THE MEANEST MAN IN TEXAS Q&A with director Justin Ward and producer Brad Wilson after the 7:10 pm show on Thursday, 5/23.
Sixtieth Anniversary Screenings of Ingmar Bergman’s WILD STRAWBERRIES on May 15 in Glendale, Pasadena, and West LA.
Laemmle Theatres and the Anniversary Classics Series present this month’s installment in our Anniversary Classics Abroad program: one of the most revered of all foreign films, Ingmar Bergman’s WILD STRAWBERRIES. Indeed, Leonard Maltin hailed the film as “Still a staple of any serious filmgoer’s education,” and he added, “Superb use of flashbacks and brilliant performance by (Victor) Sjostrom make this Bergman classic an emotional powerhouse.” It was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay of 1959 and also earned the top prize, the Golden Bear, at the Berlin Film Festival.
Sjostrom, a revered Swedish actor and also an acclaimed director who helmed memorable silent films with American stars Lon Chaney and Lillian Gish during the 1920s, capped his career with his moving performance as Professor Isak Borg, a distinguished physician who re-evaluates his life while driving from Stockholm to Lund to receive an honorary degree. On his journey he is haunted by memories and dreams that illuminate his inner life with trenchant insight. Indeed Wild Strawberries was one of the seminal films that changed cinematic grammar by introducing non-linear storytelling to discriminating audiences during the late 1950s.
The supporting cast includes many of Bergman’s favorite actors, including Bibi Andersson (in a dual role as a hitchhiker and as Isak’s first love), Gunnel Lindblom, Gunnar Bjornstrand, and Max von Sydow in a cameo role. Reviews of the film were enthusiastic at the time, and critics continued to exalt Bergman’s achievement in later years. Variety raved, “It’s a personal and profound work.” Tom Dawson of the BBC said, “This is one of the truly outstanding works of post-war European cinema.” And Pauline Kael commented, “Few movies give us such memorable, emotion-charged images.”
This film also had a strong influence on other directors. In a 1963 interview with Cinema magazine, Stanley Kubrick listed Wild Strawberries as his second favorite film of all time. Woody Allen paid homage in several of his movies, including Stardust Memories and Crimes and Misdemeanors.
WILD STRAWBERRIES screens at 7 PM on Wednesday, May 15 at Laemmle theaters in Glendale, Pasadena, and West LA. Click here for tickets.
Format: DCP
FAST COLOR Filmmaker Julia Hart and Star Gugu Mbatha-Raw in Person for Q&A’s.
FAST COLOR writer-director Julia Hart and star Gugu Mbatha-Raw (BELLE, A WRINKLE IN TIME, BEYOND THE LIGHTS) will participate in a Q&A after the 4:10 PM screening at the Laemmle Glendale on Sunday, April 28 and after the 4 PM screening at the Laemmle NoHo on Saturday, May 4.
Marcel Pagnol’s Classic French Comedy THE BAKER’S WIFE, Restored and Back in Theaters April 26-May 2.
The warmth and wit of celebrated playwright turned auteur Marcel Pagnol (The Marseille Trilogy) shines through in the enchanting slice-of-life comedy The Baker’s Wife (1938). Returning once again to the Provençal countryside he knew intimately, Pagnol draws a vivid portrait of a close-knit village where the marital woes of a sweetly deluded baker (the inimitable Raimu, heralded by no less than Orson Welles as “the greatest actor who ever lived”) snowball into a scandal that engulfs the entire town. Marrying the director’s abiding concern for the experiences of ordinary people with an understated but superbly judged visual style, The Baker’s Wife is at once wonderfully droll and piercingly perceptive in its nuanced treatment of the complexities of human relationships.
Here’s are some fun facts about the movie:
—The story is taken from the novel Blue Boy (Jean le bleu) by Jean Giono. It was Marcel Pagnol’s fourth and final Giono adaptation, after Jofroi (1934), Angèle (1934), and Harvest (1937).
—Pagnol’s initial choice for the role of the baker was Marcel Maupi, whose frail constitution was more in keeping with Giono’s physical description of the character in Blue Boy. But the part eventually went to the burly Raimu. (Maupi plays Barnabé in the film.)
—Pagnol wrote the part of Aurélie for Joan Crawford, using minimal dialogue since she didn’t speak French. After she declined, Raimu convinced Pagnol to cast Ginette Leclerc, who would go on to star in such films as Le Corbeau (1943) and Tropic of Cancer (1970).
—Raimu refused to play his dialogue scenes outdoors. Therefore, much of the film was shot in a studio, giving many scenes a look that’s a combination of location and studio photography.
—The film’s exteriors were shot in the medieval village of Le Castellet, roughly thirty miles southeast of Marseille. Today, the area is famous for its wine production and Formula 1 racetrack.
—The film was a major critical and box office hit in France when it was released in 1938. In 1940, the film also had a successful run in the U.S., where it won best foreign film honors from both the National Board of Review and the New York Film Critics Circle.
—In the mid-forties, after the war, Orson Welles visited Pagnol and told him that he had seen The Baker’s Wife and would like to meet its star, Raimu, whose acting Welles revered. Pagnol informed Welles that Raimu had recently passed away, and Welles burst into tears.
—Pagnol adapted his script for The Baker’s Wife into a theatrical production but only staged one performance. In 1976, a musical adaptation of the same name, with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz and a book by Joseph Stein, embarked on a six-month tour of small venues in the U.S., undergoing major retooling along the way. The musical finally premiered in the West End in 1989. Although the reviews and audience reaction were positive, the show lasted here for only fifty-six performances. It has not been produced on Broadway.
—In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield, despite his own distaste for movies, mentions that his younger sister, Phoebe, likes them and knows the difference between good and bad films. He says that he took her to see The Baker’s Wife and she found it hysterical.
We will screen The Baker’s Wife daily at the Ahrya Fine Arts April 26-28 and April 29 at the Laemmle Glendale, April 30 at the Playhouse 7, May 1 at the Town Center and Claremont, and May 2 at the Royal.
LAEMMLE LIVE PASADENA presents Caesura Youth Orchestra May 5
Laemmle Theatres proudly presents LAEMMLE LIVE PASADENA, inspired by Laemmle’s popular concert series in Santa Monica. Laemmle Live showcases emerging musicians and professional performers from local schools and organizations, celebrating our diverse community with live performance. Laemmle Live Pasadena’s free Sunday morning concerts take place in the courtyard between Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and Vroman’s Bookstore from 11am to 12pm. A light reception will follow the concert.
This Sunday morning concert features the Caesura Youth Orchestra. Based in Glendale, California, the program provides music education, group lessons and free instruments to under-served elementary students. After completing an initial basic music course, the students are able to choose from the following instruments: violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet and trumpet.
The Caesura Youth Orchestra follows the El Sistema model for providing music to under-served students. The program is now in it’s fifth year as an after-school program. Elementary students begin the program with a basic music education class, learn to play the recorder and the importance of caring for an instrument. Students may then select an instrument. Each of the ensembles meets for 1 1/2 to 2 hours three times each week. Students perform regularly at events in the Glendale area. Class room teachers at the end of each year evaluate the effect the program has on students in their class rooms. They indicate that these students have become team players, student leaders and display increased academic skills.
For more information visit: www.mycyo.org
This is a Free Event!
RSVP via Eventbrite
Sunday, May 5, 2019
Playhouse 7 Courtyard
673 East Colorado
Pasadena, CA 91101
11am – 12pm
SATAN & ADAM Q&A with Filmmakers at the Glendale and Monica Film Center.
SATAN & ADAM director V. Scott Balcerek will participate in Q&A’s following the 7:30 pm shows on Friday, 4/19, and Saturday, 4/20 at the Glendale and on Tuesday, 4/23 at the Monica Film Center. Producer Ryan Suffern will join the Q&A on Saturday.
THE BIKES OF WRATH Q&A’s with Director at Multiple Locations.
THE BIKES OF WRATH director Cameron Ford will participate in Q&A’s after the 7:30 pm screenings at the following locations and dates:
Monica Film Center on Apr 14th
Ahrya Fine Arts on Apr 15th
Playhouse 7 on Apr 16th
Glendale on Apr 17th
Claremont 5 on Apr 18th
LAEMMLE LIVE PASADENA presents Pascale Music Institute April 7
LAEMMLE LIVE PASADENA, inspired by Laemmle’s popular concert series in Santa Monica presents nationally acclaimed Pascale Music Institute on April 7. Laemmle Live showcases emerging musicians and professional performers from local schools and organizations, celebrating our diverse community with live performance. Laemmle Live Pasadena’s free Sunday morning concerts take place in the courtyard between Laemmle’s Playhouse 7 and Vroman’s Bookstore from 11am to 12pm. A light reception will follow the concert
Award-winning Pascale Music Institute, founded by Susan Pascale, teaches aspiring musicians as young as three and half years old to play the violin, viola, cello, bass, and piano. The Sunday concert will feature the Los Angeles Children’s Chamber Orchestra conducted by Los Angeles Philharmonic violinist, Mitchell Newman. Students of the Pascale Music Institute, or PMI, are taught using the innovative The Pascale Method®, a systematic approach that sets young children up for success from the beginning. Detailed directions, fun exercises, rapid progress, coupled with a delightful reward system motivate students to master skills quickly and correctly. From the beginning, the Pascale Method and Institute stress the importance of music reading, and within 12 weeks, the student is ready to perform for friends and family, and advance to the next level of instruction. For more information visit pascalemusic.com
This is a Free Event!
RSVP via Eventbrite
Sunday, April 7, 2019
Playhouse 7 Courtyard
673 East Colorado
Pasadena, CA 91101
11am – 12pm
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