Charlie Chaplin double feature is holiday treat at Lincoln Center
CITY LIGHTS (Charles Chaplin, 1931) and MODERN TIMES (Charles Chaplin, 1936)
Film Society of Lincoln Center
Walter Reade Theater, 65th St. at Amsterdam Ave.
December 21-23, $11 for one film, $15 for double feature
212-875-5456
www.filmlinc.org
Film Forum is billing their double feature of MODERN TIMES and CITY LIGHTS as Charlie for the Holidays, but it could just as easily be called Charlie for the Recession, as both films deal with such topics as unemployment, the rich vs. the poor, communism, drugs, incarceration, and health care. One of the geniuses of the twentieth century, Charlie Chaplin starred in, wrote, directed, produced, and composed the score for most of his films, which remained silent well into the talkies era. In CITY LIGHTS (1931), he is mistaken for a millionaire by a blind flower girl (Virginia Cherrill) and is terrified of her finding out that he is just a lowly tramp. In MODERN TIMES, he is an unemployed factory worker whose woes grow after helping an orphan girl (Paulette Goddard). The two films are among Chaplin’s finest, mixing slapstick and pathos with harsh social and political realities that are eerily still relevant today. (Chaplin fans can complete a triple play when THE GREAT DICTATOR (1940) opens at the IFC Center for a one-week run December 25-31.)
Over the last decade, writer-director Michael Almereyda (NADJA, HAMLET, THIS SO-CALLED DISASTER) has traveled around the world, bringing with him a handheld digital-video camera, capturing brief moments of unscripted real life of friends, family, and strangers. He has organized these small vignettes into forty-four segments divided into four somewhat thematic sections, coming together as a beautiful whole in PARADISE, an enticing visual poem that had a one-week run at MoMA this past September and now will be screened at the Maysles Institute on December 12, followed by a Q&A with Almereyda and curator Livia Bloom. The film opens with a long shot inside a stunningly blue airport passageway over music by DJ Spooky, welcoming viewers into Almereyda’s travels. He then turns his camera on a succession of children experiencing everyday life in different parts of the globe, including one charming boy who falls into a little pool to the delight of those around him. Each part — ranging from a few seconds to a few minutes — is linked either thematically or visually, including a series of shots involving fire, sparks, and a burning red sunset. Using natural sound and light, Almereyda allows each moment to exist in real time on its own, with no narration and no identifying tags, a sort of abstract meditation on the simple things than can serve as personal paradises.
In 1985, the Cure released a song called “Inbetween Days” that included the line “And I know I was wrong / when I said it was true / that it couldn’t be me and be her / inbetween without you.” On the flip side of the single, “The Exploding Boy,” Robert Smith sang, “I knew if I turned / I’d turn away from you / and I couldn’t look back.” In 2006, South Korean native So Yong Kim made IN BETWEEN DAYS, the tender story of Aimee (Jiseon Kim), a young Korean immigrant on the cusp of her burgeoning sexuality who spends most of her time with her best friend, Tran (Taegu Andy Kang), who is ready for more as well. But as Tran starts hanging out with more Americanized Korean girls, Aimee seems unwilling and unready to share her true feelings, complicating their relationship. IN BETWEEN DAYS is a gentle, touching coming-of-age film that So Yong Kim made with her husband, Bradley Rust Gray, who served as producer, cowriter, 16mm cinematographer, camera assistant, and editing supervisor. Three years later, Gray made what he calls the flip side to IN BETWEEN DAYS, the gentle, touching coming-of-age drama THE EXPLODING GIRL, with Kim serving as one of the film’s producers and editing it with her husband. In THE EXPLODING GIRL, Zoe Kazan stars as Ivy, a young woman who comes home from college break ready to spend time with her best friend, Al (Mark Rendall). While Ivy attempts to see her new boyfriend, Greg, her relationship with Al threatens to unravel as she is unwilling to face her real feelings. Both films are beautifully paced slices of life shot in a cinema verité style that adds to their believability and charm.
The Fast Runner Trilogy concludes with Marie-Hélène Cousineau and Madeline Piujuq Ivalu’s BEFORE TOMORROW, following Zacharias Kunuk’s ATANARJUAT THE FAST RUNNER (2001) and Kunuk and Norman Cohn’s THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN (2006). The series, produced by Arnait Video Productions (Women’s Video Workshop of Igloolik), examines the history of the Inuit culture and people in Canada. In BEFORE TOMORROW, Piujuq Ivalu stars as Ningiuq, a community elder who shares a close bond with her twelve-year-old grandson, Maniq (played by her real-life grandson, Paul-Dylan Ivalu). After Kukik (Tumasie Sivuarapik) tells stories about his first contact with white people – including how the strangers traded sewing needles for sex – the group separates into two factions, with one responsible for drying that season’s catch. Maniq chooses to go with his grandmother to help her with the drying, but when they return, what they find sets them off on a harrowing journey, a nightmare that Ningiuq prays will end soon. Based on the Danish novel FØR MORGENDAGEN by Jørn Riel, BEFORE TOMORROW, set in 1840, is gorgeously photographed by Cohn and Félix Lajeunesse, filled with breathtaking vistas, but the simple narrative is too often obvious and heavy-handed (including the sappy music by Kate and Anna McGarrigle), although the film’s slow, meditative pace is welcoming and involving. A film festival favorite around the world, BEFORE TOMORROW will screen at Film Forum for two weeks, then will be available as a pay-what-you-can Video on Demand download beginning February 1; THE FAST RUNNER can be downloaded now, with THE JOURNALS OF KNUD RASMUSSEN scheduled for January 1.
