HELLBOY (Guillermo del Toro, 2004)
115th St. Library, Alvin Ailey Community Room
203 West 115th St. between Seventh & Eighth Aves.
Saturday, March 9, free, 1:00
www.nypl.org
Even with the participation of Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, Guillermo del Toro’s (Pan’s Labyrinth) special-effects-laden big-screen adaptation of the popular comic book is a disappointment. Ron Perlman is fine as the cynical, wisecracking title character, used by the FBI to kill monsters, but the plot is a little too Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossed with the X-Files and Batman: The Animated Series, all three of which were superior to this mediocre movie. The all-star cast also features John Hurt, Selma Blair, Jeffrey Tambor, and the voice of David Hyde Pierce. Del Toro’s 2008 sequel, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, with most of the same actors reprising their roles, is significantly better.
Based on the frightening novel by Ira Levin, Rosemary’s Baby is one of the greatest psychological horror films ever made — and one of the best ever about the hell that apartment life in New York City can be. When Rosemary (Mia Farrow) and Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) move into the fancy Upper West Side apartment complex the Bramford (the Dakota), ready to start a family, Rosemary slowly grows suspicious of Guy’s new friends, particularly the sweet old couple next door (Oscar winner Ruth Gordon and Sidney Blackmer), with good reason. Written and directed by Roman Polanski, Rosemary’s Baby works primarily because it is so believable, with recognizable characters and situations that never go over the top. It’s not just about a satanic underworld gathering in New York City; it delves headfirst into urban paranoia and the fear of adulthood and responsibility, focusing on career success and parenting, with the baby-faced Farrow expertly cast as the mom-to-be. The frightening thriller, which is filled with truly scary scenes, has held up well over the years, so beware if you’re afraid of the dark. In any case, be prepared to have the bejesus scared out of you. Rosemary’s Baby is screening March 8 at 9:30 as part of the Rubin Museum Cabaret Cinema series “Illusions Revealed,” consisting of films that address misperception, and will be introduced by neuroscientist Ioana Carcea. The series continues with such films as Giuseppe Tornatore’s Cinema Paradiso, Louis Malle’s Black Moon, and Sam Peckinpah’s Cross of Iron through April 26.
Marjoe Gortner was born to preach. The fourth-generation evangelist, whose first name is a combination of Mary and Joseph, began singing the praises of the Lord at the age of four, but ten years later he had a change of heart. Howard Smith and Sarah Kernochan record his return to the revival circuit in the early 1970s in the Oscar-winning documentary Marjoe. No longer believing what he preaches, Gortner, looking like he just stepped out of the cast of Godspell, leads the filmmaking team on a tour of revival meetings where he riles up crowds, blesses them individually, and collects lots of cash. Before going onstage, Gortner shares many trade secrets with the documentary crew, explaining precisely how the meetings will go and just what the various preachers will do to manipulate the audience, and that’s exactly what happens. With his 1970s golden mane and free attitude, Gortner is a compelling figure, whether preening like Mick Jagger while praising the Lord or sitting on a bed counting the green. Gortner went on to appear in such films as Earthquake, Bobbie Jo and the Outlaw, and The Food of the Gods as well as such television series as Falcon Crest, Kojak, Break the Bank, Circus of the Stars, and The Great Ride and was married to Oscar nominee Candy Clark in 1978-79, but he never gained the fame he did with this documentary.
Based on the novel by Keith Waterhouse (which he also adapted into a play with Willis Hall and which later became a musical), John Schlesinger’s Billy Liar is a prime example of the British New Wave of the 1950s and 1960s, which features work by such directors as Lindsay Anderson, Joseph Losey, Ken Russell, Nicolas Roeg, and Karel Reisz. Tom Courtenay stars as William Fisher, a ne’er-do-well ladies’ man who drudges away in a funeral home and dates (and lies to) multiple women, all the while daydreaming of being the president of the fictional country of Ambrosia. Billy lives in his own fantasy world where he can suddenly fire machine guns at people who bother him and be cheered by adoring crowds as he leads a marching band. Reminiscent of the 1947 American comedy The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, in which Danny Kaye dreams of other lives to lift him out of the doldrums, Billy Liar is also rooted in the reality of post-WWII England, represented by Billy’s father (Wilfred Pickles), who thinks his son is a no-good lazy bum. Shot in black-and-white, the film glows every time Julie Christie appears playing Liz, a modern woman who takes a rather fond liking to Billy. The film made Christie a star; Schlesinger next cast her in Darling, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress. A 35mm print of Billy Liar is being shown March 7 at the IFC Center in the special program “Movie Night with Michel Gondry”; the director of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Be Kind Rewind, and The We and the I, which opens at IFC on March 8, will participate in a discussion following the screening. “John Schlesinger’s film certainly had an influence on my films, especially The Science of Sleep, just like Walter Mitty or other films intercutting layers of consciousness,” Gondry explains on the IFC website. “Only Billy Liar is one of the few to achieve that in the context of a social satire. All Billy’s visions are like explosions coming out of this very crude and bleak reality. And his personality is very unique, nailed in his lack of ambition. This is one of the films that taught me how magic can come just from editing.”
