March 8th 2016. Pick of the Day.
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Ah March. March March March. How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. First and most prominent? You are not January or February. In fact, you are their conqueror. Third, fourth and fifth? Exhibition baseball, March Madness and St. Pat's. Sixth? This wonderful Spring-like weather that so smoothly caresses my face whence wending mine way through my Movie-Mad Metropolis. Seventh? A new Terrence Malick film. Eighth? Well, it desn't really fall this far down my list, but the wonderful NYC rep film circuit, now blissfully augmented by the arrival of our newest venue, Ludlow street's Metrograph! Bonus points: did I mention January and February lie in their well-deserved if maddeningly temporary graves?
Well okay then.
New and continuing series this day include Classics of French Cinema with Olivier Barrot at the French Institute, Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90 at MoMA, and Surrender to the Screen at The Metrograph. The dizzingly delightful denoument be thus;
Film Forum
LATE SPRING (1949) Dir; Yasujiro Ozu
French Institute/Aliance Française
Classics of French Cinema with Olivier Barrot
LE PLAISIR (1952) Dir; Max Ophüls
MoMA
Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90
SMORGASBORD aka CRCKING UP (1983) Dir; Jerry Lewis
THE KING OF COMEDY (1982) Dir; Martin Scorsese
Metrograph
AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON (1981) Dir; John Landis
DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (1985) Dir; Susan Seidelman
Today's Pick? I've still got a couple of days left before I lose the Ozu resto, and tempting though the Metrograph's inaugural slate may be, I gotta go with the best film on display today, screening in a rare 35mm print, particularly redolent of the era and area in which it was made; early 80's NYC. It was crafted during a period of duress for its director, who was turning out some of his best, most dynamic, most definitve work, yet was failing to impress at the box office. He'd be shown into what's considered to be something of a wilderness period in the wake of this film's financial disappointment, a period that the man himself admits was something of a retreat, a re-assesing of the times he was working in and how best his talents might be suited to fit them. It warrants mention hat this wilderness period produced absolute gems like AFTER HOURS, THE COLOR OF MONEY, THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST, and the LIFE LESSONS third of NEW YORK STORIES. For a master craftsman strugling to remain relevant, both critically and commercially, not a bad run, huh?
He'd finally be crowned Dean Emertius of American Film with 1990's GOODFELLAS, which served as something as an enema after a decade of corporate controlled Hollywood, a decade of market research, test-screenings, high-concept pitches and product placement. The truth is the man survived the decade with his influences intact, those same influences from French and Italian New Wave cinema that'd informed his most powerful 70's work, that made him a player in the industry. He'd just stuck around long enough until everyone forgot about that shock of the new, so it seemed new all over again. So did one of the best master craftsmen of American Film and greatest Ambassadors of the Cinema recapture the zeitgeist, and to our eternal gratitude, through ventures profitable and otherwise over the last 2-1/2 decades, he's never let it go. Tonight, though, we get a chance to witness the masterpiece that set him into that period of near irrelevance, a film as prescient in most ways as Lumet and Chayevsky's NETOWRK. It regards that most American trait, not hunger for fame per se, but fear of anonymity. It has not only NETWORK and the director's earlier TAXI DRIVER in its DNA, but Joseph L. Mankiewicz's ALL ABOUT EVE. It has only gotten better with time. And it features one of my heroes, who would also find relevance on the film scene once more in this film's wake, if perhaps only amongst the critical set. So without further adieu, ladie and gentlemen, Heeeeeeeeeeeeere's Jerry!
Robert De Niro & Jerry Lewis star in Martin Scorsese's THE KING OF COMEDY (1982), screening today at MoMA as part of the series Happy Birthday Mr. Lewis: The Kid Turns 90! Miss this and they'll exile you to Passaic.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in March '16 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. Winter's icy grip seems to have loosened on our fair metropolis, but milder weather aside 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!
