John Carpenter Slashes the Silver Screen at BAM Retrospective

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Friday, 26 December 2014 17:43

Written by Renzo Adler

From the blasted ruins of New York, to the frozen wastes of Antartica and beyond, John Carpenter has re-shaped action, suspense, horror and sci-fi with his hands-on approach to genre film, and a distinct sound design. From February 5th to the 22nd, 2015 the BAM Rose Cinema  and BAM Cinematek (30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY) will pay tribute to the maestro of movie malevolence with John Capenter: Master of Fear.

Opening the festival on February 5 is a one night only one on one conversation between Carpenter and Brooke Gladstone of NPR’s On the Media. Over the course of the fest is a showing of the finest films from Carpenter’s cinematic history:

• Halloween
• Escape From New York
• The Thing
• The Fog
• Starman
• Big Trouble in Little China (my personal fave)
• Dark Star
• Prince of Darkness

Also selected are several of Carpenter’s favorite films, such as William Friedkin’s suspenseful Sorcerer, Peckinpah’s gripping Straw Dogs and the sci-fi classic that’s equal parts schlock, Freud, and Shakespeare: Forbidden Planet.

John Carpenter's work in cinema both built up genres and teared down conventions as he made the mundane suburban neighborhood into a place of sheer terror while also making men beyond the stars funny and loveable. Tickets are on sale now.

To learn more, go to: http://www.bam.org/

John Carpenter: Master of Fear
February 5 - 22, 2015

BAM Cinematek
30 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217

Film Society Showcases Spanish Comedies

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

Category: Previews

Published on Thursday, 04 December 2014 10:05

Written by Jack Angstreich

From December 12th to the 18th, the Film Society of Lincoln Center will be presenting a series called The Last Laugh: An Alternate History of Spanish Comedy, which aims to canvas a “grotesque” tradition in that national cinema. It seems that this retrospective is typically and regrettably over-representative of recent works but a few films from the Golden Age of Spanish movies will be featured including an early work by the formidable Marco Ferreri, The Little Coach, co-scripted by, and adapted from the novel by, the eminent screenwriter and author, Rafael Azcona — the illustrious careers in cinema of both Ferreri and Azcona began together and the latter went on to author the wonderful Il Mafioso of Alberto Lattuada and to brilliantly collaborate with Carlos Saura.

The most significant of Azcona’s collaborations, beside those with Ferreri and Saura, was with the remarkable Luis García Berlanga, who was the subject of a memorable Film Society retrospective a few years ago. One of Azcona’s most impressive scripts and one of Berlanga’s finest films was the classic El Verdugo, which is a highlight of this series, about an undertaker, beautifully played by the great Italian star, Nino Manfredi, who finds himself placed against his will in the role of executioner. This work is, to a large degree, a subtle and ingenious bureaucratic satire but sustains an undercurrent of unexpectedly moving pathos. (The great Spanish comic actor, José Luis López Vásquez, who starred in many Berlanga films — and whom the filmmakers wanted for Manfredi’s part — is terrific in a small role as the undertaker’s brother.)

El Verdugo is one of Berlanga’s most stylistically accomplished works, excellent photographed by the extraordinary Tonino Delli Colli, who is especially famous for his magnificent collaborations with Pier Paolo Pasolini and Sergio Leone. In this film, the director favors the sequence-shot and compositions in depth, achieving a truly Bazinian realism. The visual effect of Berlanga’s approach is enhanced by the glorious 35-millimeter print being screened, which although it is slightly dirty and worn, conveys the splendors of this vanishing art.

Lawyers, Lovers, & Lawbreakers at the 12th Korean Film Festival

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Parent Category: Film Festivals

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Published on Monday, 17 November 2014 17:48

Written by Renzo Adler

Futureless Things

Subway Cinema, who previously brought us the New York Asian Film Festival, in conjunction with the Korean Society and the BAMcinematek, the 12th Korean Film Festival (November 20 - 23, 2014) continues to bring new and daring films from Korea to the screens of the BAMcinematek and BAM Rose Cinemas (30 Lafayette Ave, New York, NY 11217).

For over a decade Subway Cinema has helped bring the works of directors like Johnnie To (Drug Wars) and Tsui Hark (Once Upon a Time in China) to the US, along with presenting Asian films, past and present, that bend minds and genres. The Korean Film Festival features seven films:

• The Attorney, directed by Yang Woo-seok
  Based on the true story of former South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun, The Attorney deals with a shady lawyer that gets pulled into a world of politics an intrigue.
  
  
• Gyeongju, directed by Zhang Lu
  After a Peking University professor attends the funeral of a friend in the city of Gyeongju, he goes on an aimless journey seeking spiritual and sexual satisfaction. This is the film’s US premiere.
  
  
• A Hard Day, directed by Kim Seong-hun
  A detective accidentally runs over and kills someone on a deserted highway, and now he must hide the body as strange events cause karma to catch up with him.
  
  
• The Pirates, directed by Lee Suk-hoon
  A jaunty adventure in the vein of Pirates of the Caribbean with a dash of wuxia follows a lady pirate and her lover as they traverse an ocean full of bandits, brigands, and beasts.
  
  
• Man on High Heels, directed by Jang Jin
  A strange subversion of the detective genre, Man on High Heels follows a hard-boiled gumshoe that wants to get a sex change operation, but first must deal with a gang that’s after his friends and family.
  
  
• The Admiral: Roaring Currents, directed by Kim Han-min
  A massive blockbuster depicting the 1597 Battle of Myeongryang, in which Admiral Yi Sun-shin, along with a small fleet of ships, must fight back against a massive wave of Japanese invaders.
  
  
• Futureless Things, directed by Kim Kyung-mook.
  This episodic comedy follows 24 hours in the lives of social outcasts, convenience store clerks, drop-outs, and defectors as they lead lives seemingly invisible to South Korean society.

The 12th Korean Film Festival looks geared up to bring some truly unique films out of South Korea, with a little something for everybody.

To learn more, go to: http://www.bam.org/nykff

The 12th Korean Film Festival
November 20 - 23, 2014

BAM Rose Cinemas
30 Lafayette Ave.
New York, NY 11217