September 17th 2014. 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.
The rep menu is slimmer, but no less inviting this brisk December day. Or is it May? I'll listen to anyone's best guess. Anybody? Anyone at all? March? October? Is anyone still alive out there???
Ongoing series today include Nonesuch Records on Film at BAM Cinématek, The Tenth Dimension: Edward D. Wood, Jr. at Anthology Film Archives, and The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy at MoMA. The scandalo be così;
Film Forum
ROME, OPEN CITY (1945) Dir; Roberto Rossellini
BAM Cinématek
THE BAD SEED (195) Dir; Mervyn Le Roy
Anthology Film Archives
The Tenth Dimension: Edward D. Wood, Jr.
RUDOLPH GREY PRESENTS SHORT FILMS, HOME MOVIES, & OTHER MISCELLANEA
MoMA
The Great War: A Cinematic Legacy
SHOUT AT THE DEVIL (1976) Dir; Peter R. Hunt
Today's Pick? While this September 17th's proceedings are all uniquely tempting, one surges ahead of the pack. Not just because it's the first neo-realist masterwork, one that put the movement firmly on the world stage, not just because it unspools its 1's and 0's in a brand spankin' new DCP restoration, and gave to the world its first taste of that most particular heartbreak known as Anna Magnani, but finally because its maker's daughter, herself a globally acclaimed artist of the cinema, will graciousy be on hand to Q&A one screening, and introduce another, this night only. It's funny how certain personalities and their work seem to reinject themselves into your consciousness from time to time. It was only a couple of weeks ago I found myself jonesing for a revisit to the early days of David Lynch, which included a traipse through BLUE VELVET's Lumberton. Tonight I'll be in attendance as perhaps his greatest and most iconic female star, Dorothy Vallens herself, discusses the importance of cinema's neo-realist movement, and how her father enabled its first perfect focus on the world's screens. Serendipity and the cinematic temple on West Houston are old pals.
Roberto Rossellini's ROME, OPEN CITY screens today in a new DCP restoration at Film Forum. It will be discussed after the 7:30pm screening and intro'd at the 9:45pm screening by the auteur's daughter, Isabella Rossellini. This is going to be a special one tonight, I hope to see you there.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in September '14 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. For the monthly overview and other audio tomfoolery check out the podcast, and follow me on SoundCloud! For reviews of contemporary cinema and my streaming habits (keep it clean!) check out my Letterboxd page. And be sure to follow me on both Facebook, where I provide further info and esoterica on the rep film circuit and star birthdays, and Twitter, where I provide a daily feed for the day's screenings and other blathery. Back tomorrow with a brand new Pick, til then Anna Magnani forever. Am I seconded?
-Joe Walsh
