May 8th 2015. 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.
New and continuing series today include Deneuve x 8 at IFC Center, a brand new restoration of The Apu Trilogy at Film Forum, Acteurism: Joel McCrea and Japan Speaks Out! Early Japanese Talkies at MoMA, Justice in Film at the New York Historical Society, and Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in it at Anthology Film Archives. The emulsified eccentricities be thus;
IFC Center
SCENE OF THE CRIME (1985) Dir; Andre Techine
MAD MAX (1979) Dir; George Miller
Film Forum
PATHER PANCHALI (1955) Dir; Satyajit Ray
MoMA
BUSINESS AND PLEASURE (1932) Dir; David Butler
Japan Speaks Out! Early Japanese Talkies
A WOMAN CRYING IN SPRING (1933) Dir; Hiroshi Shimizu
THE BRIDE TALKS IN HER SLEEP (1933) Dir; Heinosuke Gosho
THE GROOM TALKS IN HIS SLEEP (1935) Dir; Heinosuke Gosho
MIKEY AND NICKY (1976) Dir; Elaine May
New York Historical Society
Justice in Film
UMBERTO D. (1952) Dir; Vittorio de Sica
BAM Cinématek
I VITELLONI (1953) Dir; Federico Fellini
Anthology Film Archives
Rain the Color of Blue with a Little Red in it
PURPLE RAIN (1984) Dir; Albert Magnoli
Landmark Sunshine Cinema
BACK TO THE FUTURE (1985) Dir; Robert Zemeckis
Nitehawk Cinema
NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD (1968) Dir; George A. Romero
DEATH WISH (1974) Dir; Michael Winner
Today's Pick? The most worthy choices today come from abroad, both crucial foundations for world cinema, MoMA's Japan Speaks Out! Early Japanese Talkies and the Forum's newly spit-shined presentation of Ray's The Apu Trilogy. I have time yet to make a daily Pick of either series. On the cult cinema front we have Zemeckis' Oedipal time travel treatise (full disclosure: not a fave) and both Romero's seminal zombie flick and Winner's update of the classic Hollywood western, what amounts to the foundation for all modern vigilate cinema. The last truly great musical unspools at AFA, while Elaine May's finest two hours unspools its penultimate. However, one screening this balmy spring eve beckons mightier than the others, if for no other reason than its progeny, a project 12 years in the planning, coming some 30 years after its last and poorest iteration, looms on the sandstorm-ridden horizon. The principal may have changed, and the techniques of the modern action blockbuster evolved to the point where Sandra Bullock may perform cartwheels around George Clooney in low-orbit. What hasn't changed is what's most crucial to the new project: its filmmaker, the legendary George Miller. Its potential for great harm for every member of the crew, one that has risen so high that even Australia deemed the new installment too dangerous to be filmed on its borders. You read that correctly; AUSTRALIA thought the project was too potentially dangerous for its cast and crew. That's like Dean Martin tellin' ya you've had one too many. Finally, the iconic title, not merely the brand but protagonist's monicker, one that has so deeply and widely seeped into the worldwide popular culture that folks who've never seen any of the films still use it as a reference in conversation. The new film, whether it's a fresh start for a new franchise, a mea culpa for the third failed chapter in the series from 1985, or a last wild ride into the sunset from one of the most wonderfully unhinged auteurs in the history of cinema, whether any or all of this proves to be the case, what matters tonight, a week before the new mayhem ensues, is that the starting point, the first journey of the Interceptor, revs again at midnight.
George Miller's original MAD MAX unspools its digitized 1's and 0's in a new DCP restoration at the IFC Center. The film runs about 90 minutes. If you're lucky, you can finish off your popcorn and Sour Patch Kids and Pepsi in 89.
For more info on these and all NYC's classic film screenings in May '15 click on the interactive calendar on the upper right hand side of the page. 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 seem to be entering, finally, the warm cuddle of the sun's friendlier disposition, but 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!
