Last fall, when our Criterion newsletter arrived ANNOUNCING the arrival of the Janus: Essential Art House Boxed Set onto its shelves, we almost died of joy.
Everything from Fellini to Berman to Wajda to Lubitsch to Kurosawa to Truffaut to….it is basically a film school in a box (with a book), celebrating the miracle that 50 years of Janus Films distribution house was….
And then we saw the price tag: 850, was it? (it is 650 now)
We’re still saving (or waiting for wealthy benefactors).
But there is a way to sample it, one 10 dollar ticket at a time: The retrospective debuted at The New York Film Festival and is on tour through North America and IS NOW HERE AT AFI IN SILVER SPRING (part 2 can be expected later this summer, so block some time off). AND IT STARTED THIS WEEK (if I am typing in ALL CAPS it is bcse I AM EXCITED, so just deal with it, k? k).
The spring selection is a little heavy on the Bergman, but stellar otherwise, and you know what, no one is perfect (tho this comes pretty close)
details on the program and giveaways are here
but here are some we
HIGHLY
recommend (we do recommend ALL OF THEM but… sometimes you have to pick the favorite even among your (own) children):
In turn-of-the-century Paris, Madame de… (we never learn her name) sells her earrings–a wedding present from her husband the General–to erase a gambling debt. The jeweler betrays her and sells them back to the General, who gives them to his mistress, but she gambles them away too. When Madame de’s true love the Baron (the great Vittorio de Sica) presents the earrings to her, the jewels take on deeper meaning as the web of deception unravels.
DIR/SCR Max Ophuls; SCR Marcel Achard, based on the novel by Louise de Vilmorin. France/Italy, 1953, b&w, 105 min. In French with English subtitles. NOT RATED (playing: Saturday, May 12, 7:00; Sunday, May 13, 1:00 & 5:00; Monday, May 14, 9:30; Tuesday, May 15, 7:00 & 9:10; Thursday, May 17, 9:30)
The greatest of Alfred Hitchcock’s British films: not just the template for his later Hollywood films in its deft blend of suspenseful mystery and wry comedy, but a hugely influential film for all moviemaking. Brits Michael Redgrave and Margaret Lockwood become embroiled in a mystery aboard a transcontinental train after Lockwood witnesses the strange disappearance of fellow traveler Dame May Whitty. Their search for clues among a parade of bizarre and sinister passengers uncovers an international espionage ring and imminent danger.
DIR Alfred Hitchcock; SCR Sidney Gilliat and Frank Launder, based on the book by Ethel Lina White. UK, 1938, b&w, 97 min. NOT RATED (playing:Friday, May 18, 7:00; Saturday, May 19, 9:30; Sunday, May 20, 5:30; Monday, May 21, 7:00; Wednesday, May 23, 7:00 )
Hailed as one of the greatest Japanese films of all time, SEVEN SAMURAI has spawned imitations, including THE WILD BUNCH and THE MAGNIFICENT SEVEN, but remains unsurpassed in its virtuosity–due in large part to Kurosawa’s collaborator, actor Toshiro Mifune, who cites this role as his all-time favorite. Farmers in a small hamlet hire seven samurai to protect them from pillagers. Though the village can only offer food in payment, each samurai takes on the near-suicidal mission for his own personal reasons.
DIR/SCR Akira Kurosawa; SCR Shinobu Hashimoto and Hideo Oguni; PROD Sojiro Motoki. Japan, 1954, b&w, 206 min. In Japanese with English subtitles. NOT RATED (playing: Friday, May 25, 8:30; Saturday, May 26, 8:30; Sunday, May 27, 5:30; Monday, May 28, 8:00; Tuesday, May 29, 8:00)
Ingmar Bergman’s best-known and most iconic film is a touchstone of international cinema’s golden age of the 1950s and ’60s, and essential, rite-of-passage viewing for every film buff. Knight Max von Sydow, returning from crusading, discovers his country ravaged by plague and comes face to face with Death himself. Unwilling to go quietly, von Sydow challenges Death to a game of chess. An allegorical parade of human foibles and suffering passes by as the two match wits.
DIR Ingmar Bergman; PROD Allan Ekelund. Sweden, 1957, b&w, 92 min. In Swedish with English subtitles. NOT RATED
(playing: Saturday, June 2, 12:30, 10:30; Wednesday, June 6, 9:20; Thursday, June 7, 9:20 )
The film that brought director Fellini international acclaim and his first Academy Award for Best Foreign Film. Simple, kind-hearted Gelsomina (Fellini’s wife Giulietta Masina) is sold by her poverty-stricken family to the brutish Zampano (Anthony Quinn), the strongman in a shabby traveling circus. When Zampano’s temper erupts tragedy unfolds. Martin Scorsese, who based the Jake LaMotta character in RAGING BULL on Zampano, says “I was enthralled by the film’s resolution, where the power of the spirit overwhelms brute force.”
DIR/SCR Federico Fellini; SCR Tullio Pinelli and Ennio Flajan; PROD Dino De Laurentis and Carlo Ponti. Italy, 1954, b&w, 110 min. In Italian with English subtitles. NOT RATED (playing:Thursday, June 21, 7:00; Saturday, June 23, 7:00; Tuesday, June 26, 7:00 )
others include: Wild Strawberries, Summer with Monika, and more….BE EXCITED
