What’s Showing Today? Wednesday, August 15
Click venue names for ticket info & directions
Featured Screening: Serie noire at MoMA
Today marks the start of MoMA‘s late summer crime series Gaumont Thrillers: From Fantômas to A Gang Story. Organized by senior curator Laurence Kardish, who recently announced his retirement after 44 years with the museum, it crosses a surprisingly broad swath of the output of the studio, the oldest continuously operating film company in the world.
The inaugural evening’s selection is Alain Corneau‘s Serie noire, which in itself suggests something of the eclecticism of the series overall. Adapted from a novel by Jim Thompson by experimental French novelist Georges Perec—and strongly evoking each man’s diverging sensibilities in unexpected concert—it’s ostensibly a quirky crime chronicle with a genuinely grim, wounded core; perhaps something of a forebear to the Coen Brothers’ Blood Simple, released five years later. Comedian Patrick Dewaere, whose own life reads as short and tragic, plays a neurotic door-to-door salesman regularly flirting with selfish schemes and hustles only to yield to his essentially compassionate nature in decisive moments. When he knocks on the door of a cruel old rabbit seller, he finds himself shuffled into the room of the woman’s barely pubescent niece, which she has forced into prostitution. The girl is essentially mute, yet draws out no shortage of verbose personal confessions from Dewaere, who is unable to sleep with her yet feels he’s in love. Through repeated visits, he finds himself drawn into an increasingly byzantine murder plot. Steeped in neurosis and indecision; full of elaborate gesture and understated meaning; at once charming and savage, Serie noire is a film that seems to have confounded critics including The New York Times’ Vincent Canby upon its initial release, yet to the contemporary eye seems perfectly right and natural in its unique mix of sensibilities. It’s highly recommended, and should play wonderfully on tonight’s overcast evening. Adventurous Francophiles and fans of Thompson and Perec won’t want to miss out.
Serie noire runs tonight at 8:00 pm and repeats Saturday, September 1 at 2:00 pm. Check out the full series details here.
Today
Jeff Bridges, Before the Dude at 92YTribeca
Series Details
- Against All Odds (Taylor Hackford). Details. 35mm. 1984. 128 min. 7:30 pm.
American Gagsters: Great Comedy Teams at BAMCinématek
Series Details
- Million Dollar Legs and The Bank Dick (Edward F. Cline). Details. 35mm. 1932/1940. 136 min. 6:30 and 9:15 pm.
Latinbeat 2012 at Film Society of Lincoln Center
Series Details
- Fat, Bald, Short Man (Carlos Osuna). Details. 35mm. 2011. 97 min. 4:30 and 9:00 pm.
- P.E. (Pablo Cerda). Details. HDCam. 2011. 105 min. 6:30 pm.
An Auteurist History of Film at MoMA
Series Details
- The Golden Coach (Jean Renoir). Details. 1953. 96 min. 1:30 pm.
A View from the Vaults, 2012: Recent Acquisitions at MoMA
Series Details
- Alice’s House (Chico Teixeira). Details. 2007. 92 min. 4:00 pm.
- Kansas City Princess (William Keighley) and Ultra Violet for Sixteen Minutes (David Gerson). Details. 2011/1934. 80 min. 7:00 pm.
Gaumont Thrillers: From Fantômas to A Gang Story at MoMA
Series Details
- Point Blank (Fred Cavaye). Details. 2010. 84 min. 4:30 pm.
- Serie noire (Alain Corneau). Details. 1979. 111 min. 8:00 pm.
Newfilmmakers Presents New Asian Films at Anthology Film Archives. Details. 6:00 pm.
Migrange International Documentary (Migrante International) and Modern Heroes, Modern Slaves (Marie Boti) at The Brecht Forum. Details. 2009/1997. 74 min. 7:30 pm.
Certified Copy (Abbas Kiarostami) at Socrates Sculpture Park. Details. 2010. 106 min. 7:00 pm. FREE.
Ongoing
Almayer’s Folly (Chantal Akerman) at Anthology Film Archives. Details. 35mm. 2011. 127 min. 6:30 and 9:15 pm.
Meet the Fokkens (Rob Schröder & Gabriëlle Provaa) at Film Forum. Details. 2011. 75 min. 1:00, 2:45, 4:30, 6:15, 8:10 and 10:10 pm.
Total Recall (Paul Verhoeven) at Film Forum. Details. DCP. 1990. 113 min. 1:00, 3:10, 5:20, 7:30 and 9:40 pm.
Max et les Ferrailleurs (Claude Sautet) at Film Society of Lincoln Center. Details. 35mm. 1971. 107 min. 11:30, 2:00, 4:30, 7:00 and 9:30 pm.
The Chilean Building (Macarena Aguiló) at Maysles Cinema. Details. 2010. 99 min. 7:30 pm.
Galleries
Museums
- “Spies in the House of Art: Photography, Film and Video” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Closed Mondays. Suggested donation admission. Ends August 26.
- Media Lounge and Contemporary Galleries: 1980-Now at MoMA, Midtown. $20 general/$12 students/$16 seniors. Closed Tuesday. Ongoing.
- Zackary Drucker “At Least You Know You Exist” at MoMA P.S.1, Queens. $10 general/$5 students/$5 seniors. Closed Tuesday/Wednesday. Ends September 17.
- Jack Smith “Normal Love” at MoMA P.S.1, Queens. $10 general/$5 students/$5 seniors. Closed Tuesday/Wednesday. Ends September 17.
- Solo projects by Edgardo Aragón and Ilja Karilampi at MoMA P.S.1, Queens. $10 general/$5 students/$5 seniors. Closed Tuesday/Wednesday. Ends September 17.
- View all exhibitions at Museum of the Moving Image, Astoria, Queens. $12 general/$9 students and seniors/$6 ages 3 to 18. Free admission Friday 4-8 pm. Closed Monday.
- “Ghosts in the Machine” at The New Museum. $14 general/$12 seniors/$10 students. Free Thursday from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. Open Wednesday through Sunday. Ends September 30.
- Oskar Fischinger “Space Light Art” at The Whitney Museum. $18 general, $12 students/seniors. Pay-as-you-wish Friday 6:00 to 9:00 pm. Closed Monday/Tuesday. Ends October 28.
Below listed North-South
Chelsea
- Julika Rudelius “Rituals of Capitalism” at Leo Koenig Gallery, 545 West 23 Street. Open Mon-Fri 11:00 am to 6:00 pm. Ends September 8.
- “Commercial Psycho” at Andrew Kreps Gallery, 525 West 22 Street. Work by Chantal Akerman, Mark Leckey, William Wegman, Clegg & Guttmann, Jan Groover, Suzy Lake, Sabine Reitmaier, Franz Erhard Walther and Christopher Williams. Open Mon-Fria 10:00 am to 6:00 pm. Ends August 24.