Cinematheque announces March-April film schedule

[Press release from the Cleveland Cinematheque.]

The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque will show 51 different feature films (or feature-length film programs) between February 27 and April 30, all in the Aitken Auditorium of the Cleveland Institute of Art, 11141 East Boulevard in University Circle. The films fall into four major series:

 

“Premiere Showcase and Special Events” (15 different programs running Feb. 27 – Apr. 19) includes the first Cleveland showings of new films by Michel Gondry and others, in-person visits by Jon Jost and three other filmmakers, the return of Spike & Mike’s Festival of Animation, and more.

 

“The Rossellini / Ingrid Bergman Trinity” (Mar. 1-16) consists of new digital restorations of three revered postwar works—all masterpieces of spiritual cinema—directed by Roberto Rossellini and starring Ingrid Bergman: Stromboli, Europa ’51, and Voyage to Italy.

 

“Bernard Herrmann Weekend” (April 24-27) includes six classic movies with original music by the great composer whose score for Psycho will be performed live by The Cleveland Orchestra at Severance Hall on April 22.

 

“A Second Look” (17 films running Feb. 27 – Apr. 19) brings back to Cleveland some recent favorites that previously showed at the Cinematheque or elsewhere. The series also includes many classic films, including five essential titles distributed by Paramount Pictures. Paramount recently announced that it would stop distributing its new movies on 35mm film, so these screenings of existing film prints may constitute moviegoers’ last chance to see these five classics in the medium in which they were shot.

 

The complete two-month schedule is below. Unless noted, admission to each program is $9, Cinematheque members $7, age 25 & under $6. A second film on the same day generally costs an additional $6. Free parking for filmgoers is available in the adjacent Cleveland Institute of Art lot, located north of the building off of East Blvd. For further information, call John Ewing or Tim Harry at (216) 421-7450 or visit www.cia.edu/cinematheque.

 

Cinematheque programs are supported by Cuyahoga Arts and Culture and the Ohio Arts Council.

Full listing after the break.

FEBRUARY 27 – MARCH 2

 

Thursday, February 27, at 6:45 pm &

Friday, February 28, at 9:30 pm

BIG BAD WOLVES

Israel, 2013, Aharon Keshales, Navot Papushado

Hailed by Quentin Tarantino as "the best film of the year," this darkly funny and gruesome Israeli thriller follows two men, a rogue cop and a vengeful father, who relentlessly pursue a presumed pedophile and child murderer. "Grippingly suspenseful...Mind-bending plot twists and generous doses of mordant humor...Fiendishly clever...Mesmerizing from start to finish." -The Hollywood Reporter. Adults only! Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 110 min. magnetreleasing.com/bigbadwolves/

 

Thursday, February 27, at 8:50 pm &

Friday, February 28, at 7:00 pm

A TOUCH OF SIN

TIAN ZHU DING

China, 2013, Jia Zhangke

Here’s another chance to see one of the most acclaimed films of 2013! Jia Zhangke’s new work marks a radical change of pace for the acclaimed Chinese director of Still Life and The World. A Touch of Sin is an angry contemporary drama that re-creates four under-reported but actual incidents from recent Chinese history—two killing sprees, one murder, and a suicide—all involving dissatisfied or exploited workers. “An explosive indictment of the Chinese economic miracle and its brutalizing effect on ordinary Chinese life.” –Film Comment. Best Screenplay, Cannes 2013. A 2013 New York Film Festival selection. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 128 min. atouchofsin.com/

 

Friday, February 28, at 9:30 pm

BIG BAD WOLVES

See 2/27 at 6:45 for description

 

Saturday, March 1, at 5:00 pm &

Sunday, March 2, at 1:30 pm

The Rossellini / Ingrid Bergman Trinity

STROMBOLI

STROMBOLI, TERRA DI DIO

Italy/USA, 1949, Roberto Rossellini

In her first collaboration with the man who would become her lover and husband, Ingrid Bergman plays a Lithuanian refugee in a post-WWII internment camp. To escape the camp, she marries a simple Italian fisherman and moves with him to Stromboli, a barren volcanic island that is his home. But there she suffers an existential crisis when she can’t adapt to the harsh, primitive living conditions. “Genuinely great.” –Martin Scorsese. New digital restoration! Cleveland revival premiere. Blu-ray. We will show the 106-min. English-language version on Saturday, and the 100-min. Italian version (with subtitles) on Sunday.

 

Saturday, March 1, at 7:05 pm &

Sunday, March 2, at 5:10 pm

IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?: AN ANIMATED CONVERSATION WITH NOAM CHOMSKY

France, 2013, Michel Gondry

This amazing “doctoon" in the tradition of Waking Life animates a conversation between filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep) and philosopher/linguist/activist Noam Chomsky.  As the two men talk—about their pasts, the origins of language, and other heady topics—Gondry amplifies Chomsky's ideas with free-flowing doodles, sketches, and other visual flights of fancy that illustrate, embroider, and comment on what he is hearing (and sometimes understanding). "An inspired meeting of idiosyncratic minds...Simultaneously light-hearted and thought-provoking." -Variety. "A dazzler...A film to see and then to see again." -Village Voice. Cleveland premiere. Blu-ray. 88 min. www.ifcfilms.com/films/is-the-man-who-is-tall-happy

 

Saturday, March 1, at 8:55 pm &

Sunday, March 2, at 3:30 pm

FOLLOWING THE NINTH: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BEETHOVEN’S FINAL SYMPHONY

Germany/USA/UK/Austria/Chile/China/Japan/South Africa, 2011, Kerry Candaele

Recently heralded by both Bill Moyers and NPR, this moving new film examines the life-changing legacy of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. The work, a celebration of peace and harmony, had historic resonance for activists in Pinochet’s Chile, in Cold War East Berlin, and in China’s Tiananmen Square. And it continues to console and inspire hundreds of tsunami-shaken Japanese choristers who gather to sing the “Ode to Joy” every December. “[A] majestic sonic travelogue charting the inextricable relationship between music and the human experience…A documentary as ineffable and transformative in its reach as it sets out to be.” –Village Voice. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 80 min. www.followingtheninth.com

 

Sunday, March 2, at 1:30 pm

STROMBOLI

See 3/1 at 5:00 for description

 

Sunday, March 2, at 3:30 pm

FOLLOWING THE NINTH: IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF BEETHOVEN’S FINAL SYMPHONY

See 3/1 at 8:55 for description

 

Sunday, March 2, at 5:10 pm

IS THE MAN WHO IS TALL HAPPY?

See 3/1 at 7:05 for description

 

NO FILMS SUN. NIGHT MARCH 2

 

MARCH 6-9

 

Thursday, March 6, at 6:45 pm

Filmmaker Jon Jost in Person!

COMING TO TERMS

USA, 2013, Jon Jost

Jon Jost Is one of the most independent and resourceful of American indie filmmakers, having directed 60+ low-budget films (half of them features) in a career spanning  50 years (and the globe). Best known in the U.S. for his 1990 work All the Vermeers in New York, Jost was shown regularly at the Cinematheque in the early nineties. But when he moved oversees late in the decade, we lost track of his work. Tonight he returns to the Cinematheque, in person, to present his latest feature. Coming to Terms is the tale of a dying man (played by experimental filmmaker James Benning, a former Cinematheque guest) who summons his broken family—two sons he hasn’t spoken to in years, and their two mothers—to his side. Jost will answer audience questions after the screening. Cleveland premiere. Blu-ray. 89 min. Special admission $10; members & CIA I.D. holders $8; age 25 & under $7; no passes, twofers, or radio winners. See next blurb for another Jon Jost film. www.jon-jost.com

 

Friday, March 7, at 7:30 pm

Filmmaker Jon Jost in Person!

LAST CHANTS FOR A SLOW DANCE

USA, 1977, Jon Jost

Jon Jost’s first narrative feature remains one of his most important works. Allegedly inspired by the life of Gary Gilmore, the film is a minimalist road movie that dissects macho behavior. It follows an unemployed cowboy drifter (Tom Blair), estranged from his wife and kids, who drives across Montana in his pickup in a half-hearted attempt to find a job. Jost also wrote, shot, and edited the film—and penned the country songs heard in it. He will answer questions after the screening. “My own favorite among Jon Jost's experimental narratives…Powerful and provocative.” –Jonathan Rosenbaum. Blu-ray. 90 min. Special admission $10; members & CIA I.D. holders $8; age 25 & under $7; no passes, twofers, or radio winners. www.jon-jost.com

 

Saturday, March 8, at 5:00 pm &

Sunday, March 9, at 4:00 pm

The Rossellini / Ingrid Bergman Trinity

EUROPA ‘51

aka THE GREATEST LOVE

Italy, 1952, Roberto Rossellini

Ingrid Bergman’s second film with Rossellini was reputedly the director’s favorite of all his movies. Bergman plays an American society woman in Rome who decides to dedicate her life to the poor and the sick after she suffers a shattering family tragedy. But Rossellini wanted to demonstrate the difficulty of being a modern saint, so she pays a hefty price for her newfound altruism. With Giulietta Masina. New digital restoration! Cleveland revival premiere. Blu-ray. We will show the 109-min. English version on Saturday, and the 118-min. Italian version on Sunday.

 

Saturday, March 8, at 7:10 pm &

Sunday, March 9, at 8:30 pm

50^th Anniversary!

THE PAWNBROKER

USA, 1964, Sidney Lumet

Rod Steiger, in the role that made him an A-list movie star, plays a benumbed, emotionally withdrawn concentration camp survivor who runs a pawnshop in a rough section of Harlem. Sidney Lumet’s powerful film (which contains flashes of nudity) pushed the limits of 1964’s Motion Picture Production Code; in 2008 the movie was selected for the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. With Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, and Raymond St. Jacques; music by Quincy Jones. 35mm print from Paramount Pictures. 116 min.

 

Saturday, March 8, at 9:30 pm &

Sunday, March 9, at 6:30 pm

BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL

USA. 2012, Mark Mori

1940s-50s pinup queen Bettie Page tells her own story in tape recordings made in the late '90s (a decade before her death) in this fascinating account of a life and career that helped usher in the sexual revolution. Even when unclothed, Bettie always wore a smile. But her non-modeling life was not always happy, and here she speaks frankly about it without regrets. Includes vintage photos and film clips and interviews with Dita Von Teese, Hugh Hefner, and others. Adults only! Cleveland premiere. Blu-ray. 101 min. www.bettiepagemovie.com/

 

Sunday, March 9, at 4:00 pm

EUROPA ‘51

See 3/8 at 5:00 for description

 

Sunday, March 9, at 6:30 pm

BETTIE PAGE REVEALS ALL

See 3/8 at 9:30 for description

 

Sunday, March 9, at 8:30 pm

THE PAWNBROKER

See 3/8 at 7:10 for description

 

MARCH 13-17

 

Thursday, March 13, at 6:45 pm &

Saturday, March 15, at 9:45 pm

Kurtiss Hare introduces

TO THE WONDER

USA, 2012, Terrence Malick

The latest film from the director of Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line, and Tree of Life employs sublime visuals, snippets of classical music, and snatches of dialogue and voiceover narration to delineate a trans-continental love story between a young French woman (Olga Kurylenko) and an American man (Ben Affleck). The actors and camera never stop moving in this supremely lyrical work that, like Malick’s other movies, is both a paean and a prayer, seeking the eternal in the evanescent. With Javier Bardem and Rachel McAdams. Local film writer Kurtiss Hare (also Film Programmer for The Nightlight in Akron) will introduce both shows. To the Wonder topped Hare’s list of the best films of 2013. 35mm. Some subtitles. 112 min. www.magpictures.com/tothewonder

 

Thursday, March 13, at 9:00 pm &

Friday, March 14, at 7:30 pm

THE SELFISH GIANT

UK, 2013, Clio Barnard

Internationally, this was one of the most acclaimed movies of 2013 (it has a 96% "fresh" rating on RottenTomatoes.com) and it won the 2013 British Independent Film Award for Best British Independent Film. The movie is a slice of working class social realism set in Northern England, about two 13-year-old best friends who go to work for a disreputable scrap metal dealer after they are expelled from school. Phenomenal performances from the entire cast ensure that The Selfish Giant (the title comes from Oscar Wilde) packs a real punch. "Devastating in its simplicity and honesty...A colossus of feeling." -The Village Voice. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 91 min. www.ifcfilms.com/films/the-selfish-giant

 

Friday, March 14, at 9:20 pm &

Sunday, March 16, at 4:30 pm

LIV & INGMAR

Norway/Sweden/UK, 2012, Dheeraj Akolkar

This new documentary charts the 42-year relationship between celebrated actress Liv Ullmann and master Swedish filmmaker Ingmar Bergman. Lovers as well as co-workers, the two made 10 films together, including such masterpieces as Persona, Cries and Whispers, and Scenes from a Marriage. “An anecdotal treasure chest for cinephiles, but more than that, it's a beautifully told love story.” –The Village Voice. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 83 min. www.janusfilms.com/livandingmar/

 

Saturday, March 15, at 5:15 pm &

Sunday, March 16, at 6:30 pm

The Rossellini / Ingrid Bergman Trinity

VOYAGE TO ITALY

aka JOURNEY TO ITALY

VIAGGIO IN ITALIA

Italy/France, 1954, Roberto Rossellini

Ingrid Bergman and George Sanders star in Rossellini’s revered and moving drama, about a British husband and wife whose festering marital problems come to a head as they travel through Italy. The most celebrated of the films Rossellini and Bergman made together, Viaggio in Italia was proclaimed the first modern film by no less than François Truffaut. It has a perfect rating of 100 on Metacritic.com. “[The] most beautiful and magical of films.” –Time Out Film Guide. New digital restoration! In English. Blu-ray. 85 min. www.janusfilms.com

 

Saturday, March 15, at 7:00 pm

IKIRU

aka TO LIVE; LIVING

Japan, 1952, Akira Kurosawa

In one of Kurosawa’s greatest and most moving films, a Japanese career bureaucrat who learns that he is dying from cancer decides to devote his remaining days to doing something meaningful with his life. This beloved classic has a perfect 100% “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com. With Takashi Shimura. Subtitles. 35mm. 143 min. Shown in conjunction with the MOCA Cleveland exhibition DIRGE: Reflections on [Life and] Death, on view March 7 – June 8 at 11400 Euclid Ave. MOCA members can see Ikiru for $7. www.mocacleveland.org

 

Saturday, March 15, at 9:45 pm

TO THE WONDER

See 3/13 at 6:45 for description

 

Sunday, March 16, at 4:30 pm

LIV & INGMAR

See 3/14 at 9:20 for description

 

Sunday, March 16, at 6:30 pm

VOYAGE TO ITALY

See 3/15 at 5:15 for description

 

Sunday, March 16, at 8:15 pm

ESCAPE FROM TOMORROW

USA, 2013, Randy Moore

One of the most daring—and talked-about—movies of the past year! Shot surreptitiously at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, this subversive psychological horror comedy tells of a man in the midst of a mid-life crisis whose family vacation with his wife and two kids devolves into an hallucinatory nightmare. Adults only! Blu-ray. 90 min. escapefromtomorrow.com

 

Monday, March 17, at 7:30 pm

A Special Event!

Eric Grayson presents

COLOR IN THE MOVIES

USA, various years, various directors

Indiana-based film historian and collector Eric Grayson appears in person tonight to present a brief illustrated history of motion picture color. Using rare and beautiful film clips from his extensive personal collection, Grayson will demonstrate that, contrary to conventional wisdom, movie color existed years before The Wizard of Oz. He’ll also talk about (and show) a wide variety of processes (Kinemacolor, Technicolor, Kodachrome, Eastman color, et al.). Nothing digital will be projected—and no PowerPoint either! Just real film from real reels! 16/35mm. Total approx. 120 min. Special admission $10; Cinematheque members & CIA I.D. holders $8; age 25 & under $7; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

 

MARCH 21-22

 

Friday, March 21, at 7:30 pm &

Saturday, March 22, at 9:10 pm

Cleveland Cult Film Festival 5

THE PUNK SINGER

USA, 2013, Sini Anderson

Kathleen Hanna, the outspoken activist, musician, and cultural icon who was lead singer for the punk bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre and spokesperson for the "riot grrrl" movement of the 1990s, is the subject of this new documentary. Features archival footage and new interviews with Hanna herself. East Side Cleveland premiere. Blu-ray. 80 min. www.thepunksinger.com

 

Friday, March 21, at 9:10 pm &

Saturday, March 22, at 7:00 pm

Cleveland Cult Film Festival 5

JOHNNY GUITAR

USA, 1954, Nicholas Ray

Nicholas Ray's crazy, campy, kinky Western is actually a thinly veiled critique of McCarthyism. Championed by French critics long before it became a cult classic here, the film added feminism and Freud to the frontier-movie mix. Joan Crawford plays a tough, gun-totin', pants-wearin' saloon owner who locks horns over men and money with another local woman (Mercedes McCambridge), a half-cocked hothead who tries to run her out of town. With Sterling Hayden, Ward Bond, Ernest Borgnine, and John Carradine. 35mm color print from Paramount Pictures. 110 min.

 

Saturday, March 22, at 9:10 pm

THE PUNK SINGER

See 3/21 at 7:30 for description

 

MARCH 28-29

 

Friday, March 28, at 8:00 pm &

Saturday, March 29, at 9:30 pm

Cleveland Cult Film Festival 5

FEAR AND DESIRE

USA, 1953, Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick’s first feature (which he tried to suppress and destroy while alive, calling it “inept and pretentious”) chronicles the exploits of a military patrol behind enemy lines during an unnamed, abstract war. This low-budget independent movie may not be 2001, but it’s visually impressive and contains the seeds of much of the director’s later work. Kubrick also photographed the film and co-wrote it with Howard Sackler (The Great White Hope). Frank Silvera and Paul Mazursky star. Blu-ray. 68 min. www.kinorlorber.com

 

Friday, March 28, at 9:30 pm &

Saturday, March 29, at 7:00 pm

Cleveland Cult Film Festival 5

THE GOOD, THE BAD, THE WEIRD

JO-EUN NOM, NAPPEUN NOM, ISANGHAN NOM

South Korea, 2008, Kim Jee-woon

Inspired by Sergio Leone's classic spaghetti Western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, this South Korean action epic is set in 1930s Manchuria, where two rival bandits and a bounty hunter all vie with each other (and with the Japanese army and a Chinese criminal gang) for possession of a treasure map. This Eastern Western is a spirited, glorious spectacle that fills the big, wide screen with kung-fu cowboys, horses, train robberies, chases, and tense standoffs. "Fluid, dizzying camera moves and judicious CGI, ravishing set design and exhilarating action. This is filmmaking as rodeo ride...Thrilling as hell while it lasts." -Time Out Film Guide. Subtitles. 35mm color & scope print! 130 min.

 

Saturday, March 29, at 9:30 pm

FEAR AND DESIRE

See 3/28 at 8:00 for description

 

APRIL 3-6

 

Thursday, April 3, at 6:45 pm

A Special Event!

Filmmaker in Person!

THE FILMS OF BRUCE CHECEFSKY

USA, 2001-2014, Bruce Checefsky

Bruce Checefsky is a photographer and Director of the Reinberger Galleries at the Cleveland Institute of Art. For the past 13 years he has also moonlighted as a maker of short, independent films that have shown widely around the world—from MoMA and the Anthology Film Archives to the Tate Modern and the Rotterdam Film Festival. Checefsky has carved out a unique niche for himself by reimagining and making abstract and avant-garde Eastern European shorts from the 1920s to the 1940s that were either lost, destroyed, or conceived/scripted but never filmed. Checefsky’s completion of a new movie, Witch’s Cradle (2014), affords us an opportunity to show all eight of his visually dazzling short films in one comprehensive program. Witch’s Cradle reimagines an unfinished, now lost 1943 short by pioneering experimental filmmaker Maya Deren (Meshes of the Afternoon). Deren shot her film with Marcel Duchamp in Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century Gallery in New York; it was intended to be an exploration of the magical qualities of objects in the space. Checefsky’s Cleveland-made remake stars CIA alum Margaret Stamm. Also showing: Pharmacy (2001), A Woman and Circles (2003), IN NI (Others) (2005), Moment Musical (2006), Béla (2010), et al. Bruce Checefsky will answer audience questions after the screening. 35mm/DVD. Total approx. 105 min. www.brucechecefsky.com

 

Friday, April 4, at 7:30 pm &

Saturday, April 5, at 9:25 pm

CHILD’S POSE

POZITIA COPILULUI

Romania, 2013, Calin Peter Netzer

The latest triumph for the Romanian New Wave won the top prize at last year’s Berlin Film Festival; it also was Romania’s official submission for this year’s Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. Child’s Pose is a potent social drama about a prosperous Bucharest architect (Luminita Gheorghiu of The Death of Mr. Lazarescu ) who will stop at nothing to keep her deadbeat thritysomething son out of jail after a deadly car crash. “A razor-sharp jibe at Romania's nouveau riche.” –Variety. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 112 min. www.zeitgeistfilms.com/childspose

 

Friday, April 4, at 9:45 pm &

Saturday, April 5, at 7:30 pm

50^th Anniversary!

DR. STRANGELOVE: OR HOW I LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING AND LOVE THE BOMB

Britain, 1964, Stanley Kubrick

When mad U.S. Army General Jack D. Ripper single-handedly launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union (he’s convinced that Communists are contaminating our “precious bodily fluids” via fluoridation), all hell breaks loose in Washington and Moscow. Stanley Kubrick’s seminal Cold War comedy is not only one of the funniest movies ever made, it’s also one of the most suspenseful. There’s no let-up in great lines and memorable characters, three of whom are played by Peter Sellers! New 35mm print! 94 min. A deadly serious treatment of this same subject, Fail-Safe, shows 4/5 at 5:15 pm. Both films were released in 1964.

 

Saturday, April 5, at 5:15 pm

50th Anniversary!

FAIL-SAFE

USA, 1964, Sidney Lumet

The sober flip side of Dr. Strangelove is depicted in Sidney Lumet's tense and gripping Cold War thriller. Henry Fonda plays the U.S. President who must deal with the fallout when an American bomber is accidentally ordered to nuke Moscow. This straight-faced suspenser boasts a surprising number of similarities to Kubrick's satire, which was released earlier in the same year by the same studio (Columbia) and trounced Fail-Safe at the box office. With Walter Matthau, Dan O'Herlihy, and Larry Hagman. 35mm print from the Sony Pictures studio archive! 112 min.

 

Saturday, April 5, at 7:30 pm

DR. STRANGELOVE

See 4/4 at 9:45 for description

 

Saturday, April 5, at 9:25 pm

CHILD’S POSE

See 4/4 at 7:30 for description

 

Sunday, April 6, at 3:00 pm

A Special Event!

1900

NOVOCENTO

Italy/France/W. Germany, 1976, Bernardo Bertolucci

Last shown at the Cinematheque in 1991, this is the complete, uncut, 5¼ -hour version of Bernardo Bertolucci’s sweeping and sensuous historical saga that chronicles 45 years of Italian political history and class struggle. (Part 2 will show at 6:45 tonight after a one-hour dinner break.) Robert De Niro and Gérard Depardieu star as childhood best friends born in 1901. One is a wealthy landowner’s grandson and the other a peasant, so their lives move in dramatically different directions during the five decades through the end of WWII. 1900 was Bertolucci’s follow up to Last Tango in Paris, and it’s an ambitious, gorgeous epic teeming with lyricism, sex, violence, and nostalgia. The all-star supporting cast includes Burt Lancaster, Sterling Hayden, Donald Sutherland, Dominique Sanda, and Stefania Sandrelli. Vittorio Storaro did the shimmering cinematography and Ennio Morricone composed the lilting music. Rated NC-17; no one under 18 admitted! In English. 35mm color print from Paramount Pictures. Total 311 min. (158 min. + 153 min.) Special admission (to the whole film) $12; Cinematheque members and CIA I.D. holders $9; age 25 & under $; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

 

Sunday, April 6, at 6:40 pm

1900 (Part 2)

See 4/6 at 3:00 for description

 

APRIL 10-13

 

Thursday, April 10, at 6:45 pm &

Sunday, April 13, at 8:10 pm

A.K.A. DOC POMUS

Canada/USA, 2012, William Hechter, Peter Miller

This acclaimed film profiles one of the least known major figures in early rock ‘n’ roll. Doc Pomus (reputedly the inspiration for John Goodman’s character in Inside Llewyn Davis) was born Jerome Felder in Brooklyn and, despite being partially paralyzed from polio, became a blues singer and then a brilliant songwriter of such hits as “Save the Last Dance for Me,” “This Magic Moment,” and many more. In this film enlivened by music and archival imagery, famous friends remember him and Lou Reed reads from Doc’s private journals. “Vital and endearing, a celebration of a great artist, a great character, and the universality of great pop.” –Village Voice. Blu-ray. 98 min. akadocpomus.com

 

Thursday, April 10, at 8:45 pm &

Saturday, April 12, at 5:15 pm

THE DUELLISTS

UK, 1977, Ridley Scott

Keith Carradine, Harvey Keitel, and Albert Finney star in Ridley Scott's first feature, a visually sumptuous tale of two inimical, Napoleonic-era French cavalry officers who duel with each other repeatedly over a 15-year-period in a never-ending quest for justice and honor. From a Conrad story. "[The] film is among the most staggeringly beautiful of its time." -Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide. 35mm color print from Paramount Pictures. 101 min.

 

Friday, April 11, at 7:00 pm

A Special Event!

Filmmakers in Person!

THIS AMERIKAN LIFE

USA, 2011-14, Mika Johnson

The Amerikans is an ongoing series of short (3-5 min.) documentaries that profile interesting, unusual, sometimes eccentric residents of northeast Ohio. Begun in 2011 and produced by Jeffrey Pence and Mika Johnson of Oberlin College, these mini-docs (all directed by Johnson) have focused, so far, on a dollhouse builder, a flamboyant funeral director, a bee sting therapist, an artist who uses his body as a paintbrush, a napkin collector, and a man in a gorilla suit, among others. Tonight Pence and Johnson will present a selection of episodes from The Amerikans and will answer audience questions after the screening. Blu-ray. Total approx. 120 min. art-practice.com/

 

Friday, April 11, at 9:15 pm &

Saturday, April 12, at 7:20 pm &

Sunday, April 13, at 6:30 pm

SPIKE & MIKE’S 2014 FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION

various countries, 2000s, various directors

It’s been over a decade since we last presented a Spike & Mike “classic” festival of animation! Long a staple of our programming, and for years one of our most popular annual events, the Spike & Mike “classic” fest featured clever and entertaining new animated shorts from around the world, including early works by Tim Burton and Pixar animators and some Oscar winners. To mark Spike & Mike’s 30^th anniversary, we present their latest “all ages” show—this year featuring 21 cartoons from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Spain, and the U.S. Titles include Pigeon Impossible, Oktapodi, Captain Awesome, Dumb Ways to Die, Crab Revolution, Key Lime Pie, and Ghost of Stephen Foster. Cleveland premiere. DVD. Total 78 min. www.spikeandmike.com

 

Saturday, April 12, at 5:15 pm

THE DUELLISTS

See 4/10 at 8:45 for description

 

Saturday, April 12, at 7:20 pm

SPIKE & MIKE’S 2014 FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION

See 4/11 at 9:15 for description

 

Saturday, April 12, at 9:00 pm &

Sunday, April 13, at 3:45 pm

FAUST

Russia, 2011, Alexander Sokurov

Winner of the top prize at the 2011 Venice Film Festival (where jury president Darren Aronofsky hailed it as a film that can "change you forever"), FAUST is an eccentric, visually stunning, phantasmagoric version of the famous legend, about a man who seeks enlightenment but sells his soul to the devil to win a beautiful young woman. This new film from the director of Russian Ark concludes Sokurov's "Men of Power" tetralogy. (Earlier films focused on Hitler, Lenin, and Hirohito.) With Hanna Schygulla; cinematography by Bruno Delbonnel (Amélie, Inside Llewyn Davis). “Simply wondrous. Like so many Bruegels, Boschs, Vermeers, and Rembrandts come to life...So lush, so exhilarating." -Film Comment. German with subtitles. Blu-ray. 134 min. www.leisurefeat.com

 

Sunday, April 13, at 6:30 pm

SPIKE & MIKE’S 2014 FESTIVAL OF ANIMATION

See 4/11 at 9:15 for description

 

Sunday, April 13, at 8:10 pm

A.K.A. DOC POMUS

See 4/10 at 6:45 for description

 

APRIL 17-19

 

Thursday, April 17, at 6:45 pm &

Saturday, April 19, at 9:30 pm

THE ROCKET

Australia/Thailand/Laos, 2013, Kim Mordaunt

Winner of the audience award for "best narrative feature" at the Tribeca, AFI, and Sydney Film Festivals (among others), this unexpected crowd-pleaser tells of a 10-year-old Laotian boy, Ahlo, whom his elders believe to be cursed and a bringer of bad luck. Ahlo tries time and again to prove his worth to his tragedy-beset family, and ultimately enters a rocket-building competition. "A kid-centric slice of intractable humanism in the mode of The Kite Runner, Tsotsi, Whale Rider or Beasts of the Southern Wild." -Variety. Cleveland premiere. Lao with subtitles. Blu-ray. 96 min. www.kinolorber.com

 

Thursday, April 17, at 8:45 pm &

Friday, April 18, at 7:35 pm

IN BLOOM

GRZELI NATELI DGEEBI

Georgia/Germany/France, 2013, Nana Ekvtimishvili, Simon Gross

Georgia's official entry for this year's Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film is a tense coming-of-age tale about two 14-year-old girls, best friends, who live under the constant threat of violence in chaotic, civil war-torn 1992 Georgia, one year after the nation broke free from the USSR. "[An] astute, observant film." -The NY Times. Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. Blu-ray. 102 min. bigworldpictures.org/

 

Friday, April 18, at 5:15 pm &

Saturday, April 19, at 7:10 pm

JIMMY P.: PSYCHOTHERAPY OF A PLAINS INDIAN

USA/France, 2013, Arnaud Desplechin

Benicio Del Toro and Mathieu Amalric star in the new film from the director of A Christmas Tale and Kings & Queen. Set in post-WWII America, the movie tells of a Blackfoot Indian and war vet (Del Toro), recently returned from France, who suffers from either PTSD or schizophrenia. His case is referred to French-American anthropologist and psychoanalyst Georges Devereau (Amalric), a real-life pioneer in ethno-psychiatry. Devereau puts his patient on the couch and talks and walks him through his life's traumas. A 2013 New York Film Festival selection. "Marvelous…The best and most moving case for psychoanalysis ever dramatized on screen.” –Film Comment. Cleveland premiere. In English. Blu-ray. 117 min. www.ifcfilms.com/films/jimmy-p

 

Friday, April 18, at 7:35 pm

IN BLOOM

See 4/17 at 8:45 for description

 

Friday, April 18, at 9:40 pm &

Saturday, April 19, at 5:00 pm

TO CATCH A THIEF

USA, 1955, Alfred Hitchcock

Cary Grant and Grace Kelly star in Hitchcock’s elegant, picturesque romantic thriller set on the French Riviera. It tells of a suave ex-jewel thief who must clear his name when local authorities accuse him of returning to his old occupation and robbing tourists. 35mm color print from Paramount Pictures. 106 min.

 

Saturday, April 19, at 7:10 pm

JIMMY P.

See 4/18 at 5:15 for description

 

Saturday, April 19, at 9:30 pm

THE ROCKET

See 4/17 at 6:45 for description

 

NO FILMS ON SUN., APRIL 20

 

APRIL 24-27

 

Thursday, April 24, at 6:45 pm &

Friday, April 25, at 9:30 pm

Bernard Herrmann Weekend!

ON DANGEROUS GROUND

USA, 1952, Nicholas Ray

Bernard Herrmann's music for Nicholas Ray's noir thriller was reputedly the composer's favorite score. Robert Ryan and Ida Lupino star in the film, in which a brutal NYC cop on the verge of a nervous breakdown is sent upstate to simmer down and cool off. There he befriends a gentle blind woman whose disturbed younger brother has been accused of molesting and murdering a girl. 35mm. 82 min.

 

Thursday, April 24, at 8:30 pm &

Friday, April 25, at 7:00 pm

Bernard Herrmann Weekend!

50^th Anniversary!

MARNIE

USA, 1964, Alfred Hitchcock

Hitchcock’s underrated psychological thriller stars Tippi Hedren as a frigid, troubled kleptomaniac and Sean Connery as the widower who becomes one of her victims, but decides to marry and try to reform her nonetheless. Bernard Herrmann’s score is the last one that Hitchcock used in one of his films. 35mm. 130 min.

 

Friday, April 25, at 9:30 pm

ON DANGEROUS GROUND

See 4/24 at 6:45 for description

 

Saturday, April 26, at 5:00 pm

Bernard Herrmann Weekend!

35mm Archive Print!

THE DEVIL AND DANIEL WEBSTER

aka ALL THAT MONEY CAN BUY; DANIEL AND THE DEVIL

USA, 1941, William Dieterle

Bernard Herrmann won his only Oscar (beating himself and his Citizen Kane score, also nominated) for his music to this visually stunning fantasy that transposes the Faust legend to New England. Based on Stephen Vincent Benet's story, it tells of a New Hampshire farmer who sells his soul to the devil, Mr. Scratch (Walter Huston). But when Scratch comes to claim it seven yeas later, the farmer enlists the great American orator Daniel Webster to defend him before a phantom judge and a ghostly jury in a court of law. 107 min. Special admission $10; Cinematheque members & CIA I.D. holders $8; age 25 & under $7; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.

 

Saturday, April 26, at 7:10 pm &

Sunday, April 27, at 8:30 pm

Bernard Herrmann Weekend!

CITIZEN KANE

USA, 1941, Orson Welles

Orson Welles’ bravura account of the rise and fall of a mysterious newspaper tycoon (loosely modeled on William Randolph Hearst) was, for decades, voted the greatest movie ever made. To fully appreciate its astonishing beauty and power, you need to see it on the big screen! “More fun than any other great movie.” –Pauline Kael. With Welles, Joseph Cotten, and Everett Sloane. Cinematography by Gregg Toland; music by Bernard Herrmann. 35mm. 119 min.

 

Saturday, April 26, at 9:30 pm &

Sunday, April 27, at 4:30 pm

Bernard Herrmann Weekend!

THE SEVENTH VOYAGE OF SINBAD

USA, 1958, Nathan H. Juran

Ray Harryhausen did the stop-motion animation for this exciting and exotic adventure fantasy that is on the National Film Registry and has a perfect 100% “fresh” rating on RottenTomatoes.com. The film follows the heroic exploits of Sinbad the Sailor, who, while transporting his future bride to Baghdad, is attacked by a giant Cyclops, then runs afoul of a powerful magician. This was Bernard Herrmann’s first (and favorite) of four scores he wrote for Harryhausen movies. 35mm. 88 min.

 

Sunday, April 27, at 6:30 pm

Bernard Herrmann Weekend!

OBSESSION

USA, 1976, Brian De Palma

At the end of his career Bernard Herrmann composed music for “movie brats” like Brian De Palma and Martin Scorsese. In 1977 he earned two posthumous Oscar nominations for two of his final scores—one for Taxi Driver and the other for this Vertigo-like psychological thriller. De Palma’s film, which was written by Paul Schrader and shot by the great Vilmos Zsigmond, tells of a New Orleans businessman (Cliff Robertson) who becomes fixated on a young woman who looks just like his late wife (both played by Genevieve Bujold). With John Lithgow. 35mm color & scope print! 98 min.

 

Sunday, April 27, at 8:30 pm

CITIZEN KANE

See 4/26 at 7:10 for description