November 14th 2013. Pick Of The Day.
New York City's premiere resource for classic film screenings in the metropolitan area. Offering reviews, recommendations, venues and a host of links keeping classic film and the silver screens alive.
I know it's cold, I know Barnes and Noble's Criterion sale is currently underway, and I know the daily slate today is a bit slim. All good reasons, one would think, to stay home and skip the outside world altogether. I beseech thee, however, should ya be a passionate Cinegeek, to flee the otherwise safe environs of your sofa and venture forth to a friendly screening space, as some truly noteworthy cinema is on display today. And this is coming form a guy who loves his sofa, y'know what I mean? No, wait, that's not what I meant at all. Hey, where do you get this stuff from fella? You need some serious help!
Ahem. Continuing and closing series include MoMA's Auterist History of Film and BAM's trib to Czech New Wave pioneer Jan Nemec. The rundown as follows;
Film Forum
SIDEWALK STORIES (1988) Dir; Charles Lane
THE FRESHMAN (1925) Dir; Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor
MoMA
LORD OF THE FLIES (1963) Dir; Peter Brook
BAM Cinematek
DIAMONDS OF THE NIGHT (1964) Dir; Jan Nemec
BowTie Chelsea Cinemas
AUTUMN LEAVES (1956) Dir; Robert Aldrich
Today's Pick? There are few filmmakers who can lay claim to the soul of Chaplin amongst the wide array of attempters and pretenders. What makes Charles Lane and his SIDEWALK STORIES so successful where others fail is the focus on the last sentence's keyword; soul. Chaplin's films were box office smashes in their day and remain indelible efforts of cinematic art in no small part due to his unending empathy for his era's poor, unpriviledged, even desperate souls, who themselves are timeless because their plight has no seeming end. Charles Lane did for late-80's Reagan America, Koch and Dinkins NYC in particluar, what Chaplin did for the immigrant experience and depression era everyman; he boiled the day to day experience down to its basics, finding great comedy in the process (only the greats get us to laugh at our pain), and potent heartbreak as well, borrowing slightly from Chaplin's first masterpiece, THE KID, for his own tale of an impoverished street artist suddenly charged with the care of someone eve more helpless than himself. It has long baffled me that so few have championed this little slice of magic since it's release some 25 years ago, so I'm gonna do a little championing myself, and beat the drum for this flick's final day at Film Forum. Think you got it bad in NYC circa 2013? Do a little time travellin' and discover some much needed humanity in the process. Plus the Forum's popcorn's aces. Trust.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic screenings in November '13 click 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 more of tha goods, til then be safe and sound and make sure the next knucklehead is too! Excelsior!
-Joe Walsh
