True Romance (Scott, 1993): Rio Cinema, 6pm
The Rio, who screened Harold and Maude last year, have won the award again in 2013 for the most original Valentine's Day choice.
Here is their introduction to the night's entertainment: After Harold and Maude, meet this year's star-crossed lovers, Clarence
and Alabama. It's love at first sight when comic-book lover Christian
Slater meets the beguiling Patricia Arquette, but life can get a whole
lot more complicated, particularly when $5 million worth of mafia
cocaine is involved. It's a wild, outrageous, irreverent, funny and, of
course, romantic road movie with never a dull moment and it could only
have been written by Quentin Tarantino. Along for the ride are Dennis
Hopper, Christopher Walken, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman and Val Kilmer as the
ghost of Elvis! It was made 20 years ago but thanks to Tony Scott's
(R.I.P.) perfect direction of the mayhem and the monologues
(Tarantino-style), True Romance is a love story for today and forever.
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 44: Wed Feb 13
Punch-Drunk Love (Anderson, 2002): Prince Charles Cinema, 8.45pm
This film is screening as part of the Paul Thomas Anderson retrospective at the Prince Charles. All the details are here.
Jigsaw Lounge website review:
'Boogie Nights and Magnolia are two of the most thrillingly audacious American films of the nineties. Punch-Drunk Love is, nevertheless, a quantum leap forward in every respect: watching it blaze across the screen, you get some idea how those Parisians might have felt back in 1895 when the Lumiere brothers turned on their projector for the first time. The art-form has been redefined, and nothing will ever be quite the same again.
This is, to say the very least, not an easy film to describe, though strictly speaking it is an Adam Sandler comedy: he’s Barry Egan, a hapless, somewhat dweeby loner who runs a small business selling novelty sink-plungers in suburban Los Angeles. Emotionally stunted and prone to fits of depression and violence, Barry stumbles into a romance with Lena (Emily Watson), an English friend of one of his seven sisters. He buys large quantities of chocolate mousse when he realises a marketing error will allow him to accumulate millions of air miles for relatively little outlay. And he’s also being viciously persecuted by a Utah phone-sex company’s extortion racket…
All this may sound like a recipe for some kind of desperately zany weirdness and in other hands that’s probably what might have resulted. But Anderson’s mastery of word, sound and image transforms unpromising material into a stunning emotional experience that dazzles on every level. Cinema’s rules have evolved in fits and starts over these 108 years — it’s staggering to watch one man come along and so beautifully shatter them all.'
Neil Young
Here is the trailer.
This film is screening as part of the Paul Thomas Anderson retrospective at the Prince Charles. All the details are here.
Jigsaw Lounge website review:
'Boogie Nights and Magnolia are two of the most thrillingly audacious American films of the nineties. Punch-Drunk Love is, nevertheless, a quantum leap forward in every respect: watching it blaze across the screen, you get some idea how those Parisians might have felt back in 1895 when the Lumiere brothers turned on their projector for the first time. The art-form has been redefined, and nothing will ever be quite the same again.
This is, to say the very least, not an easy film to describe, though strictly speaking it is an Adam Sandler comedy: he’s Barry Egan, a hapless, somewhat dweeby loner who runs a small business selling novelty sink-plungers in suburban Los Angeles. Emotionally stunted and prone to fits of depression and violence, Barry stumbles into a romance with Lena (Emily Watson), an English friend of one of his seven sisters. He buys large quantities of chocolate mousse when he realises a marketing error will allow him to accumulate millions of air miles for relatively little outlay. And he’s also being viciously persecuted by a Utah phone-sex company’s extortion racket…
All this may sound like a recipe for some kind of desperately zany weirdness and in other hands that’s probably what might have resulted. But Anderson’s mastery of word, sound and image transforms unpromising material into a stunning emotional experience that dazzles on every level. Cinema’s rules have evolved in fits and starts over these 108 years — it’s staggering to watch one man come along and so beautifully shatter them all.'
Neil Young
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 43: Tue Feb 12
Marfa Girl (Clark, 2012):
The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard Street, Hoxton
Here is The Book Club introduction to the event: The Book Club are excited to announce two exclusive free screenings of Larry Clark’s (director of Kids and Bully) new film, Marfa Girl. The film isn’t showing in any conventional cinemas and makes this screening at The Book Club especially special!
Set in the Texan town of Marfa, the film celebrates teenage sexuality and confusion in a similar vein to Clark’s earlier films. Focusing on 15-year-old Adam, the film explor es the tension between the artistic community of the town, the Mexican border patrols and the Hispanic community and what happens when a sexually promiscuous young artist arrives in town.
The film has gathered numerous accolades, including ‘Best Film’ at the Rome Film festival. Get yourselves down to TBC to watch the new offering from one of the most important directors in independent cinema today, whilst swigging a couple of ciders.
To attend please send your name to info@wearetbc.com with the subject MARFA GIRL SCREENING along with the names of anyone you want to bring along (maximum 4). It's totally free but the space is limited so we need to run a list!
Here is an excerpt.
The Book Club, 100-106 Leonard Street, Hoxton
Here is The Book Club introduction to the event: The Book Club are excited to announce two exclusive free screenings of Larry Clark’s (director of Kids and Bully) new film, Marfa Girl. The film isn’t showing in any conventional cinemas and makes this screening at The Book Club especially special!
Set in the Texan town of Marfa, the film celebrates teenage sexuality and confusion in a similar vein to Clark’s earlier films. Focusing on 15-year-old Adam, the film explor es the tension between the artistic community of the town, the Mexican border patrols and the Hispanic community and what happens when a sexually promiscuous young artist arrives in town.
The film has gathered numerous accolades, including ‘Best Film’ at the Rome Film festival. Get yourselves down to TBC to watch the new offering from one of the most important directors in independent cinema today, whilst swigging a couple of ciders.
To attend please send your name to info@wearetbc.com with the subject MARFA GIRL SCREENING along with the names of anyone you want to bring along (maximum 4). It's totally free but the space is limited so we need to run a list!
Here is an excerpt.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 42: Mon Feb 11
A Place in the Sun (Stevens, 1951): BFI Southbank, NFT3 6.20pm
This film, part of the Montgomery Clift season, is on an extended run at the BFI Southbank. Details here. I went to see this at a press screening and though overly schematic the film has, at its heart, two luminous performances from Clift and Elizabeth Taylor that hold the attention and linger long after the final shot.
BFI review:
'The winner of six Oscars (for direction, screenplay, cinematography, score, costumes and editing), it centres on George Eastman (Clift), a shy, slightly awkward Midwesterner who arrives in California hoping for a job in his uncle’s factory. He’s in luck, and though he secretly starts dating assembly-line worker Alice (Shelley Winters) against company rules, he’s soon promoted. That wins him a tentative foothold in the world of his wealthy relatives – where he meets and immediately falls for beautiful socialite Angela (Taylor)... Stevens’ eye for detail is evident in the deft delineation of social divisions and the meticulous characterisation, but what distinguishes the film is the way he homes in – with ravishing close-ups and lingering dissolves suggestive of inexorable destiny – on the rapt, languid, irresistible desire that drives the story. While all the performances are excellent, Taylor and Clift were never better – or lovelier – and their scenes together are memorable for their wounded beauty.'
Geoff Andrew
Andrew has written a more detailed feature, highlighting Hollywood's beautiful couples, here.
Here is the trailer.
This film, part of the Montgomery Clift season, is on an extended run at the BFI Southbank. Details here. I went to see this at a press screening and though overly schematic the film has, at its heart, two luminous performances from Clift and Elizabeth Taylor that hold the attention and linger long after the final shot.
BFI review:
'The winner of six Oscars (for direction, screenplay, cinematography, score, costumes and editing), it centres on George Eastman (Clift), a shy, slightly awkward Midwesterner who arrives in California hoping for a job in his uncle’s factory. He’s in luck, and though he secretly starts dating assembly-line worker Alice (Shelley Winters) against company rules, he’s soon promoted. That wins him a tentative foothold in the world of his wealthy relatives – where he meets and immediately falls for beautiful socialite Angela (Taylor)... Stevens’ eye for detail is evident in the deft delineation of social divisions and the meticulous characterisation, but what distinguishes the film is the way he homes in – with ravishing close-ups and lingering dissolves suggestive of inexorable destiny – on the rapt, languid, irresistible desire that drives the story. While all the performances are excellent, Taylor and Clift were never better – or lovelier – and their scenes together are memorable for their wounded beauty.'
Geoff Andrew
Andrew has written a more detailed feature, highlighting Hollywood's beautiful couples, here.
Here is the trailer.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 41: Sun Feb 10
Les Demoiselles Des Rochefort (Demy, 1967): Cine Lumiere, 2pm
Chicago Reader review:
In choosing Jacques Demy's greatest feature, one might argue strongly for Lola (1960), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), or the lesser-known Une Chambre en Ville (1982). But Demy's most ambitious film and the one I cherish the most is this 1967 big-budget musical shot exclusively on location, a tale of various dreamers searching for and usually missing their ideal mates, who are usually only blocks away. The score is Michel Legrand's finest, with various jazz elements, lyrics in alexandrines by Demy, and intricately structured reprises that match the poetic, crisscrossing plot. Demy pays tribute to the American musical yet mixes in accoutrements of French poetic realism: dreams and reality coexist more strangely and stubbornly than in most other musicals. The results may be quintessentially French, but the energy and optimism are clearly inspired by America, and Gene Kelly's appearances are sublime.
Jonathan Rosenabum
Here is an extract.
Chicago Reader review:
In choosing Jacques Demy's greatest feature, one might argue strongly for Lola (1960), The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964), or the lesser-known Une Chambre en Ville (1982). But Demy's most ambitious film and the one I cherish the most is this 1967 big-budget musical shot exclusively on location, a tale of various dreamers searching for and usually missing their ideal mates, who are usually only blocks away. The score is Michel Legrand's finest, with various jazz elements, lyrics in alexandrines by Demy, and intricately structured reprises that match the poetic, crisscrossing plot. Demy pays tribute to the American musical yet mixes in accoutrements of French poetic realism: dreams and reality coexist more strangely and stubbornly than in most other musicals. The results may be quintessentially French, but the energy and optimism are clearly inspired by America, and Gene Kelly's appearances are sublime.
Jonathan Rosenabum
Here is an extract.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 40: Sat Feb 9
Alexander Nevsky (Eisenstien, 1938): Barbican Hall, 7.30pm
Here's the Barbican's introduction to what looks a pretty special screening: The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s film events are always popular, and this presents one of the great collaborations of all time – Prokofiev’s coruscating score to Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky. It is said that the director was so impressed with the precision with which Prokofiev captured each mood, he encouraged him to write the music first for some parts. The epic tale of the medieval prince defeating the Teutonic knights on a frozen lake was particularly welcomed by the Soviet authorities in 1939, but it’s proved to be a timeless classic. The BBC Symphony Chorus provides the rich, rousing choruses while a mezzo-soprano soloist gives voice to the heart of the story in her poignant song as she searches for rival suitors on the field of the dead.
Chicago Reader review:
'Sergei Eisenstein turns the story of the great Russian prince into an abstract exercise in visual and aural counterpoint—it's more theory than movie. But Edouard Tisse's superb photography and Prokofiev's stirring score contribute to a rhythm that is well-nigh irresistible, culminating in the famous battle on the ice. Made in 1939, it was Eisenstein's first sound film—Stalin had sidelined him for a decade.'
Dave Kehr
Here is an extract.
Here's the Barbican's introduction to what looks a pretty special screening: The BBC Symphony Orchestra’s film events are always popular, and this presents one of the great collaborations of all time – Prokofiev’s coruscating score to Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky. It is said that the director was so impressed with the precision with which Prokofiev captured each mood, he encouraged him to write the music first for some parts. The epic tale of the medieval prince defeating the Teutonic knights on a frozen lake was particularly welcomed by the Soviet authorities in 1939, but it’s proved to be a timeless classic. The BBC Symphony Chorus provides the rich, rousing choruses while a mezzo-soprano soloist gives voice to the heart of the story in her poignant song as she searches for rival suitors on the field of the dead.
Chicago Reader review:
'Sergei Eisenstein turns the story of the great Russian prince into an abstract exercise in visual and aural counterpoint—it's more theory than movie. But Edouard Tisse's superb photography and Prokofiev's stirring score contribute to a rhythm that is well-nigh irresistible, culminating in the famous battle on the ice. Made in 1939, it was Eisenstein's first sound film—Stalin had sidelined him for a decade.'
Dave Kehr
Here is an extract.
Capital Celluloid 2013 - Day 39: Fri Feb 8
Vive Le Punk (Roger K Burton, 1993); We Are the Lambeth Boys (Reisz, 1959) PLUS
Dressing For Pleasure (Samson, 1977) at The Horse Hospital, Bloomsbury, 7.30pm
Here's the Horse Hospital's introduction to tonight's offerings:
1 Vive Le punk: Another chance to see this fascinating documentary of The Chamber of Pop Culture’s very first exhibition in 1993. The documentary features Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren talking in depth about their designs and is a valuable insight into how they broke all the rules of convention and inspired a generation. To the best of our knowledge this is the only time that they have been filmed together discussing their legacy. Here is an extract.
2 We Are The Lambeth Boys: The film takes a sympathetic approach to an aspect of working-class life largely neglected by commercial British cinema. Lambeth Boys attempts to deliver a positive portrait of the lives of ordinary teenagers, far from the usual violent ‘Teddy Boy’ stereotype. It is a naturalistic depiction of the members of a South London boys’ club, which was unusual in showing the leisure life of working-class teenagers as it was, with skiffle music and cigarettes, cricket, drawing and discussion groups. Lambeth Boys was shot over six weeks in the summer of 1958 in and around the Alford House, a youth club in the Oval area of South London. It follows a group of teenagers giving them space to express their frustrations and aspirations. Here is an extract.
3 Dressing For Pleasure: Here the subject of fetishism in clothing – rubber, latex, leather – is explored. Features SEX, the boutique run by Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols at the time) and Vivienne Westwood on the Kings Road, London. Central to the film is a magnificent studio set constructed mainly by Samson himself in the shape of the fetish magazine Atomage with actual turning pages and photographs which come to life. The film was banned at the time by London Weekend Television and has become one of those rare films more quoted than seen. Here is an extract.
Dressing For Pleasure (Samson, 1977) at The Horse Hospital, Bloomsbury, 7.30pm
Here's the Horse Hospital's introduction to tonight's offerings:
1 Vive Le punk: Another chance to see this fascinating documentary of The Chamber of Pop Culture’s very first exhibition in 1993. The documentary features Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren talking in depth about their designs and is a valuable insight into how they broke all the rules of convention and inspired a generation. To the best of our knowledge this is the only time that they have been filmed together discussing their legacy. Here is an extract.
2 We Are The Lambeth Boys: The film takes a sympathetic approach to an aspect of working-class life largely neglected by commercial British cinema. Lambeth Boys attempts to deliver a positive portrait of the lives of ordinary teenagers, far from the usual violent ‘Teddy Boy’ stereotype. It is a naturalistic depiction of the members of a South London boys’ club, which was unusual in showing the leisure life of working-class teenagers as it was, with skiffle music and cigarettes, cricket, drawing and discussion groups. Lambeth Boys was shot over six weeks in the summer of 1958 in and around the Alford House, a youth club in the Oval area of South London. It follows a group of teenagers giving them space to express their frustrations and aspirations. Here is an extract.
3 Dressing For Pleasure: Here the subject of fetishism in clothing – rubber, latex, leather – is explored. Features SEX, the boutique run by Malcolm McLaren (manager of the Sex Pistols at the time) and Vivienne Westwood on the Kings Road, London. Central to the film is a magnificent studio set constructed mainly by Samson himself in the shape of the fetish magazine Atomage with actual turning pages and photographs which come to life. The film was banned at the time by London Weekend Television and has become one of those rare films more quoted than seen. Here is an extract.
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