There's no place like 'News From Home'

Metrograph has several screenings of Chantal Akerman's 1976 time capsule "News From Home" coming up this afternoon and in the days ahead. 

Per the description: 

Akerman was 26 years old and living in New York City, away from her native Belgium and her mother, when she teamed with DP Babette Mangolte to film this diary/essay/poem in subway stations and on street corners, their images to eventually be paired with Akerman's recitals of her mother's fretful letters. Arguably this extraordinary filmmaker's most perfect and poignant nonfiction work, both one of the greatest portraits of a city ever put on film and a troubling, touching depiction of maternal love. 

Locations include scenes outside Veselka on Second Avenue. (You'll catch a glimpse of the St. Marks Cinema marquee too.) 

Viewings include today (Saturday) at 3 p.m. ... plus Monday and Thursday evening. Find ticket info here. 

Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St. just north of Canal.

A return to 'Alphabet City' at Metrograph

At 19, they gave Johnny the streets and everything on it. Tonight they want it all back! 

You have three chances to see the cult-y classic-ish "Alphabet City" from 1984 on a big screen at Metrograph this coming Friday, Saturday and Monday. 

Here's the Metrograph description of Amos Poe's crime drama, filmed in and around the East Village... 

A squalid slab of vintage '80s Downtown grottiness, Poe's features a leather-jacketed, Pontiac Firebird-driving Vincent Spano as a heroin dealer who decides to turn his back on the dope game when his gangster overlords command him to burn down the tenement building where his mother and sister live — but soon discovers his bosses aren't going to let him walk away without a fight. 

Shot by DP Oliver Wood in the scuzzy-glamorous style he would later perfect on 'Miami Vice,' with a score courtesy of Chic's Nile Rodgers, 'Alphabet City' is a seedy snapshot of Avenue A looking worse — and better — than it ever did. 

Behold...

 

And Poe will be at the theater for an introduction and Q&A during Saturday night's screening. 

Tickets, right this way. 

Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St., just above Canal.

Some of the very best of Donald Sutherland at Metrograph

On Friday, Metrograph down on Ludlow Street unveils a "Sutherland Tales" retrospective featuring an array of Donald Sutherland's more memorable roles. (Marking Dec. 3 and Dec. 4 for the screenings of "Klute.")

Per the Metrograph: 

Sutherland brought a contemporary counterculture sensibility to two period war films of 1970— Robert Altman’s M*A*S*H and Brian G. Hutton’s Kelly’s Heroes — and he hasn’t been long out of work since, racking up a list of credits that’s rich with classic films and unforgettable performances.

   

Find more info on the retrospective here. 

P.S. 

Not included in this series... his fine supporting role as Professor Jennings in "Animal House" ...

 

The grit and glamour of 1982's 'Smithereens' coming to Metrograph in the days ahead

"Smithereens," the dark comedy from 1982 filmed in part in the East Village, makes a return engagement this weekend (and next week) to the Metrograph, 7 Ludlow St. between Hester and Canal.

The film, which marked Susan Seidelman's directorial debut, is set in the East Village (and other downtown locales). Wren (Susan Berman), a suburban New Jersey native, is eager for downtown fame, plastering "missing" posters of herself on the subway and elsewhere. She sees a meal ticket in Eric (Richard Hell), the hot guy with a short attention span in a band. And there's the too-nice Paul (Brad Rijn), who pursues the uninterested Wren. Love!

Go here for showtimes. You can read the EVG interview with Seidelman from 2016 here.

And a making-of featurette for you with Seidelman and Berman ...

A chance to see the 1956 film classic 'On the Bowery' on a big screen

If you haven't seen it... or want to watch it again... Lionel Rogosin's 1956 documentary "On the Bowery" is screening over the next few days at Metrograph. 

Here's what Criterion has to say about the 65-minute film:

Lionel Rogosin's landmark of American neorealism chronicles three days in the drinking life of Ray Salyer, a part-time railroad worker adrift on New York's skid row, the Bowery. When the film first opened in 1956, it exploded onto the screen, burning away years of Hollywood artifice, jump-starting America’s postwar independent-film scene ... 

Developed in close collaboration with the men Rogosin met while spending months hanging out in neighborhood bars, "On the Bowery" is both an indispensable document of a bygone Manhattan and a vivid and devastating portrait of addiction.

The film was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1957. 

Check out the trailer here...

   

Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St. just north of Canal. Find the movie times here.

And this screening is part of a larger Rogosin retrospective at the theater.

Kim's Video lives on with 'Staff Picks' at Metrograph

Metrograph is honoring one of the greatest places you loved to hate in a new series titled "Staff Picks: Kim's Video," which gets underway today (Friday!).

Cutting and pasting the entire description right here:

The Kim’s Video empire started out in an enterprising immigrant hustler’s East Village laundromat on Avenue A, a joint that ran a dodgy sideline renting VHS tapes out of cardboard boxes and laundry baskets. It became a legendary New York City institution — a discount film school, with outlets as far as exotic Jersey City and a multi-story flagship located in a former bathhouse on St. Mark’s Place, famous for cranky behind-the-counter attitudes, dismal wages, and a mind-boggling selection. 

After the closing of its final location in 2014, Kim’s faded into the mists of legend: an exceptional place, but also representative of a broader international video store culture that’s long hovered on the brink of extinction.

Kim’s is gone but far from forgotten, and so Metrograph salutes the esoteric eclecticism of Kim’s Video with a series made up of film selections and introductions by a number of former store clerks who’ve gone on to better things still branded for life by their time, as well as the mysterious Mr. Kim himself. 

Staff Picks will continue throughout 2022, each month featuring selections that celebrate the small and specialty video stores, independent theatres, and community hubs where passionate film lovers gather. Titles include selections by Isabel Gillies, Lorry Kikta, Ralph McKay, Alex Ross Perry, Sean Price Williams, Mr. Kim, and more.

Find out more about the series and ticket info here. Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St. just above Canal.

And some flashbacking for you, courtesy of dyske.com ... here's a look at Kim's Video when it was at 85 Avenue A (now Somtum Der) between Fifth Street and Sixth Street (click on the image for a bigger view!)

Kim's on A closed in the summer of 2004. 

And! Memories!

I was just reminiscing about Kim's on A! For a freelance piece on the worst college films ever, I asked if they had 'Revenge of the Nerds II: Nerds in Paradise.' To my great surprise, they did! In disgust, the clerk bounced the tape off the counter and it hit me in the chest. 😍

— evgrieve (@evgrieve) January 20, 2022

Kurt Russell to the rescue at Metrograph

Metrograph, the two-screen cinema down on Ludlow Street just north of Canal, is paying tribute to Kurt Russell in an 11-film retrospective that unspools starting tomorrow (and running through Jan. 19).

Per the series description:

Kurt Russell is the platonic ideal of a macho American movie star: lantern jaw, dimpled chin, heroic bouffant… the works. The pleasure of Russell’s filmography is that he doesn’t shy away from this fact, but embraces it, goofs around with it. 

Sure. But!

Bottom line: Kurt Russell is the greatest and everybody basically knows this, so we’re running a bunch of Kurt Russell movies. It’s just that simple. 

"Kurt Russell: It's All in the Reflexes" includes some underrated gems ("Used Cars" and "Breakdown") ... some cheesy guilty pleasures ("Executive Decision" and "Tango & Cash") ... the cultyish ("Big Trouble in Little China") ... and the KR classics ("Escape From New York" and "The Thing.")

Find showtimes here. 

And it will be good to see this again on a big screen...

 

True 'Blue' — lost Dennis Hopper classic finds its way to the Metrograph

The new 4K restoration of Dennis Hopper's 1980 forgotten classic "Out of the Blue" is now playing at Metrograph, 7 Ludlow St. 

You may know the backstory. "Blue" premiered at the 1980 Cannes Film Festival but reportedly didn't get a proper release because it was considered too bleak for U.S. audiences. Thanks in part to a campaign by Chloë Sevigny and Natasha Lyonne, "Blue," a grim, unsettling film featuring an extraordinary performance by a teenage Linda Manz, is receiving a theatrical release.

The thumbnail plot via IMDB: "A young girl whose father [ed note: played by the very Dennis Hopper-y Dennis Hopper] is an ex-convict and whose mother is a junkie finds it difficult to conform and tries to find comfort in a quirky combination of Elvis and the punk scene." 

And it may be the most punk rock movie ever made. Per a 2019 essay by Sheila O’Malley at Film Comment:

"Out of the Blue" howls from the center of the whirlwind. Up through its violent and inevitable ending, the film takes punk rock at its word

And...

Our culture rarely welcomes a vision as nihilistic as "Out of the Blue." But the film has a tremendous and frightening power. The most punk rock thing about it is that it stares "into the black" — and it doesn’t blink.

 

I haven't stopped thinking about the film since seeing it yesterday. You can find the Metrograph showtimes here. The film is also part of Metrograph's "Punks Don't Go Home for Thanksgiving" series.

Metrograph and its Commissary reopen TODAY on Ludlow Street

Metrograph, the two-screen cinema down on Ludlow Street, reopens today for in-person screenings for the first time since March 2020. (Previously reported here.)

The Metrograph-y first slate includes a new 4K restoration of Andrzej Żuławski's horror cult classic "Possession" ... an Eastwood x 4 series and "We Won't Grow Old Together," a divorce-themed collection including "Journey to Italy" and "The Awful Truth."

They are also offering Metrograph at Home subscriptions that include live streaming events, special premieres and exclusive films ... with $10 tickets at the box office.

In addition, Metrograph's Commissary upstairs reopens this evening. The bar-dining area will be in service Thursday through Sunday, returning to daily service on Oct. 14.

Find the theater down at 7 Ludlow St. between Hester and Canal.

Metrograph sets Oct. 1 reopening date

The Metrograph returns to in-person screenings on Oct. 1, management of the independent two-screen movie theater on the Lower East Side announced yesterday. 

This marks the last theater in the area to reopen its auditoriums to moviegoers since the start of the pandemic in March 2020. Like other theaters, proof of vaccination and masks are required for entry. 

The Metrograph, which has been streaming an array of interesting films (not to mention the Metrograph TV App), will reopen with a new 4K restoration of Andrzej Żuławski's horror cult classic "Possession." (But Sam Neill was so nice in the "Jurassic Park" films!) 

The Commissary at Metrograph will reopen this fall too. The restaurant is currently hiring. 

Find the theater down at 7 Ludlow St. between Hester and Canal.

Image via @MetrographNYC

Metrograph and Club Cumming are open to protestors this weekend

The independent cinema down at 7 Ludlow St. is opening its lobby this weekend (2-6 p.m.) for people taking part in peaceful protests... offering up water and other supplies as well as use of the theater's restrooms.

Metrograph is the latest arts-theater space to take part in the growing Open Your Lobby campaign... other neighborhood participants include the Public Theater ... the New York Theatre Workshop ... and Performance Space New York.

For updated lists on NYC protests, you can visit @justiceforgeorgenyc. And you can make a sign today (starting at noon, and they have supplies) at Amy Van Doran's Modern Love Club, 156 First Ave. between Ninth Street and 10th Street.

Updated:

Club Cumming on Sixth Street between Avenue A and Avenue B is also open to protestors...

View this post on Instagram

We are here if you need us 1pm-5pm Water, Snacks, PPE, First Aid, Restroom #openyourlobby #blacklivesmatter

A post shared by Club Cumming (@clubcumming) on Jun 6, 2020 at 8:15am PDT

'Smithereens' returns to the Metrograph this week

"Smithereens," the dark comedy from 1982 filmed in part in the East Village, makes a return engagement this week to the Metrograph, 7 Ludlow St. between Hester and Canal.

The film, which marked Susan Seidelman's directorial debut, is set in the East Village (and other downtown locales). Wren (Susan Berman), a suburban New Jersey native, is eager for downtown fame, plastering "missing" posters of herself on the subway and elsewhere. She sees a meal ticket in Eric (Richard Hell), the hot guy with a short attention span in a band. And there's the too-nice Paul (Brad Rijn), who pursues the uninterested Wren. Love!



"Smithereens," made for $40,000, was the first American indie invited to compete for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Last July, I spoke with Seidelman about "Smithereens" and her follow-up film, "Desperately Seeking Susan."

Here's what she had to say about the legacy of "Smithereens:"

I think I was trying to document what it felt like to live in that neighborhood in that part of the city at that time. I never really thought about it in terms of whether the film would pass the test of time or be a time capsule or anything.

But the fact that it ended up being pretty authentic to the environment, to the neighborhood, is maybe what enabled it to pass the test of time.

The film plays Wednesday at 2 p.m., Thursday at 5 p.m. and 9:15 p.m., and Sunday at 3:15 p.m. "Smithereens" is screening as part of Metrograph A to Z, a collection of films they think everybody should see.

Previously on EV Grieve:
Q-&-A with Susan Seidelman, director of 'Smithereens' and 'Desperately Seeking Susan'

'The Story of a Junkie' at the Metrograph this week

STORY OF A JUNKIE: A.K.A. GRINGO is an ace character study / docudrama portraying the gritty street life and shooting galleries of the East Village/Alphabet City circa 1984 and magnificent real-life junkie wreck John Spacely (the self-described "Mayor of Saint Marks Place"). Brutal, tender, and—in its final images of Spacely skateboarding through lower Manhattan—transcendent. One of the greats from director Lech Kowalski (Rock Soup, D.O.A., East of Paradise). Playing this Tues and Weds 4/25 + 4/26 as part of Metrograph A to Z, a collection of films we think everyone should see. #johnspaceley #eastvillage #stmarksplace

A post shared by Metrograph (@metrographnyc) on Apr 22, 2017 at 5:00am PDT

The film is playing tomorrow at 5:15 p.m. and 9:15 p.m. and Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. The Metrograph is at 7 Ludlow St. between Canal and Hester. Details here.

Here's the 1st season of programming for the Lower East Side's newest movie theater

Metrograph, a two-theater movie house at 7 Ludlow St., near Canal, has unveiled its first season of programming starting in March.

Among the highlights:

Surrender to the Screen: Watching the Moviegoing Experience (March 4-10)
Titles include: "The Long Day Closes" (Terence Davies, 1992), "Vivre sa Vie" (Jean-Luc Godard, 1962), "Goodbye, Dragon Inn" (Tsai Ming-liang, 2003), "Taxi Driver" (Martin Scorsese, 1976), "Matinee" (Joe Dante, 1993), "Desperately Seeking Susan" (Susan Seidelman, 1985), "Variety" (Bette Gordon, 1983), "Demons (Lamberto Bava, 1985) and more.

Jean Eustache (March 9-17)
Extended engagements of Eustache's two features "The Mother and the Whore" (1973) and "Mes Petites Amoureuses" (1974), along with "Les Mauvaises Fréquentations" (1963), "Santa Claus Has Blue Eyes" (1967) and more rare imported prints. Presented with support from the Cultural Services of the French Embassy and Institut Français. Special thanks to Amélie Garin Davet, Mathieu Fournet, and Françoise Lebrun

Welcome to Metrograph: A-F (March 16 - April 21)
Titles include: "The Age of Innocence" (Martin Scorsese, 1993), "Barry Lyndon" (Stanley Kubrick, 1975), "The Blood of a Poet" (Jean Cocteau, 1932), "Chelsea Girls" (Andy Warhol, 1966, image above), "The Clock" (Vincente Minnelli, 1945), "Comrades: Almost A Love Story" (Peter Chan, 1996), "Deux fois" (Jackie Raynal, 1968), "The Devil Probably" (Robert Bresson, 1977), "Dr. Jekyll and Mr Hyde" (Rouben Mamoulian, 1931), "Equinox Flower" (Yasujiro Ozu, 1958), and more. All films on 35mm or 16mm.

Randomly, the trailer for "The Clock" to break up all this copy...



Old and Improved (Sundays Beginning March 20)
Every Sunday starting March 20, we’re pleased to present a new preservation or restoration. In some cases, these screenings mark the first times these prints have shown to the public. Titles include Dorothy Arzner’s "Craig's Wife" (1936), Garson Kanin’s "My Favorite Wife" (1940), Josef von Sternberg's "Crime and Punishment (1935), Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s "Mysterious Object at Noon" (2000), Djibril Diop Mambéty's "Touki Bouki" (1973), and Joyce Chopra's "Joyce at 34" (1972) plus shorts from New York's Youth Film Distribution Center. All titles on 35mm or 16mm.

Three Wiseman (March 25 - April 14)
Among the greatest and most influential documentary filmmakers who ever lived, Frederick Wiseman is more than just a capturer of reality on screen: he’s a conjurer of unforgettable images and a true artist, chronicling the last half century of American life. Metrograph will show three of his earliest masterpieces — "Titicut Follies" (1967), "High School" (1968), and "Hospital" (1970) — in new 35mm prints. The films were preserved by the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center from original camera negatives in the Zipporah Films Collection.

Indiewire, The Lo-Down and DNAinfo each had sizable previews with the full schedules.

For more on Metrograph and its founder, Alexander Och, head on over to The Lo-Down.

Meanwhile, I'll end with a plug for one of my favorite places in the neighborhood — Anthology Film Archives on Second Avenue and East Second Street.

Report: Arthouse cinema, bookshop planned for Ludlow Street

[Metrograph rendering]

In case you missed this in the Times yesterday... Alexander Olch, who owns a high-end boutique on Orchard Street, announced his plans to open the Metrograph on Ludlow at Canal early next year.

The ambitious-sounding complex includes a two-screen theater that will feature independent and international movies as well as repertory films, plus a restaurant, café and lounge, and cinema-dedicated bookshop. (Curious how CB3 will view this liquor-license application. They wouldn't approve a full liquor license for the Sunshine Cinema in 2012.)

Anyway, here's more from the Times:

Michael Lieberman, a spokesman for the project, said the design was aimed at creating an inviting space, with a balcony in the larger theater, which will have 175 seats — the second one will have 50 — and chairs fashioned out of wood salvaged from the old Domino Sugar Factory.

Metrograph will reportedly install both digital film projectors and 35mm film.

The film programers will be Jacob Perlin and Aliza Ma. Perlin is currently programmer-at-large at the Film Society of Lincoln Center ... while Ma is a veteran of several high-profile film festivals as well as the Museum of the Moving Image.

Per Indiewire:

"Growing up in Manhattan, I fell in love with movies in theaters which are now sadly gone, like The Beekman and The Plaza," says Metrograph founder and New York-based director Alexander Olch. "To bring glamour, excitement, and prestige back to the exhibition experience has been my longstanding goal."

Visit the Metrograph website to sign up for their newsletter for updates.