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L.A. Times Calendar section: bring back movie reviews!

June 15, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore 3 Comments

From Greg Laemmle:

The movies are back! Or at least, Hollywood blockbusters are back. But if you pay attention to the pundits (always with a grain of salt), you’ll see story after story about how the arthouse audience still hasn’t returned. And to a large degree, this is true. But why? Is the older audience still staying away because of Covid fears? Did they discover streaming during the 13-month shutdown of moviegoing, and they are slow (or never) to come back. Or is there something else contributing to the situation?

Our theatres have been open for over a year since the 13-month shutdown, and every week we present an array of smaller foreign-language films, documentaries, and indie features. Distributors aren’t advertising in print like they did pre-pandemic. But if you look in the LA Times every day, you’ll see our Laemmle Theatres directory ad listing all these titles. But beyond the ads, there is something missing in the paper. Something of vital importance to creating awareness of smaller films. That thing …REVIEWS.

I’m prompted to write this because last week, on Friday, June 10, there was not a single film review in the print edition of the L.A. Times Calendar section. Among other films, the paper completely ignored the French literary adaptation LOST ILLUSIONS, a huge, award-winning hit in France and a critical success here. (The New York Times, which did review it, called the film “sensational.”). Some weeks, the Times has run reviews, but published them days after a film’s opening. And for films that might only end up playing for a week in LA, running a review after the weekend is not particularly helpful, either for the film or for an interested viewer.

Compare this to the pre-pandemic period when a reader could expect to find multiple reviews in the Friday paper, and then plan their weekend (or weekly) moviegoing accordingly.

We know that the newspaper industry has its challenges. We at Laemmle Theatres are pushing our partners in distribution to return as advertisers because we understand that we work in an ecosystem made up of press, advertising, and programming. But having the programming without the press badly depresses turnout. And without ticket sales, distributors are loath to advertise.

It is a sad state of affairs when the paper of record in the movie capital of the world has a film section that is a shadow of its former self, reviewing one or two films per week. The L.A. Times once employed two lead film critics at a time, notably such heavyweights as Charles Champlin, Sheila Benson, Kevin Thomas, Kenneth Turan, and Manohla Dargis. Those writers were backed up by a stable of talented freelancers to cover the plethora of cinema Angelenos are fortunate enough to have access to. Current lead film critic Justin Chang is just as gifted a writer but he’s only one person and can’t cover all the big studio releases in addition to foreign and American indie films too.

We’re going to continue doing what we do, working with filmmakers and distributors to bring the world of cinema to Los Angeles.

What can you do? If you aren’t already a subscriber, subscribe to the Times. Supporting local journalism, even a big city paper like the Times, is important. But as a subscriber, contact the paper and ask for the return of Friday reviews, ideally in the print edition.

They can also look to other local outlets for film coverage. KPCC’s FilmWeek is one excellent resource, with a panel of critics reviewing many of the week’s new attractions. But there are others.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, but you can pay more attention to our eNewsletter, website, and social channels, where we keep you informed of the hundreds of different films we screen annually, for long and short engagements. And when you see something you like, don’t keep it to yourself. Please share your enthusiasm so that others will be encouraged to find the film in question.

But ultimately, these alternatives cannot fill the void left by a newspaper that has abandoned its leading role. To the publisher and editors of the L.A. Times: to be the paper of record for a megalopolis like Los Angeles means covering the arts, especially film. And we hope that you will return to your pre-pandemic policy of reviewing films that are opening theatrically in Los Angeles on (or before) the date of their theatrical opening. Together, we can rebuild the audience for the world of film in the movie capital of the world.

A LOVE STORY: Veteran character actor Dale Dickey shines in the role of her career.

August 10, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

One of the finest screen performances last year was delivered by Ann Dowd in the drama Mass. Though she did not make it into the Oscar race, she was nominated for Critic’s Choice and BAFTA awards. Most moviegoers would be forgiven, however, if they didn’t know about the film or Ms. Dowd’s performance. The film did not do well when it opened in October and it was in and out of theatres before it could develop crucial word-of-mouth publicity.

We bring this up because we fear that history is repeating itself with the film A Love Song and the amazing performance by the veteran character actress, Dale Dickey.

She has been a very busy working actor for more than 25 years, racking up 131 credits on IMDB (which does not include her theater work). Like Dowd, Stephen Root and M. Emmet Walsh, she is one of those gifted character actors whose face any movie or TV fan immediately recognizes, though most people don’t know her name. She is usually cast in supporting roles but has the lead role in A Love Song, and she is brilliant. Her performance is easily one of the best of 2022, beautifully complemented by Wes Studi, but will people see it? The film is being released by a small independent distributor without a large publicity and advertising budget. What’s more, it’s a low-key love story about working class people, the kind of subject matter that doesn’t get much attention.

“Like a coy, concise short story you might remember having read years ago, A Love Song is the simplest of tales, but there’s a complex universe of longing contained within it.” ~ Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture

“It’s well-photographed, unobtrusively edited, full of wondrous sights, and acted by a couple of masters of warm underplaying.” ~ Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com

“A Love Song has the narrative economy and the sneaky emotional power of a well-crafted short story, plus a feel for isolation and rootlessness that harks back to some of the great drifter portraits of American independent cinema.” ~ Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times

So, people. Cinephiles! Please come out, enjoy and support A Love Song in a theater while you still can. We open it this Friday at the Royal, and we will add theatres on August 19. We will keep it playing as long as possible. If moviegoers show even a little support, that will go a long way toward keeping it in theatres, and help create greater awareness for the film and the two wonderful actors featured in the film.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NysYn89m5y4&t=3s

A LOVE SONG | Official Trailer | Bleecker Street (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NysYn89m5y4&t=3s)

“Death will cease to be absolute.” THREE MINUTES: A LENGTHENING opens August 19 with the director in person.

August 10, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

The beautiful new documentary feature Three Minutes: A Lengthening is based on a mere three minutes of footage, shot by David Kurtz in 1938, that are the only moving images remaining of the Jewish inhabitants of Nasielsk, Poland before the Holocaust. Director Bianca Stigter takes those three minutes and expands and explores them to create “an original and incisive meditation on history, memory, memorials and the very nature of celluloid.” (Alissa Simon, Variety) We open the film August 19 at the Royal and August 26 at the Town Center. The August 16 at the Royal will be hosted by the Los Angeles Jewish Film Festival and followed by a discussion with Ms. Stigter and author Glenn Kurtz. Scholar Michael Berenbaum of American Jewish University will moderate.

Director Bianca Stigter’s statement:

“As a child, David Kurtz emigrated from Poland to the United States. In 1938 he returned to Europe for a sightseeing trip and whilst there he visited Nasielsk, the town of his birth. Specifically for this trip, he bought a 16mm camera, then still a novelty rarely seen in a small town never visited by tourists. Eighty years later his ordinary pictures, most of them in color, have become something extraordinary. They are the only moving images that remain of Nasielsk prior to the Second World War. Almost all the people we see were murdered in the Holocaust.

“On Facebook, I stumbled upon a book written about this film, Three Minutes in Poland by Glenn Kurtz. The title fascinated me. I ordered the book and watched the footage, which can be found on the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. While watching, I wondered: could you make those three minutes last longer, to keep the past in the present?

“For this film essay, I examined the footage in the fullest detail, to see what the celluloid would yield to viewers almost a century later. The footage is treated as an archaeological artifact to gain entrance to the past.

“I contacted Glenn Kurtz, traveled to Nasielsk to see if any traces remained from the past, and went to Detroit to speak with survivor Maurice Chandler and his family.

“After this extensive research, I edited the footage in different ways to bring to life as many of the facts and stories about Nasielsk as possible. A few seconds of the recording of a café becomes a dance scene, a single shot of the market square tells the story of the deportation of its Jewish citizens. All the faces that appear in the film are singled out and magnified to pay homage to the people of Nasielsk. The old images of the Polish town are combined with the way Nasielsk sounds today, creating a tense fusion of the past and the present.

“Three Minutes: A Lengthening is an experiment that turns scarcity into a quality. Living in a time marked by an abundance of images that are never viewed twice, we do the opposite here: circle the same moments again and again, convinced that they will give us a different meaning each time. The film starts and ends with the same unedited found footage, but the second time you will look at it quite differently.

“Three Minutes: A Lengthening investigates the nature of film and the perception of time. Through the act of watching, the viewers partake in the creation of a memorial.”

“When apparatuses like these are available to the public, when everyone can photograph those who are dear to them, not only their posed forms but their movements, their actions, their familiar gestures, with words at the tip of their tongues, death will cease to be absolute.’’ ~ The French newspaper La Poste, 30 December 1895, after the Lumières’ first public showing of a film in Paris.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsepXNV7N_w

Three Minutes: A Lengthening | Trailer | Laemmle [Theatres] (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsepXNV7N_w)

#BringBackMovieReviews: Marketplace on Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre

August 4, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

The journalists at the American Public Media business and economic news radio program Marketplace do in-depth reporting by repeatedly profiling and interviewing people, establishing long-term relationships they return their listeners to. One such person is Stephanie Silverman, executive director of the Belcourt Theatre, a non-profit movie theater in Nashville. Kai Ryssdal, the host and senior editor of Marketplace, recently spoke with Silverman again about adjusting to the pandemic and streaming. She is an extremely articulate advocate for the theatrical experience and what she said in the interview — “studios are understanding that the long tail for their movie happens when it starts in exhibition…it needs the word-of-mouth energy that only exhibition spaces can give it” — relates directly to what we’ve been advocating for recently in regards to the L.A. Times film section. Traditionally, talented, knowledgeable film critics guide moviegoers to culturally and artistically important films they might have otherwise missed. Filmmakers and film lovers alike rely on the critics for this and the film critics rely on big platforms like the Times. It is a crucial step in the process that makes unique, fine films and their L.A. theatrical exhibition possible. If the paper of record in the movie capital of the world abdicates its role, film culture suffers. We run the risk of a monoculture consisting of superheroes and sequels. #BringBackMovieReviews

“A gorgeous clarion call for our young Black girls, heralding the community, creativity and confidence that is the pride of our culture.” ~ Ava DuVernay on ALMA’S RAINBOW, opening August 9.

August 3, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

A coming-of-age comedy-drama about three Black women living in Brooklyn, Ayoka Chenzira’s 1993 film Alma’s Rainbow explores the life of teenager Rainbow Gold, who is entering womanhood and navigating conversations and experiences around standards of beauty, self-image, and the rights Black women have over their bodies. We are thrilled to open the film next Friday, August 12 at the Monica Film Center.

Victoria Platt, who starred as Alma, will participate in a Q&A after the evening screening on Saturday, August 13th, exact showtime TBA.

All screenings of Alma’s Rainbow will be preceded by Ms. Chenzira’s 10-minute animated short film Hair Piece: A Film for Nappy Headed People (1984).

Keyonn Sheppard (Pepper), Roger Pickering (Sea Breeze) and Victoria Gabrielle Platt (Rainbow Gold) at the Marquis de Lafayette monument in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park in Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow, a 1993 film restored by the Academy Film Archive with funding by Film Foundation, released by Milestone Films.

“With a whole lot of heart and humor, Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow is a stunning exploration of Black identity and the dynamism of Black women’s lives.” – Maya Cade, Black Film Archive creator

“The matter of matriarchy within families is close to my heart. I think of my great-grandmother, my grandmother, my mother, and my aunts who all had a firm, beautiful hand in raising me. I long for more representations of these generational villages on screen, like those we experience in Ayoka Chenzira’s work. Ms. Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow is a gorgeous clarion call for our young Black girls, heralding the community, creativity and confidence that is the pride of our culture.” —Ava DuVernay, producer-director

Mizan Nunes (Ruby Gold) and Kim Weston-Moran (Alma Gold) in Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow, a 1993 film restored by the Academy Film Archive with funding by Film Foundation, released by Milestone Films.

“I am delighted to have this opportunity to join you in presenting Dr. Ayo Chenzira’s first feature film. As you know, Alma’s Rainbow was one of the first full length dramatic narrative films produced and directed by an African American woman in the 20th century. Chenzira’s much celebrated and award winning early work is essential viewing today as much as it was when first released in 1994.” —Julie Dash, filmmaker

Victoria Gabrielle Platt (Rainbow Gold) and Kim Weston-Moran (Alma Gold) in Ayoka Chenzira’s Alma’s Rainbow, a 1993 film restored by the Academy Film Archive with funding by Film Foundation, released by Milestone Films.

Director’s Statement: “I could write a book on the response to Alma’s Rainbow. The film took a long time to make. I raised all the money independently. Distributors came and looked at the film, and there was a real split between what the men thought about it and what the women thought about it. The response by women has been overwhelmingly positive. The response by men, who write the checks, was that it was not an action piece. There was no Black pathology; there was no movie point of reference for three Black women driving a story. They also see that it is not a linear narrative in the tradition of exposition, climax and resolution. The editing and storytelling are based on the emotions of the characters. This is something that women understood and men did not.

“We found a distributor who was not interested in selling it only to twenty-something White guys in the suburbs. Unfortunately, the arrangement with the distributor and our company did not work out; we did get the film back, however, unencumbered. This film grows out of mothers being afraid of their daughters’ own budding sensuality.” – Ayoka Chenzira, Ph.D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPHGweXT9JM

Alma's Rainbow – Official Re-Release Trailer (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UPHGweXT9JM)

“An exotic and brilliant hothouse flower of a film,” Buñuel’s ‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’ is back in theaters this Friday.

July 27, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

We are thrilled to open the new 50th anniversary 4K restoration of Luis Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) this Friday at our Royal, Claremont, Glendale and Town Center theaters. The 1973 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film and 1974 BAFTA Award winner for Best Actress and Best Screenplay, Discreet Charm is one of surrealist master Buñuel’s late career triumphs, now fully restored and ready to meet a new audience craving the director’s particular flair for the anarchic skewering of ruling elites.

An ambassador and his bourgeois pals try to dine together again and again as circumstances, carnal and otherwise, intervene. Starring major French actors and Buñuel stalwarts Fernando Rey, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Stéphane Audran, Paul Frankeur, and Delphine Seyrig, with a screenplay written by Buñuel and long-time collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière (Diary of a Chambermaid, La Piscine), Discreet Charm brims with humorous satire and incisive criticism expressed in ways that can only be described as “Buñuelian.”

“Frightening, funny, profound, and mysterious…Luis Buñuel’s 1972 comic masterpiece, about three well-to-do couples who try and fail to have a meal together, is perhaps the most perfectly achieved and executed of all his late French films.” ~ Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

“Extraordinarily funny and perfectly acted.” ~ Vincent Canby, The New York Times

“Buñuel’s art is as insolent as ever. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a deeply funny movie, as a viewing experience it’s like walking across a perilous, sway little bridge whose guide rails periodically snatched away.” ~ David Denby, The Atlantic

“I had forgotten just how spooky the dream scenes are; Buñuel could have been a master of horror, or a great farceur. As it was, he was simply Bunuel, which is cause enough for celebration.” ~ Anthony Lane, The Independent

“Dreams nest within other dreams like so many Chinese puzzle boxes, while no dream belongs exclusively to a single dreamer, as though Bunuel were toying with the Jungian notion of the collective unconscious.” ~ Budd Wilkins, Slant Magazine

“An exotic and brilliant hothouse flower of a film.” ~ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Manages to be totally surreal yet totally approachable. Quite amazing.” ~ David Jenkins, Little White Lies

“Take a look again at its dream sequences, especially the nocturnal one involving the young man in the side street, and you will see a master disturber still at work.” ~ Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture

“An absurdly comic assault on the meaningless social rituals and polite hypocrisies of the upper middle class.” ~ Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News

“This has to be one of the most completely realized comedies ever made, and, in its odd way, one of the most civilized.” ~ Charles Taylor, Salon.com

“Strange, wacky, funny, and tragic — and, on an incidental personal note, Discreet Charm is the movie that made me realize I was in love with movies.” ~ Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

“It combines a masterful command of the medium with a mischievous, anarchic sense of imaginative freedom.” ~ A.O. Scott, New York Times

“Boasts one of the best titles in movie history and a cast to match.” ~ J. Hoberman, Village Voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A3bnal75aY

Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, The | Trailer | Laemmle Theatres (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A3bnal75aY)

Promote the general welfare: mask against COVID.

July 27, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

From Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle:

As we are going to press with this week’s eNews, we don’t know what, if anything, will be mandated by the L.A. County Department of Public Health. But we believe in the rule of law. And if the agency that is charged with protecting and promoting health in this county determines that indoor masking is required under the current circumstances, we hope that you will join us in respecting their knowledge and experience in the field of epidemiology, and comply with the regulations. Scientists aren’t infallible. But they know more about the subject at hand than some clown with a podcast.

But beyond the question of mandates and their effectiveness as implemented in this country, let’s just consider some basic science about the spread of airborne viruses.

We believe that wearing a proper-fitting mask does provide protection. Protection for the wearer. And ,perhaps more importantly, protection for others in the auditorium if the wearer is unknowingly infected.

When I’m in a crowded theatre, I wear one. Ditto for when I’m on a plane or a bus. It’s really not a big deal.

For most people, and especially those who are vaccinated and boosted, getting infected does not seem to lead to great risk of hospitalization or death. This is especially true given the availability of treatment options like Paxlovid. But the new variant is highly contagious, and there are still people who are getting ill and dying from this virus.

Leaving aside the question of government intrusion on issues of personal health and safety (which necessitates opening up a huge can of worms these days), can’t we all just see that it would benefit the common good to help slow the spread of this disease?

It’s right there in the Preamble. “…promote the general Welfare…” Yes, that’s a power that we entrust to the government that we are (deliberate use of present tense) establishing. But it’s also one of the prime reasons why we are agreeing to this communal endeavor that is the United States. Because we care about each other, and we can accomplish more and greater things as a country if we show that care and compassion.

So mandated, not mandated, vaccinated, not vaccinated, whatever. If you’re in a theatre, and there are others close by, please mask up. Every little bit helps.

More on movie reviews: Ira Deutchman on “Seven Ways The New York Times Could Help Save Theatrical Moviegoing and Its Own Bottom Line.”

July 20, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

Last month we pleaded with the L.A. Times to restore its film section to greatness by again reviewing all theatrical releases instead of just the latest Hollywood blockbuster and occasionally one foreign, indie or documentary feature. The Times is, after all, our city’s paper of record. To earn and hold that title means thorough coverage of arts and culture, and the Times cannot claim to be a serious major daily if it gives short shrift to Los Angeles’ main artistic and cultural export.

Since we spoke out, the Times has published some reviews of under-the-radar titles (like She Will and Murana) but ignored others that were just as worthy of serious critical attention (Olga and A Man of Integrity, for example). Film reviews are an essential aspect of film marketing to bring attention to movies released by distributors that don’t have the money to compete with major studio releases for people’s attention. The end result will be indie movie theaters like Laemmle going the way of small record shops and bookstores, diminishing cities’ cultural vibrancy. The Times has a major role to play here.

Unfortunately, it looks like the problem is spreading to an even higher profile outlet, the New York Times. Ira Deutchman just posted a piece on his blog that’s worth a read. It’s headlined Seven Ways The New York Times Could Help Save Theatrical Moviegoing and Its Own Bottom Line. Ira is a long-time indie film executive who is also a filmmaker (Searching for Mr. Rugoff) and an associate professor of film at Columbia University so he has a unique and authoritative perspective on this topic and goes into much more detail with ideas beyond just maintaining the role of film criticism. We hope you’ll read Ira’s piece and share it with the L.A Times editors. It’s good food for thought and perhaps will instill in them a sense of civic responsibility.

Jewish Journal: “MY NAME IS SARA Depicts Jewish WWII Refugee in Ukraine.”

July 20, 2022 by Jordan Deglise Moore Leave a Comment

This Friday at the Royal and Town Center, we open My Name is Sara, a drama based on a true story from the Second World War about a young Polish Jew who survived by taking refuge with farmers and passing as a Christian. The director, Steven Oritt, and leading actress Zuzanna Surowy will participate in Q&As Friday, July 22 after the 7 PM at the Royal; Saturday, July 23 after the 4 PM show at the Royal and after the 7:10 PM show in Encino; and on Sunday, July 24, after the 1:10 PM in Encino and the 4 PM show at the Royal. Executive producer Mickey Shapiro (the real-life Sara’s son) will join them for the Friday Q&A.

The filmmaker recently spoke with Brian Fishbach of the Jewish Journal:

Three dead people hang from a tree with a sign that reads “We hid Jews.” It’s a scene that encapsulates the fear tactics the Nazis used to deter anyone from assisting the Jewish people during World War II.

The film My Name Is Sara tells the true and arduous story of a Jewish girl who survived by pretending not to be Jewish. It shows how Sara Góralniak (Zuzanna Surowy), a 12-year-old living in Poland, took refuge on a farm in Ukraine for two years while hiding every aspect of her Jewish identity. Every second that she was there she knew that if she were found, she and the family that protected her would be murdered.

“She was constantly living on eggshells that entire time, which is an obviously awful environment to have to live under,” said director Steven Oritt.

Throughout the film, Sara endears herself to the family who allows her to work on their farm: Pavlo (Eryk Lubos), his wife Nadya (Michalina Olszańska) and their two young sons. Sara proves herself to be a capable farmhand and a non-Jew by reciting the Lord’s Prayer, eating pork, saying she’s 14 and even assuming a new name. She endures skepticism from the family that has taken her in, while also slowly proving herself useful and not threatening their safety.

There are scenes of animals being slaughtered, as is normal on any farm. But there’s humanity in those moments, which is in contrast to the graphic and sadistic threats and murders of the townspeople at the hands of the Nazis.

The ensemble is strong, making every peril Sara and the family confront vivid and poignant, their eyes and body language expressing the characters’ fear and determination. No moment illustrates this better than Sara, riding a horse drawn buggy into town with Pavlo and Nadya’s family, sees three townspeople hanging from a tree for hiding Jews. Both Nadya and Sara cover the two little boys’ eyes. Sara’s dreams of reuniting with her family turn to nightmares when their reunion is discovered by Nazis.

Surprisingly, the starring role of Sara was Surowy’s first time acting. Thrust into a movie set and working in English, which is not her first language, Surowy’s experience mirrors Sara’s. There’s a fear, a wariness, to her performance, that’s most effective when Sara, who had never worked on a farm or been away from her family, is forced to adapt to her new world.

“We weren’t going to make the film if we didn’t find somebody that we felt as though could pull it off,” said Oritt.

While the two previous films he directed were documentaries, this is the first scripted film Oritt’s directed. “When I first interviewed [the real] Sara, the first question I asked was ‘How does a child, a 12-year old, survive such a thing?’ Because it was an unimaginable event. How could she do this constantly, making the right choice happen? And she said immediately, ‘by listening and not talking.’”

Read the full piece on the Jewish Journal site.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40UnffwvrP4

My Name is Sara | Trailer | Laemmle Theatres (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40UnffwvrP4)

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