If they know what’s good for them, film fans should be crowding into BAM to see such Jean Renoir masterpieces as GRAND ILLUSION
BAMcinématek
30 Lafayette Ave. between Ashland Pl. & St. Felix St.
April 9 – May 11
718-636-4100
www.bam.org
Son of French Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Jean Renoir made some forty films during a nearly fifty-year career that left, er, quite an impression on world cinema. One of the most influential auteurs to ever put images on celluloid, Renoir commented on politics, social conventions, and war in his films, with several works being banned in Germany, Italy, and even France because they hit a little too close to home. He compiled one of the great resumes while making films first in France and later in Hollywood, including A DAY IN THE COUNTRY (1936), GRAND ILLUSION (1937), THE RULES OF THE GAME (1939), THE SOUTHERNER (1945), THE DIARY OF A CHAMBERMAID (1945), THE RIVER (1951), and FRENCH CANCAN (1955), along the way developing one of the most fruitful actor-director relationships with French star Jean Gabin. Renoir was awarded an honorary Oscar in 1975 and died in 1979, leaving behind a legacy that continues to have a strong impact on filmmakers and film lovers today. BAM will be screening twenty-two of his films from April 9 to May 11, offering a crash course in Renoir’s humanistic approach to storytelling, featuring all of the works mentioned above as well as THE LOWER DEPTHS (1936), LE MARSEILLAISE (1938), THE HUMAN BEAST (1938), and others.