(program running time: 67 min., 16mm)
A pioneer of direct-to-film animation, New Zealand native Len Lye (1901–1980) used various tools to mark patterns, shapes, or images directly onto a film’s surface. Lye explored the dynamic energy of abstract images propelled into life by lively jazz scores or Pacific-inspired rhythms. The program includes TUSALAVA (1929); A COLOUR BOX (1935); KALEIDOSCOPE (1935); THE BIRTH OF A ROBOT (1936); RAINBOW DANCE (1936); TRADE TATTOO (1937); N. OR N.W. (1937); COLOUR FLIGHT (1938); SWINGING THE LAMBETH WALK (1939); MUSICAL POSTER #1 (1940); COLOR CRY (1952–3); TAL FARLOW (1950/1980); RHYTHM (1957); FREE RADICALS (1958/1979); PARTICLES IN SPACE (1957/1979). Members admitted free. This chronological survey of the artist’s career from 1929 to 1958 has been made possible by The New Zealand Film Archive, The Len Lye Foundation, and Anthology Film Archives.
(Jean-Pierre Melville, France 1962, 108 min., French with subtitles, 35mm)
Doulos is French gangster talk for a squealer, and Jean-Paul Belmondo plays Silien, a hood who just may be the stool pigeon responsible for a heist gone bad. Interrogated by the police and hunted by the underworld, Silien remains an enigma to the other characters and the audience until the film’s final moments. Filled with heart-stopping twists and thrills, this jazzy and enormously stylish French thriller is the latest from Rialto Pictures, who last year re-released Melville’s Army of Shadows.
(LE NOTTI DI CABIRIA, Federico Fellini, Italy 1957, 118 min., Italian with subtitles, 35mm)
The incomparable Giulietta Masina (aka Mrs. Fellini) is Cabiria, a somehow innocent prostitute who walks the sordid back streets of Rome in a series of funny and moving episodes. The Chaplin-esque Masina is radiant as she overcomes her squalid surroundings. Rialto Pictures’ restoration of this Best Foreign Film Oscar® winner restores the previously missing “man with a sack” sequence.
(DEN BRYSOMME MANNEN, Jens Lien, Norway 2006, 95 min., Norwegian with subtitles, 35mm)
In this visionary black comedy, suicidal 40-year-old Andreas (Trond Fausa Aurvaag) finds himself transported to a nameless city, where he’s given a bland job in a nondescript office. Andreas also can easily bed any woman he wishes, but his new experiences leave him remarkably unfulfilled, and he begins planning his escape from this materialistic purgatory. Combining deadpan gallows humor with a generous helping of slapstick, this terrific gem has echoes of Roy Andersson’s Songs from the Second Floor and Albert Brooks’ Defending Your Life, but it’s a true original.
(Elia Kazan, US 1954, 108 min.)
Jack Garner retired June 15 after nearly 28 years as staff film critic for Rochester’s Democrat and Chronicle, and 20 years at the nationally syndicated chief film critic of Gannett News Service. While he continues to write a weekly D&C films and entertainment column, the Museum will honor Jack Garner’s career achievements by presenting him with the George Eastman Medal of Honor. Following the award presentation will be a screening of ON THE WATERFRONT (Elia Kazan, US 1954, 108 min.) Marlon Brando won his first Oscar® playing a longshoreman faced with the decision of choosing between human dignity and personal safety in the terrifyingly corrupt world of mob-controlled New York City harbor unions. “I consider On the Waterfront one of the landmarks of American cinema, a film of great import to movies in general and in many ways, to me personally”—Jack Garner. After the film, Garner will discuss On the Waterfront and his career. Special ticket prices apply. No Take-10 tickets or passes.
Tickets will no longer be available by phone, or online after 5:00 on Thursday. Tickets will still be available at the admissions desk all day Friday, and at the Dryden box office, starting at 6:45.
