November 12th 2013. Pick Of The Day.
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Rain turning into snow turning into the 32 degree temps. And it's November 12th. Little though they be aware a great deal of my will to live rests firmly on the Knicks' shoulders this Winter, which has now apparently officially arrived. The remainder falls squarely on the rep film circuit in NYC, which has yet to let me down. You hear me rep film circuit?
Today's slim doings include the final day of MoMA's To Save and Project series and BAM's continuing trib to Czech New Wave filmmaker Jan Nemec. Here's the Mott's;
Film Forum
SIDEWALK STORIES (1988) Dir; Charles Lane
THE FRESHMAN (1925) Dirs; Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
MoMA
THERESE (1986) Dir; Alain Cavalier
HEARTBEAT (1968) Dir; Alain Cavalier
BAM Cinematek
METAMORPHOSIS (1975) Dir; Jan Nemec
DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT (1964) Dir; Jan Nemec
Today's Pick? I honestly have no friggin' clue. I've already chosen Harold Lloyd's THE FRESHMAN, and the rest of today's entries are foreign to me, no pun intended (although that would represent my humor's peak sophistication). So I'll show some love to a series I have thus far regarded as the Jan in the rep circuit Brady Bunch, and choose Jan (I swear no pun intended) Nemec's DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT, the Czech autuer's first important work, and an exemplar of that country's New Wave, one that dared tread subversive territory under the postwar Eastern Bloc government. Screening as part of BAM's trib to the filmmaker, the story centers on two adolescent youths and their attempt to escape the train escorting them to a Nazi concentration camp. While set some 20 years prior the contemporary commentary was lost on none, and helped, along with work by the likes of Milos Forman and Ivan Passer, instill a boldness in his fellow Czech artists. A strange detente existed for a time, one which seemingly ruled with a tight iron grip yet allowed free and public dissent, and a lotta magical work was produced during this period which can only be defined in terms romantic. In the short term, the tanks rolled in and Nemec was forced to flee his home turf. In the long term, Vaclav Havel's Velvet Revolution brought back democratic rule. Seeing as Lou Reed left us in an untimely fashion two weeks ago I can only hope tonight's screening is bringing him some special glee in his corner of the universe.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic screenings in November '13 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. And be sure to follow me on Facebook and Twitter! Back tomorrow with a whole new laundry list, til then be sure to separate the whites from the colors and make sure the other sudsers do the same. It just occured to me that that same sentence would play in a wholly different context in Alabama. I take back my earlier mitigation, that represents my humor's peak sophistication. I'm taking a nap.
-Joe Walsh
