Take 21 » Revival of the week

Robert Horton 06/04/2009

robert — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 16:39:55 +0000

Uh, it’s kinda busy in the Seattle film scene this time of year. Along with the summer blockbusters (which I talk about this week with Nancy on AZISWNG), the Seattle International Film Festival goes on and on. My must-see archival film for this weekend is Le Amiche, a 1955 film by Michelangelo Antonioni, made before he became a mainstay of the arthouse scene. Other than that:

Revival of the Week: Never Give a Sucker an Even Break, a 1941 vehicle for W.C. Fields, at the Grand Illusion (which is doing a few weeks under the umbrella theme of “flim-flam men”). When I was a lad in the 1970s, you could still see Fields movies on regular TV all the time, and early exposure to his comedy stylings is a taste acquired and never lost. This one’s an extremely bizarre outing from late in Fields’ career, an inside-Hollywood spoof and an excuse for a series of muttered one-liners. Visit Grand Illusion Cinema for more info.

DVD of the Week: A Married Woman, a 1964 film by Jean-Luc Godard. Not Godard’s best or most alive film, and you miss the presence of his frequent leading lady and then-wife Anna Karina, but still-it’s from the great period when this director was re-writing the rules of film language with every picture and the French New Wave was in full swing.

Find more movie info visit my website: roberthorton.wordpress.com

Robert Horton 05/22/2009

robert — Fri, 22 May 2009 16:38:11 +0000

Last night Nancy allowed me to tag along for the coverage of the Seattle International Film Festival’s opening night, which saw us interviewing some of the actors, directors, and longtime fest-goers on the scene. It was windy outside the Paramount Theater, so I apologize in advance for any hair issues that might arise. The results will be broadcast beginning Friday night, and despite the frequent eruptions of my diva-like behavior, we had a good time.

Revivals of the Week: Visit SIFF for four screenings presented by Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osborne this weekend. Saturday sees The Adventures of Robin Hood (Errol Flynn version, natch) and Sunset Boulevard; Sunday brings The Third Man and Dodsworth. The first three are familiar titles, but maybe you haven’t seen Dodsworth, a 1936 adaptation of the Sinclair Lewis novel about an American couple who go to Europe and have their lives substantially changed. Walter Huston and Ruth Chatterton give vivid performances, under the focused direction of William Wyler. More info: www.siff.net

DVDs of the Week: Man Hunt, a 1941 suspense picture directed by Fritz Lang, with Walter Pidgeon as a hunter who, for his own amusement, finds out whether he can get Hitler in his gunsights. Also: Pigs, Pimps and Prostitutes, a three-film Criterion set featuring 1960s work by Shohei Imamura, a fascinating filmmaker whose work definitely does not conform to traditional cherry-blossoms-falling school of Japanese movies.

Find more movie info, and links for the new crazed comic book I have co-authored, Rotten, on my website: roberthorton.wordpress.com

Robert Horton 04/16/2009

robert — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 16:44:30 +0000

Revival of the Week: Kind of a slow moment this particular week for revivals in Seattle. The Grand Illusion has Pasolini’s Canterbury Tales (1972), a very minor excuse for bawdiness, and the Seattle Art Museum is in the early stages of a Paul Newman tribute: The Hustler (1961) shows 4/16, and Sweet Bird of Youth (1962) on 4/23; the former pretty ageless, the latter showing its wrinkles a bit. Both show off Newman in his early, strutting mode, very much an “actor” putting on a show, not quite comfortable yet in his own screen presence-having said that, you still won’t be able to take your eyes off him.

DVD of the Week: Forever, directed by Heddy Honigmann. A beautiful documentary film about Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, surveying the people who come to visit the graves of the famous and the not-famous. In a very gentle way, this movie manages to be about death and art and the reasons we have for memorializing people.and it’s a scandal that it never played for a proper run in Seattle. DVD should help it find an audience.

Festivals: The Seattle Jewish Film Festival, which always offers up an interesting, provocative slate of films, begins April 23 (through May 3) at a variety of venues, notably the Cinerama, SIFF Cinema, and Museum of History and Industry. Among the higher-profile films are Little Traitor (the opening-night selection) and Lemon Tree, featuring the excellent star of The Visitor, Hiam Abbass.

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