Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 76: Sun Mar 17

There's Always Tomorrow (Sirk, 1956): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 3pm

This 35mm presentation, part of the Barbara Stanwyck season at BFI Southbank, is also being screened at the cinema on March 19th. Full details here

Chicago Reader review:
Douglas Sirk is best known for his highly stylized Technicolor melodramas, but he also did superlative work in restrained black and white. There's Always Tomorrow (1955) is a virtuoso study in tones, ranging from the blinding sunlight of a desert resort to the expressionist shadows of the suburban home where Fred MacMurray lives in unhappy union with Joan Bennett. Barbara Stanwyck is the old flame who turns up by accident, rekindling for MacMurray the dangerous illusion that happiness is still possible.
Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 75: Sat Mar 16

History Lessons (Straub/Huillet, 1972): BFI Southbank, NFT3, 1.30pm

This screening is part of the Jean-Marie Straub and Daniele Huillet season at BFI Southbank (you can find all the details here).

Time Out review:
History Lessons derives from sections of Brecht's incomplete novel The Business Affairs of Mr Julius Caesar. It comprises four interviews with contemporaries of Caesar's (every word on the soundtrack is Brecht's): a banker, a former soldier, a lawyer and a writer, all of whom place Caesar's exploits in direct political perspectives. Typically, though, the film-makers insist on doing more than merely re-examining historical fact. They inscribe the dissection of Rome's imperialist past within three detailed studies of Rome today, establishing links that work both ways. And they leave the city altogether for the scenes in which their actors quote Brecht's dialogue; these scenes make a radical (Brechtian) break with the 'rules' of narrative film grammar. Illusions of all kinds are, in fact, ruthlessly pared away, leaving a series of concrete facts and statements in the forms of sounds and images that the viewer is free to use to construct meanings. This is arguably political cinema at its most advanced and provocative.

Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 74: Fri Mar 15

Under The Silver Lake (Mitchell, 2018): Prince Charles Cinema, 12.35pm & 8.30pm

A hugely anticipated new release on an extended, exclusive run at Prince Charles Cinema. You can find the full details here.

Time Out review:

The fog is thick in ’Under the Silver Lake’ – not the funk of pot smoke (though there is some of that) nor of bad weather. Rather, it’s the profound confusion located somewhere behind Andrew Garfield’s brow: His unkempt character, Sam, prowls the streets like a Scooby-less Shaggy in search of answers to a riddle he only half comprehends. Hypnotic, spiraling and deliriously high on its own supply of amateur-sleuth movie references, writer-director David Robert Mitchell’s deeply personal follow-up to his relentless meta-horror film ‘It Follows’ vaults him into ‘Big Lebowski’ territory, by way of several Lynchian side streets. It’s the kind of raggedy-ass thriller that only gets made when a young filmmaker, emboldened by success, moves past virtues of concision, hoping to summon the full, meandering spell of a paranoid dream. Don’t hold it against him. (Extended review here)
Joshua Rothkopf

Here (and above) is the trailer.

Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 73: Thu Mar 14

Slade in Flame (Loncraine, 1975): Regent Street Cinema, 7.30pm

Regent Street Cinema introduction:

Originally released to mixed reviews in January 1975 Slade In Flame’ has gone on to become one of the most loved music films of all time, BBC film critic Mark Kermode labelling it the “Citizen Kane of rock musicals”. Rather than producing a film that portrayed their happy-go-lucky image, Slade opted for a behind-the-scenes, nitty-gritty look at the rock ‘n’ roll business. The original screenplay by Andrew Birkin depicted the rise and fall of a fictional 1960s group called Flame. However, the band felt the story failed to capture the true feel of the music industry. They decided to invite Birkin and director Richard Loncraine to join them on a tour across America for six weeks so that they could experience the excitement of Slade’s live show plus record anecdotes from the band and other bands they knew. It was this and some pretty decent acting from Slade themselves that gave the film its edge and endearing appeal.Including classic hits like ‘How Does It Feel’ and ‘Far Far Away’.Slade In Flame is a must see slice of ‘70s pop nostalgia and we’re proud to have the band’s original guitarist Dave Hill joining us for a Q&A hosted by Travis Elborough immediately after the screening.

Here (and above) are the opening credits.

Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 72: Wed Mar 13

The Seduction of Mimi (Wertmuller, 1972): Barbican Cinema, 6.20pm

This screening is introduced by Cecilia Zoppelletto, filmmaker and visiting lecturer at University of Westminster. It is part of the Lina Wertmuller season at the Barbican. Full details here.

Barbican Cinema season introduction:

An arthouse sensation who became the first woman to be nominated for the Best Director Oscar®, Lina Wertmüller was one of the most acclaimed directors in world cinema in the 1970s. Her devastating, unflinching critique of fascist Italy, her embrace of ribald humour, and her dissections of entitled masculinity mark her as a unique and brave filmmaker. Her admirers include Spike Lee, Jodie Foster and Martin Scorsese, who praise her unique artistic vision. Despite continuing to make films into the 2000s, Wertmüller’s work is almost unknown in the UK, and is very rarely screened. Her ruthless satires are challenged by feminist critics for the sometimes problematic portrayal of women, but she has nonetheless given an array of great actresses unforgettable roles.

Chicago Reader review:

Italian director Lina Wertmüller was a flash in the pan, but this 1974 film was probably her brightest flash, a comedy about a working-class bumbler (Giancarlo Giannini) whose love life runs afoul of politics. The film never moves far from the conventions of Italian sex farces—that is, it's a comedy of embarrassment and frustration—but the flip Marxism adds a little flavor. Wertmüller approaches the wrenching tastelessness of Billy Wilder without following through to Wilder's redemptive purgation. With Mariangela Melato; remade as the Richard Pryor comedy Which Way Is Up?

Dave Kehr

Here (and above) is an extract.

Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 71: Tue Mar 12

The Likely Lads (Tuchner, 1976): Prince Charles Cinema, 6.30pm

Prince Charles Cinema introduction to this special evening:

The evening begins with a restored presentation of the feature film "The Likely Lads" [1976] : Spinning off from the BAFTA-winning 1970s sequel to the incredibly popular 1960s sitcom, James Bolam and Rodney Bewes star as Terry Collier and Bob Ferris, two life-long friends with vastly different outlooks on life. This feature presentation has been beautifully restored from original film elements.

And the night just gets better, for the very first time since they last aired over 50 years ago, we present two recently recovered episodes from the original BBCTV series:

A Star is Born: With one eye on a £25 prize and the other on Rhona the barmaid, Terry enters himself and Bob as a singing duo in a talent night at the local: but the lads can't agree on the choice of song, or who gets first billing in the group name...

Far Away Places: The lads are contemplating their summer holiday, but lack of money is a problem: as is the choice of destination. Bob favours the continent, while Terry is all for tradition and can't be persuaded to go abroad...

Then, to round off the evening, Likely Lads creators Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais will join us for a very special Q&A session.

Here (and above) is a compilation of Likely Lads material.

Capital Celluloid 2019 - Day 70: Mon Mar 11

The Hudsucker Proxy (Coen, 1994): Prince Charles Cinema, 6.15pm

This 35mm presentation is part of the 'Class of 94' season at the Prince Charles Cinema. You can find all the details here.

Time Out review:
New Year's Eve, 1958, Norville Barnes (Tim Robbins) climbs on to a window-ledge of the Hudsucker Industries skyscraper in snowy Manhattan. We flash back a month: company chairman Waring Hudsucker (Charles Durning) shocks board members by plunging 45 floors to the sidewalk below – at the moment young Norville, a hayseed business graduate from Indiana, first enters the building to take a post in the mail room. Norville didn't, however, expect immediate promotion to company boss, a move plotted by vice-chairman Sidney Mussburger (Paul Newman); with an idiot pawn in charge, stock will plummet and Sid can take over. Or he could, if only hard-bitten hack Amy Archer (Jennifer Jason Leigh) hadn't smelt a rat and gone undercover as Norville's secretary. Directed by Joel Coen, produced by Ethan Coen, and scripted by both brothers (plus Sam Raimi), this is a notably well-executed, very funny and very well-acted movie: a quirky, sardonic take on '50s faddishness, fame, power, friendship, character and ethics. A minor work, but confirmation of the Coens' position among America's most ambitious, able and exciting film-makers.
Geoff Andrew

Here (and above) is an excerpt.