Cinematheque Announces March-April Lineup
From today's e-mail:
Classic and contemporary cult movies, John Woo's uncut RED CLIFF, the Oscar-nominated documentary THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN THE WORLD: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS, and four of the best movies from the 2000's are just a few of the highlights in the March-April film schedule of the Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque.
Tons of details, including schedules, after the jump.
During the next two months the Cinematheque will present the first Cleveland Cult Film Festival (consisting of six films, including REEFER MADNESS, A BOY AND HIS DOG, and the 1977 Japanese spookfest HOUSE/HAUSU); the first Cleveland showing of 18 acclaimed new international films (including the two-part, five-hour RED CLIFF, the Ellsberg doc, and Werner Herzog's David Lynch-produced MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE?); six more "Revivals & Restorations" (new 35mm prints of classic films, including THE THIRD MAN and THE RED SHOES); "Oughts from the Aughts," four must-see movies from the previous decade, including Lynch's MULHOLLAND DR.; and five other classics or second-run films including THE MESSENGER, ANTICHRIST, and Marlon Brando's ONE-EYED JACKS. Complete details are below. Films are listed first by series, then chronologically.
Unless noted, all movies will show in the Aitken Auditorium at the Cleveland Institute of Art, 11141 East Boulevard in University Circle. And unless noted, admission to each film is $8 (Cinematheque members $6), or $14 (members $12) for two films on the same day. There is free parking for filmgoers in the adjacent CIA lot. For further info, call John Ewing or Tim Harry at (216) 421-7450 or go to www.cia.edu/cinematheque
MARCH-APRIL CINEMATHEQUE FILMS BY SERIES
PREMIERE SHOWCASE
March 4 – April 30 (18 films)
The first Cleveland showing of important new films by John Woo, Werner Herzog, Corneliu Porumboiu, and others. Plus the local premiere of an Oscar-nominated (Oscar-winning?) new documentary on Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, and a special movie at the 34th Cleveland International Film Festival.
THU. 3/4 6:45 PM WHERE IS WHERE?
THU. 3/4 8:00 PM RED CLIFF (PART 1)
FRI. 3/5 9:30 PM RED CLIFF (PART 1)
SAT. 3/6 7:25 PM THE END OF POVERTY?
SUN. 3/7 12:45 PM WHERE IS WHERE?
SUN. 3/7 2:00 PM THE END OF POVERTY?
THU. 3/11 8:00 PM RED CLIFF (PART 2)
FRI. 3/12 7:30 PM MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE?
FRI. 3/12 9:30 PM RED CLIFF (PART 2)
SAT. 3/13 7:20 PM THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA:
DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
SAT. 3/13 9:15 PM MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE?
SUN. 3/14 6:45 PM THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA:
DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON
PAPERS
SUN. 3/14 8:40 PM MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE?
SUN. 3/21 7:20 PM LOURDES (shown at Tower City Cinemas)
MON. 3/22 2:15 PM LOURDES (shown at Tower City Cinemas)
FRI. 4/2 7:30 PM DISTRICT 13: ULTIMATUM
FRI. 4/2 9:30 PM POLICE, ADJECTIVE
SAT. 4/3 7:05 PM POLICE, ADJECTIVE
SAT. 4/3 9:20 PM DISTRICT 13: ULTIMATUM
SAT. 4/10 7:20 PM THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND
SAT. 4/10 9:25 PM MARY AND MAX
SUN. 4/11 6:30 PM MARY AND MAX
SUN. 4/11 8:20 PM THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND
THU. 4/15 6:45 PM FILM IST. A GIRL & A GUN
FRI. 4/16 9:35 PM FILM IST. A GIRL & A GUN
SAT. 4/17 7:35 PM STINGRAY SAM
SAT. 4/17 9:00 PM FLOODING WITH LOVE FOR THE KID
SUN. 4/18 6:45 PM FLOODING WITH LOVE FOR THE KID
SUN. 4/18 8:55 PM STINGRAY SAM
THU. 4/22 6:45 PM A FILM WITH ME IN IT
FRI. 4/23 9:30 PM A FILM WITH ME IN IT
SAT. 4/24 7:10 PM RICKY
SUN. 4/25 9:10 PM RICKY
THU 4/29 6:45 PM SWEETGRASS
THU. 4/29 8:45 PM GIGANTE
FRI. 4/30 7:30 PM GIGANTE
FRI. 4/30 9:15 PM SWEETGRASS
REVIVALS & RESTORATIONS
March 6 – April 25 (6 films)
More new 35mm prints of film classics, including the much-heralded restoration of The Red Shoes. Note that this series takes a two-weekend hiatus during the time of the Cleveland International Film Festival in March.
SAT. 3/6 5:00 PM Z
SUN. 3/7 4:00 PM Z
SAT. 3/13 5:15 PM THE THIRD MAN
SUN. 3/14 4:00 PM THE THIRD MAN
THU. 4/1 8:45 PM RASHOMON
SAT. 4/3 5:15 PM RASHOMON
SAT. 4/10 5:15 PM SMALL CHANGE
SUN. 4/11 4:00 PM SMALL CHANGE
SAT. 4/17 5:00 PM THE RED SHOES
SUN. 4/18 4:00 PM THE RED SHOES
SAT. 4/24 5:15 PM THE BICYCLE THIEF
SUN. 4/25 4:00 PM THE BICYCLE THIEF
CLEVELAND CULT FILM FESTIVAL
March 19-27 (6 films)
Four days of new and traditional cult films for those seeking an alternative to that more highbrow Cleveland film festival taking place at the same time.
FRI. 3/19 7:00 PM WILD WOMEN OF WONGO
FRI. 3/19 8:30 PM A BOY AND HIS DOG
FRI. 3/19 10:15 PM BRONSON
SAT. 3/20 6:45 P M BRONSON
SAT. 3/20 8:40 PM WILD WOMEN OF WONGO
SAT. 3/20 10:10 PM A BOY AND HIS DOG
FRI. 3/26 7:00 PM SITA SINGS THE BLUES
FRI. 3/26 8:45 P M HOUSE (HAUSU)
FRI. 3/26 10:30 PM REEFER MADNESS
SAT. 3/27 7:00 PM HOUSE (HAUSU)
SAT. 3/27 8:45 PM REEFER MADNESS
SAT. 3/27 10:15 PM SITA SINGS THE BLUES
“OUGHTS” FROM THE AUGHTS
April 1-23 (4 films)
2010 began with a number of publications, film organizations, and websites releasing the results of surveys they had conducted to find the best movies made between 2000 and 2009—a decade now referred to by many as “the Aughts.” (And if you’re one of those people who like to remind the rest of us that decades actually don’t start until the year ending in “1,” just go away!) We aren’t able to present a whole series of cinematic high points from the past ten years, so we thought we’d screen just four key films that topped six of the largest and most prestigious polls (and finished very high in others). These four movies are essential works that every self-respecting film buff should know: Ought-To-See’s (or “Oughts”) from the Aughts.
THU. 4/1 6:45 PM LA CIENAGA (THE SWAMP)
THU. 4/8 8:05 PM MULHOLLAND DR.
FRI. 4/9 7:30 PM MULHOLLAND DR.
THU. 4/15 8:40 PM SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY
FRI. 4/16 7:30 PM SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY
THU. 4/22 8:35 PM IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
FRI. 4/23 7:30 PM IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
A SECOND LOOK
March 5 – April 25 (5 films)
Another chance to catch five recent movies or oldies you may have missed.
FRI. 3/5 7:15 PM THE MESSENGER
SAT. 3/6 9:30 PM ANTICHRIST
THU. 3/11 6:45 PM PARADJANOV: A REQUIEM
THU. 4/8 6:45 PM NIGHT OF LUST
FRI. 4/9 10:15 PM NIGHT OF LUST
SAT. 4/24 9:00 PM ONE-EYED JACKS
SUN. 4/25 6:30 PM ONE-EYED JACKS
MARCH-APRIL CINEMATHEQUE FILMS BY DATE
MARCH 4-7
Thursday, March 4, at 6:45 pm &
Sunday, March 7, at 12:45 pm
WHERE IS WHERE?
Finland, 2009, Eija-Liisa Ahtila
This innovative feature from celebrated Finnish visual artist Eija-Liisa Ahtila splits the screen into four quadrants in order to investigate and ponder a troubling incident from the 1950s, when two Algerian boys stabbed their young French playmate to death. A poet (Kati Outinen), a female priest, and Death itself are characters in this allusive feature that bends time, expands space, and tries to bridge the gulf between Western and Arab culture. “Idiosyncratic, visually stimulating entertainment.” –The NY Times. “Truly pushes forward the possibilities of split-screen cinema.” –Time Out New York. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. Subtitles. 56 min. Special thanks to Kati Nuora, Crystal Eye, Helsinki, and Otto Suuronen, The Finnish Film Foundation, Helsinki.
Thursday, March 4, at 8:00 pm &
Friday, March 5, at 9:30 pm
Original, uncut version!
RED CLIFF (PART 1)
CHI BI
China, 2008, John Woo
This grand historical epic marks director John Woo’s return to his native China after 10+ years in Hollywood. Both the most expensive and highest-grossing Chinese film ever made, Red Cliff is a two-part, five-hour movie that was released in America (and in Cleveland) as a heavily-cut single film lasting half the original running time. But this weekend and next we will present the original, uncut Chinese version in two installments. Red Cliff reunites action master Woo (The Killer, Face/Off) with his Hard Boiled co-star Tony Leung. It chronicles a 208 A.D. military campaign in which the powerful Han Dynasty takes on two insurgent warlords and their rebel armies in the south. “A grand, old-fashioned spectacle…It exudes a physical grandiosity that few movies of the past 20 years have attempted.” –The Village Voice. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. 148 min. www.redclifffilm.com Saga concludes on 3/11 & 12.
Friday, March 5, at 7:15 pm
THE MESSENGER
USA, 2009, Oren Moverman
One of the very best films of 2009! Two U.S. Army officers (Ben Foster and Oscar nominee Woody Harrelson) are assigned the unenviable task of notifying next of kin that their loved ones have died serving their country. Though they strive to maintain their composure and emotional distance when delivering the bad news, they don’t always succeed. 35mm color & scope print! 112 min. www.themessengermovie.com
Friday, March 5, at 9:30 pm
RED CLIFF (PART 1)
See 3/4 at 8:00 for description
Saturday, March 6, at 5:00 pm &
Sunday, March 7, at 4:00 pm
New 35mm Color Print!
Z
France/Algeria, 1968, Costa-Gavras
Set in an unnamed Mediterranean country that looks a lot like Greece under the repressive regime of “the Colonels,” this electrifying political thriller—winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film—begins when a leftwing pacifist leader dies in a hit-and-run accident. A subsequent investigation implicates the government and the police in the case. Yves Montand, Irene Papas, and Jean-Louis Trintignant star in this exciting, ground-breaking conspiracy thriller, which is propelled by Mikis Theodorakis’ pulsating score. Subtitles. 125 min. www.rialtopictures.com/z
Saturday, March 6, at 7:25 pm &
Sunday, March 7, at 2:00 pm
THE END OF POVERTY?
USA, 2008, Philippe Diaz
With so much wealth in the world, why is there still poverty? That’s the question posed—and answered—by Philippe Diaz’s provocative new documentary that explores the relationship between wealthy nations and poor ones. Among the causes (according to the experts in the film): military conquest, slavery and colonization, unfair debt, trade and tax policies. Narrated by Martin Sheen. ‘(A) devastating, radical critique...For all his film's sober analysis, Diaz never loses sight of the human cost of global capitalism.” –The Village Voice. Cleveland premiere. Some subtitles. 35mm. 104 min. www.theendofpoverty.com
Saturday, March 6, at 9:30 pm
ANTICHRIST
Denmark/Germany/France/Sweden/Italy/Poland, 2009, Lars von Trier
The latest vision by Danish provocateur Lars von Trier (Breaking the Waves, Dancer in the Dark, Dogville) is one of the most polarizing, punishing movies ever made. Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg (Best Actress at Cannes 2009; snubbed by the Oscars) play a grieving married couple who retreat to a cabin in an enchanted forest to mend their broken hearts, repair their troubled marriage, and overcome fear. But once there they find themselves dealing not only with a natural world where chaos reigns but also with the toxic historical legacy of male violence toward women. No one under 18 admitted, and not for squeamish adults either. In English. 35mm color & scope print. 109 min. www.antichristthemovie.com
Sunday, March 7, at 12:45 pm
WHERE IS WHERE?
See 3/4 at 6:45 for description
Sunday, March 7, at 2:00 pm
THE END OF POVERTY?
See 3/6 at 7:25 for description
Sunday, March 7, at 4:00 pm
Z
See 3/6 at 5:00 for description
NO FILMS SUN. NIGHT, MAR. 7
MARCH 11-14
Thursday, March 11, at 6:45 pm
A Tribute to Ron Holloway
PARADJANOV: A REQUIEM
Germany/USA, 1994, Ron Holloway
Although he spent most of his lifetime writing about film, Cinematheque co-founder Ron Holloway (see this issue’s CinemaTalk) also directed four documentaries. His best-known movie is a portrait of the singular Armenian-Georgian filmmaker, artist, mystic, and folklorist Sergei Paradjanov (1924-1990), who made the masterpieces Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors (1964) and The Color of Pomegranates (1968) before being imprisoned by Soviet authorities on trumped-up charges. Released after Paradjanov’s death, the movie features a lengthy interview with the filmmaker punctuated by photographs, film clips, and drawings. 16mm. 58 min. Special admission $6, Cinematheque members $5.
Thursday, March 11, at 8:00 pm &
Friday, March 12, at 9:30 pm
Original, Uncut Version!
RED CLIFF (PART 2)
See 3/4 at 8:00 for description. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. 142 min. www.redcliffilm.com
Friday, March 12, at 7:30 pm &
Saturday, March 13, at 9:15 pm &
Sunday, March 14, at 8:40 pm
MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE?
USA/Germany, 2009, Werner Herzog
David Lynch (as producer) has teamed up with director Werner Herzog and an all-star cult cast (Willem Dafoe, Chloë Sevigny, Brad Dourif, Michael Shannon, and Udo Kier) in what could be called the Super Bowl of Strange! This digressive drama centers on an unstable actor who so identifies with the role of Orestes in Sophocles’ Electra that he actually kills his own mother with a sword! Two detectives try to find out why. Based on a true case. “Five stars (highest rating)… Mesmerizing strangeness.” –Time Out New York. “Berserk…Herzog has gone beyond Good and Evil to reinvent himself as a candidate for the wiggiest director of comedy in America today.” – J. Hoberman. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 93 min.
Friday, March 12, at 9:30 pm
RED CLIFF (PART 2)
See 3/4 & 3/11 at 8:00 for description
Saturday, March 13, at 5:15 pm &
Sunday, March 14, at 4:00 pm
60th Anniversary
New 35mm Print!
THE THIRD MAN
Britain, 1949, Carol Reed
Named the “Best British Film of the 20th Century” by the British Film Institute in 1999, Carol Reed’s celebrated, suspenseful film noir is set in rubble-strewn, polyglot, post-WWII Vienna, where a naïve American writer of pulp fiction (Joseph Cotten) searches for his old friend Harry Lime, who may be dead—or worse. With Orson Welles, Alida Valli, Trevor Howard, Oscar-winning camerawork by Robert Krasker, and an immortal zither score by Anton Karas. Written by Graham Greene.104 min. www.rialtopictures.com/third.html
Saturday, March 13, at 7:20 pm &
Sunday, March 14, at 6:45 pm
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
USA, 2009, Judith Ehrlich, Rick Goldsmith
One of the five documentary features nominated for the year’s Academy Award, this film recounts how Daniel Ellsberg, a high-level Pentagon official and Vietnam War strategist, leaked 7,000 pages of top secret documents to The NY Times in 1971 after concluding that the war was wrong and based on decades of lies. “The Pentagon Papers” made headlines around the world, prompting street protests, political controversy, and lawsuits. It also cracked the foundation of the Nixon presidency a few years before Watergate shattered it completely. With Ellsberg, John Dean, and others. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 92 min. www.mostdangerousman.org
Saturday, March 13, at 9:15 pm
MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE?
See 3/12 at 7:30 for description
Sunday, March 14, at 4:00 pm
THE THIRD MAN
See 3/13 at 5:15 for description
Sunday, March 14, at 6:45 pm
THE MOST DANGEROUS MAN IN AMERICA: DANIEL ELLSBERG AND THE PENTAGON PAPERS
See 3/13 at 7:20 for description
Sunday, March 14, at 8:40 pm
MY SON, MY SON, WHAT HAVE YE DONE?
See 3/12 at 7:30 for description
MARCH 18-22
NO FILMS THU., MAR. 18
Friday, March 19, at 7:00 pm &
Saturday, March 20, at 8:40 pm
Cleveland Cult Film Festival
New 35mm Color Print!
WILD WOMEN OF WONGO
USA, 1958, James Wolcott
The Psychotronic Encyclopedia of Film calls this color curiosity “the most obscure (and the funniest) entry in the wonderful subgenre of scantily-clad-prehistoric-women movies.” The beautiful cavewomen who share the island of Wongo with hairy, ugly Neanderthal men can’t help but look longingly at the tribe of handsome, muscular, clean-shaven men who live on the nearby island of Goona. But will they ever get together? “Leopard-skin kitsch…Will prove deeply offensive to women, ugly people, and stuffed alligators everywhere.” –Time Out Film Guide. 71 min.
Friday, March 19, at 8:30 pm &
Saturday, March 20, at 10:10 pm
Cleveland Cult Film Festival
New 35mm Color & Scope Print!
A BOY AND HIS DOG
USA, 1975, L.Q. Jones
This darkly funny sci-fi film, set in 2024 and based on a Harlan Ellison story, tells of a man (Don Johnson) who communicates telepathically with his dog. While searching for food, shelter, and sex in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the two of them stumble upon a strange subterranean civilization that resembles 20th-century American suburbia. With Jason Robards. Digitally remastered 35mm scope print! Adults only! 90 min.
Friday, March 19, at 10:15 pm &
Saturday, March 20, at 6:45 pm
Cleveland Cult Film Festival
Back by Popular Demand!
BRONSON
Britain, 2008, Nicolas Winding Refn
No wonder this movie has been hailed by some critics as “a Clockwork Orange for the 21st century!” Like Kubrick’s rude masterpiece, it recounts the criminal career of a charismatic British reprobate in words, performances, images, and music that really sing and soar. Here the “protagonist” is real-life convict Michael Peterson (a sensational Tom Hardy), who has spent 30 years of his 34-year prison sentence in solitary confinement and loves to fight so much that he has adopted the moniker Charles Bronson (after the Death Wish star). This is stylish and intoxicating filmmaking of the first rank (The Village Voice called it “sociopathic vaudeville”) from the Danish director of The Pusher Trilogy. Music by Verdi, Wagner, the Pet Shop Boys, et al. The audience loved this film when we first showed it in December, so we’re excited to bring it back and help build its cult following. Adults only! 35mm. 92 min. www.magnetreleasing.com/bronson/
Saturday, March 20, at 8:40 pm
WILD WOMEN OF WONGO
See 3/19 at 7:00 for description
Saturday, March 20, at 10:10 pm
A BOY AND HIS DOG
See 3/19 at 8:30 for description
Sunday, March 21, at 7:20 pm &
Monday, March 22, at 2:15 pm
Special Offsite Event!
The Cinematheque at the Film Festival
LOURDES
Austria/France/Germany, 2009, Jessica Hausner
The Cinematheque partners with the Cleveland International Film Festival on this acclaimed new film showing during the 34th festival (March 18-28 at Tower City Cinemas in downtown Cleveland). The amazing Sylvie Testud plays a paraplegic woman with MS who makes a pilgrimage to the French Catholic shrine of Lourdes—not because she’s looking for a miracle, but because it’s one of the few excursions available to people in wheelchairs. Director Jessica Hausner channels masters from Bresson and Bruno Dumont to Jacques Tati and Aki Kaurismäki to tell her story. Her precisely-framed, deadpan view of Lourdes is both wry and respectful, full of humor as well as reverence. She never indicates where her story is going, thus holding viewers to the end. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. 96 min. Shown at Tower City Cinemas in downtown Cleveland. Special admission $12, Cleveland Int’l Film Festival members $10, seniors & students $10 (day of show only). Mention the code “CINE” and see Lourdes—or any other regular film-festival movie—for only $10. Tickets available online at www.clevelandfilm.org, by phone at 877-304-FILM (3456), or in person at Tower City Cinemas. No Cinematheque passes, Cinematheque twofers, or Cinematheque radio giveaways will be honored for this film.
MARCH 25-28
NO FILMS THU., MAR. 25
Friday, March 26, at 7:00 pm &
Saturday, March 27, at 10:15 pm
Cleveland Cult Film Festival
Back by Popular Demand!
SITA SINGS THE BLUES
USA, 2008, Nina Paley
Betty Boop meets Bollywood in this this witty, delightful, independently-produced animated musical that moviegoers loved when we premiered it locally in May of 2009. Since then it has opened commercially in New York City and elsewhere, earning a 100% “fresh” rating (unanimous favorable reviews) on RottenTomatoes.com! Animator Nina Paley takes the ancient Indian legend of the Ramayana, in which a woman is abandoned by her husband, and weds it to the true story of her own marital break-up and to 1920s jazz/pop standards sung by Annette Hanshaw (1901-1985). A one-of-a-kind future classic! 35mm. 82 min. www.gkids.tv/sita/
Friday, March 26, at 8:45 pm &
Saturday, March 27, at 7:00 pm
Cleveland Cult Film Festival
New 35mm Color Print!
HOUSE (HAUSU)
Japan, 1977, Nobuhiko Obayashi
This crazy, unclassifiable 1977 Japanese horror comedy, which one wag has described as “an episode of Scooby Doo directed by Dario Argento,” finally receives a U.S. theatrical release in 35mm after some stupendously successful festival/museum screenings from video during 2009. A teen schoolgirl travels with six of her buds to her aunt’s creaky country house. There they encounter evil spirits, a bloodthirsty piano, and a demonic housecat, among other unpleasant surprises. Director Obayashi employed all the tricks in his 1970s analog arsenal to create the crude and cheesy special effects that turn this bizarre and hilarious ghost story into a singular psychedelic head trip. “Critics’ Pick… Delirious, deranged, gonzo or just gone, baby, gone—no single adjective or even a pileup does justice to House.“ –The NY Times (1/15/10). Subtitles. 87 min. www.janusfilms.com
Friday, March 26, at 10:30 pm &
Saturday, March 27, at 8:45 pm
Cleveland Cult Film Festival
REEFER MADNESS
TELL YOUR CHILDREN
USA, 1936, Louis J. Gasnier
The granddaddy of anti-marijuana films is an unintentionally hilarious camp classic. It’s a cautionary tale in which evil drug dealers lure an upstanding high school student into a sordid life of weed, women, and (shudder!) jazz—to say nothing of dementia, rape, manslaughter, and suicide! Preceded at showtime by Dave Fleischer’s great Betty Boop cartoon Betty in Blunderland (USA, 1934). 35mm. Total 73 min.
Saturday, March 27, at 7:00 pm
HOUSE (HAUSU)
See 3/26 at 8:45 for description
Saturday, March 27, at 8:45 pm
REEFER MADNESS
See 3/26 at 10:30 for description
Saturday, March 27, at 10:15 pm
SITA SINGS THE BLUES
See 3/26 at 7:00 for description
NO FILMS ON SUN., MAR. 28
APRIL 1-4
Thursday, April 1, at 6:45 pm
“Oughts” from the Aughts
LA CIENAGA (THE SWAMP)
Argentina, 2001, Lucrecia Martel
Voted “Best Latin American Film of the Decade” by 35 experts on south-of-the-border cinema polled by Cinema Tropical (a non-profit dedicated to the promotion of Latin American movies), Lucrecia Martel’s La Cienaga (The Swamp) also introduced the world to an Argentinean woman director who became one of the decade’s most celebrated new voices. (Her two subsequent features—The Holy Girl and The Headless Woman—also finished in the poll’s top ten, and she was the only filmmaker represented more than once.) La Cienaga is set on a rotting country estate in a provincial, north Argentina backwater during the dog days of summer. There two large middle-class families come together. Amid the heat, humidity, and alcohol-induced torpor, tensions rise. Meanwhile the jungle looms menacingly on the edges of this remote, shrinking outpost of “civilization.” Subtitles. 35mm. 102 min. www.cinematropical.com
Thursday, April 1, at 8:45 pm &
Saturday, April 3, at 5:15 pm
Kurosawa Centenary
New 35mm Restoration!
RASHOMON
Japan, 1950, Akira Kurosawa
In 12th-century Kyoto, four witnesses to a rape/murder give contradictory testimony about the incident, thus illustrating the subjective nature of truth. Akira Kurosawa’s celebrated masterpiece always turns up on lists of the 100 best films of all time, and was the movie that introduced postwar Japanese cinema to the West. With Toshiro Mifune, Machiko Kyo, Masayuki Mori, and Takashi Shimura. Shown in honor of Kurosawa’s centenary; new prints of other Kurosawa classics will show later in the year. Subtitles. 88 min. www.janusfilms.com
Friday, April 2, at 7:30 pm &
Saturday, April 3, at 9:20 pm
DISTRICT 13: ULTIMATUM
BANLIEUE 13 – ULTIMATUM
France, 2009, Patrick Alessandrin
Luc Besson produced and wrote this slam-bang sequel to 2004’s over-the-top ghetto blast District 13 (which he also produced and co-wrote), in which a cop and a slumdog teamed up to save a poor, walled-off, multicultural Parisian suburb from drug lords and gang violence. The film introduced American moviegoers to the French practice of “parkour” (or moving quickly over urban obstacles via running, jumping, climbing, etc.). In the sequel there are even more thrilling parkour stunts (accomplished without wires, special effects, or CGI) while the plot finds the lawman and his street-smart cohort once again reuniting to save the endangered sector. “Awesome, awesome action.” –San Francisco Chronicle. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. 101 min. www.district13ultimatummovie.com
Friday, April 2, at 9:30 pm &
Saturday, April, 3, at 7:05 pm
POLICE, ADJECTIVE
POLITIST, ADJ.
Romania, 2009, Corneliu Porumboiu
The Romanian New Wave continues to hit them out of the park! This new movie from the country’s reinvigorated film industry is one of the major motion pictures of the past year, acclaimed at the Cannes, Telluride, Toronto, and New York Film Festivals! It’s a police procedural in which a young undercover cop spies on a teenager suspected of selling hash. But feeling that the kid’s behavior is more misguided than it is criminal, he hesitates to arrest him and ruin his life—something his by-the-book superiors won’t abide. From the director of 12:08 East of Bucharest. “A deadly serious as well as dryly humorous analysis of bureaucratic procedure and, particularly, the tyranny of language.” –J. Hoberman. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 35mm. 115 min. www.ifcfilms.com/films/police-adjective
Saturday, April 3, at 5:15 pm
RASHOMON
See 4/1 at 8:45 for description
Saturday, April 3, at 7:05 pm
POLICE, ADJECTIVE
See 4/2 at 9:30 for description
Saturday, April 3, at 9:20 pm
DISTRICT 13: ULTIMATUM
See 4/2 at 7:30 for description
NO FILMS ON SUN., APR. 4
APRIL 8-11
Thursday, April 8, at 6:45 pm &
Friday, April 9, at 10:15 pm
NIGHT OF LUST
LE CONCERTO DE LA PEUR
France, 1963, José Bénazéraf
Banned in the U.S. and in over half the world (or so the ads claim), this fascinating artifact from longtime French sexploitation director José Bénazéraf weds striking b&w photography of 1960s Paris and a lot of naked women to an amazing free-jazz score by Chet Baker. The pulpy plot revolves around a turf war between two rival gang leaders trafficking in drugs. But the main focus seems to be the ample nudity, which American sleazemeister Bob Cresse may have augmented when he bought the movie for U.S. distribution. He also trimmed the French original by 15 minutes and dubbed it (hilariously) into English. This is the version we will show. Adults only! 35mm. 58 min.
Thursday, April 8, at 8:05 pm &
Friday, April 9, at 7:30 pm
“Oughts” from the Aughts
MULHOLLAND DR.
France/USA, 2001, David Lynch
Voted best film of the past decade by over 180 critics, curators, and filmmakers surveyed by Film Comment magazine, and by over 100 critics and bloggers polled by indieWIRE, and by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, David Lynch’s haunting, enigmatic Hollyweird saga focuses on the relationship between two actresses. One (Naomi Watts) wants to break into the industry and the other (Laura Elena Harring) has amnesia after a traumatic car crash. Like the best of Lynch, the story unfolds with a dream logic, taking as many twists and turns as the titular road. Adults only! 35mm. 145 min.
Friday, April 9, at 10:15 pm
NIGHT OF LUST
See 4/8 at 6:45 for description
Saturday, April 10, at 5:15 pm &
Sunday, April 11, at 4:00 pm
New 35mm Color Print!
SMALL CHANGE
L’ARGENT DE POCHE
France, 1976, François Truffaut
François Truffaut pays loving tribute to childhood in this delightful, touching movie, one of his best-loved films. Assorted vignettes depict the joys, sorrows, and adventures of young children living in a small provincial French town during the final weeks of the school year. “A poetic comedy that’s really funny.” –Pauline Kael. Cleveland revival premiere. Subtitles. 104 min. www.thefilmdesk.com
Saturday, April 10, at 7:20 pm &
Sunday, April 11, at 8:20 pm
THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND
USA, 2009, Jodie Markell
A newly-rediscovered original screenplay penned in 1957 by the great Tennessee Williams is brought to the screen! Set in 1920s Memphis, the film tells of a headstrong debutante (Bryce Dallas Howard) who tries to pass off the impoverished son of a drunk as a wealthy suitor that her prominent family will embrace. With Chris Evans, Will Patton, Ellen Burstyn, and Ann-Margret. “A film to savor, rich in ways that are all too rare today.” –The L.A. Times. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 102 min. www.teardropdiamond.com
Saturday, April 10, at 9:25 pm &
Sunday, April 11, at 6:30 pm
MARY AND MAX
Australia, 2009, Adam Elliott
Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Eric Bana supply the main character voices in the first feature by Oscar-winning animator Adam Elliott (Harvie Crumpet). Made in a painstaking stop-motion process named “clayography” by the director, Mary and Max chronicles the bittersweet 20-year correspondence between two pen pals: a lonely young Australian girl living in a drab Melbourne suburb and an obese, middle-aged.Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome she picks at random from the Manhattan phone book. “Remarkable and poignant.” –The L.A. Times. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 92 min. www.maryandmax.com
Sunday, April 11, at 4:00 pm
SMALL CHANGE
See 4/10 at 5:15 for description
Sunday, April 11, at 6:30 pm
MARY AND MAX
See 4/10 at 9:25 for description
Sunday, April 11, at 8:20 pm
THE LOSS OF A TEARDROP DIAMOND
See 4/10 at 7:20 for description
APRIL 15-18
Thursday, April 15, at 6:45 pm &
Friday, April 16, at 9:35 pm
Cinematheque Elite
FILM IST. A GIRL & A GUN
Austria/Germany, 2009, Gustav Deutsch
Riffing on D. W. Griffith’s maxim (later echoed by Godard) that all you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun, cinema archaeologist Gustav Deutsch raids the vast reservoir of early cinema (ethnographic and nature films, newsreels, silent melodramas, vintage porn and Kinsey Institute studies) to construct a new collage film in his “Film Ist” (Film Is) series. Culling striking images from cinema’s first five decades, color-tinting them and setting them to music, Deutsch fashions a creation story in five acts (Genesis, Paradise, Eros, Thanatos, Symposium) that is also a scintillating meditation on relations between the sexes. “Raises the art of found footage assembly to stunning heights. The soundscape, ranging from bouncy electronica to throat singing, is a masterpiece in its own right.” –Variety. “Completely mesmerizing.” –Time Out New York. No one under 18 admitted! Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 93 min. Special admission $10; Cinematheque members and CIA students & staff $7; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.
Thursday, April 15, at 8:40 pm &
Friday, April 16, at 7:30 pm
“Oughts” from the Aughts
SYNDROMES AND A CENTURY
SANG SATTAWAT
Thailand/France/Austria, 2006, Apichatpong Weerasethakul
60+ curators, critics, and film historians polled by the Cinematheque Ontario last year voted this little-know Thai movie the “best film of the decade.” Shown in 2007 at the Cinematheque (its only local engagement), Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s feature is a sweet, funny, poetic reverie inspired by memories of his parents, both doctors. The film has two distinct halves—one set in a small-town clinic, the other set in a big-city hospital—but the movie foregoes conventional narrative for a series of serene, droll, dreamy vignettes of often shimmering beauty. Apichatpong has called Syndromes and a Century “a film about feelings that have been forever etched in the heart,” and you can see it in his depiction of his parents’ meeting, and in colorful, whimsical characters like a Buddhist monk who wants to be a deejay. “Sheer enchantment.” –James Quandt. Subtitles. 35mm. 105 min. www.strandreleasing.com
Friday, April 16, at 9:35 pm
FILM IST. A GIRL & A GUN
See 4/15 at 6:45 for description
Saturday, April 17, at 5:00 pm &
Sunday, April 18, at 4:00 pm
New 35mm Color Restoration!
THE RED SHOES
Britain, 1948, Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Martin Scorsese’s favorite movie is also one of the greatest dance—and color—films ever made. It has recently been meticulously restored to its original Technicolor glory by the UCLA Film Archive. To see this new print “is to experience an epiphany,” says Time Out New York. Moira Shearer plays a young ballet dancer torn between an all-consuming commitment to her art (and to taskmaster impresario Anton Walbrook) and her love for a struggling composer (Marius Goring). The film’s celebrated, full-length “Red Shoes” ballet, about a pair of unstoppable dance slippers, is based on a tale by Hans Christian Andersen and mirrors the movie’s Art-vs-Life conflict. “Catch it here now, and you will not just be seeing an old film made new; you will have your vision restored.” –Anthony Lane, The New Yorker. Cleveland revival premiere. 133 min.
Saturday, April 17, at 7:35 pm &
Sunday, April 18, at 8:55 pm
STINGRAY SAM
USA, 2009, Cory McAbee
Cory McAbee, the star and writer-director of The American Astronaut (and founder of the band The Billy Nayer Show), resurfaces with another unclassifiable but delightful sci-fi space musical/Western/comedy. Composed of six distinct episodes (like an old movie serial), each with a musical number, Stingray Sam introduces us to the titular main character, an ex-outlaw turned cowboy lounge singer on Mars. There he meets up with his former sidekick, The Quasar Kid. In order to have their record of past offenses fully expunged, the two of them embark on a mission to rescue a kidnapped child. “Leaves one begging for more…One unflaggingly delightful hour." –Variety. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 62 min. www.corymcabee.com
Saturday, April 17, at 9:00 pm &
Sunday, April 18, at 6:45 pm
FLOODING WITH LOVE FOR THE KID
USA, 2009, Zachary Oberzan
Talk about low-budget movies! Indie filmmaker Zachary Oberzan reputedly shot this adaptation of David Morrell’s novel First Blood (also the basis for Sylvester Stallone’s first Rambo film) for only $96! How do you spend so little on a film that The Village Voice has called “so far the best movie of 2010”? Well, you shoot it on video in your own apartment (Oberzan’s Manhattan digs total 220-square feet), you shun sets and a crew, and you play every part yourself. That this stunt works so well—making the story of a Vietnam vet’s rampage in the Kentucky woods come to life–is a testament to the ingenuity, stick-to-itiveness, and sheer chutzpah of Oberzan, who plays over 20 human roles (and three dogs). “A masterpiece of invention.” –NY Post. 100% “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com as of 2/7/10. Cleveland premiere. DVD. 107 min. zacharyoberzan.com
Sunday, April 18, at 4:00 pm
THE RED SHOES
See 4/17 at 5:00 for description
Sunday, April 18, at 6:45 pm
FLOODING WITH LOVE FOR THE KID
See 4/17 at 9:00 for description
Sunday, April 18, at 8:55 pm
STINGRAY SAM
See 4/17 at 7:35 for description
APRIL 22-25
Thursday, April 22, at 6:45 pm &
Friday, April 23, at 9:30 pm
A FILM WITH ME IN IT
Ireland, 2008, Ian FitzGibbon
The dark humor of the Irish is well seen in this twisted black comedy that echoes the work of Samuel Beckett and Martin McDonagh. Written by its star (Mark Doherty), the movie tells of a desperate, out-of-work actor whose last best hope for fame is that his aspiring-filmmaker friend will write a game-changing script for him. But first this tyro Tarantino must kick his booze and gambling habits, while Brando Jr. must deal with an unprecedented series of bizarre accidental deaths—and a growing pile of corpses—in his ramshackle apartment. “Critics’ pick…A slender, supple comedy graced with appealing performers and laced with agreeable poison.” –The NY Times. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 89 min. www.ifcfilms.com/movies/a-film-with-me-in-it
Thursday, April 22 at 8:35 pm &
Friday, April 23, at 7:30 pm
“Oughts” from the Aughts
IN THE MOOD FOR LOVE
FA YEUNG NIN WA
Hong Kong/France, 2000, Wong Kar-wai
Voted best film of the past decade by film writers for Time Out London, Wong Kar-wai’s exquisite mood piece is suffused with romantic melancholy. In 1962 Hong Kong, a lonely married man (Tony Leung) and an equally lonely married woman (Maggie Cheung), both living in the same crowded apartment building, begin a chaste affair after deducing that their oft-absent spouses are lovers. A stylish and spellbinding love story. Subtitles. 35mm. 97 min.
Friday, April 23, at 9:30 pm
A FILM WITH ME IN IT
See 4/22 at 6:45 for description
Saturday, April 24, at 5:15 pm &
Sunday, April 25, at 4:00 pm
60th Anniversary!
New 35mm Print!
THE BICYCLE THIEF
LADRI DI BICICLETTE
Italy, 1948, Vittorio De Sica
“A masterpiece…The most universally praised movie on earth since WWII.” So said The Village Voice about Vittorio De Sica’s heart-wrenching classic, the pinnacle of Italian neo-realism. Shot on location in postwar Italy with non-professional actors, the film tells of a long-unemployed man who scours Rome with his young son in search of his stolen bicycle, which he needs for his new job. Subtitles. 35mm. 93 min. www.corinthfilms.com
Saturday, April 24, at 7:10 pm &
Sunday, April 25, at 9:10 pm
RICKY
France, 2009, François Ozon
The one-of-a-kind new film from the versatile François Ozon (Swimming Pool, 8 Women, Angel) is a high-flying parable in which an ordinary woman and an ordinary man, both blue-collar workers, produce an extraordinary child, Ricky. To say more—like why Ricky is exceptional—would spoil the fun. “Bold, amibitious.” –The Hollywood Reporter. “Working-class-family magical realism.” –The Village Voice. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 90 min. Presentation of this film supported by a generous grant from La Maison Française de Cleveland. www.ifcfilms.com/movies/ricky
Saturday, April 24, at 9:00 pm &
Sunday, April 25, at 6:30 pm
ONE-EYED JACKS
USA, 1961, Marlon Brando
At one time or another Rod Serling, Sam Peckinpah, and Stanley Kubrick all worked on this moody Western that ended up being the only movie Marlon Brando ever directed. A thinly-veiled retelling of the story of Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, the movie follows a brooding outlaw (Brando) who seeks revenge on his old partner in crime (Karl Malden), now a respectable lawman with a family. Shot in VistaVision on the Monterey coast, the film has a visual grandeur that will be seen to its full advantage in the dye-transfer Technicolor print we will show. With Slim Pickens, Timothy Carey, Ben Johnson, Katy Jurado, and Elisha Cook, Jr. 35mm. 141 min.
Sunday, April 25, at 4:00 pm
THE BICYCLE THIEF
See 4/24 at 5:15 for description
Sunday, April 25, at 6:30 pm
ONE-EYED JACKS
See 4/24 at 9:00 for description
Sunday, April 25, at 9:10 pm
RICKY
See 4/24 at 7:10 for description
APRIL 29-30
Thursday, April 29, at 6:45 pm &
Friday, April 30, at 9:15 pm
SWEETGRASS
France/Britain/USA, 2009, Ilisa Barbash, Lucien Castaing-Taylor
“The first essential movie of this young year” (The NY Times) follows 3000 sheep—and the two cowboys and assorted dogs who watch over them—as they leave the ranch and migrate to the remote, beautiful Absaroka-Beartooth Mountains in south central Montana for a summer’s worth of grazing. Made over a period of eight years by two Harvard visual anthropologists who are husband and wife, the film records (without narration or sentimentality) the last such drive up the mountain and back, as another way of life passes into history. A 2009 New York Film Festival selection. “Sweetgrass captures the arduousness and the awe (not awww) of a vanishing way of life.” –Time Out New York. Cleveland premiere. 35mm. 101 min. sweetgrassthemovie.com
Thursday, April 29, at 8:45 pm &
Friday, April 30, at 7:30 pm
GIGANTE
Uruguay/Argentina/Germany/Spain, 2009, Adrián Biniez
While working his usual night shift, a shy, lonely, 35-year-old supermarket security guard falls for a 25-year-old cleaning woman he spots on a store surveillance camera. He continues to watch and follow her—at the store, to the cinema, to the beach, even when she’s on a date with another man. But will he ever speak to her? This unpretentious gem won three major awards at the 2009 Berlin Film Festival (including the Silver Bear and the prize for Best Debut Film). “An appealing, gently comedic prologue to a love story.” –The NY Times. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. 84 min. www.filmmovement.com
Friday, April 30, at 9:15 pm
SWEETGRASS
See 4/29 at 6:45 for description
