Tag Archives: film forum

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING

Stephen (Keir Dullea) tries to comfort his sister, Ann (Carol Lynley), in BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING

BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING (Otto Preminger, 1965)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Sunday, September 20, $7, 5:30
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

“I had heard all the rumors about Preminger, but I felt he wouldn’t do that to me. I was wrong, oh so wrong,” Keir Dullea told Foster Hirsch in the 2007 biography Otto Preminger: The Man Who Would Be King, referring to the making of the 1965 psychological noir thriller Bunny Lake Is Missing and Otto Preminger’s notorious treatment of actors. “I was playing a crazy character and the director was driving me crazy. . . . About halfway through the shoot, I began to wonder, Who do you have to f&ck to get off this picture?” On September 20, Dullea and Hirsch will be at Film Forum for a one-time-only screening of the fiftieth anniversary 4K digital restoration of Bunny Lake, which will be introduced by Dullea (2001: A Space Odyssey, David and Lisa) and followed by a Q&A with the actor, moderated by Hirsch. In the intensely creepy film, loosely based on the novel by Merriam Modell (under the pseudonym Evelyn Piper), Carol Lynley stars as Ann Lake, a young woman who has just moved to London from New York. She drops off her daughter, Bunny, for her first day of school, but when she returns later to pick her up, there is no evidence that the girl was ever there. When Superintendent Newhouse (Laurence Olivier) and his right-hand man, Sergeant Andrews (Clive Revill), begin investigating the case, they are soon wondering whether Bunny really exists, more than hinting that she might be a figment of Ann’s imagination.

Television veteran Lynley, who seemed on the verge of stardom after appearing in such films as Return to Peyton Place, Bunny Lake Is Missing, Shock Treatment, and The Poseidon Adventure but never quite reached that next level, gives one of her best performances as Ann, a tortured woman who is determined to stop her world from unraveling around her. Dullea is a model of efficiency as the cold, direct Stephen, a character invented by Preminger and screenwriters John and Penelope Mortimer. Shot in black-and-white by Denys N. Coop on location in London, the film also features cameos by longtime English actors Martita Hunt, Anna Massey, and Finlay Currie as well as the rock group the Zombies and Noël Coward, who plays Ann’s very kooky landlord, Horatio Wilson. Saul Bass’s titles, in which a hand tears paper as if the story is being ripped from the headlines, set the tense mood right from the start. The ending offers some neat twists but is far too abrupt. “No actor ever peaked with him. How could you?” Dullea added to Hirsch about Preminger (Laura, Stalag 17). “The subtlety that I felt I was able to give to my work in 2001, because Stanley Kubrick created a safe atmosphere where actors were not afraid to be foolish or wrong, was missing on Otto’s set. I don’t hate him; it’s too long ago. But the experience was the most unpleasant I ever had.” It should be quite fascinating to hear more from Dullea and Hirsch at Film Forum on September 20.

THE BLACK PANTHERS: THE VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION

Documentary looks at the history and legacy of the Black Panther movement

THE BLACK PANTHERS: THE VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (Stanley Nelson, 2015)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
September 2-15
212-727-8110
filmforum.org
theblackpanthers.com

At the beginning of The Black Panthers: The Vanguard of the Revolution, Black Panther Ericka Huggins says, “We know the party we were in, and not the entire thing. We were making history, and it wasn’t nice and clean.” Documentarian Stanley Nelson spent seven years making the revelatory film, which details the rise and fall of a group of radical militant African American men and women who decided to fight back against the white establishment and show that black lives matter, almost half a century ago, and no, it isn’t all nice and clean. Nelson (Freedom Riders, The Murder of Emmett Till) combines powerful, rarely seen archival footage with new interviews of the people who were involved in this revolution, which was more complicated than it is often given credit for. The film is sharply one-sided; although a handful of former police officers and FBI agents state their case, their views are given short shrift. “The Panthers were a criminal organization, were violent, and they wanted to kill cops. That’s all I needed to know,” says Ron McCarthy of the LAPD. But Nelson primarily speaks with many surviving members of the party, including Kathleen Cleaver, Elaine Brown, Emory Douglas, Elbert “Big Man” Howard, Jamal Joseph, Flores Forbes, in addition to historians and journalists who put it all in perspective.

Radical, militant organization fights for black rights as it attempts to stage a revolution

Radical militant organization takes on the establishment in the 1960s and ’70s

Nelson and editor Aljernon Tunsil (Jesse Owens, The Abolitionists) weave together a compelling, and surprising, portrait of the organization, delving into the stories behind such critical personalities as Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver, David Hilliard, Fred Hampton, and Bobby Seale. The film examines police raids, media coverage, FBI infiltration, trials, and the Panther infighting that ultimately led to their downfall. Perhaps the most frightening images in the film, however, involve the Panthers’ interaction with the police, particularly when coming out of a building with their hands up and their shirts off, trying to prove to the primarily white officers that they are unarmed so they don’t get shot in cold blood. It’s a vivid reminder of some of what’s still happening today around the country while serving as a fascinating companion piece to F. Gary Gray’s Straight Outta Compton; in fact, Nelson employs a potent, funky soundtrack by Tom Phillips along with period songs by Billy Paul, the Chi-Lites, Eugene Blacknell and the New Breed, and Fred Wesley & the J.B.’s. “It is essential to me as a filmmaker to try and give the viewer a sense of what it has meant to be black in America and consider this within our contemporary context,” Nelson explains in his director’s statement. “The legacy of the Black Panther Party had a lasting impact on the way black people think and see ourselves, and it is important that we look at and understand that.” The Black Panthers: The Vanguard of the Revolution does just that, shedding new light on a misunderstood, troubled, and dangerous organization whose legacy can still be felt today. Film Forum is hosting more than a dozen special panel discussions during the film’s run there (September 2-16), with several appearances by Nelson as well as such Black Panthers as Forbes, Joseph, Omar Barbour, Claudia Williams, and Charles “Cappy” Pinderhughes along with journalist Jamilah Lemiux, writer Rita Williams-Garcia, Panther attorney Gerald Lefcourt, and others.

RIFIFI

Jo le Suédois (Carl Möhner) and Tony le Stephanois (Jean Servais) plan a big-time heist in Jules Dassin masterpiece

RIFIFI (DU RIFIFI CHEZ LES HOMMES) (Jules Dassin, 1955)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
September 2-8
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

After being blacklisted in Hollywood, American auteur Jules Dassin (The Naked City, Brute Force) headed to France, where he was hired to adapt Du Rififi Chez Les Hommes, a crime novel by Auguste le Breton that he made significant changes to, resulting in one of the all-time-great heist films. After spending five years in prison (perhaps not uncoincidentally, Dassin had not made a film in five years after Edward Dmytryk and Frank Tuttle declared him a communist to the House Un-American Activities Committee), Tony le Stephanois (Jean Servais) gets out and hooks up again with his old protégé, Jo le Suédois (Carl Möhner), who has settled down with his wife (Janine Darcy) and child (Dominique Maurin) for what was supposed to be a life of domestic tranquility. Joined by Mario Farrati (Robert Manuel), a fun-loving bon vivant with a very sexy girlfriend (Claude Sylvain), and cool and calm safecracker César le Milanais (Dassin, using the pseudonym Perlo Vita), the crew plans a heist of a small Mappin & Webb jewelry store on the Rue de Rivoli. Not content with a quick score, Tony lays the groundwork for a major take, but greed, lust, jealousy, and revenge get in the way in Dassin’s masterful film noir. The complex plan gets even more complicated as César falls for Viviane (Magali Noël), a singer who works at the L’Âge d’Or nightclub, which is owned by Pierre Grutter (Marcel Lupovici), who has taken up with Tony’s former squeeze, Mado (Marie Sabouret), and is trying to save his brother, Louis Grutter (Pierre Grasset), from a serious drug habit. (The club is named for Luis Buñuel’s 1930 film, which featured the same production designer as Rififi, Alexandre Trauner.)

A gang of thieves try to pull off an impossible heist in RIFIFI

As the plot heats up, things threaten to explode in Dassin’s thrilling black-and-white film, which takes a series of unexpected twists and turns as it goes from its remarkably tense, absolutely masterful music- and dialogue-free heist scene to a wild climax — and even includes a sly reference to what should happen to such rats as the men who gave him up to HUAC. Composer Georges Auric insisted on writing a soundtrack for the heist scene — which was a direct influence on such films as Mission: Impossible and was banned in several countries for being too much of a primer on how to pull off a robbery — but after Dassin showed him cuts with and without the score, Auric agreed that only natural sound was necessary for those critical thirty minutes. As a bonus, the Roman Catholic Legion of Decency officially condemned the film for its depiction of sex and violence, which features a hard-to-watch beating of a woman. Dassin, who went on to make another of the great caper movies, 1964’s Topkapi, was named Best Director at Cannes for the low-budget Rififi, a true gem of a film, which is playing September 2-8 at Film Forum in a new restoration.

ARMY OF SHADOWS

Lino Ventura is leading a seemingly impossible mission in ARMY OF SHADOWS

L’ARMÉE DES OMBRES (ARMY OF SHADOWS) (Jean-Pierre Melville, 1969)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
August 26 – September 1
212-727-8110
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 in 2006, 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 once again back at Film Forum for a special one-week return engagement August 26 – September 1.

THE QUAY BROTHERS — ON 35MM

Christopher Nolan and the Quay Brothers will join forces at Film Forum for a special week-long presentation (Quay Brothers photo © Robin Holland)

Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
August 19-25
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

In such films as Memento, Inception, and Interstellar, British-American writer-director Christopher Nolan has shown a flair for unusual storytelling devices and complex narratives. “I decided to structure my story in such a way as to emphasize the audience’s incomplete understanding of each new scene as it is first presented,” he said about his debut feature, 1998’s Following, and a similar aesthetic can be applied to the works of the Quay Brothers. Pennsylvania-born, England-based twins Stephen and Timothy Quay have been making complex narratives for three dozen years, short films and feature-length tales that push the boundaries of storytelling conventions. In hypnotic films such as In Absentia, The Comb (From the Museums of Sleep), and their universally acclaimed masterpiece, Street of Crocodiles, they use fragile dolls and puppets, psychologically tantalizing Expressionistic imagery, and experimental music to draw viewers into their Gothic, industrial, dreamlike fantasy world. In fall 2009, their mind-blowing sets were on display in the exhibit “Dormitorium: Film Décors by the Quay Brothers” at Parsons the New School for Design, and the brothers were justly celebrated in the wide-ranging 2012-13 MoMA retrospective “Quay Brothers: On Deciphering the Pharmacist’s Prescription for Lip-Reading Puppets.” Now they have joined forces with Nolan for a special traveling program that debuts August 19-25 at Film Forum, consisting of the abovementioned three shorts, all restored in 35MM, and the world premiere of Nolan’s documentary about the brothers, simply titled Quay.

The meditative, mesmerizing In Absentia, dedicated to a woman “who lived and wrote to her husband from an asylum,” boasts a gorgeous minimalist score by Karlheinz Stockhausen. The Comb (From the Museums of Sleep) is a fabulously layered film that switches back and forth between color and black and white, live action and stop-motion animation, as a woman has a remarkable dream. And Street of Crocodiles is an award-winning adaptation of Bruno Schulz’s story told the Quay way, with eerie dolls and puppets, ominous screws, and various machine parts come to life. In the three works, light, shadow, and repetitive movement create a dark but compelling mood while providing no easy answers for what is actually occurring onscreen. “That’s the question nobody’s ever asked us: ‘What are you doing?!’ or ‘What are you doing to us?’” Stephen and Timothy told Senses of Cinema in a 2001 interview. Thus, it is no surprise that some of the their major influences are Franz Kafka, Jan Švankmajer, and Leoš Janáček. Nolan and the brothers, who look rather amazing at the age of sixty-eight, will be at Film Forum on August 19 for Q&As after the 7:00 & 9:30 screenings, and the Quays will be back August 20-22 to talk about their work at the 7:00 show each night. In addition to making astonishing, hallucinatory films, they are fun to listen to, so don’t miss this opportunity that we cannot recommend highly enough.

HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR: 70th ANNIVERSARY OF BOMBING

A French actress (Emmanuelle Riva) and a Japanese architect (Eiji Okada) examine their Hiroshima affair in Alain Resnais classic

HIROSHIMA MON AMOUR (Alain Resnais, 1959)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Thursday, August 6, 12:40, 3:00, 5:10, 7:10, 9:10
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

In July 1959, Cahiers du cinéma published a roundtable discussion with Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, Jacques Rivette, and others about Alain Resnais’s Hiroshima Mon Amour, in which Rohmer said, “Hiroshima is a film about which you can say everything. . . . Perhaps Hiroshima really is a totally new film. . . . I think that, in a few years, in ten, twenty, or thirty years, we shall know whether Hiroshima was the most important film since the war, the first modern film of sound cinema. . . . In any case it is an extremely important film, but it could be that it will even gain stature with years.” Some four and a half decades later, Rohmer’s prediction has come true, as a stunning new 4K digital restoration reveals Hiroshima Mon Amour to indeed be one of the most important films in the history of cinema, redefining just what the medium is capable of, as fresh and innovative today as it was to Rohmer, Godard, Rivette, et al. upon its initial release. As the black-and-white film opens, two naked, twisted bodies merge together in bed, first covered in glittering ashes, then a kind of acid rain. The woman (Emmanuelle Riva) is a French actress who is in Hiroshima to make a movie about peace. He (Eiji Okada) is a Japanese architect, a builder working in a city that has been laid to waste. Both married with children, they engage in a brief but torrid affair; as her film prepares to wrap, she gets ready to leave, but he begs her to stay. Theirs is a romance that could happen only in Hiroshima.

Director Alain Resnais (Last Year at Marienbad, Same Old Song), who passed away on March 1 at the age of ninety-one, was meticulous with every detail of the film, from the casting to Marguerite Duras’s stirringly poetic, Oscar-nominated script and dialogue, from Georges Delerue’s and Giovanni Fusco’s powerful, wide-ranging score to crafting each shot as a work of art in itself, using two cinematographers, Michio Takahashi in Japan and Sacha Vierny in France, to emphasize a critical visual difference between the contemporary scenes in Hiroshima and the woman’s past with a German soldier (Bernard Fresson) in Nevers. Hiroshima Mon Amour is a haunting experience, examining love and loss among the ruins of war as two people, at least temporarily, try to create something new. Riva (Three Colors: Blue, Thomas the Impostor) is mesmerizing as the confused, unpredictable woman, her eyes so often turned away from the man, unwilling to face the future, while Okada (Woman in the Dunes, The Yakuza) can’t keep his eyes off her, desperate for their romance to continue. Riva bookended her long career by starring in two of the most unusual yet beautiful love stories ever made, as more than fifty years after Hiroshima she would be nominated for an Oscar for her hypnotizing performance as an elderly woman debilitated by a stroke in Michael Haneke’s Amour. The glorious 4K restoration of Hiroshima Mon Amour,, supervised by Renato Berta, who was Resnais’s chief cameraman on four projects, makes it, to use the words of Eric Rohmer, feel like a totally new film, like we’re experiencing it for the very first time all over again. Hiroshima Mon Amour is having five special screenings on August 6 in commemoration of the seventieth anniversary of the actual bombing that led to the end of WWII.

TRUE CRIME — HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER

MIchael Rooker stars as a troubled murderer in HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER

HENRY: PORTRAIT OF A SERIAL KILLER (John McNaughton, 1986)
Film Forum
209 West Houston St.
Thursday, July 30, 10:15
Series continues through August 5
212-727-8110
filmforum.org

More than twenty-five years ago, when director John McNaughton (Mad Dog and Glory, Wild Things) was asked by executive producers Malik B. and Waleed B. Ali to make a low-budget horror film, he and cowriter Richard Fire decided to base their tale on the exploits of serial killer Henry Lee Lucas, whose story McNaughton had just seen on 20/20. The result was this creepy, dark, well-paced effort starring Michael Rooker as Henry, a brooding, casual serial killer who can’t quite remember how he murdered his mother. Henry lives in suburban Chicago with ex-con Otis (Tom Towles), whose sexy young sister, Becky (Tracy Arnold), comes to stay with them to get away from her abusive husband. As the relationship among the three of them grows more and more complicated, Henry continues to kill people — and get away with it. The opening tableau of some of Henry’s murder victims — the actual killings aren’t shown in the beginning — is beautifully done, although it also fetishizes violence against women, which is extremely disturbing. (Several of the victims are played by the same woman, Mary Demas, in different wigs.) Henry, which was not released until 1989 because of its graphic content, was nominated for six Independent Spirit Awards in 1990, and Rooker was named Best Actor at the Seattle International Film Festival. The film is screening July 30 as part of Film Forum’s “True Crime” series, which continues through August 5 with such other ripped-from-the-headlines tales as Charlie Chaplin’s Monsieur Verdou, Alain Resnais’s Stavisky, Leonard Kastle’s The Honeymoon Killers, and a double features of Barbet Schroeder’s Reversal of Fortune and Peter Medak’s The Krays.