January 23rd 2015. Pick of the Day.
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I give up at this point. I'm done. I've registered my complaints, I've made my feelings known, I've told my side of the story to the equivalent of the cosmic HR department. So I'm just gonna say this; all months going forward? Speed by me as fast as you wanna. I'm just gonna live with it. Or complain to Stephen Hawking. I suspect he's got an explanation about all this and he's just being his usual coy self. Friggin' rock star.
New and Continuing series this day include Orson Welles at Film Forum, Acteurism: Joan Bennett at MoMA, The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema at the Japan Society, and French Classics of the 1930's-40's at the brevity obsessed Anthology Film Archives. The silver halide shenanigans be thus;
Film Forum
THE THIRD MAN (1949) Dir; Carol Reed
THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948) Dir; Orson Welles
MoMA
THE HOUSE ACROSS THE BAY (1940) Dir; Archie Mayo
THE BUBBLE (1966) Dir; Arch Oboler
Japan Society
The Dark Side of the Sun: John Zorn on Japanese Cinema
MATANGO (1963) Dir; Ishiro Honda
Anthology Film Archives
French Classics of the 1930's-40's
HOTEL DU NORD (1939) Dir; Marcel Carne
LES VISITEURS DU SOIR (1942) Dir; Marcel Carne
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
THE BEYOND
Nitehawk Cinemas
THE LORD OF THE RINGS (1978) Dir; Ralph Bakshi
Today's Pick? Those of you who know me will answer those who don't with the simple query; you have'ta ask?
When the topic of movie magic arises, those sacred celluloid screeds that did the most to make film fiends of us, that define the medium for us, that we most want to bang the drum for when potential converts make their prescence known, we all have our shortlists. We also have our arguments at the ready, our reasons why these select few works are amongst the greatest ever made. To be fair, my lists have always largely been amorphous. I love the genre too dearly, my particular obsessions long since regarded as mine and not necessarily to be shared by my brethren, and for the record I myself change my mind way too often. What's Hitchcock's best? Honestly, Monday I might tell you it's REAR WINDOW, and Friday I might argue it's SABOTEUR. What's Lumet's best? Often I will champion PRINCE OF THE CITY, and days later I will be swayed by the still immediate virtues of FAIL-SAFE. What's the best Ford? The best Hawks? The best Lang? And please, have mercy, don't ask my favorite Carpenter. Those 9 films continuously, kinetically ping within my concious.
But about fifteen years ago I decided I should, in an abject display of contempt toward my own indecisiveness, settle on a choice for greatest film all-time, even if the finality assumed was somewhat of a lark. Conviction should always share a bunkbed with doubt, the whole house just functions better and clearer that way, I've always felt. I thought long and hard, I made lists, I considered game-changers, rule-breakers, works that gained the medium, to borrow a football phrase, a new 1st down. I thought of works epitomic, not merely of acting and directing careers, but of genres within the form, and of the form itself. I considered the iconic, the works known by folks not film-oriented and quite often unseen by said, the giants of the form, CASABLANCA, CITIZEN KANE, KING KONG, LES ENFANTS DU PARADIS, yes, even GONE WITH THE WIND, if for no other reason than to recognize it's importance to the form.
And yet, I kept coming back to a work more microcosmic, yet wholly, frankly representative of humanity entire. I delved into it fully, for the first time examining my love for it, what more appropriately must be termed my romance with it. And here's the bite; it is absolutely about the death of romance, but it remains the single most romantic film to tackle that decidely uncommercial prospect. The result was anything but uncommercial, earning dollars abroad for Brit co-producer Alexander Korda and chunk change here in the states for co-producer David O. Selznick, as well as critical plaudits of equal measure for both men on both sides. It began as venture advantageous, Selznick seeking to spend some money trapped abroad, and Korda suggesting something might be made by author Graham Greene of Vienna's tragic yet photogenic postwar state. The result might perhaps be the greatest series of what Welles called "Happy Accidents" to ever occur during a production and be caught by its cameras, from discovering zither maestro and eventual composer Anton Karas in the film unit's hotel lobby, to the early decision to marry to the camera technique so-entitled the Dutch Angle, to the hiring of Welles, then considered box office poison, and his little contrib of a speech regarding clocks. It is a miracle of the cinema, brazenly, painfully honest about the state of the world, yet still a proponent, even after all the cold, pessimistic evidence has been presented, of that single simple thing the majority of the planet clings to if just to face one more day: romance. There's so much to be explored within the confines of this film's narrative, from the concept of schadenfraude to the implications of the doppelganger. Way too much to be dealt with here. So I will simply offer this; it is the single most honest and cynical film about the supposed absence of virtue in the world that has never left me wanting to cut my wrists. Indeed, it does the opposite; it makes me fall in love with the entirety of the human race, good, bad, smart, ingorant, weak and strong, all over again. Without fail. So it is my Pick for greatest film ever made. Try me.
Carol Reed's THE THIRD MAN unspools tonight as double-feature with the Welles-directed THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI, itself a masterpiece if on a minor scale. Both are undeniable highlights of the Orson Welles series currently paying trib to the auteur at Film Forum. Should you plan to miss this screening I offer the following assessment form none other than Harry Lime himself; Unwise.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in January '15 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 soon with new Picks 'n perks, til then safe, sound, make sure the next knucklehead is too!
P. S. We're fully entwined in winter's embrace, 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!
