The Cinematheque is showing some pretty cool—and different—films for Halloween this weekend, all directly by Polish/French cult favorite Andrzej Zulawski, who died earlier this year. Z’s films are being rediscovered in major cities around North America this year (NY, L.A., Boston, Toronto, et al.). New York even brought back ON THE SILVER GLOBE, his suspended, suppressed sci-fi epic that spanned two decades and two political regimes, for an encore engagement. Details below.
Friday, October 28, at 7:00 pm
A Zulawski Halloween
THE THIRD PART OF THE NIGHT
TRZECIA CZESC NOCY
Poland, 1971, Andrzej Zulawski
Andrzej
Zulawski’s apocalyptic feature debut is a surreal, hallucinatory
nightmare set during WWII. Partly inspired by his father’s experiences
as a resistance fighter during the Nazi occupation of Poland, the movie
follows a man who runs away after his family is killed by German
soldiers. He eventually takes up with a pregnant woman who resembles his
late wife. Adults only! Subtitles. DCP. 105 min. Special
admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25
& under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.
Friday, October 28, at 9:05 pm
A Zulawski Halloween
THE DEVIL
DIABEL
Poland, 1972, Andrzej Zulawski
Banned
for 16 years due to its objectionable parallels to Communist Bloc
Poland, this historical epic is set during the 1793 Prussian invasion of
Poland. A crazed nobleman freed from prison by a mysterious,
black-cloaked, Satanic stranger becomes even more unhinged as he wanders
through a savage, chaotic, war-torn environment. The first of
Zulawski’s all-out assaults on good taste and the senses has been
likened to El Topo and The Devils, as well as to
Hieronymus Bosch and De Sade. The move also drove Zulawski into exile.
No one under 18 admitted! Subtitles. DCP. 119 min. Special
admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25
& under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.
Saturday, October 29, at 8:25 pm
Film Classics in 35mm!
A Zulawski Halloween
POSSESSION
France/W. Germany, 1981, Andrzej Zulawski
Shorn
of over 40 minutes when first released in the U.S. (and banned outright
for a number of years in Britain), this bloody, over-the-top exercise
in Grand Guignol stars Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani as a married couple
going through a traumatic break-up. Arguments and furniture-smashing
soon give way to self-mutilation, killings, and sex with doppelgangers
(and with a tentacled monster created by Oscar-winning F/X master Carlo
Rambaldi of E.T. and Alien fame). Adjani won the César
Award and the Best Actress prize at Cannes for her hysterical
performance. “Five stars (highest rating)…A head-spinning masterpiece! ”
–Time Out New York. No one under 18 admitted! In English. 123 min. Special
admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25
& under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.
Sunday, October 30, at 6:30 pm
A Zulawski Halloween
ON THE SILVER GLOBE
NA SREBRNYM GLOBIE
Poland, 1976-88, Andrzej Zulawski
Move over Space Odyssey, Solaris, Stalker, and Hard To Be a God. Make
way for this Polish sci-fi epic that the late Andrzej Zulawski called
his “murdered” masterwork. Begun in the 1970s as the biggest Polish film
production up to that time, then halted by the Ministry of Culture
because of its alleged subversiveness, the movie was finished (in a
fashion) by the director in 1988, after the fall of Communism. The film
is set on a distant planet that is colonized by Earth astronauts.
Generations of their children forge a new civilization there, but revert
to barbarism, warfare, and paganism while waiting for a messiah. “[An]
ecstatic, image-drunk science-fiction fantasy…Among the most visually
extravagant films ever made.” –The New Yorker. “Zulawski’s masterpiece.” –J. Hoberman. Adults only! Cleveland premiere. Subtitles. DCP. 166 min. Special
admission $11; members, CIA & CSU I.D. holders, and those age 25
& under $8; no passes, twofers, or radio winners.
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