May 18th 2016. Pick of the Day.
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Stockahz! Sorry I been so remiss! Real life intereferes occasionally and prevents me from providing the humble near-daily missives some of you have come to enjoy and rely on for your NYC rep film circuit delight. Back today, and I should be diligent for the remainder fo the month, and once more thanks for your patience and loyalty. It's an honor to be the bridge between some of you and the ever-growing rep film scene in NYC! So let's get to it, shall we?
New and ongoing series this day include the Noël Coward chilled martini toast at Film Forum, Modern Matinees: Fifteen by Otto Preminger and Universal Pictures: Restorations and Rediscoveries, 1928-1937 at MoMA, the trib to one of Italy's greatest exports, La Magnani at the Film Society, Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z at, funnily enough, the Metrograph, and JG Ballard and the Cinema at Anthology Film Archives. The filmic flabbergastery be thus;
Film Forum
BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (1965) Dir; Otto Preminger
THE ASTONISHED HEART (1949) Dir; Terence Fisher
THIS HAPPY BREED (1944) Dir; David Lean
MoMA
Modern Matinees: Fifteen by Otto Preminger
SAINT JOAN (1957) Dir; Otto Preminger
Universal Pictures: Restorations and Rediscoveries, 1928-1937
BACK STREET (1932) Dir; John M. Stahl
Film Society of Lincoln Center
PEDDLIN' IN SOCIETY (1946) Gennaro Righelli
BELLISSIMA (1952) Dir; Luchino Visconti
ROME OPEN CITY (1945) Dir; Roberto Rossellini
MAMMA ROMA (1962) Dir; Pier Paolo Pasolini
Metrograph
HEAT (1995) Dir; Michael Mann
BAM Cinématek
BLACK GIRL (1966) Dir; Ousmane Sembène
Anthology Film Archives
EMPIRE OF THE SUN (1987) Dir; Steven Spielberg
Today's Pick? The at-once earthy and yet majestic Anna Magnani is feted for another 2 weeks, so I've got time to make the adorable Madonna my choice. Spielberg's EMPIRE impresses but has never convinced, always seeming like an adolescent's idea of an adult film, more lean than Lean. Speaking of Sir David, he's repped today in the Noël Coward trib by the scribe's THIS HAPPY BREED. A solid but unspectacular examination of postwar home life in the wake of the first Great one. And Sembène's seminal BLACK GIRL, the kickoff of Africa's entry to the World Cinema stage, affords me a week to make of it my dance partner. So today, I'm tossing a curveball, as is my wont. One of the rules I have yet to break is my 25yr cutoff regarding what I consider true rep cinema, films you either most likely never saw on the big screen or haven't done so for that exact same timespan, cult movies aside. But tonight I'm kicking that guideline to the curb. And here's why.
NYC has been gifted a brand-spankin' new venue in which to experience both current arthouse fare and the best remaining iteratons of repertory film. It borrows the mission of the Alamo Drafthouse and the aesthetic of the Nitehawk Cinema. It promises a haven for the film-obssessed, the cinematically mad, one in which pre- and post-film interaction & conversation is not merely encouraged but promoted, thanks to their reading room and the now-functioning Commisary. And while the film in question tonight is merely 21 years old and not 25, I've never seen it on the big screen. And it was made by one of my favorite directors. And I haven't made it over to this new venue since it opened its doors two months ago. So, there it is.
Michael Mann's HEAT unspools in glorious, glimmering 35mm twice today at the pristine Metrograph on Manhatan's Lower East Side, as part of their year-long unfold Welcome to Metrograph: A to Z. I'll be grabbing my usual aisle seat. Just in case the title in question is around the corner.
For more info on these and all NYC's rep film screenings in May '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!
