Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 57: Thu Feb 26

The Secrets of the Jinn Valley Treasure (Gholestan, 1974): Barbican Cinema, 8.30pm

Barbican introduction to this film in Iranian Masterpieces season:
The final cinematic work of director Ebrahim Golestan, this political satire places the ills of a society under a comic magnifying glass. A Monty Python–esque allegory about the corrosive impact of oil exports on Iranian life, following a villager who discovers a hidden fortune, becomes rich overnight, and swiftly transforms into a tyrant. The film’s troubled history began even before its release. Golestan felt compelled to conceal the story during production, aware of how his intentions may be skewed. When it finally reached cinemas, the film was banned after 2 weeks. The questions remained – were they misinterpretations, or simply interpretations? Featuring several major stars of the era, including comedian Parviz Sayyad and Mary Apick. Golestan re-edited the film but the director’s version was never publicly screened… until now. This screening marks the world premiere of the brand-new restoration of the film’s director’s cut. 

Chicago Reader review:
Having moved to London in 1967, the distinguished Iranian writer, translator, producer, and director Ebrahim Golestan returned to his homeland to make this unpleasant allegorical comedy (1972), his second and final feature to date. A bitter satire about the shah’s corrupt regime, it centers on a poor peasant who plunges into a hidden cave, discovers a cache of valuable antiques, and becomes a grotesque nouveau riche tyrant. Golestan tackled a related theme in his exquisite 1965 short The Iranian Crown Jewels (see listing for “Documentaries by Ebrahim Golestan”), which was commissioned and then banned by the shah’s cultural ministry, but that film attacked the very elitism that subsumes this one.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 56: Wed Feb 25

Swingers (Liman, 1996): Prince Charles Cinema, 6.30pm

This is a 35mm presentation.

Time Out review:
This first feature follows Mike (Favreau) as he gets back into the dating game after the abrupt and unwelcome termination of a six-year relationship. An out-of-work New York actor looking for a break in LA, he's dragged out of his mope by pals Rob (Livingston), Charles (Desert), Sue (Van Horn) and, especially, the irrepressible Trent (Vaughn), who insists they chase down some honeys in Vegas. Wiser, and poorer, they return to trawl the Angelino hotspots. Love it and loathe it, this film wants it both ways. We're supposed to be appalled at the callous chauvinism of the predatory male, but also to get off on his jive, sharp suits and cool car. We do, too. It's a bit smug, a bit smarmy, but you should still see this movie, and here are ten reasons why: (i) Vince Vaughn - a louche, lanky ego salesman, he's the definitive '90s lounge lizard. (ii) Jon Favreau - a subtler actor than Vaughn, he spends the entire picture sulking, and still has you pulling for him. Plus, he wrote the script, and (iii) this is the most quotable movie since Clueless. (iv) It boasts the best answerphone gag in the history of the movies. Bar none. (v-x) Ninety minutes spent learning how not to pick up girls. This is what the movies were made for, isn't it?
Tom Charity

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 55: Tue Feb 24

Ashes and Diamonds (Wajda, 1958): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 8.50pm

This presentation is part of the Andrzej Wajda season at BFI Southbank and also screens on February 15th. You can find the full details here.

Chicago Reader review:
One of the first works of the Polish New Wave, Andrzej Wajda's 1958 film is a compelling piece, although it's been somewhat overrated by critics who considered its story of a resistance fighter's ideological struggle as a cagey bit of anti-Soviet propaganda, and hence automatically admirable. Following the art cinema technique of the time, Wajda tends toward harsh and overstated imagery, but he achieves a fascinating psychological rapport with his lead actor, Zbigniew Cybulski—who was known as Poland's James Dean.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 54: Mon Feb 23

Blue Steel (Bigelow, 1990): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 8.55pm

This 35mm presentation, also screening on February 7th, is part of the Kathryn Bigelow season. Full details here.

Time Out review:
On her first day of active duty, rookie NY cop Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) surprises a supermarket robber and blows him away. Suspended for shooting an unarmed suspect (his gun has mysteriously disappeared), Megan is later seducedby charming commodities-broker Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver). Then dead bodies start turning up all over town, killed with bullets fired from her gun and etched with her name. Detective Nick Mann (Clancy Brown) takes Megan under his wing, but even when Hunt virtually confesses to the crimes, the disturbing cat-and-mouse games have just begun. Curtis gives her most complex performance to date as the reckless Megan, whose obsessive behaviour and over-reactions have more to do with turning the tables on violent men than balancing the scales of justice. Short on plausibility but preserving the psycho-sexual ambiguities throughout, Kathryn Bigelow's seductively stylish, wildy fetishistic thriller is proof that a woman can enter a traditionally male world and, like Megan, beat men at their own game.
Nigel Floyd

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 53: Sun Feb 22

West Indies: The Fugitive Slaves of Liberty (Hondo, 1979): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 3.10pm

This film, part of the 'World of Black Film Weekend' at BFI Southbank, is introduced by Ashley Clark. The writer, broadcaster, and film programmer presents an eclectic selection of films featured in his new book The World of Black Film: A Journey Through Cinematic Blackness in 100 Films (Laurence King). He will also be in attendance to sign copies of his book.

BFI introduction: On paper, Mauritanian director Med Hondo’s film seems difficult to believe: a single-set song-and-dance voyage through four centuries of colonialism, enslavement, liberation struggles and modern immigration – in just 110 minutes. On screen, it’s astonishing to behold the successful realisation of such an ambitious project. One of the greatest movies ever made, Hondo’s thrillingly passionate cri de coeur remains a troubling, resonant work.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 52: Sat Feb 21

Mandingo (Fleischer, 1975): Nickel Cinema, 6pm

Chicago Reader review:
One of the most neglected and underrated Hollywood films of its era, Richard Fleischer's blistering 1975 melodrama about a slave-breeding plantation in the Deep South, set in the 1840s, was widely ridiculed as camp in this country when it came out. But apart from this film and Charles Burnett's recent Nightjohn, it's doubtful whether many more insightful and penetrating movies about American slavery exist. Scripted by Norman Wexler from a sensationalist novel by Kyle Onstott; with James Mason, Susan George, Perry King, Richard Ward, Brenda Sykes, and Ken Norton.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer. 

Capital Celluloid 2027 — Day 51: Fri Feb 20

The Grandmaster (Hong kar-Wai, 2013): Prince Charles Cinema, 8.30pm

This is the UK premiere of the extended cut of this film which then gets a number of screening at the Prince Charles Cinema. You can find the full details here. 

The Times review:
Wong Kar-wei’s The Grandmaster is one of the more exquisite martial arts movies around, as the Hong Kong auteur behind the lyrical In the Mood for Love takes on the legend of Ip Man, the 1930s wing chun master, played by Tony Leung. China’s history unrolls in the background as Ip Man’s fortunes fail in the Second World War. Perhaps the most beautiful — and violent — scene in the film is a long, balletic, multistorey fight between Ip Man and the female mistress of the craft Gong Er (the elegant Zhang Ziyi), filled with the ache of impossible attraction. French cinematographer Philippe Le Sourd provides a deliciously noir take on many scenes, particularly the opening moments where Ip Man, in a trilby, takes on a town full of assassins in black, gloopy rain.
Kate Muir

Here (and above) is the trailer.