Sunday's parting shots

At Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue and 12th Street... when you think the 2-hour and 59-minute "Beau Is Afraid" is almost over, but you realize there are still 85 minutes left...

Thursday's parting movie recommendation

"Enys Men" officially opens tomorrow at Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue at 12th Street ... and the Regal Union Square. 

We caught an early screening this week ... and used these emojis to describe it on social media 🤯 and! 😳. (What are words for?) 

The official description: 

A wildlife volunteer on an uninhabited island off the British coast descends into a terrifying madness that challenges her grip on reality and pushes her into a living nightmare. Evoking the feeling of discovering a reel of never-before-seen celluloid unspooling in a haunted movie palace, this provocative and masterful vision of horror asserts Mark Jenkin as one of the U.K.'s most exciting and singular filmmakers.

[Side note: Jenkin's 2019 film "Bait" is also now playing at the Village East.] 

If you like low-budget experimental folk horror films shot on 16mm... "Enys Men" is for you!

Tuesday's parting shots

Oscar nominations were announced this morning... and, FWIW, several of those films are playing at the Village East by Angelika on Second Avenue at 12th Street... where three of the EVG f2022 avorites are — "Tár," "Aftersun" and "Decision to Leave" ...

Somehow, "Decision to Leave" wasn't nominated in a single category. Also, the Academy didn't nominate any women directors despite plenty of worthy films. (See Sarah Polley, "Women Talking" ... Gina Prince-Bythewood, "The Woman King" ... and Charlotte Wells, "Aftersun," among others.)

A 'Decision' to go see this movie

Park Chan-wook's well-regarded South Korean crime drama "Decision To Leave" continues its theatrical release (it opened on Oct. 14 at the Angelika, where it remains). 

The film arrived yesterday for a run at Metrograph down on Ludlow. (All the screenings look to be sold out.) It's also playing at Essex Crossing on Delancey and the Alamo Drafthouse in the Financial District. 

Chan-wook, whose work includes "Oldboy" and "The Handmaiden," was the winner of best director at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival 

Highly recommended, if this looks like your thing...

 

Now playing: The East Village Queer Film Festival; Utterly Winona; Bowie as Ziggy Stardust

[The Wild Project on 3rd Street]

The East Village Queer Film Festival is underway (as of last evening) at the Wild Project on Third Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. You can find the lineup of films and accompanying events, playing through Sunday, right here.

And here are a few more films that may be of interest...

• "Madonna: Truth of Dare" — Hedda Lettuce is hosting an interactive cinematic experience for the documentary that chronicled Madge's Blond Ambition tour in 1990. Aug. 22 (tomorrow!) at 7:30 p.m., City Cinemas Village East (Details here)

• Larry Clark retrospective — The Metrograph down on Ludlow Street is hosting a slate of Clark's films, including "Bully," "Wassup Rockers" and "Another Day in Paradise," starting on Saturday. (Details here.)

• Utterly Winona — The Quad Cinema's Winona Ryder retrospective continues on 13th Street between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue. Upcoming screenings include "Edward Scissorhands," "The Age of Innocence" and "Mermaids." (Details here.)

• Rock 'N' Film — The Anthology Film Archives, on Second Street and Second Avenue, has several titles left to screen in its rock 'n' roll retrospective including the documentaries "Wattstax" and "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars." (Details here)

• "Suddenly, Last Summer" — The 1959 Southern Gothic classic with Elizabeth Taylor, Katharine Hepburn and Montgomery Clift plays for free tomorrow evening at 5 at the Tompkins Square Library branch on 10th Street between Avenue A and Avenue B. (Details here)

'Fast Times at Ridgemont High' getting the 35th anniversary treatment at Union Square

Here's the official blurb about the 35th anniversary screening....

Fathom Events, Turner Classic Movies and Universal Pictures are bringing Fast Times at Ridgemont High to select cinemas nationwide for a special two-day event, which also includes an introduction from a TCM host. Academy Award winner Sean Penn stars in the film that defined the outrageous and bold teen comedy genre.

It's playing Sunday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and again on Wednesday at the same (fast)times at Regal Union Square Stadium 14 on 13th Street and Broadway. Find more details here.

And now, the dated trailer...

Desperately Seeking 1985 New York City

There's a free screening tonight of 1985's Desperately Seeking Susan at McCarren Park Pool in Greenpoint. It's a silly movie (stolen ancient Egyptian earrings! amnesia! mistaken identities!) that I enjoy watching every summer. (In fact, I just watched it Sunday night.) As Brian J. Dillard writes in his review at allmovie.com, "A classic Hollywood screwball comedy transposed to modern-day Manhattan, Desperately Seeking Susan offered mid-'80s moviegoers a mall-friendly version of hip New York style, much like Madonna did throughout her early musical career." Hmm, that's about right. I like it for a lot of reasons, such as seeing youngish John Turturro, Steven Wright and Giancarlo Esposito, among others, in small roles. And director Susan Seidelman rounded out the film with several downtown musicians/performers -- Richard Edson, Rockets Redglare, Richard Hell, John Lurie, Arto Lindsay, Ann Magnuson. And, of course, you get to see some mid-1980s New York, including several scenes in the East Village. (Nice, too, that many of these places are still around some 23 years later, including Gem Spa, Trash & Vaudeville, B & H Dairy and Love Saves the Day.)

Wacky Neighbor had a post on Susan's production design in September 2004. As he notes, the players behind the look of the film were Woody Allen regulars at the time.

Meanwhile, here are a few screenshots from Desperately Seeking Susan.

On St. Mark's.

On Second Avenue.

In front of Love Saves the Day.

Ohhh! Don't mess with the guy with the bucket of the Colonel hanging around Second Avenue and 7th Street!

Scary clubgoers! Do all New Yorkers look like this?!

Outside the Magic Club. (In the film, the club is said to be on Broadway. According to Wikipedia, some of the interiors and exteriors were filmed in Harlem.)

Now, some Desperately Seeking Susan trivia from Wikipedia, which means it may or may not be right:
* The filmakers had initially wanted Diane Keaton and Goldie Hawn to play the roles of Roberta and Susan. But the director decided to cast newcomers Rosanna Arquette and Madonna instead. 

* Bruce Willis was up for the role of Dez. Melanie Griffith was up for the part of Susan as well.
* Madonna barely beat out Ellen Barkin to the part of Susan. Barkin was the producers first choice for the part, but the director claimed Barkin had a lack of substance.
* The Statue of Liberty can be seen in the film when it is still covered in scaffolding during its two year renovation.
* The DVD commentary track for the film (recorded in 1996) noted that after Madonna's first screen test, the producers asked her to take four weeks of acting lessons and get screen-tested again. Although the second screen test wasn't much of an improvement, the director still wanted her for the role, as much for her presence and sense of style as for anything else.
* The 1964 sci-fi movie The Time Travelers is playing in scenes 6 and 23 (melts at the end of the movie).
* The movie was originally filmed in the summer of 1984, early in Madonna's rise to popularity, and was intended to be an R-rated feature. However, following the success of the singer's 1984-85 hits "Like a Virgin" and "Material Girl," the film was trimmed in content by Orion Pictures in order to receive a PG-13 rating in order for Madonna's teenage fanbase to be able to see it
* The interior / exterior shots of The Magic Club were filmed in Harlem.
* Some of the scenes were filmed in Danceteria, a club that Madonna frequented and which gave her a start in the music business.

Previously on EV Grieve:
In case why you were wondering why some SATC fans are now into Richard Hell

They just didn't get it

A quick note on the end of "Siskel & Ebert"/"Ebert & Roeper." As Roger Ebert noted yesterday on his Web site, "After 33 years on the air, 23 of them with Disney, the studio has decided to take the program named 'Siskel & Ebert' and then 'Ebert & Roeper' in a new direction. I will no longer be associated with it."

I still haven't forgiven them (from 1989!) for trashing one of the greatest bad films ever (partially) shot in NYC.

Hmm, feel like seeing a movie at my neighborhood theater -- what shall I see?

EV Grieve goes to the movies (not often, though): "If people don't like it now, they will"

I'm not one to go around recommending movies. But! There's an excellent documentary opening tonight at the Anthology Film Archives. My Name is Albert Ayler explores the free jazz saxophonist’s too-short life and legacy. It plays through Tuesday night.

I had a chance to see the film during its premiere at the Anthology Film Archives last November. It's directed by Swedish filmmaker Kasper Collin, who spoke about Ayler after the November screening. This is the result of nearly seven years of work. He built the film around various audio recordings of Ayler’s voice from interviews. Collin also found archival footage from Stockholm and New York featuring some scorching live performances. All this is rounded out by talking head interviews with friends, family and musicians who knew Ayler. Their stories are just a small part of the film, which humanizes the enigmatic musician who died in 1975. He was 34.

Oh, and that headline? Ever confident, Ayler always had this to say about his rather jarring brand of jazz, “If people don’t like it now, they will.”

Here's a little background on Ayler: