SPECIAL ENGAGEMENTS
THE WAGES OF FEAR [Le salaire de la peur]
New 35mm Print! 60th Anniversary!
"EXPLOSIVE! Combines nail-biting action scenes– calibrated to the millimeter–with a Hawksian command of earthy performances." – Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
"The spiritual godfather to every testosterone-fueled thrill ride since...A white-knuckled introduction to the concept of action-movie existentialism." – Eric Henderson, Slant Magazine
Henri-Georges Clouzot's existential action masterpiece was an international hit in its day, even in the truncated cut, significantly shorter than the restored version available today. Stuck in a remote South American outpost, four European oil riggers sign up for a dangerous job: drive two trucks laden with nitroglycerin across rough mountain roads to the site of a raging oil rig fire and snuff out the blaze. A star-making performance for chanteur-turned-tough guy Yves Montand; Charles Vanel was named Best Actor at the 1953 Cannes Film Festival, and the film nabbed the top prizes in both Cannes and Berlin that year. "The most original and shocking French melodrama of the '50s." – Pauline Kael.
DIR/SCR/PROD Henri-Georges Clouzot; SCR Jérôme Géronimi, from the novel by Georges Arnaud; PROD Raymond Borderie. France/Italy, 1953, b&w, 147 min. In English, French, Spanish, German, Italian and Russian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Sat, May 25, 6:30; Mon, May 27, 6:30; Wed, May 29, 9:15
8 1/2
50th Anniversary!
In his films with Federico Fellini, actor Marcello Mastroianni always registered as an alter-ego for the director, but never more so than here, where he plays Guido, a director who, following an enormous hit, has no idea what his next film will be about. Creatively stifled and unsure how to proceed, Guido escapes into reverie, revisiting formative scenes from his past, indulging secret desires and constructing fantasies both comforting and outrageous. This landmark film was nominated for five Oscars, winning for Best Foreign Language Film and Costume Design.
DIR/SCR Federico Fellini; SCR Ennio Flaiano, Tullio Pinelli, Brunello Rondi; PROD Angelo Rizzoli. Italy/France, 1963, b&w, 138 min. In English, Italian, French and German with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Presented in collaboration with the Italian Cultural Institute
Sat, May 25, 3:45 Mon, May 27, 3:45 Thu, May 30, 7:00
GRAND ILLUSION [La Grande Illusion]
New 35mm Print!
Jean Renoir's powerfully humanistic tale of WWI French POWs whose fellowship keeps them strong while they plot their way to freedom spoke volumes to French audiences in 1937, on the cusp of yet another world-historical cataclysm. Once feared lost in the years following WWII (ever-attuned to the inspirational power of cinema, Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels declared the film "cinema enemy number one" and confiscated the film elements), GRAND ILLUSION famously returned to prominence and has continued to inspire audiences across the decades. Starring Jean Gabin as working-class lieutenant Maréchal, Pierre Fresnay as aristocratic captain de Boeldieu and Erich von Stroheim as German prison commandant von Rauffenstein, a refined gentleman who prefers the company of enemy fellow aristocrat de Boeldieu to his common countrymen. Plus Dita Parlo, Marcel Dalio, Gaston Modot and Julien Carette. Rialto Pictures' re-release print, made on the occasion of the film's recent 75th anniversary, is based on a 4K digitization made from the original nitrate camera negative, featuring upgraded sound and newly revised subtitles.
DIR/SCR Jean Renoir; SCR Charles Spaak; PROD Albert Pinkovitch, Frank Rollmer. France, 1937, b&w, 114 min. In English, French, German and Russian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Restored in 4K by Studiocanal and the Cinémathéque de Toulouse at L'Immagine Ritrovata, Bologna, Italy.
Sat, May 25, 1:15 Mon, May 27, 1:15 Tue, May 28, 9:20
THE LONG DAY CLOSES
New 35mm Print!
Terence Davies' semi-autobiographical account of 11-year- old Bud, a working-class lad in 1956 Liverpool, who escapes the fear and pain of his home and school life through the transporting magic of music and the movies. Gentle and genuinely moving, the film recalls THE PURPLE ROSE OF CAIRO and CINEMA PARADISO in its nostalgia for spiritually nourishing cinema. "Beautifully poetic, never contrived or precious, the film dazzles with its stylistic confidence, emotional honesty, terrific wit and all-round audacity." – Geoff Andrews, Time Out London.
DIR/SCR Terence Davies; PROD Olivia Stewart, Angela Topping. UK, 1992, color, 85 min. RATED PG
Sun, Jun 2, 1:10; Wed, Jun 5, 7:00; Thu, Jun 6, 7:00
NOTHING BUT A MAN
New 35mm Print!
"One of the most sensitive films about black life ever made in this country." – Hal Hinson, The Washington Post
In 1960s Birmingham, Alabama, railroad man Duff Anderson (Ivan Dixon) and schoolteacher Josie Dawson (Abbey Lincoln) fall in love, despite family misgivings. But in the pre-Civil Rights-era Deep South, economic and racial oppression are facts of life. Worn down by slights and hassles both subtle and egregious, Duff must decide what kind of man he is and what kind of life he's going to lead. A forerunner in the burgeoning American "new wave" of independent production, this important work of African-American-focused cinema was named to the Library of Congress' National Film Registry in 1993. With Yaphet Kotto, Gloria Foster, Julius Harris and Moses Gunn; look for an unbilled Esther Rolle (GOOD TIMES) among the church congregation.
DIR/SCR/PROD Michael Roemer; SCR/PROD Robert M. Young; PROD Robert Rubin. US, 1964, b&w, 95 min. NOT RATED
35mm Print Restored by the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audio-Visual Conservation.
Sat, Jun 8, 7:30; Wed, Jun 12, 9:30; Thu, Jun 13, 7:00
Two by Bresson
THE DEVIL, PROBABLY [Le diable probablement]
New 35mm Print!
Told in flashback after the suspicious suicide of Charles (Antoine Monnier), a brilliant but aimless young man, this film is Robert Bresson's splenetic portrait of 1970s France, a nation crippled by doubt, distrust and the pervasive, corruptive influence of money. The carefully composed, detail-laden images are by cinematographer Pasqualino De Santis, a frequent collaborator for both Luchino Visconti and Francesco Rosi. Often cited as a key influence by filmmaker Olivier Assayas, whose latest film, SOMETHING IN THE AIR, owes much to this one in both its setting and protagonist's search for identity. Special Jury Prize, 1977 Berlin Film Festival.
DIR/SCR Robert Bresson; PROD Stéphane Tchalgadjieff, Daniel Toscan du Plantier. France, 1977, color, 95 min. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Member passes accepted.
Sat, Jun 8, 11:05 a.m.; Mon, Jun 10, 9:00; Tue, Jun 11, 9:10
A MAN ESCAPED [Un condamné á mort s'est échappé ou Le vent souffle oú il veut]
New 35mm Print!
"A marvelous movie! Bresson's hero's ascetic, single-minded dedication to escape is almost mystic, and the fortress constitutes a world as impersonal and as isolated as Kafka's." – Pauline Kael
"The best of all prison-escape movies! Essential viewing!" –Jonathan Rosenbaum
Robert Bresson's moving existential masterpiece, too rarely screened in the past, returns in a beautiful new 35mm print from Janus Films. Lyons, Occupied France, 1943: Sentenced to prison for his resistance activities, lieutenant François Leterrier's unsuccessful attempt to leap from the car carrying him to Fort Montluc prison teaches him that he'll need to plan carefully and practice absolute patience if he's to succeed. Step by painstaking step–a spoon refashioned into a chisel; bits of cloth woven into rope; close observation of the guards' routine in hopes of detecting the smallest advantage–Leterrier draws closer to the time he must make his move, and meet his destiny.
DIR/SCR Robert Bresson, from the memoirs of André Devigny; PROD Alain Poiré, Jean Thuillier. France, 1956, b&w, 99 min. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Member passes accepted.
Sun, Jun 9, 1:00; Tue, Jun 11, 7:00; Thu, Jun 13, 9:00
TRASH DANCE
Three days only!
Audience Award, 2012 AFI-Discovery Channel Silverdocs Documentary Festival
Inspiration can be found in unexpected places. Filmmaker Andrew Garrison follows choreographer Allison Orr as she joins city sanitation workers on their daily routes to listen, learn and ultimately to convince them to collaborate in a unique dance performance. Hard working, often carrying a second job, their lives are already full with work, family and dreams of their own. But some step forward, and after months of rehearsal, two dozen trash collectors and their trucks perform an extraordinary spectacle. The culminating live performance of workers and their vehicles, presented on an airport runway before thousands of spectators, is not to be missed.
DIR/PROD Andrew Garrison. US, 2012, color, 68 min. NOT RATED.
Tue, Jun 25, 5:00, 9:20; Wed, Jun 26, 3:00, 7:10, 9:20; Thu, Jun 27, 3:00
Official Website
BECOMING TRAVIATA
Three days only!
Official Selection, 2012 New York Film Festival, 2012 AFI European Union Film Showcase
Philippe Béziat's insightful documentary takes viewers behind the scenes at the Aix-en-Provence Festival's production of Giuseppe Verdi's masterpiece "La Traviata." Stage director Jean-François Sivadier and musical director Louis Langrée are exacting visionaries, insisting each note be sung just so; acclaimed soprano Natalie Dessay prepares to sing the demanding role of Violetta. These top-billed names are just some of the many cogs in an enormous machine, along with set designers, lighting technicians, costumers and the orchestra, working together to create a unified artistic whole.
DIR Philippe Béziat; PROD Philippe Martin. France, 2012, color, 111 min. In English, French and Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED
Tue, Jun 25, 2:30, 7:00; Wed, Jun 26, 4:30, 7:00; Thu, Jun 27, 4:30
Official Website
LOW MOVIE (HOW TO QUIT SMOKING)
One night only!
LOW MOVIE (HOW TO QUIT SMOKING) follows the entire career of the iconic band Low and their relationship with director Philip Harder. For twenty years they made music videos and short films together, filming on ice, in railroad yards and in rapidly disintegrating rooms.
Low formed in 1993. Before the band's debut record, Harder, armed with a 16mm camera, filmed the band on Lake Superior in minus 30 wind chill. At the time Low bucked rock protocol by turning their volume down, and the haunting visuals helped define their minimalist approach. As Low matured they turned up and the lyrics grew more aggressive and political. The visuals followed suit resulting in clips that were never released due to their violent subject matter. Year after year, for two decades, Harder continued to shoot Low's music.
For LOW MOVIE, Harder went into the vaults and reassembled all of his 16mm negatives, including outtakes and new material mixed with old, much of which has never been seen by anyone, including the band.
DIR/SCR/PROD Philip Harder; PROD Michael L. Friedman. US, 2013, color/b&w, 70 min. NOT RATED
THE GRADUATE
New 35mm Print!
#7 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies
Young Benjamin (Dustin Hoffman) finds his postgrad stasis interrupted when he begins an affair with Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft), a complicated situation that becomes more so when Benjamin finds himself falling in love with her daughter. One of the key films of the 1960s, it made a superstar of Hoffman, gave Simon and Garfunkel (featured heavily on the soundtrack) a hit album and put director Mike Nichols at the forefront of the New American Cinema, with a Best Director Oscar in hand.
DIR Mike Nichols; SCR Calder Willingham, Buck Henry, from the novel by Charles Webb; PROD Lawrence Turman. US, 1967, color, 105 min. RATED PG
Fri, Jun 28, 7:00 Sat, Jun 29, 7:30 Sun, Jun 30, 2:30