Hear ye, LA 35mm film screenings list is here! (Includes some digital.)
This is what's on my personal radar. You can
browse the LA Film Calendars links on my side bar to find even more! → → →
On mobile displays, you may need to click
"Desktop Version" at bottom and then you can see the sidebar.
Sometimes these choices are tonight, FYI, and
not necessarily listed first.
Note: There are no New Beverly listings below
because they are closed for exciting improvements and updates.
UCLA Film & TV Archive
The
Last Dawn (1917, Michael Curtiz)
and
A
Million Bid (1927, Michael Curtiz)
Fri. (tonight) Jan. 12 7:30 pm
Gigantic silent film
nerd alert! (So that’s just for me mainly.) Two rare, rare, rare silent films
from Michael Curtiz, yes, the director of Casablanca
(and literally nothing else, right?). If you’ve never experienced a silent film
properly in a theater, on 35mm, with live musical accompaniment, as is the case
here, you should go! It’s like seeing it how it originally was in 1917 and 1927.
See what the towering art form of the age was doing before sound came in.
Everyone was going to these. The first is a film from back when Curtiz was in
Hungary, before his success brought him to Hollywood’s attention. And A Million Bid is his second Hollywood
film, starring Dolores Costello and Warner Oland. (These are silent film stars
you become familiar with as you delve into this other world of great films.) I
don’t know if I can even find pictures from these films to post below, that’s
how rare these are! (Okay, I found some.)
LACMA
They Live (1988, John Carpenter)
They Live (1988, John Carpenter)
Thur. Jan. 18 7:30 pm
For those who missed
They Live in 35mm at the New Beverly,
you get another shot! Presented by Film Independent, the famous sci-fi cult
film starring Roddy Piper and directed by John Carpenter will give you a
chuckle and a good time, especially on its original screening format of 35mm. I
can’t really describe it as a masterpiece, but it’s fun and quirky. But fans of
it are positively rabid, so join them..!
Downtown Independent
Org (1979, Fernando Birri) rare 177-min digital restoration
Tue. Jan. 16 7:30 pm
Org (1979, Fernando Birri) rare 177-min digital restoration
Tue. Jan. 16 7:30 pm
This sounds amazing,
something about switching heads and starring Terrence Hill, the frequent comedy
Spaghetti Western star (most notably My
Name is Nobody by Sergio Leone) and Super Fuzz star..?! But it’s avant-garde, let’s kindly
disclose that. This is co-presented with Los Angeles Film Forum, purveyors of
fine avant-garde fare, but showing in the Downtown Independent’s lovely large
screening facility, and it’s part of that series on Experimental Cinema in
Latin America (in this case Argentinian). Read the link for more details, but
it’s rarely been shown in anything but an abridged version, and it originally
premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 1979.
Aero Theatre
Peeping
Tom (1960, Michael Powell)
and
Diva
(1981, Jean-Jacques Beineix)
Fri. (tonight) Jan. 12 7:30 pm
Peeping Tom is sometimes considered an overlooked British Psycho (of the same year), by one of the great directors of
all-time—well, more specifically he was greatest as part of the directing team
of Powell & Pressburger (The Red
Shoes) and is here off on his own with his most well-known solo effort.
It’s well worth watching. Diva is
considered an ’80s landmark French film, especially for our MTV pop culture
music video world of the time. I don’t recall loving it when I watched it much
later on DVD, but I was probably still too close to the time period. It is a
bit of a suspense thriller if that helps. These screenings are also a tribute
to awesome revival film distributor Rialto Pictures, responsible for many
restoration screenings in theaters of essential foreign and classic films.
There are a few more in the Rialto series, all ironically DCP, but check out
Aero’s site for other worthy items. Both screenings DCP.
Egyptian Theatre
El
Topo (1970, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
and
Fando
& Lis (1968, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Sat. Jan. 13 7:30 pm
Apparently Los
Angeles loves Alejandro Jodorowsky, as they screen his films sooo often! But
they’re intriguing art film experiments, so worth checking out, albeit DCP
screenings here. He also has an exhibit of his art works at Blum & Poe
coming up that this screening is cross-promotion for, but hey if you love
intriguing in-your-face mind-bending cinema, then go for the films. He’s a cult
director who disappeared off the map for a while, but you might have heard
about his latest, well-worth-watching film, Endless
Poetry. So a look back at his prime works is well worth doing. I was a big
fan of Fando & Lis when it came
out on DVD, but weirdly I almost enjoyed it more after hearing his audio
commentary on it. Very enlightening in what he was trying to do with that film.
It’s also his first feature, and if I recall was a bit surrealist and
Buñuelian.
Egyptian Theatre
The
Holy Mountain (1973, Alejandro Jodorowsky) Jodorowsky
in person!
and
Santa
Sangre (1989, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Sun. Jan. 14 7:30 pm
It’s even more
Jodorowsky. Just read the above blurb, please. (Note: site says sold out, but
stand-by line.) Both DCP screenings yeah, sorry, what can you do. But I have
never seen Santa Sangre, oversight on
my part, so might good time to check it out! Holy Mountain’s cult movie status reputation should precede it, but
search the Internet or some books if you don’t know about it.
UCLA Film & TV Archive
Doctor
X (1932, Michael Curtiz)
and
Mystery
of the Wax Museum (1933, Michael Curtiz)
and
The
Kennel Murder Case (1933, Michael Curtiz)
Sat. Jan. 13 7:30 pm
My curiosity about the
great guy who directed the masterpiece Casablanca
and nothing nearly as well-known doesn’t quite extend to his sound films,
although since I am fascinated by anything silent, was very excited to see his
early silent (!) films on Friday, notated above. However, this is a very
exciting triple feature in 35mm, so if I was going to delve into the
quality of Curtiz’s pre-Casablanca
oeuvre, this would be the optimal way to do it, and if you are a horror genre
aficionado, you don’t really want to miss this rare treat! (Well, the last one
is hard-boiled crime/detective, but close enough.) Also, the first two have Fay
Wray in them (star of 1933 King Kong)
and her work is far too overlooked, so I’d say it’s worth seeing her star turns
here. And you even get Eugene Pallette (the best gruff voice in movie history)
showing up in the third film. Honestly, all in 35mm? I’d say go! The first two
are even in color. For film dates that early (only shortly after sound
in 1927), that is a fairly rare treat. In fact, the first one, Doctor X, is still with two-strip
technicolor, before they developed three-strip! (It looks different,
fascinating to check out.)
Coming Next Week
Egyptian Theatre
The
Dance of Reality (2013, Alejandro Jodorowsky) Jodorowsky
in person!
and
Endless
Poetry (2016, Alejandro Jodorowsky)
Sat. Jan. 20 7:30 pm
So if you were
watching last week for his cult classics being re-screened, here’s where the
resurfacing of Jodorowsky occurred after a long absence. I have seen Endless Poetry and give it an
enthusiastic thumbs-up for Fellini-esque visuals and mind-bending journey, if
not quite as satisfying as a Fellini movie, because it tilts a bit more
avant-garde (but just a bit). It’s really the most artistic thing you might see
created in the current day on this scale (or maybe Twin Peaks: The Return as well). It really straddles that line
between profound personal exploration and narcissism, landing just a tad too
much on the narcissistic side, but not enough for me to not highly recommend it.
Plus I am fascinated by his life story just enough to endure that aspect. So I
have to catch up and watch The Dance of
Reality as they are part of a trilogy (one still to come), and I just
happened to miss that one! I was skeptical of what his return might be, but
it’s really been pretty great. Both screenings DCP, but they were also shot
digitally (pretty sure), so there’s not a better option to see these anyway!
NOTE: He’s in person, and it’s listed as sold out. There will be a standby
line.
Egyptian Theatre
Beauty
and the Beast (1946, Jean Cocteau)
and
Donkey
Skin (1970, Jacques Demy)
Sun. Jan. 21 7:30 pm
Beauty and the Beast is a luminously photographed black-and-white fantasy by a major avant-garde director, Jean Cocteau, being screened here in
luscious 35mm, so should you miss this major work?! No! Okay, I’m slightly
mixing up my memory of that same director’s beautiful Orpheus, and I don’t remember this one quite as well, but we all
know the story so it’s more relatable than most avant-garde films, and I think
it’s not heavy on the avant-garde stuff, so what I’m saying is it’s a great
introduction to Cocteau, and a stupendous way to watch an earlier telling of
this famous tale. Donkey Skin I have
not seen, but Jacques Demy, to me, is hit and miss, but really big when he
hits. So he’s often worth a look, so might as well stay for it! Plus it stars
Catherine Deneuve and Jean Marais. (Beauty
and the Beast in 35mm. Donkey Skin
in DCP).
Egyptian Theatre
Pee-Wee’s
Big Adventure (1985, Tim Burton)
Wed. Jan. 24 7:30 pm
In 35mm with
a devoted audience would be the perfect way to see this, so check it out. It’s
preceded by a podcast recording from Whose
Line Is It Anyway? stellar improv comedian Greg Proops, a very fun event
all around. It’s also a Tim Burton film, in case that does anything for you,
which it should! (Podcast approximately 30 minutes, film starting about 8:00
pm.)
