(Todd Solondz, US 2009, 96 min.)

The notorious director’s latest picks up where Happiness left off, with actresses Ally Sheedy, Allison Janney, and Shirley Henderson assuming the three central sister roles. Self-described as “more politically overt” than his previous work, we’re guided through the standard gauntlet of suburban subversion here, including topics like suicide, pedophilia, and closeted homosexuality. And, as usual, an abiding, gravity-defying sense of humanity continues to emerge. Charlotte Rampling and Ciaran Hinds also star.

(John Huston, US 1950, 112 min.)

John Huston makes one last foray into noir territory with this heist classic. Sterling Hayden is the wayward thug hiding from the police on minor mugging charges. When he’s hired for a jewelry heist that goes wrong, he finds himself spiraling deeper into a web of double-crosses and violence. The film also features an early performance from Marilyn Monroe. Edgar-nominee and Rochester author Charles Benoit will participate in a discussion beginning at 6:30 p.m.

(Susan Sontag, Poland/France 1974, 87 min., English and French w/subtitles, Digital Projection)

Author and intellectual Susan Sontag’s third directorial effort and her only documentary, Promised Lands scrutinizes the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict and the growing divisions within Jewish thought over the question of Palestinian sovereignty. The film was shot in Israel during the final days and immediate aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War. “Promised Lands hardly tells all the truths there are about the conflicts in the Middle East, about the October War, about the mood of Israel right now, about war and loss and memory and survival. But what the film does tell is true. It was like that. To tell the truth (even some of it) is already a marvelous privilege, responsibility, gift.” (Susan Sontag, 1974)

(Bertrand Tavernier, US 1986, 131 min., English and French w/subtitles)

In an Oscar®-nominated performance, legendary saxman Dexter Gordon is Dale Turner, an American musician in Paris struggling to stay on the wagon. A young Parisian, blown away by Gordon’s singular sound, decides to help the musician fight his demons, and the two become fast friends. Bertrand Tavernier cast real musicians and recorded the music live with staggering performances by Gordon and bandmates Herbie Hancock (who won an Oscar® for his score), Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Ron Carter, Billy Higgins, and Lonette McKee.

George Eastman House’s Black History Month programming is generously supported by HCR Home Care.

(Archie Mayo, US 1930, 78 min., 16mm)

Lew Ayres stars as Louie Ricarno, a Chicago gangster who organizes a successful syndicate, gets married, and retires to Florida to write his memoirs, ceding control to his lieutenant (James Cagney, in his second film role). The mugs back home aren’t having it, however, and fate soon brings Louie back home. Based on a story by Brown (who received an Oscar® nomination), this rare gem set the foundation for the 1930s gangster cycle.

(Sidney Lumet, US 1964, 111 min.)

The Pentagon breaks out in a Cold War cold sweat when a glitch sends a group of Moscow-bound bombers past the point of no return. With a war-mongering civilian advisor (Matthau) at his ear, President Henry Fonda must decide whether to shoot down the planes or unleash World War III. As the not-so-funny flipside to Dr. Strangelove, Lumet’s taut thriller is gripping, intelligent, and still terrifyingly timely.

(Gene Saks, US 1968, 105 min.)

Heartbroken after his wife leaves him, Felix Unger (Jack Lemmon) moves in with poker buddy and fellow forced bachelor Oscar Madison (Walter Matthau). Despite their friendship, the two roommates quickly become mortal enemies, as Felix’s obsessive, finicky personality clashes with Oscar’s status as a first-class slob. A smash hit upon its release, The Odd Couple firmly established Lemmon and Matthau as a classic comic duo.

(O ESTRANHO CASO DE ANGELICA, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal 2010, 97 min., Portugese w/subtitles, Digital Projection)

The still-flourishing career of 101-year-old Manoel de Oliveira is a delightful anachronism — a compendium of 19th-century customs and social feelings brought into the 21st. In his latest, De Oliveira’s grandson Richard Trêpa plays Isaac, a quiet artist commissioned to photograph the body of Angelica, a recently deceased society bride. He finds himself falling in love with the dead girl, believing that his camera can bring her back to life.

(John Ford, US 1940, 128 min.)

Okies traveling across America in a beat-up jalopy — it’s a grim story that now looms with the stature and grandeur of an American myth. Ford’s version of John Steinbeck’s novel was a tough pill for Hollywood in 1940, and one that Steinbeck himself claimed more devastating than the book. Henry Fonda stars as ex-convict Tom Joad, whose westward journey parallels the horizon of an expanding social consciousness.

(O ESTRANHO CASO DE ANGELICA, Manoel de Oliveira, Portugal 2010, 97 min., Portugese w/subtitles, Digital Projection)

The still-flourishing career of 101-year-old Manoel de Oliveira is a delightful anachronism — a compendium of 19th-century customs and social feelings brought into the 21st. In his latest, De Oliveira’s grandson Richard Trêpa plays Isaac, a quiet artist commissioned to photograph the body of Angelica, a recently deceased society bride. He finds himself falling in love with the dead girl, believing that his camera can bring her back to life.