Peter Kastner is determined to make a new life for himself in the big city in early Coppola film
YOU’RE A BIG BOY NOW (Francis Ford Coppola, 1966)
Museum of the Moving Image
35th Ave. at 36th St., Astoria
Saturday, August 10, free with museum admission, 2:00
Series runs August 10 – September 1
718-777-6800
www.movingimage.us
Poor Bernard Chanticleer (Peter Kastner). His mother (Geraldine Page) sends him locks of her hair and pays a prudish landlord (Julie Harris), aided by a tough cop (Dolph Sweet), to make sure no girls visit him in his new apartment. Bernard’s father (Rip Torn) rules over him with an iron fist in the basement of the New York Public Library. A nice, innocent young woman (Karen Black in her first major role) is interested in him, but he wants a psycho go-go dancer/actress (Elizabeth Hartman). Meanwhile, he is getting all the wrong advice from his best friend (Tony Bill). Francis Ford Coppola’s little-known romantic comedy — his second feature, following Dementia 13 — earned Page an Academy Award nomination, Kastner a BAFTA nomination as Most Promising Newcomer, and a Palme d’Or nomination at Cannes. Coppola uses the New York City settings with a charming intelligence and wit, whether Bernard is chasing a kite across the Sheep Meadow, wandering through the Times Square peep shows, or being chased through the New York Public Library. The Lovin’ Spoonful supplies the fabulously sixties soundtrack. Based on David Benedictus’s novel, You’re a Big Boy Now kicks off the Museum of the Moving Image series “Fun City: New York in the Movies 1967-75,” with guest curator J. Hoberman on hand to introduce the film. The festival, which runs August 10 through September 1, includes a wide range of works made in and about the Big Apple, from such familiar favorites as Rosemary’s Baby, The French Connection, Superfly, Midnight Cowboy, and Dog Day Afternoon to such lesser-known treats as Bye Bye Braverman, The Angel Levine, Little Murders, The Landlord, and Dick Fontaine’s 1970 documentary, Norman Mailer vs. Fun City.
With their wedding day upon them, Alison Jones (Alison Fyhrie) suddenly gets cold feet, convincing her fiance, Philip Havemeyer (cowriter Philip Quinaz), that they should go ahead with the festivities anyway, faking it for the guests and then calling it quits afterward in the silly but fun pseudo-mockumentary Breakup at a Wedding. The film is set up as wedding videographer Vic James’s (cowriter, director, and producer Victor Quinaz, Philip’s brother) self-proclaimed masterpiece; James and his small team of photographers have been given unlimited access to the previously happy couple and their friends and families, capturing intimate moments, deep, dark secrets, and general mayhem as all hell breaks loose, from the rehearsal dinner through the wedding itself. “Weddings make people go insane, but I always edit out the crazy,” Vic says at the beginning, “that is, until I met these two.” There are battles between the competing best men (Damian Lanigan and Chris Manley), maid of honor Mary (Mary Grill) is determined to get laid, and Alison has trouble dealing with her divorced parents (Hugh Scully and Caitlin B. FitzGerald), her father’s new Czech mail-order bride (Helena Lukas Martemucci), and her stepmother’s goddaughter, Lenka Jones (cowriter and producer Anna Martemucci, who is married to Victor Quinaz), who is betrothed to Alison’s brother, Brian (Brian Shoaf). It all makes for a host of bizarre antics, some very funny, others too far over the top, but there’s a charming genuineness and warmth to it all, probably in part because many of the actors and filmmakers are related themselves, and Philip Quinaz has most likely experienced a whole lot in one of his other jobs, professional wedding DJ. Cinematographer and coeditor Giovanni P. Autran, who also plays the florist, keeps it all honest, mixing in interview segments, handheld shots at the wedding, and playfully lit dance scenes. And thankfully, the film avoids getting overly sentimental while including some fresh insights into love, friendship, responsibility, and trust. Breakup at a Wedding continues at indieScreen in Williamsburg nightly at 7:00 through August 8; one of the producers, Zachary Quinto, who plays Spock on the relaunched Star Trek franchise, will be on hand for a Q&A following the August 6 show.