Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941) & Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958): Rio Cinema, 12.30pm
The two greatest films of all time (as voted for in the 2012 Sight & Sound poll) make a perfect double-bill at the Rio, which has given us some outstanding pairings on a Sunday afternoon of late.
Chicago Reader review of Citizen Kane:
'What can you say about the movie that taught you what movies were? The first time I saw Kane
I discovered the existence of the director; the next dozen or so times
taught me what he did—with lights and camera angles, cutting and
composition, texture and rhythm. Kane (1941) is no longer my favorite Orson Welles film (I'd take Ambersons, Falstaff, or Touch of Evil), but it is still the best place I know of to start thinking about Welles—or for that matter about movies in general.'
Dave Kehr
Here is the trailer
===============================================
Chicago Reader review of Vertigo:
'One of the landmarks—not merely of the movies, but of 20th-century art. Alfred Hitchcock's 1958 film extends the theme of Rear Window—the
relationship of creator and creation—into the realm of love and
sexuality, focusing on an isolated, inspired romantic (James Stewart)
who pursues the spirit of a woman (the powerfully carnal Kim Novak). The
film's dynamics of chase, capture, and escape parallel the artist's
struggle with his work; the enraptured gaze of the Stewart character
before the phantom he has created parallels the spectator's position in
front of the movie screen. The famous motif of the fall is presented in
horizontal rather than vertical space, so that it becomes not a satanic
fall from grace, but a modernist fall into the image, into the artwork—a
total absorption of the creator by his creation, which in the end is
shown as synonymous with death. But a thematic analysis can only scratch
the surface of this extraordinarily dense and commanding film, perhaps
the most intensely personal movie to emerge from the Hollywood cinema.'
Dave Kehr
Here is the trailer
No comments:
Post a Comment