The second half of February at the Castro Theatre features a major salute to the art of cinematography, showcasing work that's best appreciated on our movie palace's big screen.
Jules and Jim (1962) Francois Truffaut was notably nervous about the commercial reception for this experimental romance between two men and a woman. Spanning over 25 years, it's the relationship between two friends and the object of their mutual obsession: a career peak for Jeanne Moreau as Catherine, enticing if not seducing adult naifs Jules (Oskar Werner) and Jim (Henri Serre) into one of cinema's most captivating romantic triangles. (2/18, French with English subtitles)
Fans of Jules and Jim should check out openly gay director Andrew Fleming's lovely homage Threesome. This daring 1993 entry carried the tag-line, "One girl, two guys, three possibilities." Featuring future Good Wife star Josh Charles along with Stephen Baldwin and Lara Flynn Boyle, this remains a sassy sendup of the messy realities of college life as well as the perils of dorm living, an ahead-of-its-time comedy that is in some ways better than Truffaut. (Tri Star DVD)
The Summer of Sangaile (2015) A Lithuanian lesbian teen romance? This lyrically romantic tale from writer-director Alante Kavaite finds its 17-year-old heroine bidding her time on the edge of a small airport. (2/18, Lithuanian with English subtitles)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971) This extraordinary visual and sound treat is probably as close as Hollywood has got to the real feel of life in the frontier West since George Stevens' Shane. In perhaps his finest role, Warren Beatty is a charming brothel owner/gambler who overplays his hand with Julie Christie, equally brilliant as his business partner. Leonard Cohen's songs provide haunting commentary in an early test of director Robert Altman's decidedly original style. (2/21)
Bound for Glory (1976) If it's possible to summon up nostalgia for soup lines, hobos on freight trains and caravans of lost souls stretching across a once-bountiful land, Hal Ashby's bio of proud socialist/folksinger Woody Guthrie will do the trick. This film is a must-see treat for the growing legions of young Americans signing up for Bernie Sanders. David Carradine headlines this first feature shot on the new Stedicam camera. Haskell Wexler notched a second Oscar for cinematography. With Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon and Randy Quaid. (2/21)
In the Heat of the Night (1967) This slick but provocative melodrama features a feisty two-hander between a redneck Southern cop (an Oscar-winner for scene-stealing Rod Steiger) and a prickly African American big-city police detective (the penultimate Sidney Poitier righteous-dude turn), whose line still resonates half-a-century later: "They call me Mister Tibbs!" Canadian-born director Norman Jewison delivers a socially conscious thriller that still packs a punch. (2/23)
No Subtitles Necessary: Laszlo & Vilmos (2008) The highlight of the Castro's salute to the art of the cinematographer, director/camera visionary James Chressanthis presents the story of a pair of Hungarian film students escaping their Iron Curtain homeland in 1956 with just a camera and a shopping bag full of film. Over a half-century, Laszlo Kovacs and Vilmos Zsigmond would cement their friendship while revolutionizing the art of the camera. Featuring conversations with colleagues and highlights from their stellar resumes: appearances and insights from Karen Black, Peter Bogdanovich, Sandra Bullock, Richard Donner, Dennis Hopper, Tatum O'Neal, Jon Voight, John Williams and Sharon Stone. (2/23)
Deliverance (1972) Never has a simple weekend camping trip gone so horribly awry than in John Boorman's taut cautionary tale. Set in a lush backwoods section of rural Georgia, the film follows four tenderfoots who get in way over their heads with both backwoods natives and a raging-rapids river trip that demonstrates the power of Mother Nature to trump hubris and carefully laid plans. With Jon Voight, Burt Reynolds (who just turned 80, here in all his macho cover-boy glory), Ned Beatty (in a harrowing, emasculating encounter) and Ronny Cox. (2/23)
Scarface (1932) This still-potent gangster flick was originally titled Scarface: The Shame of the Nation. The Howard Hawks-directed melodrama is a portrait of a brutal master criminal, believed to be modeled after Chicago mobster Al Capone, demonstrating both the downside of Prohibition and the reason why the forces of organized morality wanted to rein in the movies. Starring Paul Muni, Ann Dovrak, Boris Karloff, Karen Morley. Photographed by Lee Garmes. (2/24)
Two Seconds (1932) A man on death row relives the circumstances that brought him to this cruel fate, seconds before his execution. With a bravura turn from its charismatic lead, Edward G. Robinson. A great treat for younger viewers unaware of the power of the Hollywood gangsters played by Robinson and Silver Screen tough guys like James Cagney. This Robinson performance stands in stark contrast to the great actor's more mature work, such as the mentor to Fred MacMurry's homicidal insurance salesman in Double Indemnity. Featuring Vivienne Osborne, Guy Kibbee, Preston Foster, J. Carrol Naish. Photographed by Sol Polito. Directed by Mervyn Le Roy. (2/24)
Peaches Christ presents Sister Act , with pre-show parody Mister Act, starring Latrice Royale, Peaches Christ, Kylie Minono, Sister Roma. (2/27)
Sing-along Frozen (2013) An animated feature based on Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen." (2/28)
America, America (1963) Director Elia Kazan delivers the tale of an ethnic Greek immigrant's journey to this country (Stavros Topouzoglou, played by Stathis Giallelis) from his rural town in Turkish Anatolia. (2/28)
Heaven's Gate (1980) The movie that destroyed a studio (the early-80s version of United Artists) has never really had a fair hearing. On the heels of his multi-Oscar Vietnam-era epic The Deer Hunter, Michael Cimino went for broke with a big-budget version of the Johnson County War waged by cattle barons against recent European immigrants. Is there a story lurking under nearly four hours of beautiful cinematography and a high-powered cast headed up by charismatic actor-country singer Kris Kristofferson? With Isabelle Huppert, Christopher Walken, Sam Waterston and Jeff Bridges. This is the original theatrical cut, 219 min. with intermission. (2/28)
Final Cut: Dreams and Disaster in the Making of Heaven's Gate by Steven Bach, one of the film's co-producers, is a witty and entertaining autopsy on the Hollywood system of the day. (William Morrow & Co.)