Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 328: Tue Dec 4

Hakob Hovnatanyan (Parajanov, 1967) + Carnival Night (Ryazanov, 1956):
ICA Cinema, 6.45pm

ICA introduction:

In association with Kino Klassika, the ICA is proud to present the UK premiere of a new restoration of Sergei Parajanov’s influential short film Hakob Hovnatanyan, followed by Kino Klassika’s annual Christmas screening of Eldar Ryazanov’s 1950s musical comedy, Carnival Night.

Hakob Hovnatanyan, Dir. Sergei Parajanov, Russia, 1967, 10 mins.

Widely acknowledged as the stylistic precursor to Parajanov’s masterpiece The Colour of Pomegranates, this short meditation on the art of Armenian-Georgian portraitist Hakob Hovnatanyan revives the culture of 19th century Tbilisi. This new restoration was produced by Daniel Bird in association with the National Cinema Centre of Armenia, Fixafilm Poland and Kino Klassika Foundation.

Carnival Night, Dir. Eldar Ryazanov, Russia, 1956, 78 mins.

Ryazanov’s charming musical comedy, a group of young people preparing New Year’s Eve celebrations in their local House of Culture are faced with the arrival of a new director determined to make celebrations educational and moral. The team realise they will need all their cunning to prevent him from ruining their plans and to give the town a genuinely celebratory New Year’s ball. This classic of 1950s Soviet cinema occupies a place in Russian culture similar to that of The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady in the West. A newly restored digital version of the film screens.

The films will be introduced by Guardian film critic, Peter Bradshaw.

Here (and above) is an extract from Carnival Night.

Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 327: Mon Dec 3

The House of Mirth (Davies, 2000): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 6pm

This 35mm screening, which is also being shown on December 2nd and 20th (details here), is part of the Big Screen Classics season at BFI Southbank. You can find the details here.

Chicago Reader review:
If she slipped she recovered her footing, and it was only afterward that she was aware of having recovered it each time on a slightly lower level." Edith Wharton's encapsulation of the narrative form of her tragic (and sexy) 1905 novel, describing the progressive defeat of socialite Lily Bart by the ugly indifference of Wharton's own leisure class, is given an extra touch of Catholic doom in Terence Davies's passionate, scrupulous, and personal adaptation (2000), which to a surprising degree preserves the moral complexity of most of the major characters. It's regrettable if understandable that the Jewishness of social climber Sim Rosedale (Anthony LaPaglia) is no longer an issue, and Lawrence Selden, Lily's confidant, is somewhat softened by a miscast Eric Stoltz, but the cast as a whole is astonishing—especially Gillian Anderson as Lily and Dan Aykroyd in his finest performance to date. Davies feels and understands the story thoroughly, giving it a raw emotional immediacy that would be unthinkable in the shopper-friendly adaptations of Merchant-Ivory and their imitators, and the film's feeling for decor and costumes, derived from both John Singer Sargent paintings and Orson Welles's The Magnificent Ambersons, is exquisite.
Jonathan Rosenbaum

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 326: Sun Dec 2

My Man Godfrey (La Cava, 1936): BFI Southbank, NFT1, 3.40pm

This masterpiece screwball comedy is also being shown on December 4th and 7th. You can find all the details here.

Chicago Reader review:
Gregory La Cava's improvisational style received its highest critical acclaim for this 1936 film, a marginally Marxist exercise in class confusion during the Depression. Carole Lombard is the bubbleheaded heiress who needs an oppressed proletarian to round out a scavenger hunt; she picks up tramp William Powell and lets him stay on to be her butler. Meanwhile, mad poet Mischa Auer assumes the role of the intelligentsia under late capitalism by imitating a gorilla. With Alice Brady, Eugene Pallette, and Gail Patrick.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 325: Sat Dec 1

Atoll K (Joannon, 1951): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 3.45pm

BFI introduction to special screening:

Laurel and Hardy aficionados won’t want to miss this rare opportunity to see ‘the Boys’ in their final feature. This odd atomic-age comedy sees Stan and Ollie inherit a uranium-rich island that becomes a haven for lawless ruffians from every corner of the globe. Much maligned over the years, this troubled international co-production was plagued by disputes with the crew and ill-health for its stars; but it was a spirited attempt by the team to move in a new direction, and it remains fascinating viewing for fans. It screens here in a BFI archive print made from nitrate master materials. Plus Grand Hotel (aka Laurel and Hardy Visit Tynemouth, UK 1932, Dir JG Ratcliffe, 10min, silent): The team are rapturously received when they visit Tynemouth in 1932, and Stan clowns for the camera with his dad.

We are delighted to announce that this programme will now include previously unseen silent amateur footage of Stan and Ollie opening a Gymkhana at Eastwood Park, Giffnock, during their visit to Scotland in June 1947. We can also confirm that we’re going to screen the full length English version of the film which runs 98min, not 95min as listed in the BFI Southbank Guide.

Introduced by Glenn Mitchell, author of The Laurel and Hardy Encyclopedia, and Archive curators Vic Pratt and William Fowler.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 324: Fri Nov 30

Carol (Haynes, 2015): Prince Charles Cinema, 6.15pm

This 35mm presentation will also be shown on December 4th and 13th. Details here.

Chicago Reader review:
Todd Haynes's Far From Heaven (2002) slayed critics with its provocative presentation of modern racial and sexual issues through the lens of a high-Hollywood 50s melodrama. Haynes returns to that formula with this adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's 1952 novel The Price of Salt, which deals with a lesbian affair. Cate Blanchett is the title character, a New York wife and mother struggling to escape from her straight marriage, and her mix of bravado and vulnerability has seldom been used to greater effect; Kyle Chandler is moving as her anguished husband, who refuses to accept the truth about her sexuality and leverages custody of her daughter against her. Unfortunately their fine work is weighed down by Rooney Mara's inert performance as Carol's young lover, a countergirl at Bloomingdale's who suggests a doll with the battery removed. As a love story this left me unsatisfied, though I enjoyed the lush period trappings (from costumer Sandy Powell and production designer Judy Becker) and the flattering sense of how enlightened I am compared to people in the 1950s.
JR Jones

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 323: Thu Nov 29

Lake Mungo (Anderson, 2008): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 8.50pm

This film is part of the ‘Terror Vision’ strand at BFI Southbank.

BFI Southbank introduction:
Despite being one of this century’s most critically acclaimed horror films, Joel Anderson’s multi-layered faux-documentary remains criminally underseen. Following the sudden death of their 16-year-old daughter, the distraught Palmer family invite a psychic and a parapsychologist into their home to uncover the truth behind the tragedy. A beautifully constructed meditation on grief, Lake Mungo is as tender as it is terrifying.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2018 - Day 322: Wed Nov 28

The Entertainer (Osborne, 1960): Regent Street Cinema, 12pm & 3.30pm

Chicago Reader review:
Laurence Olivier gives one of his most affecting screen performances in Tony Richardson's 1960 film about a seedy song-and-dance man on the seaside-resort circuit whose selfishness and nastiness ruin the lives of everyone around him. Excellent support from Alan Bates, Albert Finney, and Joan Plowright, but Richardson's direction drags more than a bit; adapted by John Osborne and Nigel Kneale from Osborne's play.
Don Druker

Here (and above) is an extract.