October 1st 2015. Pick of the Day. #NYFF53
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Apologies Stockahz. Due to a last minute and uncorrectable snafu I was unable to co-ordinate with the good folks at Lincoln Center in order to attend last nite's unveiling of the new DCP of Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT. It's probably for the best, though, as the urge to point at the screen and shout "J'ACCUSE!" wouldv'e probably been too great. Hey, I kid because I loathe.
Rest assured that I will be attending most of the upcoming Revivals slate at the Film Fest. So keep an eye out for my posts both filmed and typed! Curse you October, you are merely Winter's wicked emissary, but I will brave your barbarously unseasonable weather for this wonderful opportunity to take in two hours or more of some of the medium's finest works and their accompanying in-person ambassadors. Upper West Side, here I come!
New and continuing series this day include Vittorio De Sica: Attore, Regista, Seduttore at Film Forum, Modern Matinees: In the Beginning at MoMA, and Revivals at the 53rd annual NewYork Film Fest. The zoopraxiscope zaniness be thus;
Film Forum
Vittorio De Sica: Attore, Regista, Seduttore
GENERAL DELLA ROVERE (1951) Dir; Vittorio De Sica
IL LEONE & LA RIFFA (1970/62) Dir; Vittorio De Sica
MoMA
Modern Matinees: In the Beginning
DON QUIXOTE (1933) Dir; G. W. Pabst
Film Society of Lincoln Center
HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1943) Dir; Ernst Lubitsch
Special intro from filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
BowTie Chelsea Cinemas
PSYCHO (1960) Dir; Alfred Hitchcock
Today's Pick? I don't normally like to double-dip, especially so soon, but there's really no other clear choice today. Plus, as I'm actually attending the festa in question I feel compelled to make this today's road taken. Plus plus, the particular screening that piques will be presented by the man who arguably remains our greatest ambassador of the form, and his foundation is responsible for its place today on the slate, if not for its very survival. So you know who Martin Scorsese is, but do you know about his Film Foundation?
Scorsese has been possessed of a lifelong passion for the protection and restoration of older cinema, aware from an early age of its fragility, especially those titles printed on, well, nitrate stock. Created in 1990, The Film Foundation was a natural extension of his work in the 70's in helping to restore and re-release Michael Powell's forgotten masterpiece PEEPING TOM. At the start of the 20th century's last decade he joined forces with fellow filmmakers and scholars ranging from Stanley Kubrick and Francis Ford Coppola to Clint Eastwood and George Lucas to create the FF, an organization dedicated to raising awareness and funds for deteriorating film prints, fuel for the race against the ravages of time. In the last 25 years they've helped to preserve such important entries in the history of the medium as Fred Niblo's THE MARK OF ZORRO, Rouben Mamoulian's BECKY SHARP, Morris Engel's THE LITTLE FUGITIVE, John Cassavetes' FACES, Federico Fellini's LA DOLCE VITA, and Melvin Van Peeble's SWEET SWEETBACK'S BAADASSSSS SONG. They've been instrumental in preserving early works from D. W. Griffith, Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford. They've been especially focused on Scorsese's beloved Archers, overseeing restorations of works like THE RED SHOES, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF COLONEL BLIMP, and BLACK NARCISSUS, with the help of Michael Powell's widow/ace editor Thelma Schoonmaker-Powell. And just recently they've been essential to the restorations/re-releases of Sergio Leone's ONCE UPON A TIME IN AMERICA and Satyajit Ray's still-touring APU TRILOGY. So slouch they ain't.
Tonight they present their brand spankin' new spit-shine of the great Ernst Lubitsch's first Technicolor film, arguably his last great one. His "Touch" has been long adjudicated upon, yet a collective definition proves elusive still. It's about the evaluation and, usually, the undermining of prevailing social mores, the war betwixt the classes, the question of what is truly moral, both politically and personally. It about simple issues like physical attraction, jealousy, ego. He created masterpieces of apparent simplicity, yet ultimately defiant of simple categorization.
I think Billy Wilder, perhaps Lubitch's greatest acolyte, who boasted a plaque above his office door enscribed "What Would Lubitsch Do?", provided the best summarization of the auteur's "Touch". I paraphrase, greatly; "Whenever we came to a tough spot in the script we would ask of ourselves, what would Lubitsch do? And sometimes we'd rack our brains for hours asking that very question, until finally, we'd arrive at the answer! It would be great! It would be perfect! But it still wouldn't be as good as Lubitsch!
Ernst Lubitsch's HEAVEN CAN WAIT unspools tonight at Alice Tully Hall as part of the 53rd Annual New York Film Festival at Lincoln Center. So, hey, Marty, wheh ya wanna meet to pre-game this shindig? I got cash!
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in October '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. The warmer, fiercer cuddle of the sun's sunnier disposition has begun its annual wane, 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!
