Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 182: Mon Jul 1

Point Blank (Boorman, 1967): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 8.50pm

 

This 35mm presentation, also being screened on July 11th, 23rd and 27th, is part of the Big Screen Classics strand at BFI Southbank. Full details here.


Chicago Reader review:
John Boorman's modernist, noirish thriller (1967) is still his best and funniest effort (despite the well-phrased demurrals of filmmaker Thom Andersen regarding its cavalier treatment of Los Angeles). Lee Marvin, betrayed by his wife and best friend, finds revenge when he emerges from prison. He recovers stolen money and fights his way to the top of a multiconglomerate—only to find absurdity and chaos. Boorman's treatment of cold violence and colder technology has lots of irony and visual flash—the way objects are often substituted for people is especially brilliant, while the influence of pop art makes for some lively 'Scope compositions—and the Resnais-like experiments with time and editing are still fresh and inventive. The accompanying cast (and iconography) includes Angie Dickinson, John Vernon, and Carroll O'Connor; an appropriate alternate title might be "Tarzan Versus IBM," a working title Jean-Luc Godard had for his Alphaville.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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