The Swimmer (Perry, 1968): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 11.10am
This blog, as befits the name, has always favoured screenings from
celluloid for our daily picks of the best in repertory screenings in
London so the four-day festival at BFI Southbank dedicated solely to
film presentations is the most exciting season of the year in London as
far as we are concerned. You can read about the full programme here.
BFI Film on Film Festival is a brand new film festival to take place at BFI Southbank, 8 to 11 June 2023 and the first film festival in the UK wholly dedicated to screen works solely on film, spanning film formats including 16mm, 35mm and 70mm as well as rare nitrate. While the majority of films are now shown digitally in cinemas, the experience of film projection from film is a very different one. For contemporary filmmakers like Christopher Nolan (Tenet), Mark Jenkin (Enys Men) or Greta Gerwig (Little Women), the decision to shoot on film is primarily an artistic one on how their film will look to the viewer when projected. BFI Film on Film Festival celebrates this materiality of film, recognising the uniqueness of film as a physical medium. BFI Film on Film Festival will comprise screenings of new and vintage film prints, programmed by the BFI National Archive’s curators from the national collection, giving audiences access to work held in the BFI National Archive which can only be seen on film and which would otherwise never been seen. The full festival programme will be announced in 2023. Like the experience of listening to a great album on vinyl rather than a digital platform, part of the pleasure and meaning of watching a film on a film print comes from the different look and emotional impact when projected. A whole generation of young filmgoers have grown up not seeing film projected on film, the BFI Film on Film Festival is designed to deliver a unique, cinema-based experience enabling audiences to enjoy the physical materiality of film in all its glory, exploring its aesthetics and challenges – and celebrating the skills required to work with it, with expert voices from the BFI’s world-leading conservation and projection teams.
Chicago Reader review of The Swimmer (35mm):
The only John Cheever story ever adapted to the big
screen, this drama follows the eccentric journey of a suburban New York
man who appears at the house of some old friends and resolves to take a
dip in each of the backyard swimming pools that lead across the county
back to his stately home. It's an unlikely movie property, but this 1968
feature imposes a dramatic shape on the story while preserving
Cheever's characteristic sense of suburban rot. Burt Lancaster plays the
title character, whose encounters with his upper-class neighbors (among
them Kim Hunter and Joan Rivers) grow increasingly weird and disturbing
as he approaches a cruel homecoming. A resounding commercial flop, this
has since been recognized as a signature 60s film, prescient in its
view of American self-deception. Frank Perry directed a screenplay by
his wife, Eleanor, though the studio brought in Sydney Pollack for
extensive reshoots.
JR Jones
Here (and above) is the original trailer.
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