September 24th 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.
A lull, today a lull
a lull in which I mull
I sense a great maelstrom's encroach
as this year's eighth month doth approach
rejoice at celluloid preserved
lost films' returnings well-deserved
integral figures' presence felt
propitious seating chancely dealt
full days blanched by projector's bulb
full nights fulfilling tavern's gulp
chatter filmic spun high din
sleep a luxury spread thin
adversaries freshly spurned
loyalties most reaffirmed
above all though a love once more avowed
avowed avowed and still once more avowed
for flicker rates and truest blacks
for hot butter's fragrance and armrest dominance
for romances and romance's unspooling, though it no longer unspools
for the experience, which still dims but has never dimmed
for the movies
Aw hell, I'm talkin' bout the upcoming New York Film Fest at Lincoln Center and MoMA's annual To Save and Project series. I just couldn't stop once I got locked into the whole flowery thing.
Today's lone series is Celluloid Dreams at IFC Center. The kino wim wam as follows;
Film Forum
ROME OPEN CITY (1945) Dir; Roberto Rossellini
THE CONFORMIST (1970) Dir; Bernardo Bertolucci
AMC Loews Kips Bay 15, AMC Empire 25
DR. STRANGELOVE (1964) Dir; Stanley Kubrick
IFC Center
THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO (1985) Dir; Woody Allen
Today's Pick? I'm goin' with the Woodman's ode to cinematic magic realism, equal parts Buster Keaton, the glory days of RKO, and postwar Euro New Wave. Danny Aiello is perfect beast, Jeff Daniels emblematic of apparent perfection's both possible outcomes, and Mia Farrow no less a figure than stoic romanticism's saint. It is one of the director's finest moments, a simple conceit impeccably executed. And it is a valentine to cinephiliac devotion. No less a talent than legendary DP Gordon Willis, in whose name this film unspools as trib, ensured it would amount to thus.
Woody Allen's THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO unspools in glorious 35mm as part of IFC Center's Celluloid Dreams series. Let's all fall under the spell.
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 safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too.
-Joe Walsh
P. S. We're swiftly returning to the winter climate, and believe it or not some of our fellow NY'ers have still yet to be made whole in the wake of the 2012 storm. Should you be feeling charitable please visit the folks at OccupySandy.net, follow their hammer-in-hand efforts to restore people's lives, and donate/volunteer if you have the inclination and availability. Be a collective mensch, Stockahz!
