Wed 18th June: Alex van Warmerdam’s ‘THE DRESS’

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‘The Dress’ (1996. Holland)

Dir: Alex van Warmerdam

Wed 18th June @ 8PM

 

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The title character (if you could call it a character) of Alex van Warmerdam’s absurdist comedy ”The Dress” is a flashy garment with an unaccountably nasty disposition, since trouble invariably follows whoever has the misfortune to put it on. Don’t ask what it means. The Dutch film is too lighthearted and spontaneous to be scrutinized for any deep lurking symbolism. As it follows the short life of a bright blue dress with a leaf design, from cotton field to textile mill to store window to thrift shop to its destruction under the blades of a lawn mower, the story suggests a droll parody of ”La Ronde.”

Rediscovered Classics: ‘The Savage Innocents’ Dir Nicholas Ray (1959)

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‘The Savage Innocents’

Nicholas Ray (1959)

Wednesday 11 June @ 8pm

 

Nicholas Ray’s epic 1959 film about Eskimo life was unfairly victimized on release, censored at the UK cinema, and neglected by both TV and home video for decades. The Savage Innocents continued Ray’s fascination with alternative lifestyles — examining the life of Eskimos and their remoteness from “civilized” values. It represents Ray’s first and most ambitious attempt to break free from Hollywood and forge his own route.

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Anthony Quinn stars as Inuk, an Eskimo whose daily routine is a constant struggle to survive in one of the most hostile and hauntingly beautiful of climates. As Inuk’s family grows in number (and mouths to feed) a new society of white trappers with new weaponry begin to encroach Inuit land, making it harder for Inuk to live. When the clash of cultures results in the accidental death of a missionary, Inuk must use all his skills to keep one step ahead of the two Mounties (Peter O’Toole and Carlo Giustini) determined to bring the killer to justice.

 

RECENT GEMS: WEDNESDAY 27th MAY. AVI MOGRABI’S Z32

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WEDNESDAY 28th MAY @ TILAPIA

@ 8PM

AVI MOGRABI Z32 (ISRAEL) 2008

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One of Israel’s most celebrated non-fiction filmmakers, Avi Mograbi (b. 1956) specializes in urgent, impassioned diagnoses on the state of the nation, and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict in particular. His film Z32 is built around a confession— a young man’s account of his participation in the revenge killing of two Palestinian police officers by the Israeli army in the occupied territories. Around the soldier’s account Mograbi interweaves a couple’s extended and often agonizing discussion of their relationship, punctuated by Mograbi himself characteristically addressing the camera. Adding further layers of complexity are the use of a digital “mask,” both to disguise the young soldier’s identity and foreground the politics of the camera as witness, and Mograbi’s radical decision to perform his own musings as Brechtian songs, set to Weill-ian music. The radical elements of Mograbi’s project combine to raise painful and unsettling questions about responsibility, forgiveness and the shape of cinematic truth.

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Wednesday May 21st : Rediscovered Classics Shivers (1975) Dir: David Cronenberg

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Shivers  (1975)

Dir: David Cronenberg

Wendesday 21st May
@ TILAPIA 8 PM

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David Cronenbergs startling debut channels his vision of the body as a fundamentally mysterious entity into his exploration of genetic engineering, sexually transmitted diseases, condominium living, and sexual drive. When a scientist tests his latest parasite invention on his girlfriend, the enclosed world of a Toronto apartment complex becomes a pulsating Petri dish of zombie-ish sexual desire, the labyrinthian architecture seeming to take on a sinister life of its own.

 

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Wednesday 14th May. Recent Gems: Caesar Must Die (2012) Paolo and Vittorio Taviani

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Wednesday 14th May

Recent Gems: Caesar Must Die (2012/ Italy)

Paolo and Vittorio Taviani @ Tilpaia 8PM

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Directed by Taviani brothers, octogenarians Paolo and Vittorio, Caesar Must Die, their first directorial venture in 6 years and hailed by many as their return to form, is an affecting, ingenious and humanistic film that blurred the lines between fiction and documentary. Winner of the Golden Bear at the 2012 Berlin Film Festival, the film is enacted by people who played themselves, viz. inmates serving long sentences (including life) from the maximum-security wing at Rome’s Rebibbia prison, it chronicled their stage production of Julius Caesar.

The Taviani’s spent six months following rehearsals for this stage production; their film demonstrates how the universality of Shakespeare’s language helps the actors to understand their roles and immerse themselves in the bard’s interplay of friendship and betrayal, power, dishonesty and violence. This documentary does not dwell on the crimes these men have committed in their ‘real’ lives; rather, it draws parallels between this classical drama and the world of today, describes the commitment displayed by all those involved and shows how their personal hopes and fears also flow into the performance.

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Wednesday 7th May Rediscovered Classics: Krzysztof Zanussi’s ‘Illumination’

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Illumination

Dir: Krzysztof Zanussi (1972)

@ Tilapia 8pm Wednesday 7th May

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Unanimous winner of all three main prizes at the 1973 Locarno International Film Festival, Zanussi’s landmark film is a dazzling kaleidoscope of ideas and images. Illumination explores the life of a self-absorbed young physicist trying to understand his place in the universe. He thinks science will provide the answers, but ultimately learns far more about himself through experiencing love, betrayal, loss, and facing his own mortality.

As much a philosophical essay as a narrative feature Illumination is a cinematic mosaic combining art and science, intellect and emotion. Innovatively structured, this unflinching examination of one man’s life became an iconic cultural marker for a whole generation.

Wednesday April 30th Recent Gems Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench (2009) Dir: Damien Chazelle (USA)

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Wednesday April 30th   Recent Gems

Guy And Madeline On A Park Bench (2009) Dir: Damien Chazelle (USA)

@ 8pm TIlapia (with complementary free popcorn)

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Visually distinctive and aurally delightful, “Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench” has style to burn. A soulful black-and-white commentary on love, art and their competing demands, this Boston-based musical from Damien Chazelle floats on a wave of spontaneity and charm. The whisper-thin story introduces us to Guy (Jason Palmer), a talented jazz trumpeter, and Madeline (Desiree Garcia), a rudderless waitress. A brief opening sequence summarizes their three-month romance as they fall, fondle and separate, he to pursue a new conquest, she to explore a new city. For the rest of the film, as the couple slowly circle back together — or maybe not — we will be entertained, enchanted, confused and frustrated in almost equal measure. Damien Chazelle’s feature film debut is an imaginative reinvention of both the movie musical and American independent cinema.