Film Reviews & Previews
WHAT IS DEMOCRACY? director Astra Taylor and guests to participate in Q&A’s on select dates and times.
Music Hall
Saturday, 2/23
4:10 pm Astra Taylor and filmmaker James Ponsoldt
Sunday, 2/24
4:10 Astra Taylor and historian Robin Kelley
Playhouse
7:30 pm Astra Taylor with writer Adrian Chen
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present a tribute to Albert Finney with a 45th anniversary screening of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (1974) starring Finney in his Oscar-nominated role as Agatha Christie’s master detective, Hercule Poirot.
Finney heads a glittering all-star cast in Sidney Lumet’s lustrous film of Christie’s mystery novel, a smash box-office hit and recipient of six Academy Award nominations that year, with Ingrid Bergman taking home the Oscar as Best Supporting Actress.
Set in 1935, the story centers on Poirot’s attempt to solve the murder of a reviled American millionaire (Richard Widmark) while on the fabled train the Orient Express en route from Istanbul to Calais.
The bevy of suspects include Lauren Bacall as an obnoxious American, Ingrid Bergman as an anxious missionary, Michael York and Jacqueline Bisset as Hungarian royalty, Jean-Pierre Cassel as the conductor, Sean Connery as an English officer with Vanessa Redgrave as his companion, John Gielgud as Widmark’s valet, Anthony Perkins as Widmark’s secretary, Wendy Hiller as a Russian aristocrat, Rachel Roberts as her ladies’ maid, and Martin Balsam as the Italian director of the railroad. All of that talent is sumptuously photographed and costumed by Oscar nominees Geoffrey Unsworth and Tony Walton.
Lumet directs the cast and Oscar-nominated screenplay adaptation by Paul Dehn with a light touch, a tone reinforced by Richard Rodney Bennett’s masterful score and Anne V. Coates’ deft editing. The elegant entertainment impressed audiences and critics alike, with Judith Crist extolling in New York magazine, “Done from top to bottom with such affection and good humor that Dame Agatha’s marvelously intricate whodunit becomes a joyous experience even for non-mystery buffs.”
Albert Finney, who died on February 7 at age 82, first came to prominence in 1960’s Saturday Night and Sunday Morning as an “angry young man” rebelling against a stifling working-class existence in industrial England.
In 1963 he achieved international fame as the rowdy, randy title character Tom Jones, the first of four best actor Oscar nominations. Others include his turn as Poirot in MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS, an aging, embittered actor in The Dresser, and an alcoholic British consul in Under the Volcano. A fifth nomination came for his supporting role as a pugnacious lawyer in Erin Brockovich, His last role was in the James Bond thriller, Skyfall, in 2012.
Finney had made his film debut opposite Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer in 1960, and was hailed as Olivier’s acting successor. He spent long periods throughout his career on the stage, returning to movies and later television to fulfill his acting ambitions. He dismissed accolades that were his due, never attending an Oscar ceremony and turning down a knighthood, which he felt “perpetuated snobbery.”
In 1962 he speculated to the media about why he was an actor. “I think I’m always watching and balancing, and sort of tabulating my emotions,” he said. “And the only way I can lose myself is when I’m acting.”
In MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS he is virtually unrecognizable as Poirot, gaining weight for the role, with slicked-down hair, a French moustache, and beady eyes to aid in the transformation.
Roger Ebert found his performance “brilliant, and high comedy,” and offered an approving appraisal in his review. “It ends with a very long scene in which Poirot asks everyone to be silent, please, while he explains his various theories of the case. He does so in great detail, and it’s fun of a rather malicious sort watching a dozen high-priced stars keep their mouths shut and just listen while Finney masterfully dominates the scene.”
The 45th anniversary screening of MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS and tribute to Albert Finney take place at the Royal in West Los Angeles on Thursday, March 7 at 7:00 PM. Click here for tickets.
Format: DCP
SKID ROW MARATHON filmmakers Gabriele and Mark Hayes with guests Judge Craig Mitchell, Rafael Cabrera, Ben Shirley, Rebecca Hayes and David Askew will participate in Q&A’s on Friday, March 22 following the 7:50 PM show and after the 3:15 PM show on Saturday, March 23.
March 1, 2019: We regret to report that Bo Hopkins will not be able to attend the Fine Arts THE WILD BUNCH screening. L.Q. Jones’ attendance is tentative.
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series celebrate the 50th anniversary of one of the iconic and groundbreaking movies of the ’60s, Sam Peckinpah’s THE WILD BUNCH.
This graphically violent and poetic film exploded the very concept of the traditional Western by focusing on a brutal group of outlaws trying to survive at the dawn of the 20th century. Featuring four Oscar-winning actors—William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Ben Johnson, and Edmond O’Brien—along with a startling supporting cast, the film clearly established Peckinpah as one of the top directors of the era.
The director’s classic 1962 Western Ride the High Country had demonstrated his talent, but he ran into conflicts with producers on subsequent projects in the ’60s. The Wild Bunch marked his triumphant return to filmmaking. He wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay with Walon Green, from a story by Green and Roy N. Sickner.
It is set in 1913, on the eve of World War I and in the midst of the Mexican Revolution. A botched robbery in the opening sequence leads the outlaws to seek refuge in Mexico, where they continue to be pursued by a group of bounty hunters hired by the railroad company they have robbed. Robert Ryan, cast as a former friend of Holden’s character, leads the pursuers.
The supporting cast includes Warren Oates, L.Q. Jones, Jaime Sanchez, Bo Hopkins, Strother Martin, Albert Decker, Emilio Fernandez, and Alfonso Arau. Lucien Ballard provided the rich cinematography, and Jerry Fielding wrote the Oscar-nominated score.
But perhaps the most crucial creative collaborator was editor Lou Lombardo, who worked closely with the director to perfect an innovative editing style that incorporated quick, almost subliminal cuts masterfully interspersed with slow motion shots.
The film’s violence was shocking to many viewers at the time, and some critics denounced the film. Others, however, saw the violence as reflecting the disruptions in American society, along with the chaos of the Vietnam War. Life magazine’s Richard Schickel called the film “one of the most important records of the mood of our times and one of the most important American films of the era.” The New York Times’ Vincent Canby hailed the film as “very beautiful and the first truly interesting American-made Westerns in years.”
When cuts that had been made shortly after the film’s release were finally restored for a 1995 reissue, critics were even more ecstatic. Writing in The Baltimore Sun, Michael Sragow declared, “What Citizen Kane was to movie lovers in 1941, The Wild Bunch was to cineastes in 1969.” The film was added to the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in 1999.
At the screening on February 26 in Pasadena, W.K. Stratton, the author of a new book, The Wild Bunch: Sam Peckinpah, a Revolution in Hollywood, and the Making of a Legendary Film, will participate in a discussion before the screening. He will also sign copies of his book at the theater. Presented by our friends at Vroman’s Bookstore.
On March 2 in Beverly Hills, we will be joined by three of the creative participants in the film, in addition to author W.K. Stratton. Screenwriter Walon Green won an Academy Award in 1971 for directing the documentary, The Hellstrom Chronicle. He went on to write such films as Sorcerer and The Brinks Job for director William Friedkin and The Border for Tony Richardson. Later he became writer and producer on many popular television series, including Law and Order, ER, Hill Street Blues, and NYPD Blue.
Actor L.Q. Jones worked on several other Peckinpah movies, beginning with Ride the High Country, along with Major Dundee, The Ballad of Cable Hogue, and Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. He co-starred in Hang ‘Em High, Hell Is For Heroes, and Martin Scorsese’s Casino.
Bo Hopkins co-starred in Peckinpah’s The Getaway and The Killer Elite, and he also appeared in such films as The Day of the Locust, American Graffiti, Midnight Express, and The Newton Boys. Both actors also have extensive credits in television.
Click here for tickets to the screening on Tuesday, February 26, at 7:00 PM at the Playhouse.
Click here for tickets to the screening on Saturday, March 2, at 7:30 PM at the Ahrya Fine Arts.
Format: Blu-ray
With great pride, ART IN THE ARTHOUSE welcomes back artist HUNG VIET NGUYEN and his gorgeous new show, PLACES. The show will run at the Royal till May, 2019. Sales benefit the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in Los Angeles.
About the exhibit
Born in Vietnam in 1957, Hung Viet Nguyen studied biology at the Science University in Saigon. After relocating to the U.S. in 1982, Nguyen found work as an illustrator, graphic artist and designer. He developed his artistic skills carefully studying a variety of traditional Eastern and Western forms, media and techniques. His complex, labor intensive use of oil paint reveal a mastery of texture. While portions of Nguyen’s work suggest the influence of traditional forms such as woodblock prints, oriental scroll paintings, ceramic art, mosaic, and stained glass, his ultimate expression as an artist asserts a more contemporary sensibility. About his current exhibit, PLACES, Hung remarks, “while traveling I photographed favorite moments, places and scenes. From these images, I created works with ink and watercolor, applied two varieties of varnish for aging and crackling for a classic look. By capturing a cell phone image in a few seconds and then spending many hours to produce an artwork, I uncovered the relationship between the places and myself.” Nguyen’s paintings have been exhibited at galleries, cultural centers and museums by curators or directors of museums including curators of LACMA and MOCA. His work was selected twice for the San Diego Art Institute’s biennial International Exhibition (2013, 2015) where it earned a Juror’s Choice Award each time.
– Tish Laemmle, curator
Come on over to Claremont for Laemmle’s Art in the Arthouse’s newest show featuring the exquisite photography of Ronald Dunlap. The show will run at the Claremont 5 till June, 2019. Sales benefit the Laemmle Foundation and its support of humanitarian and environmental causes in Los Angeles.
About the Exhibit
Photographer and artist Ronald Dunlap has been “living pictures” both in life and through his lens for forty years. Dunlap’s service in Vietnam as a Marine left an indelible mark. Over the years he has returned to Vietnam, Cambodia and toured the East to record the stark images of daily life in those regions. Many of the fifteen photographs in this collection are from those journeys.Dunlap has a refined eye and fastidious focus. His imagery is evocative and speaks volumes. According to the artist his raison d’etre is “a concern with picture structure and the ability to connect with the viewer without the need for any written explanation.”
Dunlap has studied at Laguna College of Art and Design, Chouinard Art Institute and received his BFA in Fine Art from the California Institute of the Arts. His MFA Fine Art degree is from Otis College of Art and Design.The artist has previously shown his work at both Laemmle’s Pasadena and Claremont community art shows. Dunlap lives and works at his home in Altadena, and continues to focus on honing his craft and speaking to his audience directly through his arresting images.
– Joshua Elias, curator
In celebration of Black History Month, Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Abroad Series present 60th anniversary screenings of BLACK ORPHEUS on February 20. This retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice story in Greek mythology is set in twentieth-century Rio de Janeiro during Carnival. Writer-director Marcel Camus’ film hit the double jackpot for foreign-language films, winning both the Palme d’Or at Cannes and the Academy Award as the year’s best foreign film.
Based on the play “Orfeu da Conceicao” by Vinicius de Moraes with a screenplay by Camus and Jacques Viot, BLACK ORPHEUS takes place in the working class slums (favela) of Rio. Orfeu (Bruno Mello), a streetcar driver by day and musician at night, falls in love with Eurydice (Marpessa Dawn), new to the city, and courts her through the frantic festival. However, a skeleton-costumed character representing Death also pursues her, and the couple’s attempt to flee results in romantic tragedy. The two unknown leads—Mello, a Brazilian soccer player, and Dawn, an American dancer— help convey a sense of naturalism, but the film is most noteworthy for its irresistible score, composed by Luiz Bonfa and Antonio Carlos Jobim, which propels the drama with a captivating samba beat. The success of the film and recordings of its main themes helped ignite the bossa nova phenomenon of the 1960s.
The film was an enormous art-house hit in its day. Frenchman Camus and the two leads remain best known for this movie, as noted by the Village Voice, “the greatest one-hit wonder import we’ve ever seen.” Ann Hornaday of the Washington Post summed up its appeal: “a riotous, rapturous explosion of sound and color. Black Orpheus is less about Orpheus’s doomed love for Eurydice than about Camus’s love for cinema at its most gestural and kinetic.”
No need to take a trip to Rio—come to Carnival via BLACK ORPHEUS at Laemmle’s Playhouse, Royal, and Town Center on Wednesday, February 20 at 7:00 PM. Click here for tickets.
THE UNICORN director Robert Schwartzman and star Lauren Lapkus will participate in a Q&A after the 7:40 pm show on Friday, 2/1. Q&A’s also on Saturday, 2/2 after the 5:10 pm show with Robert Schwartzman and star Beverly D’Angelo and after the 7:40 pm show with Robert Schwartzman and moderated by Jason Schwartzman.