November 6th 2014. Pick of the Day.
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It occurs to me that the 25 year cut-off mark I employ when reporting on repertory cinema on this site is exactly the same year Tim Burton's BATMAN came out. Having said that, after days of thought, I think I've just figured out BIRDMAN. Whether or not that's a good or bad thing, check in with me on Letterboxd over the next few days. Until then...
Continuing and concluding series today includes Acteurism: The Emergence of Ann Sheridan, 1937-43 and To Save and Project: The 12th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation at MoMA, Scary Movies 8 at the Film Society of Lincoln Center, and Queer Pagan Punk: The Films of Derek Jarman at BAM Cinématek. The kino kerfuffle thus;
Film Forum
TOUCH OF EVIL (1958) Dir; Orson Welles
THE CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI (1920) Dir; Robert Weine
MoMA
Acteurism: The Emergence of Ann Sheridan, 1937-43
THE MAN WHO CAME TO DINNER (1941) Dir; William Keighley
To Save and Project: The 12th MoMA International Festival of Film Preservation
SEBASTIANE (1983) Dir; Derek Jarman
A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS (1964) Dir; Sergio Leone
Film Society of Lincoln Center
AMSTERDAMNED (1988) Dir; Dick Maas
ANGST (1983) Dir; Gerald Kargl
BAM Cinématek
Queer Pagan Punk: The Films of Derek Jarman
WAR REQUIEM (1989) Dir; Derek Jarman
Today's Pick? I know I've neglected both of Film Forum's newly spit-shined restorations, Welles' TOUCH OF EVIL and Weine's CABINET OF DR. CALIGARI, sadly coming off their marquee after tonight. Still, I cannot resist another 4K touch-up, one that not only encapsulated a Hollywood genre, as TOUCH had done with film noir, but begat a wholly new one, as did Weine's CABINET the modern horror film. Sergio Leone's first film (or what may as well be considered his first film, following a pick-up gig on 1959's THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII once the director fell ill, and a cursory yelling of the word AZIONE! on the set of THE COLLOSSUS OF RHODES) was a dazzlingly original piece of filmmaking. To every set of eyes that had not beheld Akira Kurosawa's YOJIMBO, released 3 years earlier. Also not original was the lawsuit that Kurosawa filed against his Italian cousin. Such was the new and powerful reach of postwar cinema, of global travel and communication, that the once-prominent practice of flat-out cinematic theft now carried consequences. In this case all foreign monies earned from the exhibition of Leone's "homage". For this reason, the desire to collect a few sheckles for the effort, if not yet the vision, Leone pushed forth with a second film, one that carried over only certain key elements from the first; chief amongst which were star Clint Eastwood, then enjoying a newfound celebrity as Leone's alter-ego, adobe-chewing villain Gian-Maria Volonte, dialing up the crazy as only he could, and perhaps even more crucially than these two, his musical collaborator, composer Ennio Morricone, encouraged to indulge his muse even further in the sophomore outing.
Free from Kurosawa's narrative template, itself borrowed from American pulp scribe Dashiell Hammet's RED HARVEST, Leone and screenwriter Luciano Vincenzioni created a plot much more ornate than the initial work. More importantly though, was Leone's creation of a more ornate style, aided by the experienced eye of DP Massimo Dallamano, himself a holdover from Leone's previous film. I've long argued that this sophomore film, FOR A FEW DOLLARS MORE, is where that most beloved of movie genres, the Spaghetti Western, truly emerged fully formed. From here would come the best of Corbucci, Petroni, Damiani. But that specific here had an antecedent, one closer than YOJIMBO, one that begat the celebrated Man With No Name trilogy. It may not be the best example of Gunpowder Pasta, but it is the first example of the linguine stepping out of the gravy and walking upright on dry bread. It's subtitle should be Al Dente in Almeria. I'll stop now.
Sergio Leone's A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, resplendent in its new 4K DCP iteration, unspools tonight as part of MoMA's excellent To Save and Project series. Make no mistakes tonight: get four coffins ready.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in November '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 you aim for the heart.
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!
