Jean-Pierre Melville’s ARMY OF SHADOWS returns to Film Forum for a special end-of-year engagement (courtesy Rialto Pictures)
L’ARMÉE DES OMBRES (ARMY OF SHADOWS) (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
December 29 – January 4, 1:00, 3:45, 6:45, 9:30
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
Based on the novel by Joseph Kessel (BELLE DE JOUR), Jean-Pierre Melville’s 1969 WWII drama ARMY OF SHADOWS got its first theatrical release in America a few years ago, in a restored 35mm print supervised by the film’s cinematographer, Pierre Lhomme, who shot it in a beautiful blue-gray palette. The film centers on a small group of French resistance fighters, including shadowy leader Luc Jardie (Paul Meurisse), the smart and determined Mathilde (Simone Signoret), the nervous Jean-François (Jean-Pierre Cassel), the steady and dependable Felix (Paul Crauchet), the stocky Le Bison (Christian Barbier), the well-named Le Masque (Claude Mann), and the unflappable and practical Gerbier (Lino Ventura). Although Melville, who was a resistance fighter as well, wants the film to be his personal masterpiece, he is too close to the material, leaving large gaps in the narrative and giving too much time to scenes that don’t deserve them. He took offense at the idea that he portrayed the group of fighters as gangsters, yet what shows up on the screen is often more film noir than war movie. However, there are some glorious sections of ARMY OF SHADOWS, including Gerbier’s escape from a Vichy camp, the execution of a traitor to the cause, and a tense MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE–like (the TV series, not the Tom Cruise vehicles) attempt to free the imprisoned Felix. But most of all there is Ventura, who gives an amazingly subtle performance that makes the overly long film (nearly two and a half hours) worth seeing all by itself. ARMY OF SHADOWS is back at Film Forum for a special one-week return engagement December 29 – January 4.
Darren Aronofsky’s REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is a devastating portrait of addiction, featuring one of the most brutal endings in cinema history. Based on the novel by Hubert Selby Jr. (LAST EXIT TO BROOKLYN), who cowrote the screenplay with Aronofsky, the film focuses on four central figures: Sara Goldfarb (Ellen Burstyn), a lonely widow living in Brighton Beach who learns that she might appear on a television program so is desperate to lose weight to fit into her red dress, ultimately getting lost in a haze of prescription drugs; her son, Harry (Jared Leto), a junkie looking to make a big score; Harry’s girlfriend, Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), who dreams of becoming a fashion designer but has to decide how far she will go for her next taste; and Harry’s partner in crime, Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans), who shoots up while remembering the warm comfort of his mother’s arms. Using repetitive fast-paced editing, enhanced sound effects, and a harrowing score by Clint Mansell, Aronofsky creates a nightmare world where delusional dreams come crashing down with horrific consequences. The acting throughout is a veritable tour de force, led by Burstyn’s Oscar-nominated descent into hell. REQUIEM FOR A DREAM is screening at the Walter Reade Theater as part of the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s two-day series, “Darren Aronofsky’s Dreams and Nightmares,” being held on the occasion of the release of his latest film, BLACK SWAN. REQUIEM is being shown on January 4 at 6:30, followed by Aronofsky’s ambitious 2006 flop, THE FOUNTAIN, at 9:00. The next night, the Brooklyn-born Aronofsky will participate in a special conversation following the 6:15 screening of his 2009 hit, THE WRESTLER, with the brief festival concluding at 9:15 with his creepy 1998 mathematical debut, PI (π).
When half-siblings Joni (Mia Wasikowska) and Laser (Josh Hutcherson) decide to track down their anonymous sperm-donor father, their two moms, Jules (Julianne Moore) and Nic (Annette Bening), are justifiably concerned with how that might affect their close-knit family. And when the donor ends up being a motorcycle-riding, free-spirited hottie (Mark Ruffalo) who would like to become part of the kids’ lives, it doesn’t take long for some major dysfunction to set in. The third feature-length narrative written or cowritten and directed by Lisa Cholodenko, following 1998’s HIGH ART and 2002’s LAUREL CANYON (she directed 2004’s CAVEDWELLER but did not write it), THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is another intimate drama that explores deeply personal relationships with grace and intelligence — along with a little lesbianism. Bening is strong as the man of the house, overly determined to control and protect her family; Moore is beguiling as the other mother, wanting to develop her own business as a landscape architect; and Wasikowka, who was so outstanding in the HBO series IN TREATMENT, impresses again as the prodigal daughter preparing to go to college. Ruffalo, however, is too flat, and the film takes several missteps, including a final scene that is sadly predictable, detracting from an otherwise fresh and original story. THE KIDS ARE ALL RIGHT is being screened at the Museum of Modern Art on December 29 as part of the series “The Contenders 2010,” a collection of influential and innovative international movies the institution believes will stand the test of time. MoMA has already shown such works as Luca Guadagnino’s I AM LOVE, Christopher Nolan’s INCEPTION, Roman Polanski’s THE GHOST WRITER, and David Fincher’s THE SOCIAL NETWORK, and upcoming films include Debra Granik’s WINTER’S BONE, Lixin Fan’s LAST TRAIN HOME, and Banksy’s EXIT THROUGH THE GIFT SHOP.