Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) and Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) bring down a presidency in classic newspaper picture
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN (Alan J. Pakula, 1976)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Thursday, May 6, 1:30, 4:10, 6:50, 9:30
212-727-8110
www.filmforum.org
Film Forum concludes its four-week series “The Newspaper Picture” with one of the grandest of them all, Alan J. Pakula’s ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN. Even though the audience knows the outcome, following two young reporters, Bob Woodward (Robert Redford) and Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman), as they try to get to the bottom of the Watergate scandal is an absolute joy, an edge-of-your-seat thriller written by master scribe William Goldman. Pakula goes inside the machinations of the Nixon administration and the Washington Post, setting up an epic battle with an all-star cast that also includes Jack Warden, Martin Balsam, Jason Robards, Jane Alexander, Ned Beatty, and Hal Holbrook as Deep Throat. Nominated for eight Oscars and winner of two (for sound and art direction), ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN is not just one of the great newspaper pictures of all time but one of the best films of an outstanding decade for movies.
The Asia Society’s presentation of John Bush’s Yatra Trilogy concludes on May 7 with VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET: JOURNEY INTO AN ENDANGERED WORLD, a reverential documentary that examines the history of the Tibetan people, focusing on the long-standing battle with China. In 1959, the fourteenth Dalai Lama was forced into exile, finding safe haven in India. Although many Tibetans escaped with him, many stayed behind, where they practice their faith under the sharp watch of the Chinese government, which would like to name their own Dalai Lama in time. VAJRA SKY OVER TIBET is the third part of the Yatra Trilogy by producer/director John Bush, following DHARMA RIVER and PRAJNA EARTH, as Bush completes his Buddhist pilgrimage that previously took him to Southeast Asia. Bush, a Western Buddhist himself, gained remarkable access to some of Vajrayana Buddhism’s holiest palaces and sites of worship, including Jokhang Temple in Llasa, the Potala, and the Norbulinka. Bush winds his way through the Drepung Festival, traveling with a Tibetan guide whose name he can’t share because of possible reprisals. Bush narrates much of the film, along with Tenzin L Choegyal, the nephew of the current Dalai Lama, and Dadon, a popular Tibetan singer. The meditative score is by David Hykes and the Harmonic Choir, supplemented with devotional music by Dadon and other Himalayan musicians. Although it often plays too much like a travel show on PBS or the Travel Channel, VAJRA SKY, which has been personally endorsed by the Dalai Lama, is an illuminating look into a fascinating culture that is in serious danger of disappearing. “Tibetan civilization,” writes the Dalai Lama as the film begins, “forms a distinct part of the world’s precious common heritage. Humanity would be the poorer if it were to be lost.” For nearly ninety minutes, with beautiful cinematography, captivating music, and gorgeous settings, Bush, who will introduce the Asia Society screening in conjunction with the exhibit “Pilgrimage and Buddhist Art,” takes you deep inside a mysterious, peaceful, and threatened world that you will not soon forget.
This cold-war-era classic stars Michael Rennie as an alien who lands on earth with a very important message: No peace, no planet. He brings along with him one of the great robots in cinema history, Gort (Lock Martin), and later utters to Patricia Neal one of the ten best lines ever: “Klaatu borada nikto.” This science-fiction fave works on a number of different and fascinating levels; during a 1998 UC Berkeley interview, director Robert Wise even noted, “Some people read a religious connotation into the thing, the resurrection and all. If you want to put a beard on Rennie and all, he could be a Christ figure.” The film will be screening May 7 at the Rubin Museum as part of its Cosmic Cabaretcinema series, featuring “films that explore a new frontier in humankind’s understanding of the universe,” and will be introduced by writer Larry Doyle, a veteran of THE SIMPSONS and BEAVIS AND BUTT-HEAD.
