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SCREENINGS 201 - 300 HERE --- December 2, 2018 - CURRENT SCREENINGS 101 - 200 HERE --- February 26, 2017 - November 2, 2018   SCREENINGS 1 - 100 Tuesday, August 77, 2015 - Tuesday, February 21, 2017

#100 Tuesday, February 21, 2017 - 7:30 PM DAY FOR NIGHT by François Truffaut   (1973) It is appropriate (since we started off with Sullivan's Travels) that our 100th screening is an equally important film about film, the Oscar winning "Day for Night". This affectionate Altmanesque farce from François Truffaut about the joys and strife of moviemaking is one of his most beloved films. Truffaut himself appears as the harried director of a frivolous melodrama, the shooting of which is plagued by the whims of a neurotic actor (Jean-Pierre Léaud), an aging but still forceful Italian diva (Valentina Cortese), and a British ingenue haunted by personal scandal (Jacqueline Bisset). An irreverent paean to the prosaic craft of cinema as well as a delightful human comedy about the pitfalls of sex and romance, Day for Night is buoyed by robust performances and a sparkling score by the legendary Georges Delerue. NOTE: DUE TO THE SNOW LAST WEEK, THE FEW WHO MADE IT TO THE SCREENING DECIDED TO DELAY SHOWING "MARGARET" UNTIL MORE CAN ATTEND. WE WATCHED "THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER," THE LUBITSCH CLASSIC, INSTEAD. "MARGARET" WILL BE RE-SCHEDULED LATER.

#99 Sunday, February 12, 2017 - 4:00 PM THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER by Ernst Lubitsch   NOTE: DUE TO THE SNOW, THE FEW WHO MADE IT TO THE SCREENING DECIDED TO DELAY SHOWING "MARGARET" UNTIL MORE CAN ATTEND. WE WATCHED "THE SHOP AROUND THE CORNER," THE LUBITSCH CLASSIC, INSTEAD. "MARGARET" WILL BE RE-SCHEDULED LATER. (1940) Two employees at a gift shop (Margaret Sullavan, James Stewart) can barely stand each other, without realizing that they are falling in love through the post as each other's anonymous pen pal.

#98 Tuesday, February 7, 2017 - 7:00 PM NIGHT OF THE SHOOTING STARS by Paolo Taviani & Vittorio Taviani   (1982) La notte di San Lorenzo, , the night of the shooting stars, is the night when dreams come true in Italian folklore. In 1944, a group of Italians flee their town after hearing rumours that the Nazis plan to blow it up and that the Americans are about to arrive to liberate them. Critic Pauline Kael in The New Yorker : " The Night of the Shooting Stars is so good it's thrilling. This new film encompasses a vision of the world. Comedy, tragedy, vaudeville, melodrama - they're all here, and inseparable...In its feeling and completeness, Shooting Stars may be close to the rank of Jean Renoir's bafflingly beautiful Grand Illusion...unreality doesn't seem divorced from experience (as it does with Fellini) - it's experience made more intense...For the Tavianis, as for Cecilia, the search for the American liberators is the time of their lives. For an American audience, the film stirs warm but tormenting memories of a time when we were beloved and were a hopeful people."

#97 Tuesday, January 31, 2017 - 7:00 PM MONSIEUR VERDOUX by Charles Chaplin   (1947) Originally an Orson Welles directoral project, actor Charles Chaplin bought out Welles and threw his entire armory of talent across the production spectrum. And, as the poster stated: "Chaplin Changes, Can You?" James Agee called it the finest film of 1947 and Charles Chaplin's acting performance the greatest male performance he had ever seen in films. Abandoning his "little tramp," Chaplin moves into blacker comedy with this veiled tale of French Bluebeard Henri Landru. Chaplin said in his 1964 autobiography, "Monsieur Verdoux is the cleverest and most brilliant film I have yet made."

#96 Tuesday, January 24, 2017 - 7:00 PM THE WHITE RIBBON by Michael Haneke   (2009) Das weiße Band, Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte (literally, "The White Ribbon, a German Children's Story") darkly depicts society and family in a northern German village just before World War I and, according to Haneke, "is about the roots of evil. Whether it’s religious or political terrorism, it’s the same thing." Strange events happen in the small village, which seem to be ritual punishment. Who is responsible? The film premiered at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival in May 2009 where it won the Palme d'Or, followed by positive reviews and several other major awards, including the 2010 Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film. The film also received two nominations at the 82nd Academy Awards in 2009: Best Foreign Language Film (representing Germany) and Best Cinematography (Christian Berger).

#95 Monday, January 16, 2017 - 7:00 PM THEY DRIVE BY NIGHT by Raoul Walsh   (1940) One of Warner Brothers most popular films of the early 40s, They Drive by Night is a taut, exciting – if dual-plotted - trucker drama showcasing the star quartet of George Raft, Ann Sheridan, Ida Lupino and Humphrey Bogart. Based on the novel “Long Haul” by A.I. Bezzerides and scripted for the screen by Jerry Wald and Richard Macauley, the Raoul Walsh-directed film features Raft and Bogart as wildcat truck drivers Joe and Paul Fabrini. Battling crooked bosses and the hazards of the road as they race to deliver produce to wholesalers and outrun their creditors, the men live by Joe’s credo “We’re tougher than any truck ever come off any assembly line.” Joe (Raft) is unmarried and determined to keep up this grueling pace so that he can eventually make enough cash to “be his own man”. Paul (Bogart), on the other hand, has a lonely wife, Pearl (Gale Page), waiting at home, and it is she who continually urges Paul to give up the danger and uncertainty of the trucking game and settle down. While Paul shares Pearl’s wishes, his loyalty to Joe and his ongoing belief that they can beat the wildcat racket, will not allow him to walk out on his brother. And then there's the shrewish, married Lana (Ida Lupino), who has designs on Joe.When Joe rebuffs her advances when they are alone in her husband’s office, Lana turns on him with venom. SPECIAL NOTE: Since we're screening on a Monday, the posse is planning to meet at Matt Murphy's at 5:00 PM for drinks and FREE OYSTERS. It's a short walk from the screening: at 14 Harvard St in Brookline Village. They serve free oysters from 5-7 PM on Mondays. Try to get there before 6 PM when it starts filling up for dinner (or RSVP to David and we'll hold a seat for you). A great little bar and well worth the trip.

#94 Wednesday, January 11, 2017 - 7:00 PM ALL THAT JAZZ by Bob Fosse   (1979) Director/choreographer Bob Fosse envisions his own life story in a Fellini-esque fantasy. His persona, Joe Gideon (Roy Scheider), choreographing and picking dancers for his current show whilst editing his feature film about a stand-up comedian (echoes of Lenny), is starting to come apart. Without the chemical substances, he wouldn't be able to keep up with his girlfriend, his ex-wife, and his special dancing daughter. These women attempt to bring him back from the brink, but he chain-smokes, uses drugs, sleeps with his dancers and overworks himself into open-heart surgery. Scenes from his past life start to encroach on the present and he becomes increasingly aware of his mortality.

#93 Wednesday, January 4, 2017 - 7:30 PM THE WILD CHILD by François Truffaut   (1970) In a French forest in 1798, a child is found who cannot walk, speak, read or write. A doctor becomes interested in the child and patiently attempts to civilize him. While based on the journals of Jean Itard, Wild Child also plays upon Truffaut's own childhood and his feelings about youth and social development (as shown in his 400 Blows, Small Change, and the Antoine Doinel films). A personal project of Truffaut's, here he writes, directs, and stars.

#92 Friday, December 30, 2016 - 7:30 PM SHADOW OF A DOUBT by Alfred Hitchcock   (1943) Alfred Hitchcock and Thornton Wilder take "Our Town" in a dark and sinister direction with Shadow of a Doubt. Perhaps the most American film that Hitchcock had made up to that time, the project began when the head of David Selznick's story department, Margaret McDonell, told Hitchcock that her husband Gordon had an interesting idea for a novel that she thought would make a good movie. His idea, called "Uncle Charlie," was based on the true story of Earle Leonard Nelson, a mass murderer of the 1920s known as the Merry Widow Murderer. Teenager Charlotte 'Charlie' Newton (Teresa Wright) is bored with her quiet life at home with her parents and her younger sister. She wishes something exciting would happen and knows exactly what they need: a visit from her sophisticated and much traveled 'namesake' uncle Charlie Oakley (Joseph Cotton). But as young Charlie begins to notice some odd behavior on his part, such as cutting out a story in the local paper about a man who marries and then murders rich widows, Charlie begins to fear for her own life.

#91 Wednesday, December 21, 2016 - 7:00 PM THE WOMEN by George Cukor   (1939) From the Golden Year of Hollywood, The Women captures the female of the species at it goes jungle red in tooth and claw in this brilliant screen adaptation of Claire Boothe Luce's famous Brnoadway play--a wickedly funny portrait of 1930s society women whose lives revolve around beauty treatments, luncheons, fashion shows, and each other's men. Socialite Mary Haines is the envy of her set: rich, beautiful, and happily married... but when her husband steps out on her with a gold-digging perfume counter sales clerk, Mary's so-called friends dish enough dirt to make divorce inevitable whether Mary wants it or not. Perhaps one of the most interesting things about THE WOMEN is the way in which director Cukor ties the behavior of its characters to their social status. Possessed of absolute leisure and considerable wealth, their energies are inevitably directed into competition for the ultimate status symbol: a successful man. Cukor allows us to sympathize with Mary (Shearer) and laugh at Sylvia (Russell), but he also requires us to pity them--and indirectly encourages grudging admiration for the devious Crystal (Crawford) and the savvy Miriam (Goddard), characters who are considerably more self-reliant. Consequently, not only does THE WOMEN paint a poisonously funny portrait of women as a sex, it takes a hatchet to the society that has shaped their characters as well. The script is wickedly, mercilessly funny, fast paced, razor sharp and filled with such memorable invectives: "He says he'd like to do Sylvia's nails right down to the wrist with a buzz-saw;" "Why that old gasoline truck, she's sixty if she's a minute;" "Gimme a bromide--and put some gin in it!" Imagine Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Paulette Goddard, Joan Fontaine, Marjorie Main, Ruth Hussey, and Hedda Hopper all in the same movie! Anita Loos and Jane Murfin sharpen the barbs (and lessen the sexuality per Code rules) from Clare Booth Luce's Broadway success and George Cukor directs to keep the fur flying. (133 minutes)

#90 Friday, December 16, 2016 - 7:30 PM THE LOBSTER by Yorgos Lanthimos   (2015) A dark, very dark, comedy/satire on the need for relationships and to be in one yourself. Set in the near future of a dystopian society where it is a crime to be alone. David (Colin Farrell) finds himself divorced and taken a way to a spa where he has 45 days to find a partner or be turned in to an animal of his choice. Both provocative and distrurbing, The Lobster has been called "disgusting and pointless" or a "brilliant piece of visionary filmmaking." It will certainly precipitate an energetic post-film discussion.

#89 Monday, December 12, 2016 - 7:00 PM THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley   Presented by Jean-Paul Ouellette (1938) One of the most popular adventure films of all time, The Adventures of Robin Hood not only remains a cherished memory for many audiences but a major influence for other filmmakers. One has only to look at the original three entries of the Star Wars series to see its continuing impact: the freedom-fighting outlaws pitted against a powerful and corrupt monarchy, the daredevil antics, a dash of wry sarcasm and tongue-in-cheek humor, and the antagonism-turned-to-love relationship at its heart. These were all part of the phenomenally successful Warner Brothers formula for what turned out to be the studio's most expensive picture at that time and one of its biggest hits, a blockbuster before the word was even in common use and in magnificent three-strip Technicolor. The Best Loved Bandit Of All Time! Only the rainbow can duplicate its brilliance! Excitement...Danger...Suspense...as this classic adventure story sweeps across the screen! Sir Robin of Locksley (Errol Flynn), defender of downtrodden Saxons, runs afoul of Norman authority and is forced to turn outlaw. With his band of Merry Men, he robs from the rich, gives to the poor and still has time to woo the lovely Maid Marian (Olivia de Havilland), foil the cruel Sir Guy of Gisbourne (Basil Rathbone), and keep the nefarious Prince John (Claude Rains) off the throne. With Patric Knowles (Will Scarlett), Eugene Pallette (Friar Tuck), Alan Hale (Little John), Melville Cooper (High Sheriff of Nottingham), Una O'Connor (Bess the maiden), Herbert Mundin (Much the miller), and Ian Hunter (King Richard the Lion-Heart) Nominated for Best Picture and winner of Original Score, Art Direction, and Editing.

#88 Wednesday, December 7, 2016 - 7:00 PM THE PRESTIGE by Christopher Nolan   Presented by Eric M. Van. (2006) In the end of the Nineteenth Century, in London, Robert Angier [Hugh Jackman], his beloved wife Julia McCullough [Piper Perabo] and Alfred Borden [Christian Bale] are friends and assistants of a magician. When Julia accidentally dies during a performance, Robert blames Alfred for her death and they become enemies. Both become famous and rival magicians, sabotaging the performance of the other on the stage. When Alfred performs a successful trick, Robert becomes obsessed trying to outdo or expose the secret of his competitor with tragic consequences. With Michael Caine, David Bowie, and Scarlett Johanssen. ______Pertinent Notes from Eric M. Van______ Screenplay by Nolan and his brother Jonathan, from the 1995 World Fantasy Award-winning novel by Christopher Priest. In turn of the century London, the rivalry between two stage magicians escalates into obsession. Nolan’s fifth feature is the second in a thematic trilogy about the nature of human narratives and film, following Memento. The metaphor of story as magic trick goes back to Priest’s novel: our desire to know is intense, but we also want to be fooled. Within the film story, that tension is explored at multiple levels, from the personal to the scientific. By contemporary reviews, The Prestige was perhaps the 100th best film of its year, but it quickly found a place in the IMDB Top 250 and has, remarkably, risen steadily over the years, now ranking 49th all-time. The difference is largely a simple one: the IMDB voters have seen it more than once. No movie I know of changes more on its second viewing or reveals more of itself subsequently. (After it’s over, we’ll re-show three snippets totaling 1:50 to give you a taste). But it’s also true that the surface is so alluring that almost every contemporary reviewer dismissed the possibility of thematic depth. Of course it’s there on a first viewing, if you’re watching closely. If you go to https://www.quora.com/Are-Christopher-Nolan-films-really-deep-and-complex-or-does-he-dazzle-his-audiences-into-believing-theyve-witnessed-something-profoundly-meaningful, by this evening (or Monday at the latest) you should find a very long answer by me, explaining the nature of story, plot twists, ambiguity, and Nolan’s status as an important auteur. I hope that anyone who is interested in the way stories work will find it insightful and illuminating.

#87 Tuesday, November 29, 2016 - 7:30 PM TO BE OR NOT TO BE by Ernst Lubitsch   (1942) In occupied Poland during WWII, a troupe of ham stage actors (led by Joseph Tura and his wife Maria) match wits with the Nazis. A spy has information which would be very damaging to the Polish resistance and they must prevent it's being delivered to the Germans. (99 minutes)

#86 Tuesday, November 22, 2016 - 7:00 PM TALK TO HER by Pedro Almodóvar   (2002) After a chance encounter at a theater, two men, Benigno and Marco, meet at a private clinic where Benigno works. Lydia, Marco's girlfriend and a bullfighter by profession, has been gored and is in a coma. It so happens that Benigno is looking after another woman in a coma, Alicia, a young ballet student. The lives of the four characters will flow in all directions, past, present and future, dragging all of them towards an unsuspected destiny. (112 minutes) ----------- A note from Eric M. Van after the screening of Talk To Her. ----------- David opined that Talk to Her was one of the ten best films of the Saloon, so I had to see where I stood with that … * = only seen at the Saloon 1. Memento 2. Upstream Color 3. The Rules of the Game 4. Gattaca (only one that is substantially higher than it would be on a “best” list) 5. Ikiru 6. Talk to Her 7. Pather Panchali 8. The Apartment 9. Trouble in Paradise 10. L’Atalante 11. Red Desert * 12. Poetry 13. The King of Comedy 14. Safe * 15. Ace in the Hole 16. A Serious Man 17. Peeping Tom 18. Caché 19. Children of Men 20. Naked * Ikiru, A Serious Man, Peeping Tom, and Caché all jumped way up on my second / Saloon viewing. Eric M. Van

#85 Friday, November 18, 2016 - 7:30 PM SUSPIRIA by Dario Argento   Presented in association with Diabolique Magazine (1977) Italian director Dario Argento's classic giallo horror stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy in Germany but soon realizes that the academy is a front for something far more sinister and supernatural amidst a series of murders. It is the first of the trilogy Argento refers to as "The Three Mothers", followed in 1980 by Inferno and in 2007 by The Mother of Tears. Suspiria has become one of Argento's most successful feature films, receiving critical acclaim for its visual and stylistic flair, use of vibrant colors, and its soundtrack. It was nominated for two Saturn Awards: Best Supporting Actress for Bennett in 1978 and Best DVD Classic Film Release in 2002. It has since become a cult classic. Suspiria may not be funny but it's loads of fun. A popcorn night!

#84 Sunday, November 13, 2016 - 6:30 PM BLACKMAIL by Alfred Hitchcock   (1929) Alice White is the daughter of a shopkeeper in 1920's London. Her boyfriend, Frank Webber is a Scotland Yard detective who seems more interested in police work than in her. Frank takes Alice out one night, but she has secretly arranged to meet another man. Later that night Alice agrees to go back to his flat to see his studio. The man has other ideas and as he tries to rape Alice, she defends herself and kills him with a bread knife. When the body is discovered, Frank is assigned to the case, he quickly determines that Alice is the killer, but so has someone else and blackmail is threatened.

#83 Monday, November 7, 2016 - 7:00 PM THE KILLERS by Robert Siodmak   (1946) Two professional killers invade a small town and kill a gas station attendant, "the Swede," who's expecting them. Insurance investigator Reardon pursues the case against the orders of his boss, who considers it trivial. Weaving together threads of the Swede's life, Reardon uncovers a complex tale of treachery and crime, all linked with gorgeous, mysterious Kitty Collins. Adapted from Ernest Hemingway's ground-breaking Nick Adams short story published in 1927. At 33 years old, this was Burt Lancaster's first movie role and shot him to instant stardom. (note how the focus changes from Ava's entrance to Burt's face and back to Ava with the use of the simple shadow. Ah, Film Noir!) The first 20 minutes of the film, showing the arrival of the two contract killers and a murder, is a close adaptation of Hemingway's short story. The character of Nick Adams is the kid in the diner. He is a roman a clef for author Hemingway. This story was developed to show the moment when Nick Adams sees a man, in the form of Ole Andreson, resign himself to fate and decides to do the opposite and venture out into the world. "Though he didn’t always write about criminals and gangsters, Ernest Hemingway is considered by many to be a founding father of the hardboiled genre when weighing all the tales he wrote with gritty subject matter and down-on-their-luck protagonists." [David Cranmer]

#82 Tuesday, November 1, 2016 - 7:00 PM INVESTIGATION OF A CITIZEN ABOVE SUSPICION by Elio Petri   (1970) A gripping psychological thriller (and Oscar winner for Foreign Film), a chief of detectives (Gian Maria Volante), homicide section, kills his mistress and deliberately leaves clues to prove his own responsibility for the crime. By the director of The Tenth Victim and the Working Class Goes to Heaven. Memorable score by Enio Morricone. This complex film is a cinematic gem thanks to its multifarious tropes – at times absurd black comedy, at times vitriolic political satire, at times psychological study into sexual fetishism and power. Of course, all of these themes intermingle so effortlessly that you can't help but be taken aback by the richness of Petri's byzantine vision. The left-leaning director here depicts the autocratic terror that overtook Italy in the late 60s, an overture to the tense, decade-long period known as the "years of lead" in Italian politics – a time of fascist repression and a struggle between the equally-as-extreme left and right of center parties. Kafka's The Trial: "Whatever he may seem to us, he is yet a servant of the Law; that is, he belongs to the Law and as such is set beyond human judgment."

#81 Tuesday, October 25, 2016 - 7:00 PM NEAR DARK by Kathryn Bigelow   (1987) A small-town farmer's son reluctantly joins a traveling group of vampires after he is turned by a beautiful drifter.

#80 Tuesday, October 18, 2016 - 7:30 PM Nothing Sacred by William A. Wellman   (1937) Brookline’s own William Wellman (Wings, The Public Enemy, A Star is Born)  directs this scathing screwball comedy that targets greed, hype and hypocrisy in the news media. Nothing Sacred (1937, 77 minutes) is also notable for being the first screwball comedy to be screened in color, for its script by Ben Hecht (with uncredited writing by Budd Schulberg, Ring Lardner, Jr., Dorothy Parker, and Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman), and for Carole Lombard’s remarkable comedic talent.   PLUS, post-discussion, a bonus film:  Stranger on the Third Floor (1940, 64 minutes), by Boris Ingster, is recognized as the first film noir, although atypical, and features a swirling, experimental German Expressionist style, interior monologue, and dream imagery.  In the film’s ‘no-way-out’ narrative, a news reporter who is instrumental in a murder conviction finds himself being charged with the murder of a neighbor. Peter Lorre and Elisha Cook, Jr., deliver riveting performances, as usual.

#79 Wednesday, October 12, 2016 - 7:00 PM WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION by Billy Wilder   (1957) Freely adapted from the short story and play by Agatha Christie, Witness for the Prosecution is a courtroom drama with elements of Film Noir set in the Old Bailey in London. The film deals with a British barrister, recovering from a heart attack, who must defend his client in a murder trial that has surprise after shocking surprise. Billy Wilder, at his cynical best, directs a stellar cast of Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Tyrone Power, Marlene Dietrich, Henry Daniell, and Una O'Connor, all clearly having fun making this film.

#78 Wednesday, October 5, 2016 - 7:00 PM Woman in the Dunes by Hiroshi Teshigahara   (1964) From the novel (and screenplay) by Kōbō Abe, this is a unique and surreal thriller. An entomologist (Eiji Okada) seeks lodging for the night in the dunes, and is led by the villagers to the bottom of a sandpit where he finds a widow (Kyoko Kishida) living in a shack. Next morning he discovers he can no longer climb out. He is expected to remain there and to live with the woman, who needs a man's help. The film was nominated for a Foreign Film Oscar in 1965 and won the jury award at Cannes. For the film, Teshigahara was nominated for a Best Director Oscar in 1966. “Are you digging sand to live or living to dig sand?"

#77 Sunday, October 2, 2016 - 6:30 PM American Graffiti by George Lucas   (1973) George Lucas's ground-breaking coming of age comedy American Graffiti. Considered a film that changed society as we know it. Car culture, lost since the early sixties, suddenly blossomed again as did a yearning for the supposedly better times of the early sixties. Where were you in '62? It's the proverbial end of the summer 1962 in a small southern California town. It's the evening before best friends and recent high school graduates, Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander, are scheduled to leave town to head to college back East. Curt is having second thoughts about leaving what Steve basically sees as their dead end town. Curt's beliefs are strengthened when he spots an unknown beautiful blonde in a T-bird who mouths the words "I love you" to him. Outgoing class president Steve, on the other hand, wants to leave, despite meaning that he will leave girlfriend, head cheerleader and Curt's sister, Laurie Henderson, behind. Steve and Laurie spend the evening "negotiating" the state of their relationship. Meanwhile...

#76 Wednesday, September 21, 2016 - 7 PM Memento by Christopher Nolan   Presented by Eric Van (2000 festivals; 2001 U.S.).  A man unable to create new memories hunts for his wife’s killer. The film that established Christopher Nolan as an auteur capable of bringing formidable intelligence to commercial cinema is both a unique thriller and (less obviously) the first of a thematic trilogy exploring the nature of meaning in film narrative.

#75 Thursday, September 15, 2016 - 7 PM The Grand Illusion by Jean Renoir   (1937) Jean Renoir, son of the great French painter, brought his own artistry to the screen. This film reveals the social changes the modern world was going through as a result of the first World War. Along with the already screened The Rules of the Game, The Grand Illusion is often cited among the greatest films ever made. During the first World War, two French soldiers are captured and imprisoned in a German P.O.W. camp. Several escape attempts follow until they are sent to a seemingly impenetrable fortress which seems impossible to escape from.

#74 Monday, September 12, 2016 - 7 PM THE HITCH-HIKER by Ida Lupino   Two friends on a fishing trip pick up a stranded motorist who turns out to be a psychotic escaped convict. This sociopath has already murdered other good Samaritans in his efforts to evade authorities. He sadistically taunts and threatens the two men and perversely delights in telling them that he has them both marked for death sometime before the end of the trip. His destination is a ferryboat in Baja, California, which he hopes will help him get to the mainland. The hostages hope to stay alive long enough to escape or be rescued by Mexican authorities. SPECIAL NOTE: Since we're screening on a Monday, the posse is planning to meet at Matt Murphy's at 5:30-6:30 PM for drinks and FREE oysters. It's a short walk from the screening, at 14 Harvard St in Brookline Village. They serve free oysters from 5-7 PM on Mondays. Try to get there before 6 PM when it starts filling up for dinner (or RSVP to David and we'll hold a seat for you). A great little bar and well worth the trip.

#73 Tuesday, September 6, 2016 - 7 PM THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE & HER LOVER by Peter Greenaway   The wife of a barbaric crime boss engages in a secretive romance with a gentle bookseller between meals at her husband's restaurant. Food, colour coding, sex, murder, torture and cannibalism are the exotic fare in this beautifully filmed but brutally uncompromising modern fable which has been interpreted as an allegory for Thatcherism.

#72 Tuesday, August 30, 2016 - 7:30 PM PATHER PANCHALI by Satyajit Ray   (1955) The story of a young boy, Apu, and life in his small Indian village. His parents are quite poor - his father Harihar, a writer and poet, gave away the family's fruit orchard to settle his brother's debts. His sister Durga and an old aunt also still lives with them. His mother Sarbojaya bears the brunt of the family's situation. She scrapes by and sells her personal possessions to put food on the table and has to bear the taunts of her neighbors as Durga is always stealing fruit from their orchard. Things get worse when Harihar disappears for five months and Durga falls ill. Even after Harihar returns, the family is left with few alternatives.

#71 Wednesday, August 24, 2016 - 7:30 PM THE KING OF COMEDY by Martin Scorsese   (1982) Rupert Pupkin is obsessed with becoming a comedy great. However, when he confronts his idol, talk show host Jerry Langford, with a plea to perform on the Jerry's show, he is only given the run-around. He does not give up, however, but persists in stalking Jerry until he gets what he wants. Eventually he must team up with his psychotic Langford-obsessed friend Masha to kidnap the talk show host in hopes of finally getting to perform his stand-up routine.

#70 Sunday, August 21, 2016 - 6:30 PM BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK by John Sturges   (1955) From the time John J. Macreedy (Spencer Tracy) steps off the train in Black Rock, he feels a chill from the local residents. The town is only a speck on the map and few if any strangers ever come to the place. Macreedy himself is tight-lipped about the purpose of his trip and he finds that the hotel refuses him a room, the local garage refuses to rent him a car and the sheriff is a useless drunkard. It's apparent that the locals have something to hide but when he finally tells them that he is there to speak to a Japanese-American farmer named Kamoko, he touches a nerve so sensitive that he will spend the next 24 hours fighting for his life. A gripping thriller with a cast that includes Robert Ryan, Ernest Borgnine, Lee Marvin, Walter Brennan, and Anne Francis: and it's only 81 minutes long. Directed by John Sturges (The Great Escape & The Magnificent Seven).

#69 Tuesday, August 16, 2016 - 7:30 PM BABY FACE by Alfred E. Green   Presented by Jean-Paul Ouellette (1933) Lily Powers (Baby Face) sleeps her way from basement speakeasy bartender, literally floor by floor, to the top floor of a New York office building. Bank sub-manager Jimmy McCoy finds her a job in the bank only to be cast aside as she hooks up with the bank's president. When he complains of not seeing her she says: "I'm working so hard I have to go to bed early every night." "This is a good contrast to Trouble in Paradise. While many pre-Code films centered on the sexual and criminal foibles of elite gentlemen and ladies, Baby Face is a Warner's social drama. It touches on subjects deeper than the Hays Code fear of sex and crime. Child labor, child prostitution, racism, abuse of women, and a glass ceiling are central to the story." - J-P "On the bright side, this 1933 pre-Code has a truly remarkable aspect... Watch how actress/singer Theresa Harris, an outspoken believer that her race deserved a better chance to play realistic roles, gets a chance to shine as Chico. "While it shows a desire by the filmmakers to not allow racism to hurt the realism of the story and let a black woman play a real black woman of the time, it also shows the desire by Hollywood to cater to the under-served and economically un-exploited black American audience. "This is almost a revolutionary for its day and might have continued to combine multi-racial artists in the same film and disparate audiences together in the same theater, but this was derailed by the enforcement of the Code." NOTE: I look forward to someone who can explain the inclusion of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy in the story: [Adolf Cragg, a cobbler, is Lily's mentor.] Cragg: You're a coward. I mean it! You let life defeat you. You don't fight back. Lily Powers: What chance has a woman got? Cragg: More chance than man. A woman, young, beautiful, like you, can get anything she wants in the world. Because you have Power over men! But you must use men! Not let them use you. You must be a master! Not a slave. Look, here, Nietzsche says, "All life, no matter how we idealize it, is nothing more nor less than exploitation." That's what I'm telling you! Exploit yourself! Go to some big city where you will find opportunities. Use men! Be strong! Defiant! Use men! To get the things you want. Lily Powers: [contemplative pause] Yeah. [puffs a cigarette] . NOTE: A fun fact and something which needs to be noted before seeing the film is that a small role in the film is filled by an unknown (at the time) actor who would eventually gain star fame. While probably not really noticed at the time, today it is almost a shock that John Wayne, looking very young and modern in comparision to the rest of the male cast, is not the star of the movie. Remember that, at this time, mustachioed George Brent had the more romantic star look. But Wayne's non-cowboy starrer "His Private Secretary" was released the same month as "Baby Face." "Baby Face" had a budget of $187,000. Wayne's rom-com had only $9,600 [$2,500 in cash - the rest was deferred].   NOTE: The story for this film comes from a treatment by Mark Canfield, a ghost name of Darryl F. Zanuck, then Warner's head of production. This same year, aware the Warner Brothers would never make him a partner, Zanuck [age 31] split to create his own competing company: Twentieth Century Films

#68 Wednesday, August 10, 2016 - TBD PM MARWENCOL by Jeff Malmberg   Presented by Alice Stone (2010) After a vicious attacks leaves him brain-damaged and broke, Mark Hogancamp seeks recovery in "Marwencol", a 1/6th scale World War II-era town he creates in his backyard.

#67 Tuesday, July 26, 2016 - 7:00 PM CHILDREN OF MEN by Alfonso Cuarón   (2006) The world's youngest citizen has just died at 18, and humankind is facing the likelihood of its own extinction. Set in and around a dystopian London fractious with violence and warring nationalistic sects, Children of Men follows the unexpected discovery of a lone pregnant woman and the desperate journey to deliver her to safety and restore faith for a future beyond those presently on Earth.

#66 Wednesday, July 20, 2016 - 7:30 PM TROUBLE IN PARADISE (1932) by Ernst Lubitsch Presented by Kaj Wilson. A gentleman thief (Herbert Marshall) and a lady pickpocket (Miriam Hopkins) join forces to con a beautiful perfume company owner (Kay Francis). Romantic entanglements and jealousies confuse the scheme. This movie was popular both with audiences and with critics, but was made in 1932 before the enforcement of the production code. The movie was not approved for re-issue in 1935 when the Production Code was being rigorously enforced, was withdrawn from circulation, and was not seen again until 1968.

#65 Sunday, July 17, 2016 - 6:30 PM THE EXTERMINATING ANGEL by Luis Buñuel (1962) A biting examination of the not-so-discrete charms of the bourgeoisie. After a lavish dinner party, the guests find themselves mysteriously unable to leave the unlocked room... and over the next few days (weeks ?) all the elaborate pretenses and facades that they've built up by virtue of their position in society collapse completely as they become reduced to living like animals... Some make love, some die, but, no matter what, their world is shattered. With Silvia Pinal (Viridiana) [seen above center]. Exterminating Angel is one of the influences for the new musical by Stephen Sondeheim has currently in development. J-P here. Watching the film and having a Catholic upbringing, I seem to see something which may not have been noted before. In the sitting room with the diners are three closets with religious paintings on each. This is a home confessional, something rich Caltholics often set up in their homes, to invite the local priest to hear their confessions in the privacy of their home instead of in church (see the typical confessional to the right - center box for the priest and on each side a parishioner confessional). The film has a home confessional as seen in these two shots. If this is so, this family hasn't used it for religious purposes in a long time and turned them into storage closets. During the film the left door is where the parishioners defecate their sins, the central priest's door holds a dead man (god is dead?) seemingly upside down with his hand (the hand of god) falling out, and the right confessional is where the young lovers consumate their premarital sex and commit suicide. A bleak religious vision. P.S.: An early working title of the film was "The Castaways of Providence Street." Buñuel took the final title "El ángel exterminador" from a friend, José Bergamín, who was writing a play with that title but never finished it. Buñuel asked for the rights to the title, but Bergamín said there was no trouble, because it was taken from the Bible, the Book of Revelation. In the Hebrew bible, the exterminating angel is the Passover "Angel of Death," a destroying angel commonly described as the deliverer of the tenth plague in the Book of Exodus, killing all first born children of Egypt. In later Judaism, this angel is Abaddon, also called Apollyon, (re the name: "The Latin Vulgate and the Douay Rheims Bible have additional notes (not present in the Greek text), 'in Latin Exterminans', exterminans being the Latin word for 'destroyer'."

#64 Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - 7:00 PM THEY WON'T FORGET by Mervyn LeRoy (uncredited) Presented by Nat Green. (1937) A politically ambitious district attorney (Claude Rains), unscrupulous tabloid journalists, and regional prejudice combine to charge a teacher (Edward Norris) with the murder of his student (16 year old Lana Turner). "In itself, They Won’t Forget is a compelling, no-punches-pulled social justice film, a genre for which Warner Brothers was deservedly famous. But when one examines the true incident on which it is based, the social and historical context, and the studio decisions which led to the fictional structure of the film--- a different, less appreciative assessment emerges. Both aspects—the film and the egregious self-censorship that taints the experience— warrant discussion. "This rarely seen film is finely directed without melodramatic overreach by Mervyn LeRoy (Little Caesar, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang, The Bad Seed) and searingly written by a future victim of the Hollywood blacklist, Robert Rossen (The Roaring Twenties, A Walk in the Sun, Body and Soul, All the King’s Men, The Hustler) and Aben Kandel. "And a great movie tidbit: They Won’t Forget marks the debut of 16 year-old Julia Jean (Lana) Turner, who one day skipped typing class, was spotted having a coke at the Top Hat Malt Shop in Hollywood, and was signed to a contract by none other than actor/comedian/talent agent Zeppo Marx. Her brief appearance in the film resulted in her famous epithet: “The Sweater Girl.” She claimed that she always hated the label." - Nat Green P.S. from J-P: An important someone who has been forgotten in the annals of cinema is the Director of Photography Arthur Edeson who shot the film. He also directed the cinematography for Casablanca (1942), The Maltese Falcon (1941, Frankenstein (1931), All Quiet on the Western Front (1930), The Thief of Baghdad (1924), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), and many more. Of the founding fathers of the American Society of Cinematographers, he is one of the few who moved from silent films to sound, working from 1914 to 1949.

#63 Tuesday, July 5, 2016 - 7:30 PM MURDER MY SWEET by Edward Dmytryk (1944) Starring Dick Powell and Claire Trevor. This adaptation of the Raymond Chandler novel 'Farewell, My Lovely', renamed for the American market to prevent filmgoers mistaking it for a musical (for which Powell was already famous) has private eye Philip Marlowe hired by Moose Malloy, a petty crook just out of prison after a seven year stretch, to look for his former girlfriend, Velma, who has not been seen for the last six years. The case is tougher than Marlowe expected as his initially promising enquiries lead to a complex web of deceit involving bribery, perjury and theft, and where no one's motivation is obvious, least of all Marlowe's.

#62 Tuesday, June 28, 2016 - 7:30 PM CACHE by Michael Haneke (2006) A middle-class, middle-aged couple (Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche) is terrorized by a series of surveillance videotapes left on their front porch. The attempts to solve the mystery only lead to more complex and darker revelations. (French with English subtitles.) A truly disturbing meta-movie. It's Michael Haneke, need we say more?

#61 Friday, June 24, 2016 - 7:30 PM THE 39 STEPS by Alfred Hitchcock (1935) A man in London tries to help a counterespionage agent. But when the agent is killed and the man stands accused, he must go on the run to both save himself and also stop a spy ring which is trying to steal top secret information. Classic "wrong man" spy thriller from Hitch starring Robert Donat and Madeleine Carroll. This sets the stage for Hitchcock films to come.

#60 Tuesday, June 21, 2016 - 7:30 PM TWENTIETH CENTURY by Howard Hawks (1934) A flamboyant Broadway impresario (John Barrymore) who has fallen on hard times tries to get his former lover, now a Hollywood diva, (Carol Lombard) to return and resurrect his failing career.

#59 Wednesday, June 15, 2016 - 7:30 PM THE MAGICIAN by Ingmar Bergman When 'Vogler's Magnetic Health Theater' comes to town, there's bound to be a spectacle. Reading reports of a variety of supernatural disturbances at Vogler's prior performances abroad, the leading townspeople (including the police chief and medical examiner) request that their troupe provide them a sample of their act, before allowing them public audiences. The scientific-minded disbelievers try to expose them as charlatans, but Vogler and his crew prove too clever for them. The film is beautifully shot by Gunnar Fischer with striking compositions. And, if nothing else, it is Max von Sydow's face which is most striking. Then again, the original title is "The Face." Gertrud Fridh as Ottilia Egerman in repose.

#58 Thursday, June 9, 2016 - 7:00 PM GATTACA by Andrew Niccol Presented by Dan Kimmel and Eric Van “A good science fiction story should be able to predict not just the automobile but the traffic jam.” – Frederik Pohl Wired once ranked Gattaca as the 3rd greatest science fiction film of all time, after 2001:  a Space Odyssey and Blade Runner. While portraying an all-too likely future is not actually sf’s main calling, no film has better examined the consequences of a specific scientific development—in this case, genetic engineering. As with Philip K. Dick, the substantive content doesn’t get it in the way of a thrilling and emotionally resonant story; the ratio of “show” to “tell” is very high. -- EV A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.

#57 Monday, May 30, 2016 - 6:30 PM MILLER'S CROSSING by the Coen Brothers Tom Regan, an advisor to a Prohibition-era crime boss, tries to keep the peace between warring mobs but gets caught in divided loyalties.

#56 Wednesday, May 25, 2016 - 7:00 PM RIO BRAVO by Howard Hawks (1959). A small-town sheriff in the American West enlists the help of a cripple, a drunk, and a young gunfighter in his efforts to hold in jail the brother of the local bad guy. "Rio Bravo" is considered to be John Wayne and Howard Hawks' reply to High Noon (1952) because neither Wayne or Hawks thought a real lawman would want or need to ask for help in handling a problem like Cooper's character did in that film. Ironically, Gary Cooper, lawman star of High Noon, had been a visitor to the set since he was filming The Hanging Tree (1959) nearby.

#55 Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - 7:00 PM IKIRU by Akira Kurosawa The story of a dying petty bureaucrat in 1950's Japan, Ikiru ['to live'] (1952) is as uncompromisingly honest and beautiful a film as has ever been made on the subject of life. Kurosawa elevates a story that could have been simple melodrama to the level of masterwork with a genuine love of his characters, and with an incredible technical direction. The film's structure accentuates and deepens its many, many lessons on life, and the performances, including a heartbreakingly earnest turn by Shimura are all flawless.

#54 Sunday, May 15, 2016 - 6:30 PM THE TERMINATOR by James Cameron Presented by Jean-Paul Ouellette, second unit action director on the film. As J-P celebrates his one year annivesary of returning to Brookline, he will present the film, talk about the making, the stunts, and theories involved along with some back stage stories.

#53 Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - 7:30 PM 3 WOMEN by Robert Altman Presented by Ken Bader and Lisa Mullins Pinky is an awkward adolescent who starts work at a spa in the California desert. She becomes overly attached to fellow spa attendant, Millie when she becomes Millie's room-mate. Millie is a lonely outcast who desperately tries to win attention with constant up-beat chatter. They hang out at a bar owned by a strange pregnant artist and her has-been cowboy husband. After two emotional crises, the three women steal and trade personalities until they settle into a new family unit that seems to give each woman what she was searching for.

#52 Friday, May 6, 2016 - 7:30 PM WHITE HEAT by Raoul Walsh A psychopathic criminal with a mother complex makes a daring break from prison and leads his old gang in a chemical plant payroll heist. Shortly after the plan takes place, events take a crazy turn. "I made it, Ma! Top of the World!" James Cagney hadn't played a gangster for over nine years when Walsh offered him this project. Cagney expanded the character, making him more psychotic and basing him, he said, on his memories of his own alcoholic father's ranting.

#51 Sunday, May 1, 2016 - 6:30 PM BRINGING UP BABY by Howard Hawks When people say "screwball comedy" it's hard not to think of this film first. While singular actors like Lucille Ball were the great "screwballs" when amongst normal people, Hawks wanted the story where everyone was a screwball. The film's teaser says it perfectly: While trying to secure a $1 million donation for his museum, a befuddled paleontologist is pursued by a flighty and often irritating heiress and her pet leopard "Baby." The scene where Susan's dress is ripped was inspired by a real incident. Cary Grant was at the Roxy Theater one night and his pants' zipper was down when it caught on the back of a woman's dress. Grant impulsively followed her. When he told this story to Howard Hawks, Hawks loved it and put it into the film. Considering this is 1938, four years into the Production Code, it's amazing a woman in her underpants is allowed on screen.   Cary Grant was already adept at comedy and Hawks gave him two touchstones to work with: "Act like Harold Lloyd" (that's why the glasses) and to contemplate a man imitating a whinnying horse when extreme nervousness was needed in a scene. On the other hand, Kate Hepburn was new to madcap comedy. She had gotten the role through her then boyfriend, the film's producer Howard Hughes. Howard Hawks had some difficulty getting Hepburn to stop overacting during the early stages of production. "The great trouble is people trying to be funny," Hawks observed. "If they don't try to be funny, then they are funny. I couldn't do any good with her, so I went over to an actor who was a comic for the Ziegfeld Follies and everything, Walter Catlett, and said, "Walter, have you been watching Miss Hepburn?" He said, 'Yeah.' "Do you know what she's doing?" 'Yeah.' And I said, "Will you tell her?" He said, 'No.' "Well," I said, "supposing she asks you to tell her?" 'Well then, I'l have to tell her.' So I went over to Kate, and I said, 'We're not getting along too well on this thing. I'm not getting through to you, but there's a man here who I think could. Do you want to talk to him?' She came back from talking with him and said, 'Howard, hire that guy and keep him around here for several weeks, because I need him.' And from that time on, she knew how to play comedy better, which is just to read lines." Hepburn also asked Hawks to give Catlett a role in the film so she could call on him for further help. Hawks cast him as the town constable. I think you'll recognize him from countless character roles over the years, his bulbous nose, eye-rolling mugs, and cross-eyed looks. The film was released in February of 1938. Hepburn and Grant quickly followed this up with two magnificent comedies: Holiday (released in June, 1938) and The Philadelphia Story (released December 1940).

#50 Wednesday, April 27, 2016 - 7:00 PM THE BATTLE OF ALGIERS by Gillo Pontecorvo A film commissioned by the Algerian government that shows the Algerian revolution from both sides. The French foreign legion has left Vietnam in defeat and has something to prove. The Algerians are seeking independence. The two clash. The torture used by the French is contrasted with the Algerian's use of bombs in soda shops. A look at war as a nasty thing that harms and sullies everyone who participates in it.

#49 Sunday, April 24, 2016 - 6:30 PM VILLAGE OF THE DAMNED by Wolf Rilla In conjunction with Diabolique Magazine In the English village of Midwich, the blond-haired, glowing-eyed children of uncertain paternity prove to have frightening powers. Starring George Sanders and Barbara Shelley. From the novel by John Wyndham (who also wrote The Day of the Triffids) and a screenplay by Sterling Silliphant, Wolf Rilla, and Ronald Kinnoch. Diabolique Magazine has the podcast with Steve Head, David Kleiler, and Jean-Paul Ouellette discussing the film (which we saw together at the salon). The podcast is on-line or can be downloaded HERE

#48 Wednesday, April 20, 2016 - 7:00 PM RULES OF THE GAME by Jean Renoir Presented by Kaj Wilson. Often called Jean Renoir's masterpiece, often ranked in the top ten films of all time, the Rules of the Game (La règle du jeu) is a must see, must know, for every cinephile. Aviator André Jurieux has just completed a record-setting flight, but when he is greeted by an admiring crowd, all he can say to them is how miserable he is that the woman he loves did not come to meet him. He is in love with Christine, the wife of aristocrat Robert de la Cheyniest. Robert himself is involved in an affair with Geneviève de Marras, but he is trying to break it off. Meanwhile, André seeks help from his old friend Octave, who gets André an invitation to the country home where Robert and Christine are hosting a large hunting party. As the guests arrive for the party, their cordial greetings hide their real feelings, along with their secrets - and even some of the servants are involved in tangled relationships. The Rules of the Game (1939) was the most expensive French film up to that time, with its original budget of 2.5 million francs increased to over five million. When directing the film, Renoir and cinematographer Jean Bachelet made use of deep-focus cinematography (three years before Citizen Kane) and long shots during which the camera is constantly moving, both sophisticated cinematic techniques in 1939.

#47 Wednesday, April 13, 2016 - 7:00 PM THEODORA GOES WILD by Richard Boleslawski Presented by Jean-Paul Ouellette. Male-shy Theodora lets her hair down for a Broadway binge that sets a new high in tall laughs! Irene Dunne at her glorious best! The small-town prudes of Lynnfield are up in arms over 'The Sinner,' a sexy best-seller. They little suspect that author 'Caroline Adams' is really Theodora Lynn, scion of the town's leading family. Michael Grant, devil-may-care book jacket illustrator, penetrates Theodora's incognito and sets out to 'free her' from Lynnfield against her will. But Michael has a secret too, and gets a taste of his own medicine. Irene Dunne may be best remembered for the tear-jerked I Remember Mama (1948). But, in 1936 (due to her comic skits in Show Boat (1936)) she was "persuaded" to star in a comedy, up to that time a medium for which she had small affection. However, Theodora Goes Wild (1936) was an instant hit, almost as popular as the more famous It Happened One Night (1934) from two years before. From this she earned her second Academy Award nomination. Later, in 1937, she was teamed with Cary Grant in The Awful Truth (1937). This helped her garner a third Academy Award nomination. She starred again with Grant later in My Favorite Wife (1940) and Penny Serenade (1941).

#46 Sunday, April 10, 2016 - 6:00 PM (with special event) THE DEAD by John Huston Presented by David Kleiler A vast, merry, and uncommon tale of love. John Huston's last film is a labor of love at several levels: an adaptation of perhaps one of the greatest pieces of English-language literature by one of Huston's favorite authors, James Joyce; a love letter to the land of his ancestors and the country where his children grew up; and the chance to work with his screenwriter son Tony and his actress daughter Anjelica. The film is delicate and unhurried, detailing an early January dinner at the house of two spinster musician sisters and their niece in turn-of-the-century Ireland, attended by friends and family. Among the visiting attendees are the sisters' nephew Gabriel Conroy and his wife Gretta. The evening's reminiscences bring up melancholy memories for Gretta concerning her first, long-lost love when she was a girl in rural Galway. Her recounting of this tragic love to Gabriel brings him to an epiphany: he learns the difference between mere existence and living. The all-Irish cast and careful period detail give the piece richness... SPECIAL EVENT - SHORT PLAY READING AT 6:00 PM At 6 PM, prior to the screening of John Huston's film The Dead, Debbie Wiess will present a reading of her new one act play about James Joyce called "Of Time and Memory." The approximately thirty minute, two character play was written for the James Joyce Symposium taking place in London mid-June, during which it will be presented.  In the play Joyce has a conversation with fellow literary icon Marcel Proust kicking back over some Guinness. The authors had the chance to meet at a dinner party at the Majestic Hotel in Paris, May 1922, when they were two of five special guests which also included no less than Diaghilev, Stravinsky and Picasso!  The play will begin promptly at 6 pm, allowing time to discuss both the film and play at the end of the evening. If anyone would like to take on a role and perhaps rehearse just a bit with the author to prep in advance (no acting experience is needed) that would be great (contact through David or email to J-P), otherwise we will cast from those attending that night.  Feedback is welcome to aid the writing process.

#45 Tuesday, April 5, 2016 - 7:30 PM Work in Progress Screening THE HANJI BOX by Nora Jacobson Attend a test screening of a new narrative film by Nora Jacobson with the director in attendance. There will be a Q&A afterwards since Nora is seeking reaction on the current cut of the film. A recently divorced woman is downsizing. Her adopted Korean daughter is helping her pack. When a treasured Korean cultural item is broken, the woman travels to New York's Koreatown to see if she can get it fixed. An adventure awaits her.

#44 Wednesday, March 30, 2016 - 7:00 PM COMRADES: ALMOST A LOVE STORY by Peter Ho-sun Chan Jun arrives in Hong Kong from mainland China, hoping to be able to earn enough money to marry his girlfriend back home. He meets the streetwise Qiao and they become friends. As friendship turns into love, problems develop, and although they seem meant for each other they somehow keep missing out. Finally, for us, a romance! And another notch in Maggie Cheung's long list of varied acting accomplishments. One of the greatest living actresses, she has won Best Actress at the Hong Kong Film Awards (5 times), the Golden Horse Film Festival (5 times), and the Cannes Film Festival. You will know her from In The Mood For Love (romance), Clean (drama), Hero (action), Police Story (comedy), and Irma Vep (herself). The film itself swept the Hong Kong Film Awards of 1997, winning nine of its eleven nominations. There is also a historical context here as the story spans a number of decades. It begins in the time when the idea of excaping backward China for glamorous British Hong Kong was a real dream. But, as 1997 handover of Hong Kong to China approached, the dream changes and fortunes are won and lost as the inhabitants look ever onward to keep their dreams alive. The film was very well received in Hong Kong and Taiwan, winning best picture, director, and actress for the Hong Kong Film Awards, among other wins. Maggie Cheung's performance also won general acclaim. The movie was voted #11 of the Greatest Chinese Films of all time by the Chinese Movie Database and #28 of the 100 Greatest Chinese Films by the Hong Kong Film Awards. It is also listed in the 100 Greatest Chinese Films of the 20th Century by Asia Weekly Magazine. In 2011, the Taipei Golden Horse Film Festival listed Comrades: Almost a Love Story at number 16 in their list of "100 Greatest Chinese-Language Films". The majority of the voters originated from Taiwan, and included film scholars, festival programmers, film directors, actors and producers.

#43 Friday, March 25, 2016 - TBD PM A SERIOUS MAN by Ethan Coen and Joel Coen Presented by Alan Spatrick. In the Midwest, in the mid twentieth century, a middle class physicist faces tests of his faith in faith and science.  This semi-autobiographical and darkly comic parable by the Coen brothers explores the nature of truth, reality, and the Jefferson Airplane. Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern physics teacher, watches his life unravel over multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking meaning and answers amidst his turmoils, he seems to keep sinking.

#42 Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 7:00 PM SYMPATHY FOR LADY VENGEANCE by Chan-wook Park All she wanted was a peaceful life...they didn't give it After a thirteen-year imprisonment for the kidnap and murder of a six-year-old boy, Guem-Ja Lee seeks vengeance on the man truly responsible for the boy's death. With the help of fellow inmates and reunited with her daughter, she gets closer and closer to her goal. Our second film, after "Poetry," from South Korea. Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is the final installment to Park's Vengeance Trilogy, (following Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002) and Old Boy (2003)). Lady Vengeance (2005) has the relatively low-key style of "Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance" with the jet-black humor of "Oldboy," while adding welcome moments of poignancy and sentiment. The film is nowhere near as violent as its predecessors, although a good deal of mayhem takes place offscreen. A fascinating unraveling of a psychological mystery.

#41 Friday, March 18, 2016 - 7:30 PM THE FRIENDS OF EDDIE COYLE by Peter Yates It's a grubby, violent, dangerous world. But it's the only world they know. And they're the only friends Eddie has. After his last crime has him looking at a long prison sentence for repeat offenses, a low level Boston gangster decides to snitch on his friends to avoid jail time.

#40 Sunday, March 13, 2016 - 7:00 PM MY MAN GODFREY by Gregory La Cava Presented by Dan Kimmel. As for "My Man Godfrey," you can describe it as a classic screwball comedy set against the Great Depression as a madcap heiress (Carole Lombard) discovers a forgotten man (her real life ex-husband William Powell) for a charity scavenger hunt and ends up hiring him as the family butler. Daniel M. Kimmel is past president of the Boston Society of Film Critics and founding co-chair of the Boston Online Film Critics Association. His reviews appeared in the Worcester Telegram and Gazette for 25 years and can now be found at Northshoremovies.net. He writes on classic science fiction films for Space and Time magazine and has appeared in Cinefantastique, Clarkesworld, the Internet Review of Science Fiction and Strange Horizons. He was nominated for a Hugo Award for Jar Jar Binks Must Die… and other observations about science fiction movies. His latest book is his first novel, Shh! It’s a Secret: a novel about Aliens, Hollywood, and the Bartender’s Guide. He has taught film and media courses at Suffolk University, Emerson College and Boston University.

#39 Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - 7:00 PM KANAL by Andrzej Wajda The second part of Polish director Wajda's war trilogy "Kanal" (1957) is a harrowing account of the 1944 Warsaw uprising, focusing on a resistance unit hunted through the city's sewer system by the vengeful Nazis. It's a dark, despairing vision that established Wajda as an international talent. It was made only 12 years after the historic incident and many of the crew, including writer Jerzy Stefan Stawinski and Wajda himself, had been part of the resistance. Stawinski has said that every character in the film was based on one or more people he knew involved in the incident. An important fact which the film avoids is that the Polish Resistance wanted to retake the city before the impending arrival of the Red Army. When it became clear the Resistance would have no chance, Stalin stopped the Red Army advance and waited until the city had fallen and the Resistance crushed before liberating Warsaw from the Nazis. Although the exact number of casualties remains unknown, it is estimated that about 16,000 members of the Polish resistance were killed and about 6,000 badly wounded. In addition, between 150,000 and 200,000 Polish civilians died, mostly from mass executions. The film was released just after the death of Stalin and the fall of the Stalinist regime in Poland. The film was basically uncensored. This has to do with Polish pride in their history and Russia's relief they were not mentioned. Amusingly, lead actress Teresa Izewska was paid the equivalent of $12 a month on the film. Polish authorities bought her one dress and one pair of shoes to represent them at the Cannes Film Festival, where it was nominated for the Palm d'Or and won the Special Jury Award (shared with Bergman's The Seventh Seal).

#38 Wednesday, March 2, 2016 - 7:00 PM NAKED by Mike Leigh Presented by Ed Slattery. Parallel tales of two sexually obsessed men, one hurting and annoying women physically and mentally, one wandering around the city talking to strangers and experiencing dimensions of life. David Thewlis' breakout performance won him best actor at Cannes and from the London and National Society of Film Critics. "classic."

#37 Wednesday, March 9, 2016 - 7:00 PM AN OSCAR VIEWING PARTY presented by Jean-Paul Ouellette and David Kleiler with host Chris Rock Come enjoy the gala celebration as Hollywood pats itself on the back. Red Carpet Start: 7 pm Eastern - Ceremony Start: 8:30 pm Eastern. Pot Luck dinner and drinks. Jean-Paul will be setting out the makings for burritos including beef, chicken, and a veggie version. Wine, beer, soft drinks, salads, dips & chips, all kinds of sweets always accepted. Voter ballots are attached, can be downloaded from the website HERE or you can fill them out when you arrive. Note, we're voting on both who the Academy will pick and who we think is best. [think $2 throw into the pot]

#36 Friday, February 19, 2016 - 7:30 PM BELLE DE JOUR by Luis Buñuel Adapted from the novel by Joseph Kessel (Litvak's Flight Into Darkness (1935) and Melville's The Army of Shadows (1969)). Beautiful young housewife Séverine Serizy (Catherine Deneuve) cannot reconcile her masochistic fantasies with her everyday life alongside dutiful husband Pierre (Jean Sorel). When her lovestruck friend Henri (Michel Piccoli) mentions a secretive high-class brothel run by Madame Anais (Genevieve Page), Séverine begins to spend her midweek afternoons working there under the name Belle de Jour. "I can't help myself," she says at one point. "I am lost." It is Buñuel's most successful and most famous surrealistic "classic." Nat Green suggests the review HERE

#35 Friday, February 19, 2016 - 7:30 PM L'ATALANTE by Jean-Vigo Presented by Kaj Wilson. "One of the most cherished films among cinephiles, L'Atalante was the sole feature film made by director Jean Vigo, who died at age 29 . . . just as the work premiered. Under Vigo's sensitive direction, the simple story of a young woman's stormy initiation into married life on a river barge is told with a mixture of naturalism and surrealist fantasy that infuses everyday life with startlingly magical moments.  (Harvard Film Archive, 2007) An early french sound masterpiece. Jean Dasté stars as Jean, the captain of a river barge who lives with his new wife Juliette (Dita Parlo) on the barge, along with first mate Père Jules (Michel Simon) and the cabin boy (Louis Lefebvre). It has been hailed by many critics as one of the greatest films of all time. It is one of the films with a 100% critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

#34 Monday, February 15, 2016 - 7:00 PM IN A LONELY PLACE by Nicholas Ray A potentially violent screenwriter is a murder suspect until his lovely neighbor clears him. But she begins to have doubts... Nat Green has recommended a terrific critique of the film by J. Hoberman of the Village Voice which can be found HERE SPECIAL NOTE: Since we're screening on a Monday, the posse is planning to meet at Matt Murphy's at 5:00 PM for drinks and FREE oysters. It's a short walk from the screening at 14 Harvard St in Brookline Village. They serve free oysters from 5-7 PM on Mondays. Try to get there before 6 PM when it starts filling up for dinner (or RSVP to David and we'll hold a seat for you). A great little bar and well worth the trip. The title and lyrics to the the Smithereens' 1986 song "In a Lonely Place" were inspired by and adapted from the film. In particular, the lines "I was born the day I met you/Lived a while when you loved me/Died a little when we broke apart" is a paraphrase of a key passage in the movie. In addition, the line "Yesterday it would have mattered/Now today it doesn't mean a thing" is a paraphrase of the last line in the movie. It's a lovely song which you can hear HERE on YouTube. The backing voice is Suzanne Vega.

#33 Tuesday, February 9, 2016 - 7:00 PM ACE IN THE HOLE by Billy Wilder Part two of the bad journalism screenings. Kirk Douglas and Jan Sterling. Douglas as an out of work journalist who will do anything for the big story. Snakes are a telling element in the story. As is an apple.

#32 Thursday, February 4, 2016 - 7:00 PM NIGHTCRAWLER by Dan Gilroy Part one of David's bad journlism screenings [in light of the wonderful Oscar nominated Spotlight]. [2013] When Louis Bloom (Jake Gyllenhaal), a driven man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story. Aiding him in his effort is Nina, a TV-news veteran.

#31 Monday, February 1, 2016 - 7:00 PM STRANGERS ON A TRAIN by Alfred Hitchcock [1951] A psychotic socialite confronts a pro tennis star with a theory on how two complete strangers can get away with murder - a theory that he plans to implement. With Farley Granger, Ruth Roman, and Robert Walker as one of the most evil villains to ever grace the screen. Note, this is a tribute to source novelist Patricia Highsmith whose "Carol" is also in the air today.   SPECIAL NOTE: Since we're screening on a Monday, the posse is planning to meet at Matt Murphy's at 5:00 PM for drinks and FREE oysters. It's a short walk from the screening at 14 Harvard St in Brookline Village. They serve free oysters from 5-7 PM on Mondays. Try to get there before 6 PM when it starts filling up for dinner (or RSVP to David and we'll hold a seat for you). A great little bar and well worth the trip.

#30 Wednesday, January 27, 2016 - 7:00 PM MURMUR OF THE HEART by Louis Malle Academy Award nominated "Le souffle au coeur" (1971) is an exhuberant coming-of-age story about a 14-year-old boy named Laurent Chevalier who is growing up in bourgeois surroundings in Dijon, France. This is France in the mid-1950s: he gets drunk, he smokes, he has sex, he is smothered by his mother, he is ignored by his father, a priest makes a pass at him, he gets rheumatoid fever, etc. This is a very happy and oddly innocent tale. Jazz music by Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, along with books by Bataille, Proust and Camus, feature prominently in the film. Included among the "1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die," edited by Steven Schneider.

#29 Friday, January 22, 2016 - 7:30 PM THE BABADOOK by Jennifer Kent A single mother, plagued by the violent death of her husband, battles with her son's fear of a monster lurking in the house, but soon discovers a sinister presence all around her. Starring Essie Davis of the Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

#28 Tuesday, January 19, 2016 - 7:00 PM POETRY by Lee Chang-dong Presented by Eric Van. Poetry (Hangul: 시; hanja: 詩; RR: Si) is a 2010 South Korean drama film written and directed by Lee Chang-dong. It tells the story of a suburban woman in her 60s who begins to develop an interest in poetry while struggling with Alzheimer's disease and her irresponsible grandson. Yoon Jeong-hee stars in the leading role, which was her first role in a film since 1994. The film was selected for the main competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Best Screenplay Award. Other accolades include the Grand Bell Awards for Best Picture and Best Actress, the Blue Dragon Film Awards for Best Actress, and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress.

#27 Wednesday, January 13, 2016 - 7:00 PM THE TENANT by Roman Polanski with Roman Polanski, Isabelle Adjani, and Shelley Winters. A creepy psychological thriller. The first film Polanski made in exile from the United States. Presented in connection with Diabolique Magazine.   Diabolique Magazine has the podcast with Steve Head, David Kleiler, and Jean-Paul Ouellette discussing the film (which we saw together at the salon). The podcast is on-line or can be downloaded HERE

#26 Monday, January 4, 2016 - 7:30 PM SAFE by Todd Haynes A brilliant performance by Julianne Moore as a woman suffering from multiple chemical sensitivity. From the acclaimed director of "Carol" and "Far From Heaven". Haynes won the 2015 Boston Society of Film Critics Best Director and nominee for the Golden Globes (still awaiting Oscar nominee announcement).   SPECIAL NOTE: Since we're screening on a Monday, the posse is planning to meet at Matt Murphy's at 5:00 PM for drinks and FREE oysters. It's a short walk from the screening at 14 Harvard St in Brookline Village. They serve free oysters from 5-7 PM on Mondays. Try to get there before 6 PM when it starts filling up for dinner (or RSVP to David and we'll hold a seat for you). A great little bar and well worth the trip.

#25 Wednesday, December 30, 2015 - 7:00 PM BALL OF FIRE by Howard Hawks The divine Barbara Stanwyck and Coop re-team for this wonderful comedy classic. The two stars previously paired up in Meet John Doe earlier that year for Frank Capra. As good as that film was, I like Ball Of Fire even more. The story casts Coop as Bertram Potts a young professor who along with seven elder professors are compiling an encyclopedia. Potts is researching American slang. Their financial backer, Miss Totten pressures them to hurry up and finish. So Bertram hits the streets to do some solo research and meets saucy nightclub singer Sugarpuss O'Shea (Stanwyck). O'Shea is at first reluctant to help Potts until  she needs a place to hide out from the police who are looking to question her about her boyfriend, mob boss Joe Lilac (played by Dana Andrews). When Billy Wilder wrote the story for this film in Germany, he envisioned the professors as being the seven dwarfs of the Snow White fairy tale. For the production, each of the professors knew and incorporated their character's alter dwarf ego.

#24 Monday, December 21, 2015 - 7:30 PM ......... MIRACLE IN MILAN by Vittorio De Sica A fantasy tale of Totò who, found in a cabbage patch, is adopted by Lolotta, a wise and kind old woman. When Lolotta dies he moves to an orphanage. At eighteen Totò (Francesco Golisano) leaves the orphanage and ends up in a shantytown squatter colony on the outskirts of Milan. "The rich vein of sly, compassionate humor that Charlie Chaplin and René Clair used to mine with unparalleled genius when they were turning out their best satiric films, has been tapped by Vittorio De Sica in his Miracle in Milan. And although this uncommon vein of fancy is away from De Sica's previous line, the great director has brought up from his digging a liberal return of purest gold." - Bosley Crowther, film critic for The New York Times "The sharp satire on the oil-greedy industrialist is handled in a broader, perhaps exaggerated manner, and pic is liberally sprinkled with intelligent humor, much of it ironic. Performances by pros and tyros alike are flawless." - Variety magazine SPECIAL NOTE: Since we're screening on a Monday, the posse is planning to meet at Matt Murphy's at 5:00 PM for drinks and FREE oysters. It's a short walk from the screening at 14 Harvard St in Brookline Village. They serve free oysters from 5-7 PM on Mondays. Try to get there before 6 PM when it starts filling up for dinner (or RSVP to David and we'll hold a seat for you). A great little bar and well worth the trip. J-P: Okay, tell me this isn't obvious that the character of the awkward homeless Edvige isn't based on Popeye's lovely Olive Oyl Oh, and, of course, her little charge has some of the elements of Swee'Pea from the Popeye cartoons as well, especially when he's flying through the air as she obliviouly sweeps the floor.

#23 Tuesday, December 15, 2015 - 7:30 PM THE JOURNEY OF THE NENETS   Presented by co-producer Bill Gasparini. "The name of the 47-minute film is The Journey of the Nenets.  It tells the dramatic story of a people who live completely out on the vast Siberian tundra on one of the last intact nomadic journeys in the world.  They travel close to 2000 miles in an annual cycle, herding thousands of deer while carrying all of their provisions on wooden sleds, everything from the teepee-like deerskin tents or 'chooms', deerskin clothing, tools and eating utensils.  They pass near settled villages only several times a year, including one where their children attend a boarding school.  But most of the time they live completely alone out in a vast wilderness which to our eyes seems an endless expanse of white in a brutal climate where the temperatures can plummet to 40 degrees below zero.  But to them this is all very normal, and they find it hard to understand how we mostly live inside, 'cut off from nature'.  Many find it hard to believe people can live in this manner in the 21st century, but they do."

#22 Tuesday, December 8, 2015 - 7:00 PM MARNIE by Alfred Hitchcock Presented by David Kleiler, Nat Green, and Jean-Paul Ouellette.. A dabbler in psychoanalysis (Sean Connery) falls in love with a frigid, equestrian kleptomaniac (Tippi Hedren). The third of Hitchcock's entrapment trilogy. "Hitchcock's color-coded psychological thriller, aka, ‘A Girl’s Best Friend is Her Mother'.” Nat Green. Guaranteed to provoke discussion!

#21 Friday, December 4, 2015 - 8:00 PM NOTHING BUT A MAN by Michael Roemer Presented by Dima Ballin of Diabolique Magazine. Here's an American neo-realist masterwork that captures the temper of black consciousness in the south just prior to the mass upheavals of the era. Long before Scorsese made "Mean Streets" and "Raging Bull," Michael Roemer had made this great film. No other film dramatizes so profoundly the plight of a man whose basic human pride will not be compromised under any circumstances. Starring Ivan Dixon and Abbie Lincoln.

#20 Tuesday, December 1, 2015 - 7:00 PM THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE by John Ford An all-time favorite of John Ford western (or anti-western), starring Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, and Lee Marvin. It is a great American story told by Stewart’s character, Ransom Stoddard, who is now a U.S. Senator. He comes back to his old home to go to the funeral of a friend, Tom Doniphon (played by Wayne). Stoddard made his reputation as “the man who shot Liberty Valance” a local outlaw (played by Marvin). The legend is not all how it seems, though… "When the legend becomes fact, print the legend."

#19 Tuesday, November 24, 2015 - 7:00 PM THE MIRACLE OF MORGAN'S CREEK by Preston Sturges From the director of Sullivan's Travels, The Lady Eve, and Christmas in July. Trudy Kockenlocker (Betty Hutton), a small-town girl with a soft spot for American soldiers, wakes up the morning after a wild farewell party for the troops to find that she married someone she can't remember--and she's pregnant. Norval Jones (Eddie Bracken), the 4-F local boy who's been in love with Trudy for years, tries to help her find a way out of her predicament. A truly screwball comedy that it's miraculous that it got made at all.

#18 Tuesday, November 18, 2015 - 7:00 PM THE BAD SLEEP WELL by Akira Kurosawa [Presented by Bill Marx, Editor-in-Chief, The Arts Fuse, artsfuse.org] I am interested in screening 1960's The Bad Sleep Well because it has been decades since I last saw, and mightily enjoyed, Akira Kurosawa's modernized update of Hamlet. The epic film touches on two of my favorite subjects -- William Shakespeare and rampant corporate corruption (as a metaphor for spiritual and psychological blight).

#17 Wednesday, November 11, 2015 - 7:30 PM WENDY AND LUCY by Kelly Reichardt [Presented by Sarah Pearlstein] A woman's life is derailed en route to a potentially lucrative summer job. When her car breaks down, and her dog is taken to the pound, the thin fabric of her financial situation comes apart. Our first salon presenting of a film by a woman, about a woman. Even the dog is a woman.

#16 Wednesday, November 4, 2015 - 7 PM THE PASSENGER by Michelangelo Antonioni The Passenger is the tale of a frustrated war correspondent (Jack Nicholson), unable to find the war he's been asked to cover, takes the risky path of co-opting the I.D. of a dead gun runner. "The third of Antonioni's three picture deal with MGM, continues his exploration of Aliention and identity. A metaphysical thriller which has only increased in critical and audience appreciation." J-P: Note the similarity with the desert shot from "Lawrence of Arabia" with the camel rider slowly approaching in the distance. Both are long slow shots, but one introduced a major character (Omar Shariff) who will help him, a shot which helped him become a star, while the other shows the futility of the main character's goal. Oddly both films are about a man who wishes to become something he isn't, succeeding, but being destroyed by circumstances outside his understanding or control.

#15 Sunday, November 1, 6:30 PM THE APARTMENT by Billy Wilder The Apartment is a 1960 American comedy-drama film that was produced and directed by Billy Wilder, and which stars Jack Lemmon, Shirley MacLaine, and Fred MacMurray. It was Wilder's next movie after Some Like It Hot and, like its predecessor, a commercial and critical success, grossing $25 million at the box office. The film was nominated for ten Academy Awards, and won five, including Best Picture.

#14 Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - 7:00 PM SEANCE ON A WET AFTERNOON by Bryan Forbes Séance on a Wet Afternoon is an award winning 1964 British film directed by Bryan Forbes, based on the novel by Mark McShane, in which an unstable medium convinces her husband to kidnap a child so she can help the police solve the crime and achieve renown for her abilities. The film stars Richard Attenborough (who was also the film's co-producer), Kim Stanley, and Patrick Magee. "For Halloween and a few of us who have a renewed interest in seances. A chilling and eerie melodrama." - David Kleiler

#13 Friday, October 23, 2015 - 7:30 PM UPSTREAM COLOR by Shane Carruth [Presented by Eric Van] Upstream Color (2013, 96 min.) may well be the most challenging science fiction text ever filmed. Yet it is so intensively and immersively cinematic that it was adored by cinephile critics who admitted they felt no need to fully parse its mysteries. It is one of presenter Eric Van’s three favorite films. [More below.] A NOTE ON "UPSTREAM COLOR" FROM ERIC VAN Eric Van says: I think it’s true that no recent film has made more end-of-the-year top 10 lists (151) while playing on fewer screens (43 at its peak) than Upstream Color. Just who were those 151 critics? (Those who know me well would have been disappointed if I hadn’t cooked up something like the following!) They were not science fiction fans. While critics who named UC as among the year’s best were 30% more likely to also name Her than critics who did not, they were 25% less likely to name Gravity, 32% less likely to name Pacific Rim, and 76% less likely to name The Hunger Games: Catching Fire.  In contrast, they were more than twice as likely (106%) to name The Act of Killing and 54% more likely to name To the Wonder. Other films from the year’s consensus top 50 list* that they named disproportionately included Computer Chess, Leviathan (the doc), Museum Hours, Bastards, Frances Ha, and Stoker. Meanwhile, the list of films they were much less likely to name is dominated by a certain type of quality film I am too polite to characterize. While they were 18% of the critics, they were collectively responsible for less than 5% of the mentions of Saving Mr. Banks, Philomena, Prisoners, Dallas Buyers Club, The Way Way Back, and The Place Beyond the Pines. *I’m the data-wrangling assistant for the invaluable www.criticstop10.com.

#12 Wednesday, October 20, 2015 - 7:00 PM SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER by François Truffaut "Charlie Kohler" is a piano player in a bar, hiding from his past. The waitress Lena is in love with him. One of Charlie's brothers, Chico Saroyan, a crook, takes refuge in the bar because he is chased by two gangsters. Truffaut made his second film Shoot the Pianist the complete opposite of his first picture, The 400 Blows. The chaotic structure, content (violence, nudity, etc.), the humor, and the insightful look at a French Everyman confused and overwhelmed many audiences when the film was released in 1960. But what about now, in light of more recent gangster hybrids such as Reservoir Dogs and Lock Stock & Two Smoking Barrels? Might it not be a forgotten ground-breaker? We are revisiting this New Wave gem, now with hindsight of the breadth and depth of Truffaut's talent.

#11 Wednesday, October 14, 2015 - 7:30 PM MULHOLLAND DRIVE by David Lynch An aspiring actress named Betty Elms (Watts), newly arrived in Los Angeles, California, who meets and befriends an amnesic woman (Harring) hiding in an apartment that belongs to Elms's aunt.   Diabolique Magazine has the podcast with Steve Head, David Kleiler, and Jean-Paul Ouellette discussing the film (which we saw together at the salon). The podcast is on-line or can be downloaded HERE

#10 Wednesday, October 6, 2015 - 7:30 PM I KNOW WHERE I'M GOING by Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger Plucky Englishwoman Joan Webster (Wendy Hiller) travels to the remote islands of the Scottish Hebrides in order to marry a wealthy industrialist. Trapped by inclement weather on the Isle of Mull and unable to continue to her destination, Joan finds herself charmed by the straightforward, no-nonsense islanders around her, and becomes increasingly attracted to naval officer Torquil MacNeil (Roger Livesey), who holds a secret that may change her life forever.

#9 Wednesay, September 30, 2015 - x PM RED DESERT by Michelangelo Antonioni Written by Antonioni and Tonino Guerra, the film is about a woman trying to survive in the modern world of cultural neurosis and existential doubt. Red Desert, Antonioni's first color film, is renowned for stunningly colored industrial landscapes which express the unease, alienation, and vivid perceptions of the main character. The working title was Celeste e verde (Sky blue and green).[1] Il deserto rosso was awarded the Golden Lion at the 25th Venice Film Festival in 1964. This was the last in a series of four films he made with Vitti between 1959 and 1964, preceded by L'Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L'Eclisse (1962).

#8 Friday, September 25th, 2015 - 7:30 PM MEAN STREETS by Martin Scorsese Mean Streets is a 1973 American crime film directed by Martin Scorsese and co-written by Scorsese and Mardik Martin. The film stars Harvey Keitel and Robert De Niro. It was released by Warner Bros. on October 2, 1973. De Niro won the National Society of Film Critics award for Best Supporting Actor for his role as John "Johnny Boy" Civello. In 1997, Mean Streets was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

#7 Tuesday, September, 22, 2015 - 7:00 PM HIGH AND LOW by Akira Kurosawa The Washington Post wrote of the film: "High and Low is, in a way, the companion piece to Throne of Blood—it's Macbeth, if Macbeth had married better. The movie shares the rigors of Shakespeare's construction, the symbolic and historical sweep, the pacing that makes the story expand organically in the mind.'

#6 Sunday, September 20, 2015 - 10:00 AM PICTURE SPECIAL EVENT - SCREENPLAY READING "Of Grace and Violence" by Jose Gonsalves Presented by Devra Sari Zabot

#5 Tuesday, September 15, 2015 - 7:00 PM PEEPING TOM by Michael Powell Presented by Nat Green A Michael Powell film (british, 1960) that one critic at its opening condemned as "the nastiest film I have ever seen" while others called it "disgusting" and "beastly." "Peeping Tom" (french title, "Voyeur") is now widely recognized as a major treatment of the relationships among the movie audience, the filmmaker and the film character. Up until this point, Powell and his former colleague Emeric Pressburger had been lauded for some of the finest films ever made, including "The Thief of Bagdad," "The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp," "I Know Where I'm Going," "Black Narcissus," and "The Red Shoes." "Peeping Tom" was an unexpected shock, to say the least. Powell's earlier, highly favorable reputation plummeted after "Peeping Tom," only to be resurrected, along with "Peeping Tom," decades later, thanks in large part to the efforts of Martin Scorsese and his film editor --- and the woman Powell would marry --- Thelma Schoonmaker.

#4 Wednesday, September 9, 2015 - 7:00 PM La Strada by Federico Fellini La Strada (The Road) is a 1954 Italian drama film directed by Federico Fellini from his own screenplay co-written with Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flaiano. The film portrays a brutish strongman (Anthony Quinn) and the naïve young woman (Giulietta Masina) whom he buys from her mother and takes with him on the road; encounters with his rival the Fool (Richard Basehart) end with their destruction. Fellini has called La Strada "a complete catalogue of my entire mythological world, a dangerous representation of my identity that was undertaken with no precedent whatsoever."

#3 Tuesday, September 1, 2015 - 7:00 PM THE HONEYMOON KILLERS by Leonard Kastle [Presented by Diabolique Magazine] An obese, embittered nurse (Shirley Stoler) doesn't mind if her toupee-wearing boyfriend (Tony Lo Bianco) romances and fleeces other women, as long as he takes her along on his con jobs, which rapidly spiral into a killing spree. Based on the real life story. Fun Factoid: Originally to be directed by Martin Scorsese, but he was replaced after a week of shooting due to creative differences by Donald Volkman who was subsequently replaced by writer Leonard Kastle. Scorsese was fired because he was filming every scene in master shots and not shooting close-ups or other coverage, making the film impossible to edit. According to Kastle's interview with the Criterion collection, the ultimate moment that caused Scorsese's firing was trying to get close-up on a coffee-cup lit perfectly for the intended tone.

#2 Tuesday, August 25, 2015 - 7:00 PM GUMMO by Harmony Korine [Presented by Marinah Janello] Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.

#1 Tuesday, August 17, 2015, 7:30 PM SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS by Preston Sturges The perfect film to start off the new series. Sullivan's Travels is a profound reminder of the power and purpose of the art of film.

SCREENINGS 1 - 100 Tuesday, August 77, 2015 - Tuesday, February 21, 2017   SCREENINGS 201 - 300 HERE --- December 2, 2018 - CURRENT SCREENINGS 101 - 200 HERE --- February 26, 2017 - November 2, 2018

The Screening Salon/Salon is a private, casual, and non-commercial screening group run from our homes. There is no monetary gain, nor required dues, fees, or collections of money of any sort. It's just for the fun of sharing and enjoying copies of films we own or borrow from local libraries. For more information call Local Sightings at