December 9th 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.
Continuing series this day include the trib to innovative production designer and iconicfilmmaker William Cameron Menzies at Film Forum, and both the ongoing Modern Matineesprogram and Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective at MoMA. The sprockety splendiferous be thus;
Film Forum
OUR TOWN (1940) Dir; Sam Wood
THE PRIDE OF THE YANKEES (1942) Dir; Sam Wood
MoMA
Modern Matinees: The Film Library Grows
THE PUBLIC ENEMY (1931) Dir; William A. Wellman
Antonio Pietrangeli: A Retrospective
EMPTY EYES (1953) Dir; Antonio Pietrangeli
BAM Cinématek
A MARRIED WOMAN (1965) Dir; Jean-Luc Godard
Today's Pick? Just went with the Menzies yesterday, so my aversion to double-dippery of all stripes precludes me from that series this day. I'm tempted to catch Wellman's ENEMY, one of the earliest entries in the Warner Brothers gangster cycle of the 30's, but I haven't shown nearly enough love, and by that I mean ANY, to MoMA's trib to one of the masters of Italy's Commedia all'italiana era. Today's entry in the series is the director's feature debut, however, and hues more closely to the Neorealist exercises practiced by that country's masters in the postwar era, men like Rossellini and De Sica and Visconti. I know nothing of this signor's CV, which makes this screening all the more essential, the tale of an innocent from the country exposed to the cruelties of the industrialized world, in an time that found the once-prominent power of the globe ravaged by war, depressed, searching for anything that resembled a future. Exercises like these probably account for the advent of the Commedia all'italiana to begin with, but for now, let's examine the roots of a comic genius. All tragedy comes from comedy they say. Let's look closely at the man's beginning.
Antonio Pietrangeli's EMPTY EYES screens as part of the Retrospective at MoMA, one that comes to close mighty soon. Speed'a yoo feetz to da MoMA and ketch'a some art, ANDARE!!!
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in December '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!
