FRIDAY 1 - Programmers' Picks
Programmed by: Addison Wood, Ian Resnick, and Hannah Halpern
5:00PM Friday, June 17th; 8:30PM Saturday, June 18th
Seconds (1966)
John Frankenheimer · 107m · DCP
A middle-aged banker, dissatisfied with his life, pays a fortune to undergo extreme plastic surgery to get a new identity. He enters as John Randolph—one of many actors John Frankenheimer pulled from the blacklist—and emerges as Rock Hudson. Via this dystopian sci-fi, Frankenheimer “wanted to make a matter-of-fact yet horrifying portrait of big business.” Cinematographer James Wong Howe’s pioneering use of fish-eye lenses only adds to the sense of dread.
5:00PM Friday, June 24th; 8:30PM Saturday, June 25th
Belly (1998)
Hype Williams · 96m · Digital
Directed by groundbreaking music video director Hype Williams, Belly stars DMX and Nas as street criminals Tommy and Sincere in Queens in 1999. Belly is a violent, delirious vision of an apocalyptic new millennium in hip-hop and in America. While the film was panned upon release, it has gained acclaim for its kinetic "noir-like" stylization and its strobing, haze-filled opening sequence, which was filmed in the legendary NYC nightclub Tunnel.
5:00PM Friday, July 1st; 8:30PM Saturday, July 2nd
Two Girls (2018)
James Fotopoulos · 100m · DCP
Set in the Civil War-era Midwest, Two Girls is the story of young sisters and their increasingly unstable mother, left alone while their father is off fighting. Fotopoulos, described on RogerEbert.com as a filmmaker "whose visions are as audacious as they are uncompromising," masterfully depicts the imaginative minds of young girls in the face of parental absence and the liberating escape that nature affords in the face of war and volatile parenting.
5:00PM Friday, July 8th; 8:30PM Saturday, July 9th
Memoria (2021)
Apichatpong Weerasethakul · 136m · DCP
An internationally co-produced film starring the incomparable Tilda Swinton, Memoria tells the story of a Scottish woman who travels to Colombia and begins repeatedly hearing sounds undetectable by anyone else. Per Brian Tallerico (of Roger Ebert web critics), viewing the film is a "sensory experience"; Weerasethakul vividly illustrates the journey of clarity and transformation of a woman as she disconnects and displaces herself from modern society.
5:00PM Friday, July 15th; 8:30PM Saturday, July 16th
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Arthur Penn · 111m · 35mm
Warren Beatty produced this biopic of the infamous Depression-era gangsters and costarred with Faye Dunaway in her breakout role. Highly controversial upon release, the film did not shy away from depicting their murderous robbing spree or its shocking end. Called a cheap glorification of violence by the NY Times, it was eventually embraced, won two Oscars, and was credited with starting the New Hollywood era and ending the restrictive Production Code.
5:00PM Friday, July 22nd; 8:30PM Saturday, July 23rd
Shaft (1971)
Gordon Parks · 100m · Digital
John Shaft (Richard Roundtree) is a private eye hired by a Harlem gangster to find his kidnapped daughter in this gritty crime thriller. Weaving between the police, Black militants, and two Mafia groups, Shaft carves a path through New York in his hunt, wearing his iconic black turtleneck and leather jacket the whole way through. Shaft is a seminal film in the blaxploitation genre and was also praised for its unique, catchy '70s soul soundtrack.
5:00PM Friday, July 29th; 8:30PM Saturday, July 30th
Black Dynamite (2009)
Scott Sanders · 90m · 35mm
Black Dynamite (Michael Jai White) is a Vietnam War veteran and former CIA agent skilled in the art of kung fu, determined to rid the streets of drug dealers and gangsters. However, his quest unearths a conspiracy that goes all the way down. Shot over the course of 20 days on Super 16 mm film, Black Dynamite is both a parody of and a homage to the blaxploitation genre—Director Scott Sanders described the tone of the film as "just a little too badass."
5:00PM Friday, August 5th; 8:30PM Saturday, August 6th
Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)
Martin Scorsese · 112m · Digital
Newly widowed Alice sets out with a suitcase, her son, and dreams of being a singer. Ellen Burstyn chose Scorcese to direct so that any sentimentality in the script would be matched by his characteristic grit. Born of the women’s liberation movement, the film is an outlier for Scorcese - but one that works. Undercurrents of male violence run through sundrenched scenes, and Harvey Keitel and Kris Kristofferson are archetypal men Alice meets along the way.
5:00PM Friday, August 12th; 8:30PM Saturday, August 13th
Drunken Master (1978)
Yuen Woo-ping · 111m · DCP
Young Wong Fei-hung (Jackie Chan) gets himself into trouble around town and is sentenced to harsh kung fu training by his father. His teacher turns out to be Beggar So, the titular Drunken Master—a tyrannical trainer whom Wong attempts to escape, until a killer with a "Devil's Kick" appears on the scene, intent on murdering Wong's father. A fast-paced, mischievous comedy, this classic Hong Kong martial arts film made Jackie Chan a household name in Asia.
