Tag Archives: ifc center

ROAD MOVIES — DIRECTED AND SELECTED BY WALTER SALLES: STILL LIFE

Jia Zhangke’s STILL LIFE examines displaced families caused by the construction of the Three Gorges Dam

STILL LIFE (SANXIA HAOREN) (Jia Zhangke, 2006)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Thursday, December 20, 9:00
Series runs through December 20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Sixth Generation Chinese film director Jia Zhangke won the Golden Lion for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival for Still Life, his beautiful, elegiac, documentary-like examination of displaced family. Jia sets his film around the ongoing, controversial Three Gorges Dam project, which has forced millions of residents from their homes. Han Sanming, a miner from Shanxi, arrives in the former town of Fengjie, looking for the daughter he hasn’t seen in sixteen years, since she was a baby. Meanwhile, a young nurse, Shen Hong, is seeking out her husband, a construction executive whom she hasn’t heard from in two years. Using nonprofessional actors, Jia (Platform, The World) tells their heartbreaking stories virtually in slow motion, with many scenes driven by Han’s tired eyes, featuring little or no dialogue. He gets a job helping tear down buildings, in direct contrast to his desire to rebuild his relationship with his long-lost family. Jia’s gentle camera reveals how China, in its quest for modernization and financial power, has left behind so many of its people, the heart and soul of the land that has literally been torn out from under them. A small gem, Still Life is screening December 20 at 9:00 in a new 35mm print as part of the IFC Center series “Road Movies: Directed and Selected by Walter Salles,” in conjunction with the December 21 theatrical release of Salles’s adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.

ROAD MOVIES — DIRECTED AND SELECTED BY WALTER SALLES: THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

Rodrigo De la Serna and Gael Garcia Bernal are on the road in Walter Salles’s THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES

THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES (DIARIOS DE MOTOCICLETA) (Walter Salles, 2004)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Sunday, December 16, 6:30
Series runs December 14-20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

In Walter Salles’s road movie The Motorcycle Diaries, Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo De la Serna star as buddies Ernesto Guevara de la Serna and Alberto Granado, who hop aboard the Mighty One, an old, dilapidated Norton motorcycle, on a grand adventure across South America, on their way to work at a leper colony. While fun-loving Alberto is out for action, the more serious Ernesto wants to remain true to his love, Chichina (Mia Maestro). As they scam people for food, drink, mechanical help, and a place to sleep, they learn a lot more about life than they expected, especially Ernesto, who gets caught up in the plight of the poor, the sick, and the homeless, laying the groundwork for his revolutionary leadership in Cuba (where he is more well known as Che Guevara). The film, based on the writings of Ernesto and Alberto, is beautifully shot on location by Eric Gautier and excellently directed by Brazilian Salles, who previously gave us the wonderful Central Station and the heartbreaking Behind the Sun. Stick around for the credits, which begin with photos of Ernesto and Alberto from the actual trip. The Motorcycle Diaries is screening December 16 at 6:30 in a new 35mm print as part of the IFC Center series “Road Movies: Directed and Selected by Walter Salles,” in conjunction with the December 21 theatrical release of Salles’s adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The series also includes such films as Central Station, Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour, and John Ford’s The Searchers.

ROAD MOVIES — DIRECTED AND SELECTED BY WALTER SALLES: THE PASSENGER

Locke (Jack Nicholson) reevaluates his life in Michelangelo Antonioni’s existential suspense thriller THE PASSENGER

THE PASSENGER (Michelangelo Antonioni, 1975)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Saturday, December 15, 9:30, and Tuesday, December 18, 9:00
Series runs December 14-20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Nominated for the Palme d’Or in Cannes in 1975, Michelangelo Antonioni’s existential suspense thriller is a fascinating character study of a lost, lonely man. Jack Nicholson stars as Locke, a successful, well-respected journalist who is researching a story on the guerrilla movement in Chad. Life isn’t as fun and exciting as it used to be for him, as witnessed by his utter helplessness after his car gets stuck in the sand. Upon returning to his hotel room, he discovers that his neighbor, Robertson (Chuck Mulvehill), is dead — and he decides to switch places with him, to stop being Locke and instead live a completely different existence. Even when he finds out that Robertson was involved in international espionage and gun running, Locke continues the deception, traveling dangerously through England, Germany, and Spain with a free-spirited young architecture student (Maria Schneider) while his wife (Jenny Runacre) and business associate (Ian Hendry) — and the police — try to find him. The Passenger is marvelously slow-paced, never in a hurry to make no point about just what the point of it all is. Nicholson glides through the film with an unease that is as unnerving as it is intoxicating as he struggles to find his way in life, a cinematic representative of something that is within us all. The Passengeris screening December 15 and 18 as part of the IFC Center series “Road Movies: Directed and Selected by Walter Salles,” in conjunction with the December 21 theatrical release of Salles’s adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The series also includes such films as Salles’s Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour, and John Ford’s The Searchers.

ROAD MOVIES — DIRECTED AND SELECTED BY WALTER SALLES: THE SEARCHERS

In iconic Western, Jeffrey Hunter and Ethan Edwards search for Natalie Wood, with very different motives

THE SEARCHERS (John Ford, 1956)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
Saturday, December 15, 2:30, and Monday, December 17, 7:00
Series runs December 14-20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

That’ll be the day when someone tries to claim there’s a better Western than John Ford’s ethnocentric look at the dying of the Old West and the birth of the modern era. Essentially about a gunfighter’s attempt to find and kill his young niece, who has been kidnapped and, ostensibly, ruined by Indians, The Searchers is laden with iconic imagery, inside messages, and not-so-subtle metaphors. Hence, it is no accident that John Wayne’s son, Patrick, plays an ambitious yet inept officer named Greenhill. The elder Wayne stars as Ethan Edwards, a tough-as-nails Confederate veteran seeking revenge for the murder of his brother’s family; he’s also out to save Debbie (Natalie Wood) from the Comanches, led by a chief known as Scar (Henry Brandon), by ending her life, because in his world view, it’s better to be dead than red. Joining him on his trek is Debbie’s adopted brother, Martin Pawley (Jeffrey Hunter), who wants to save her from Edwards. The magnificent film balances its serious center with a large dose of humor, particularly in the relationships between Ethan and Martin and Ethan with his Indian companion, Look (Beulah Archuletta). And keep your eye on that blanket in front of the house. The Searchers is screening December 15 and 17 as part of the IFC Center series “Road Movies: Directed and Selected by Walter Salles,” in conjunction with the December 21 theatrical release of Salles’s adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. The series also includes such films as Salles’s Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries, Edgar G. Ulmer’s Detour, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s The Passenger.

THE CONTENDERS 2012 — AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY

Ai Weiwei lets the camera follow him everywhere in revealing documentary about art and activism

AI WEIWEI: NEVER SORRY (Alison Klayman, 2011)
MoMA Film, Museum of Modern Art
11 West 53rd St. between Fifth & Sixth Aves.
Wednesday, December 12, 7:00
Series continues through January 12
Tickets: $12, in person only, may be applied to museum admission within thirty days, same-day screenings free with museum admission, available at Film and Media Desk beginning at 9:30 am
212-708-9400
www.moma.org
aiweiweineversorry.com

“I consider myself more of a chess player,” Ai Weiwei says at the beginning of Never Sorry, Alison Klayman’s revealing documentary about the larger-than-life Chinese artist and dissident. “My opponent makes a move, I make a move. Now I’m waiting for my opponent to make the next move.” Over the last several years, Ai has become perhaps the most famous and controversial artist in the world, primarily since he participated in the design of Beijing National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, for the 2008 Summer Olympics, then denounced the Games on political grounds. Ai gives director, producer, and cinematographer Klayman, making her first full-length film, remarkable access to his personal and professional life as he gets physically abused by Chinese police, prepares to open major exhibits in Munich and London, and visits with his young son, Ai Lao, the result of a tryst with Wang Fen, an editor on his underground films. Klayman speaks with Ai Weiwei’s devoted wife, Lu Qing, an artist who publicly fought for his freedom when he disappeared in 2011; his mother, Gao Ying, who spent time in a labor camp with her dissident-poet husband, the late Ai Quing; and such fellow Chinese artists and critics as Chen Danqing, Feng Boyi, Hsieh Tehching, and Gu Changwei, who speak admiringly of Ai’s dedication to his art and his fearless search for the truth. A round man with a long, graying bear, Ai is a fascinating, complicated character, a gentle bull who openly criticizes his country because he loves it so much. He is a social media giant, making documentaries that are available for free on the internet and revolutionizing the way Twitter and the blogosphere are used. Ai risks his own freedom by demanding freedom for all, calling for government transparency before and after he is secretly arrested, not afraid of the potential repercussions. And he is also a proud cat lover — more than forty felines regularly roam around his studio — eagerly showing off one talented kitty that has a unique way of opening a door. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry shows Ai to be an honorable, supremely principled human being who has deep respect for the history of China and a fierce determination to improve its future, no matter the personal cost. Ai Weiwei: Never Sorry is being shown on December 12 at 7:00 as part of MoMA’s annual series “The Contenders,” consisting of exemplary films they believe will stand the test of time, with Klayman on hand to participate in a postscreening discussion; upcoming entries include Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, Charles Atlas’s Ocean, and Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie. (To find out more about Ai Weiwei’s art, specifically his recent projects in New York City, please follow these links: “Sunflower Seeds,” “Circle of Animals: Zodiac Heads,” “Ai Weiwei: New York Photographs 1983-1993,” and “1001 Chairs for Ai Weiwei.”

WAVERLY MIDNIGHTS: DR. STRANGELOVE, OR HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE THE BOMB

Peter Sellers has some grand plans for the end of the world as Dr. Strangelove in classic Kubrick cold war comedy

AMERICA, F*** YEAH! DR. STRANGELOVE, OR HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE THE BOMB (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
November 21-24, $13.50, 12:15 am
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com

Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb is one of the grandest satires ever made, the blackest of black comedies. With the threat of nuclear annihilation looming over the United States and the Soviet Union, General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) has a meltdown, becoming obsessed with protecting the country’s “precious bodily fluids” and threatening to launch the bombs. While President Merkin Muffley (Peter Sellers) tries to make nice with the Soviets, General Buck Turgidson (George C. Scott) gets caught up in all the military excitement, Colonel Bat Guano (Keenan Wynn) defends the Coca-Cola Company, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers) can’t get anyone to listen to him, and Major T. J. “King” Kong (Slim Pickens) prepares for the ride of his life. Based on Peter George’s novel Red Alert and written by George, Kubrick, and Terry Southern, Dr. Strangelove is hysterically funny and wickedly prescient, an absolute hoot from start to finish, featuring razor-sharp dialogue, inspired slapstick, and just enough truth to scare the hell out of you. (Be sure to watch for Peter Bull not being able to stop laughing as Sellers goes crazy in a wheelchair at the end.) The film is screening November 21-24 as part of the IFC Center’s Waverly Midnights series, which is currently in the midst of an “America, F*** Yeah” presentation that includes such other military favorites as They Live, M*A*S*H, and The Manchurian Candidate in coming weeks.

CASTLES IN THE SKY: MIYAZAKI, TAKAHATA & THE MASTERS OF STUDIO GHIBLI

Hayao Miyazaki’s MY NEIGHBOR TOTORO wonderfully captures the joys and fears of being a child

IFC Center
323 Sixth Ave. at West Third St.
November 16 – December 20
212-924-7771
www.ifccenter.com
www.studioghibli.net

Last winter, we implored you to set up camp at the IFC Center and see as many films as you possibly could in the exciting series “Castles in the Sky: Miyazaki, Takahata & the Masters of Studio Ghibli,” a month-long collaboration with the GKIDS’ New York International Children’s Film Festival. Well, you’re getting another chance, as the series is back for a return engagement. From November 16 to December 20, the IFC Center will be presenting fifteen of the studio’s eighteen animated works, all but one in 35mm prints, by Hayao Miyazaki (including Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro, Porco Rosso, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Ponyo, and others), Isao Takahata (My Neighbors the Yamadas, Pom Poko, the U.S. premiere of Only Yesterday), Hiroyuki Morita (The Cat Returns), Tomomi Mochizuki (the North American premiere of Ocean Waves), and Yoshifumi Kondo (Whisper of the Heart). Most of the films will be shown in both the dubbed English-language version (with various familiar and famous voices) as well as in the far superior original Japanese, with the former scheduled during the afternoon and the latter at 6:00 and later. The Tokyo studio, which was founded in 1985 by Miyazaki, Takahata, and producer Toshio Suzuki, is world renowned for its gorgeous, painterly animation style, elaborate soundtracks, unique characters, and clever, charming story lines that give a fascinating view of childhood fear and wonder and that work for both kids and adults.