectors.
Ivan’s Childhood
(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1962), 95 mins.
The debut feature by the great Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan’s Childhood is a poetic journey through the shards and shadows of one boy’s war-ravaged youth. Moving back and forth between the traumatic realities of World War II and serene moments of family life before the conflict began, Tarkovsky’s film remains one of the most jarring and unforgettable depictions of the impact of war on children.
Jet Storm (UK, 1961)
The clash of nobility and mob hysteria gets one more rehearsal in this fascinating, low-budget thriller. An explosives expert, embittered by the loss of his young daughter, reveals on an international flight that he has placed a bomb on the plane, setting up a series of fraught negotiations. The film offers a fascinating consideration of human despair and decency under intense pressure. DCP, b/w, 91 min. Director: Cy Endfield (as C. Raker Endfield). Based on a story by Sigmund Miller.
Kagero-za (Japan, 1981)
According to film critic Tony Rayns, Kagero-za (1981), “may well be Suzuki’s finest achievement outside the constraints of genre filmmaking.” In this hallucinatory adaptation of work by the Taisho Era writer Kyoka Izumi, a mysterious woman named Shinako invites Matsuzaki, a playwright, to the city of Kanazawa for a romantic rendezvous. While Matsuzaki is on his way, his patron Tamawaki appears on the train, claiming to be en route to witness a love suicide between a married woman and her lover. Matsuzaki suspects Shinako is Tamawaki’s wife, and the trip to Kanazawa may spell his doom. As in Zigeunerweisen (1980), reality, fantasy, life and afterlife blend together in Kagero-za—most spectacularly in the grand finale, in which Matsuzaki finds his life morphing into a deranged theatrical extravaganza. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 140 min. Director: Seijun Suzuki. Based on a novel by Kyoka Izumi.
Kanto Wanderer (Japan, 1963)
(Kanto Mushuku)
Based on a book by Taiko Hirabayashi, one of Japan’s most famous female novelists, Kanto Wanderer (1963) puts a Suzukian spin on the classic yakuza movie conflict between giri (duty) and ninjo (humanity). Nikkatsu superstar Akira Kobayashi plays Katsuta, a fearsome yakuza bodyguard torn between defending his boss against a rival gang leader and his obsession with Tatsuko, a femme fatale who reappears from his past. Director Seijun Suzuki uses this traditional story to experiment with color and to indulge his interest in Kabuki theater techniques and effects, most notably in the stunning final battle, in which the scenery falls away to reveal a field of pure blood red. “As an example of Suzuki’s mid-period output at Nikkatsu, Kanto Wanderer offers us an inspiring sample of experimentation on assignment.” —Margaret Barton-Fumo, Senses of Cinema. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 92 min.
Kathe Kollwitz: Images of a Life
Directed by Ralf Kirsten, 1986, 95 minutes, color, German with English subtitles.
Kathe Kollwitz was 47 years old and already a well-established artist in Germany and abroad when Peter, her youngest son, volunteerd to join the German army in World War I—and was killed two weeks later. This tragedy changed Kollwitz's life and art forever. Always politically active, she became a radical pacifist. In her art, she reflected on her son and the meaning of war. After signing a petition against the Nazis, she was excluded from the Prussian Academy of Arts and her art was labeled "degenerate." Lonely and ill, she spent the last days of her life in Dresden and died at the age of 78, before the end of World War II. Ralf Kirsten, director of The Lost Angel, an homage to German artist Ernst Barlach, used episodes from Kollwitz's unpublished letters and diaries to fit them together in a mosaic-like portrat.
KHARTOUM
1966, Park Circus/MGM, 136 min, UK, Dir: Basil Dearden, Eliot Elisofon
Charlton Heston stars as British general Charles “Chinese” Gordon, who is sent to defend the British Empire in the Sudan during a violent uprising led by jihad-hungry Laurence Olivier. This is one of the most literate (with an Oscar-nominated screenplay by Robert Ardrey) and visually sumptuous of all 1960s epics, with vibrant colors and spectacular action sequences courtesy of ace craftsman Basil Dearden.
The Killing Fields of Dr. Haing S. Ngor (2015)
Filmmaker Arthur Dong's new documentary sheds light on the extraordinary life of Cambodian physician Haing S. Ngor, who survived years of torture in Khmer Rouge labor camps and rose to Hollywood fame as an Oscar-winning actor in The Killing Fields (1984), ultimately to be gunned down outside his home in Los Angeles' Chinatown. Dong's moving and penetrating film, ingeniously employing animation, music and elliptical editing, powerfully evokes this heroic and enigmatic "face of Cambodia," who worked tirelessly to bring healing and justice to his country. DCP, color, 87 min. In-person: Arthur Dong, Sophia Ngor, Jack Ong.
LAFMS: HOW LOW CAN YOU GO?
A short film portrait of the Los Angeles Free Music Society in which members of the long running experimental music collective shine light on their fearless exploration of sound. Film directed by Holly Thompson & Mark "Frosty" McNeill. Plus, music all night by LAFMS. PERFORMANCE & SCREENING SCHEDULE:
* 8pm: DJ Frosty
* 9:15pm: Joe Potts & Vetza duet debut
* 10pm: FILM SCREENS
* 10:30pm: The unveiling of DAFT (Dennis Duck, Ace Farren Ford & Fredrik Nilsen Trio)
* 11:30pm: Dinosaurs With Horns
* 12am: DJ Nanny Cantaloupe & Friends
LIBELED LADY
1936, Warner Bros., 98 min, USA, Dir: Jack Conway
Remade a decade later as EASY TO WED, this screwball comedy gem features a veritable dream team of MGM stars at the top of their game. Heiress Myrna Loy sues the New York Evening Star when it paints her as a home-wrecker, but editor Spencer Tracy thinks he can get the suit dropped by trapping the wealthy woman between one of his ex-reporters (William Powell) and his own fiancée (Jean Harlow). Powell’s hilarious fishing sequence is but one of the many highlights.
The Limping Man (UK/USA, 1953)
Newly arrived in Britain as an exile, facing serious questions as to his ability to work there (director Charles de la Tour was paid to front for Cy Endfield at this point), or even to renew his U.S. passport, Endfield directed this feverish mystery about an American (Lloyd Bridges) rejoining an old lover in London, but caught up in a series of disorienting intrigues involving murder and international smuggling. 16mm, b/w, 76 min. Director: Cy Endfield (as Charles de Lautour). Based on the story Death on the Tideway by Anthony Verney.
The Master Plan (UK/USA, 1955)
By 1955 assuming the pseudonym "Hugh Raker," as a concession to U.S. distributors still wary of Cy Endfield's supposed Communist taint, the director undertook this low-budget, British thriller about intrigues in a high-security NATO office in central Europe where espionage is suspected, and a visiting American major is caught up in a sinister "brainwashing" scheme that compromises international security. 16mm, b/w, 78 min. Director: Cy Endfield (as Hugh Raker). Based on an original story by Harold Bratt.
MIDNIGHT
1939, Universal, 94 min, USA, Dir: Mitchell Leisen
A showgirl (Claudette Colbert) impersonating a Baroness, a lovestruck taxi driver (Don Ameche) and a cuckolded millionaire (John Barrymore) are just a few of the ingredients in this frothy concoction penned by Charles Brackett and Billy Wilder and directed with breathless elan by Mitchell Leisen. Costarring Mary Astor, Francis Lederer and gossip queen Hedda Hopper, this delirious riff on the Cinderella story ranks among the greatest of all screwball comedies.
The Mirror
(dir. Andrei Tarkovsky, 1975), 107 mins.
Andrei Tarkovsky, the acclaimed master of Soviet cinema, takes a moving and personal turn with this striking meditation on life in Russia during the bleak days of WWII. THE MIRROR is not just the display of a film director at the peak of his unique powers. As an homage to the innocence of childhood, it tells an enigmatic tale that is both gripping and horrifying. Tarkovsky uses his own coming-of-age experiences, himself "mirror"-ed, to convey the mood and action that dominated a country ravaged by war. Through a fascinating two-tiered time frame, the director blends his own harsh childhood with an adult life that is troubled and broken. Powerful images (a mother faced with political terror, a divorcing couple's quarrel) are underscored by Tarkovsky's masterful manipulation of film stocks and recorded sound. THE MIRROR becomes a stream-of-consciousness, nostalgic visions of childhood mixed with slow-motion dream sequences and stark WWII newsreels. Tarkovsky's THE MIRROR is ultimately as much a window through the filmmaker's gaze as it is a reflection of his personal passions and ideals. Through this essential film, viewers may find the puzzles that provide the key to the director's other works, including THE SACRIFICE and SOLARIS.
MR FREEDOM
(1969, Dir: William Klein)
“Conceivably the most anti-American film ever made,” according to Jonathan Rosenbaum, Mr. Freedom is a pop-political lampoon of US foreign policy made by an American-born expatriate during the morass of the Vietnam War. Mr. Freedom himself is a football-padded superhero who jets off to Europe to save Switzerland from the commies, encountering figures like Red China Man, a giant balloon dragon. Ed Halter writes: “Mr. Freedom was Klein’s attempt to make an anti-war film that could attract the popcorn crowd, using the visual language of broad comedy, old-time serials, and the monster movie… Klein’s filmmaking participates in a larger interest among his fellow Parisians in exploring the use of Pop images towards political re-education.” When asked in a recent interview if he feels French after 60 years in Paris, Klein replied no, "but I’m at home with the French. Hanging out with Americans: for me, that sucks."
Mysterious Island (UK/USA, 1961)
This fanciful adaptation of Jules Verne's 1874 novel, atypical for director Cy Endfield, called upon his knowledge of American genres, European locations and the dramatization of group dynamics. Here, a group of Union Soldiers in the American Civil War escapes a Confederate compound in a hot air balloon, landing on an island full of outsize and mysterious beasts, animated by Ray Harryhausen. DCP, color, 101 min.
NED KELLY (1970)
1970, Park Circus/MGM, 99 min, UK, Dir: Tony Richardson
Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger plays the title role in Tony Richardson’s (TOM JONES) biopic of the legendary Australian bushranger. Beautifully shot and thoroughly anti-establishment, this rousing drama musters a good deal of sympathy for the poor devil, driven by police persecution to robbery and eventually homicide in the 1870s. Outlaw country singers Waylon Jennings and Kris Kristofferson helped supply the soundtrack.
NEWS FROM HOME
“The narrative of the foreigner adrift in the American landscape has always been at the heart of what I do” —Alex Zhang Hungtai (Last Lizard, Dirty Beaches).
Hungtai is Taiwanese-Canadian in origin, and an Angeleno for now—but has consistently found himself in the role foreigner, living everywhere from Honolulu to Lisbon and Berlin. These global perambulations, along with a deep and true cinephilia (most famously the films of Wong Kar-wai), have together been key influences on his art. It seems natural to us, that when asked to musically reimagine or meditate on a film of his choosing, he would find himself drawn to Chantal Akerman’s 1977 hypnotic depiction of New York City, News From Home.
Here, a young Akerman, newly relocated from Belgium to New York City, shares her persistent, thoughtful gaze with the viewer, her lense affixing itself to the movements of the great metropolis, stepping back and leaving a space for contemplation. For this special one-night “collaboration,” Last Lizard takes that place, interpreting and responding to Akerman’s images in a unique musical performance. In Hungtai’s words, “Our narrative is never definitive, trapped between origin and destination, anchored by neither. But between point A and B lies a third vantage point, perhaps expressed by the image of the receding skyline in the finale of the film.” Dir. Chantal Akerman, 1977
Night Editor (1946)
Newspaperman Crane Stewart recounts the tale of Tony Cochrane, a cop and faithless husband in thrall to vicious, ice-cold socialite Jill Merrill. A script laced with jaundiced dialogue (“You’re worse than blood poisoning,” Tony whispers to Jill) and a murder on lover’s lane add up to a sordid intrigue in which Tony must choose between upholding the law or concealing his affair. 35mm, b/w, 65 min. Director: Henry Levin. Based on the radio play by Hal Burdick.
NO LA
This program is designed to shine a light on some important contemporary makers scattered around the fifty states whose work often embodies a different practice that develops in the semi-autonomy of their local scenes. Many of these makers have spent time in the “centers” before settling in the “periphery.” And surely their work is marked by that passage, which has often included schooling at one of the canonical art programs. Certainly almost all have also screened in the center/those centers at one time or another. But I would still argue that there’s something unique about the trajectory that these makers have taken through the world and that that trajectory is reflected in the work itself. This program is designed to make a case for that specificity and to serve as an incentive to dig deeper into this “cinema of the margins” at the geographical peripheries of experimental film. Screening:
Christopher Harris (Orlando, FL), “28.IV.81 (Bedouin Spark)” (3:00, 16mm, 2009)
* Georg Koszulinski (Seattle, WA), “White House” (8:00, HD video, 2009)
* Tomonari Nishikawa (Binghamton, NY), “Tokyo-Ebisu”
* Kelly Sears (Denver, CO), “Once It Started It Could Not End Otherwise” (7:30, HD video, 2011)
* Brendan and Jeremy Smyth (Durham, NC/Haverhill, MA), “Death Songs and Car Bombs” (6:30, 16mm, 2013)
* Jason LaRay Keener and J. Ledbetter (Birmingham, AL) “Hallelujah! Gorilla Revival” (4:45, HD video, 2008)
* Lauren Cook (Hartford, CT), “Altitude Zero” (5:00, 16mm, 2004)
* Kristin Reeves (Murray, KY), “The White Coat Phenomenon” (3:00, SD video from VHS, 2012)
* Bill Brown (Durham, NC), “Hub City” (14:00, 16mm, 1997)
* Drew Christie (Seattle, WA), “The Man Who Shot the Man Who Shot Lincoln” (5:30, SD video, 2010)
* Jesse McLean (Milwaukee, WI), “I’m in Pittsburgh and It’s Raining” (14:20, HD video, 2015)
* Jodie Mack (Lebanon, NH), “Let Your Light Shine” (3:00, 16mm, 2013)
NOTE TO SELF: PSYCHOSEXUAL FILMS OF NAZLI DINÇEL
An evening of visceral and provocative handmade films that explore bodies, acts of the solitary, text, language, visual information and personal exposure. Nazli Dinçel’s work reflects on experiences of disruption. She records the body in context with arousal, immigration, dislocation and desire in juxtaposition with the medium’s material: texture, color and the passing of emulsion. Her use of text as image, language and sound attempts the failure of memory and her own displacement within a western society. FILMMAKER IN ATTENDANCE!
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich
(dir. Chris Marker, 1999), 55 mins.
Together with Andrei Tarkovsky short films.
One Day in the Life of Andrei Arsenevich (French: Une journée d'Andrei Arsenevitch) is a 1999 French documentary film directed by Chris Marker, about and an homage to the Russian filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky. The film was an episode of the French documentary film series Cinéastes de notre temps (English: "Filmmakers of our time"), which in over ninety episodes since 1966 concentrates on individual film directors, film people and film movements. The title of the film is a play on the title of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's novella One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich.
Passport to Darkness (Japan, 1959)
(Ankoku no Ryoken)
In this stylish film noir, a trombonist goes on an all-night bender after his wife disappears during their honeymoon. When he returns home to find her corpse in their apartment, he sets off on a frantic quest to find her killer by piecing together a night he can’t remember. Director Seijun Suzuki used this classic noir material to play with genre tropes and make expressive use of darkness and light. 35mm, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 88 min.
The Phantom of Crestwood (1932)
Listeners to RKO’s six-part serial The Phantom headed to theaters for this denouement to the tale of gold digger Jenny Wren and her untimely death after extorting former lovers for hush money. A sudden storm and an unexpected guest at a seaside estate set the stage for an atmospheric whodunit as the evening’s narrative unfolds through layered flashbacks and multiple perspectives. 35mm, b/w, 77 min. Director: J. Walter Ruben.
Pistol Opera (Japan, 2001)
When Satoru Ogura suggested director Seijun Suzuki make a sequel to his most notorious film, Branded to Kill (1967), the result was this eye-popping action extravaganza, which is less a sequel than a compact retrospective of Suzuki’s style and themes, updated with CGI effects and infused with the metaphysical concerns of the Taisho Trilogy. Makiko Esumi plays Stray Cat, the number three killer in her assassins’ guild. She battles her way to the top against characters such as Painless Surgeon, a cowboy who can feel no pain, and the mysterious number one killer “Hundred Eyes.” Along the way, Stray Cat detours into the land of the dead, where her victims lurk, and into the “Atrocity Exhibition,” where she battles foes amid grotesque paintings from throughout art history. Pistol Opera (2001) proves that, even in his 70s, Suzuki’s creativity was still firing on all cylinders. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 112 min.
RADICAL INTIMACIES: THE 8MM CINEMA OF SAUL LEVINE
Practically synonymous with personal small-gauge filmmaking, Saul Levine has created more than 100 largely improvisational films in a half-century of remarkable, uninterrupted activity. His painstakingly crafted, exquisitely kinetic work deals with people and episodes from his life, but derives universal poetic meaning from its urgency, tactile presence, and range of themes, from the most personal to the political. In his key series—Notes, Portrayals, and Light Licks—Levine uses combinations of black-and-white and color, multiple images, accidents of exposure, and hand-carved collaging to expand upon his already rich, expressive cinematography. The Boston-based legend, a mentor to scores of avant-garde filmmakers throughout his teaching tenure at MassArt, brings a selection of work that includes entries from Light Licks, early 8mm Portrayals, and several Super 8mm sound films. In person: Saul Levine
RAMS
In a secluded valley in Iceland, Gummi and Kiddi live side by side, tending to their sheep. Their ancestral sheep-stock is considered one of the country’s best and the two brothers are repeatedly awarded for their prized rams who carry an ancient lineage. Although they share the land and a way of life, Gummi and Kiddi have not spoken to each other in four decades.
When a lethal disease suddenly infects Kiddi’s sheep, the entire valley comes under threat. The authorities decide to cull all the animals in the area to contain the outbreak. This is a near death sentence for the farmers, whose sheep are their main source of income, and many abandon their land. But Gummi and Kiddi don’t give up so easily – and each brother tries to stave off the disaster in his own fashion: Kiddi by using his rifle and Gummi by using his wits. As the authorities close in, the brothers will need to come together to save the special breed passed down for generations, and themselves, from extinction. Running time: 93 minutes. In Icelandic, with English subtitles. Written and Directed by Grimur Hakonarson. Followed by a Q&A with Grimur Hakonarson and composer Atli Orvarsson
RED BEARD
(AKAHIGE)
1965, Janus Films, 185 min, Japan, Dir: Akira Kurosawa
A period film set in samurai times without a sword-wielding hero in sight, this remains one of Akira Kurosawa’s most humanistic efforts. The subject is a run-down infirmary for the poor in feudal Japan where a confident young novice physician, Dr. Noboru (Yuzo Kayama), is sent to begin his career. Expecting to visit only temporarily and then to leave to serve the Shogunate, he is infuriated to learn he must remain at the destitute hospital, which is brimming with society's dying poor, wretched and unwanted. Though he learns that the patients need him, Noboru is quick to take measures that will ensure his termination. But he is foiled at every turn by head man Dr. Kyojio (Toshiro Mifune), otherwise known as "Akahige" ("Red Beard"), whose methods and behavior are as caring and compassionate as they are unconventional and unpredictable. At times RED BEARD veers dangerously close to soap-box philosophizing and pretension. But ultimately the film earns the emotions and ideas it attempts to evoke; the young doctor's heart and mind are forever changed, and we are as enamored of Red Beard and his patients as Noboru is. In Japanese with English subtitles.
REMEMBER THE NIGHT
1940, Universal, 94 min, USA, Dir: Mitchell Leisen
In this romantic holiday classic, Barbara Stanwyck is arrested for shoplifting during the Christmas season. District attorney Fred MacMurray is assigned to prosecute her but instead falls in love. Preston Sturges wrote the witty and surprisingly nostalgic script just before he turned to directing.
SALAAM CINEMA
(1995, Dir: Mohsen Makhmalbaf) Presented by Ahsen Nadeem + Food inspired by the film by Chef Stiff Peaks!
A film made to celebrate the birth of cinema's centennial. Director Mohsen Makhmalbaf places an advert in a local newspaper announcing an open audition. During the casting process, a riot ensues followed by a series of cruel and comic vignettes in which the director interrogates children, young men, and housewives all desperately hoping to land a role in his movie. A blend of documentary and staged fiction, the film is a wonderful examination on the power of cinema on the public imagination.
Sands of the Kalahari (UK, 1965)
A plane crash in the South African desert exposes its survivors to intensive hardship and the need to organize for survival. In true Cy Endfield style, this is expressed through the tension between savagery and civilized cooperation, as members of the group oscillate between the two extremes, eerily mirrored by the allegorical presence of an always-nearby pack of wild baboons. 35mm, color, 119 min. Director: Cy Endfield. Based on the novel Sands of the Kalahari by William Mulvhill.
Sea Fury (UK, 1957)
Sailor Stanley Baker joins the crew of a British tugboat engaged in rescue and salvage activities in the Bay of Biscay. Marginalized by his jealous crewmates, the able seaman leads thrilling rescues at sea, but finds himself at loggerheads with the Captain himself when he falls in love with the older man's young fiancée, and she with him. 35mm, b/w, 97 min. Director: Cy Endfield.
The Shadow (1940)
Chapter 13: “Wheels of Death”
Chapter 14: “The Sealed Room”
Chapter 15: “The Shadow’s Net Closes”
Considered by Shadow magazine writer Walter B. Gibson to be the best screen interpretation of the franchise, the action-packed final episodes of the 1940 serial find the crimefighter, aided by Margo Lane and Harry Vincent, in pursuit of notorious mastermind the Black Tiger, even as local citizens believe the Shadow himself to be behind the trail of mayhem. 35mm, b/w, approx. total running time 51 min. Director: James W. Horne. Based on the short stories in The Shadow magazine.
SILVERADO
1985, Sony Repertory, 133 min, USA, Dir: Lawrence Kasdan
Writer-director Lawrence Kasdan breathes new life into familiar Western motifs in this terrifically entertaining film. Kevin Kline, Scott Glenn, Kevin Costner and Danny Glover lead a great ensemble cast as cowboys who free the town of Silverado from a ruthless sheriff (Brian Dennehy) and his rancher patron. Only moderately successful at the box office, SILVERADO hit its stride in the home video market, becoming a deserving cult favorite. “A sweeping, glorious-looking Western that’s at least a full generation removed from the classic films it brings to mind.” – Janet Maslin, The New York Times. 70mm.
SIXTY SIX
Fresh off its world premiere at The Museum of Modern Art, Sixty Six (2002–15, 90 min.) is the latest entry in master collagist Lewis Klahr’s Prolix Satori digital series. It also stands as the crowning achievement of the CalArts faculty member’s prodigious work in collage film, dating back to 1977. Using material from his own vast archive, Klahr, “the reigning proponent of cut-and-paste,” according to J. Hoberman, combines classic Greek mythology with 1960s Pop and “Daylight Noir” in a series of elliptical tales—uncanny superimpositions in which comic-book heroes and foto-roman characters populate a vision of midcentury Los Angeles cut out from the pages of period magazines. 2002–15, 60 min. In person: Lewis Klahr
The Sleeping Beast Within (Japan, 1960)
A businessman vanishes upon his return from an overseas trip, and his daughter hires a reporter to help find him. When the father reappears, the reporter becomes suspicious and starts digging deeper, uncovering a secret world of heroin smuggling and murder—all tied up with a mysterious Sun God cult. This proto-Breaking Bad moves to an energetic pulp fiction beat all the way to its spectacular conflagration of an ending. 35mm, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 86 min. Director: Seijun Suzuki.
Smashing the O-Line (Japan, 1960)
This crime thriller features one of the most nihilistic characters in director Seijun Suzuki’s early films: Katiri, a reporter so ambitiously amoral that he’ll sell out anyone—including his partner and the drug dealer he’s sleeping with— to get a scoop. But what happens when an even more ruthless female gang boss kidnaps his sister? With its jazzy musical score and sordid milieu of drug smuggling and human trafficking, Smashing the O-Line (1960) is one of Suzuki’s darkest urban tales. 35mm, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 83 min.
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Barbara Stanwyck takes on Agnes Moorehead's celebrated role as the frantic invalid of Suspense's much-reprised radio play. Alone and bedridden, Leona Stevenson tries desperately to raise the alarm after overhearing a murder plot on the phone, only to realize that she is its intended victim. Claustrophobically structured in seemingly real time, director Anatole Litvak’s film speeds to its horrifying conclusion. 35mm, b/w, 89 min. Based on the radio play by Lucille Fletcher.
Story of a Prostitute (Japan, 1965)
(Shunpuden)
Yumiko Nogawa, one of director Seijun Suzuki’s favorite actresses, gives perhaps her most ferocious performance in this scathing portrayal of Japanese militarism during the lead-up to World War II. Sent with six other comfort women to service a garrison of some 1,000 men in Manchuria during the Sino-Japanese War, Nogawa’s Harumi is brutalized by a vicious lieutenant who wants her as his personal property. Meanwhile, she is falling in love with his gentle young assistant. The Taijiro Tamura novel on which the film is based was previously made into a much-sanitized film by Akira Kurosawa called Escape at Dawn (1950). Working in the B-movie arena allowed Suzuki to use the sex and violence expected from the genre to advance the view he shared with Tamura, as Tony Rayns put it: “that the sex-drive is a crucial part of the human will to live.” “This is the movie that proves Suzuki should be lifted out of the limiting category of the Asia Extreme cult directors, the ‘Japanese Outlaw Masters,’ and placed at the grown-ups’ table, alongside Kurosawa, Okamoto, and Kobayashi.” —David Chute, Criterion Current. 35mm, b/w, in Japanese with English subtitles, 96 min. Based on a novel by Hajime Takaiwa.
TAKING OFF
For this second evening with the celebrated screenwriter, actor, and director, we’ll watch Taking Off, the lost, gentle Milos Forman film about well to-do New York runaways and the parents who pursue them.
Alongside Buck, you’ll see Ultra Violet, the always-spooky Vincent Schiavelli, a scorching, libidinous nightclub performance by the Ike & Tina Turner Revue, a young Carly Simon singing “Long Term Physical Effects,” an even younger Kathy Bates singing “Even the Horses Had Wings,” and what is perhaps the most charmingly whimsical getting-high-for-the-first-time scene ever filmed (featuring the Incredible String Band’s classic “Air”). Excelsior! Dir. Milos Forman, 1971, 35mm, 93 min. Followed by a Q&A with Buck Henry (by Harper Simon!)
A Tale of Sorrow and Sadness (Japan, 1977)
(Hishu Monogatari)
Nearly a decade after being fired by Nikkatsu Studios, Suzuki returned to the director’s chair with this titillating tale of a model who is groomed to become a professional golfer as a publicity stunt. When she turns out to be good at the sport, her success leads a deranged fan to hatch a blackmail scheme. “Riddled with the director's wildly non-conformist use of non-contiguous edits, unhinged shot composition, and violent splashes of colour, crazed and chaotic and for too long buried in the sand bunkers of obscurity, this long-overlooked work simply cries out for revival.” —Jasper Sharp, Midnight Eye. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 93 min. Director: Seijun Suzuki. Based on a story by Ikki Kajiwara.
Tattooed Life (Japan, 1965)
(Irezumi Ichidai)
Set in the 1930s, Tattooed Life (1965) is the story of two brothers: Kenji, an art student, and Tetsu, who is working as a yakuza to help pay for Kenji’s tuition. When a hit job goes horribly wrong, the brothers flee. They end up finding work in a mine—and falling in love with the owner’s wife and daughter. But will Tetsu’s gang tattoos reveal the brothers’ secret past? The first film to earn director Seijun Suzuki a warning about “going too far” from his Nikkatsu bosses, Tattooed Life contains one of his most iconic and audacious violations of film form: a final fight scene in which the floor suddenly and illogically disappears, and the action is filmed from below the actors’ feet. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 87 min.
TEXTURES OF LIFE: FILM AND THE ART OF TACITA DEAN
British artist Tacita Dean’s extraordinary body of art embraces many mediums; she works with paint, found objects, photography, prints and writing, but it is her films that make the most indelible contribution. For Dean, film emulsion is a living tissue that can engender unsurpassed, vibrant experiences of light and rhythm, and she has been a passionate champion of the endangered medium. Working with a deeply contemplative aesthetic, her portrayals of artists and phenomena extend the literal into poetic dimensions. The youngest artist ever to be given a solo show at Tate Britain in 2001, Dean has exhibited at museums throughout the world, including the Hammer Museum two years ago, and she has produced over 50 films. For tonight’s program, Dean presents a rare selection of 16mm films that are not normally presented theatrically and that have not shown in Los Angeles before. In person: Tacita Dean
THREE FILMS BY JENNIFER REEDER
Drawing on forms as varied as TV after-school specials, music videos and magical realism, Jennifer Reeder constructs intimate narratives about relationships, trauma and coping. Her latest acclaimed work, Blood Below the Skin, chronicles a turbulent week in the life of three teenage girls, from different social circles, ahead of the school dance. Also on tap are the L.A. debut of A Million Miles Away, a festival circuit favorite in which a distressed substitute teacher and a teen girls’ choir revel in the melancholy of a Judas Priest anthem, and Seven Songs About Thunder, a dark feminist comedy about a mother, her daughter, a liar, and a therapist. L.A. premiere.
Tokyo Drifter (Japan, 1966)
(Tokyo Nagaremono)
Tasked with making a vehicle for actor/singer Tetsuya Watari to croon the title song, director Seijun Suzuki concocted this crazy yarn about a reformed yakuza on the run from his former comrades. The film is mainly an excuse to stage an escalating series of goofy musical numbers and over-the-top fight scenes. Popping with garish colors, self-parodic style and avant-garde visual design, Tokyo Drifter embodies a late-1960s zeitgeist in which trash and art joyfully comingle. “With influences that range from Pop Art to 1950s Hollywood musicals, and from farce and absurdist comedy to surrealism, Suzuki shows off his formal acrobatics in a film that is clearly meant to mock rather than celebrate the yakuza film genre.” —Nikolaos Vryzidis, Directory of World Cinema: Japan. DCP, b/w & color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 83 min.
The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932)
A courtroom drama told at breakneck speed, The Trial of Vivienne Ware (1932) stars Joan Bennett as a woman accused of murdering her philandering fiancé. A flurry of whip pans and flashbacks unfolds as Ms. Ware’s lawyer ex-boyfriend rises valiantly to her defense, and accusations and knives fly—all reported breathlessly, in a nod to the film’s radio origins, by ladies’ correspondent ZaSu Pitts. 35mm, b/w, 56 min Director: William K. Howard. Based on the novel by Kenneth M. Ellis
The Underworld Story (1950)
Opportunistic newspaper reporter Dan Duryea, recently fired due to his excesses, invests in a small, private paper and sets out to raise its prospects by ginning up the story of a young, black housekeeper accused of her employer's murder. The wantonness and pandering of the Yellow Press are excoriated by director Cy Endfield's film, even as his protagonist is given a shot at redemption.
35mm, b/w, 90 min. Director: Cy Endfield (as Cyril Endfield). Based on the novel The Big Story by Craig Rice.
The Unknown (1946)
The death of a domineering Kentucky matriarch gathers her heirs at their decaying ancestral home in this Southern Gothic–tinged mystery based on the radio story “The Thing That Cries In The Night.” Accompanying granddaughter Nina for the reading of the will, Jack and Doc protect her from a series of malevolent mishaps while unraveling the secrets of the mouldering mansion. 35mm, b/w, 70 min. Director: Henry Levin. Based on the radio series created by Carlton E. Morse.
VENICE FILM FEST
Colorful history of films made in Venice California, and celebration of the otherwordly happenings in Venice and around the legendary Venice West Gallery (birthplace of the Beats), aka Sponto Gallery. Rare clips include: noted English architectural critic Reyner Banham on VENICE, historian Jeffrey Stanton, Crumby/Nucci Band & Joe Nucci, and the feature film ALMIGHTY FRED (1996, 90 minutes, aka THE MAN WHO WOULD BE FRED). Directed by Bill Kelman, this hilarious comedy shot in Venice stars long time Venice resident Jeff Michalski (in person). Two brothers, down on their luck and in need of cash, cook up a scheme to create their own new religion. Their motto, See the Donut....Not the Hole, catches on beyond their wildest dreams...
WHERE THE CHOCOLATE MOUNTAINS
A tour de force of digital art, Where the Chocolate Mountains (2015, 55 min.) is a major new opus from Pat O’Neill, one of the all-time guiding lights of the Los Angeles avant-garde, whose pioneering use of the optical printer marked a creative breakthrough in composite image-making in cinema. Continuing in the vein of his renowned 35mm epics Water and Power (1989), Trouble in the Image (1996) and Decay of Fiction (2002), the founding CalArts faculty member combines haunting cinematography of the Chocolate Mountains along the border between California and Arizona—long used as a bombing range by the military—with footage shot in L.A., Mexico and Prague, intimate self-portraits, and recurring graphic motifs to create irrepressible, stunningly detailed streams of multilayered sight and sound. The new film is preceded by one of O’Neill early classic, 7362 (1967, 10 min.). In person: Pat O’Neill
Women in Motion: Marion Davies and Marvelous Mavens of Early Film Comedy
* The Gibson Goddess (1909) Starring Marion Leonard Screening of Vintage Films
* They Would Elope (1909) Starring Mary Pickford
* Willful Peggy (1910) Starring Mary Pickford
* Short & Spicy Skits from the Other Side of Hollywood: The Home Movies of William Randolph Hearst (1925) with Marion Davies
Join the Malibu Coast Silent Film Orchestra for an evening of music and film celebrating the pioneering women behind four hilarious silent film shorts of the early 20th century. Marion Davies, Mary Pickford, and Marion Leonard were each extraordinary women in film who significantly changed and developed the art of filmmaking, business, human rights and resources, and the role of women as independent artists, all before American women obtained the right to vote. Composer Maria Newman has composed new scores for each of these rare film shorts. The bold and versatile Malibu Coast Silent Film Orchestra makes its home at the Montgomery Arts House for Music and Architecture in Malibu, presenting live collaboration with vintage films of the silent era.
WOMEN WITHOUT MEN
Against the tumultuous backdrop of Iran's 1953 CIA-backed coup d'état, the destinies of four women converge in a beautiful orchard garden, where they find independence, solace and companionship.
Youth of the Beast (Japan, 1963)
(Yaju no Seishun)
Director Seijun Suzuki himself claims that 1963 was the year when he truly came into his own, and Youth of the Beast is one of his breakthroughs. In his second collaboration with the director, Jo Shishido rampages through the movie, playing a disgraced ex-cop pitting two yakuza gangs against each other to avenge the death of a fellow officer. As the double and triple crosses mount, Suzuki fills the frame with lurid colors, striking compositions and boldly theatrical effects that signal a director breaking away from genre material to forge a pulp art form all his own. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 91 min. Based on a novel by Haruhiko Oyabu.
Yumeji (Japan, 1991)
Made 10 years after its predecessor, the final film in the Taisho Trilogy spins a fantastical tale from the life of a historical figure. Takehisa Yumeji (1884–1934) was an artist known as much for his paintings of beautiful women as for his bohemian lifestyle. As played by rock star Kenji Sawada, the Yumeji of director Seijun Suzuki’s film is a serial seducer haunted by thoughts of his own death while pursuing ideals of beauty in his art. Traveling to Kanazawa to meet his lover, he instead falls for a widow whose murdered husband inconveniently returns from the dead. Love, desire, life and death collapse into one another as Yumeji’s art takes on an uncanny existence of its own. 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 128 min.
Ziguernerweisen (Japan, 1980)
Named the best film of the 1980s in a poll of Japanese film critics, Zigeunerweisen (1980) takes its title from a recording of violin music by Pablo de Sarasate. The piece haunts the film’s two main characters: Aochi, an uptight professor at a military academy, and his erstwhile colleague Nakasago, who is now a wild-haired wanderer and possible murderer. The movie’s plot is a metaphysical ghost story involving love triangles, doppelgangers, and a blurred line between the worlds of the living and the dead. “Underlying the teasing riddles,” writes film critic Tony Rayns, “is an aching lament for the sumptuous hybrid culture of the 1920s that was swept away by the militarism of the 1930s.” 35mm, color, in Japanese with English subtitles, 144 min. Director: Seijun Suzuki.
Zulu (UK, 1964)
Arguably the climax of Cy Endfield's directorial career is this chronicle of the historic siege of Rorke's Drift in South Africa in 1879, where a small garrison of British soldiers successfully defend their station against attack by hordes of Zulu warriors. Debated ever since as either a lament or a celebration of British colonial expansion, the film was a smash hit in Britain, cementing Endfield's international reputation and his legacy. DCP, color, 138 min. Based on a story by John Prebble.