Seeing Double!

Well, classic film friends, it's time once again for that end of Summer treat of treats- The 3rd Annual Film Forum Summer Double Features Festival! Just like it used to be in olden times, you can pay for one ticket and stay through two movies! Unlike in olden times, the two movies have been specially curated by film wizard, Bruce Goldstein, to highlight/connect an actor, director, genre, or maybe just a title.

Here are my picks for the best of the festival, starting Friday, August 24:

The Last Detail/Five Easy Pieces

Before he became a leering parody of himself, Jack Nicholson was the quintessential '70's actor. He instinctually portrayed the man who vainly struggled to fit into the world, and found rebellion to be the surest escape. In Five Easy Pieces (1970) and The Last Detail (1973), Nicholson does some of his best work. In Five, he's the disaffected pianist who pisses off his family by rejecting his talent and working in an oil field. In Detail, he's a Navy grunt who takes pity on a wayward seamen. Nicholson's ease with masculinity but discomfort with the rules that defined a man made for an explosive combination that would be his stock in trade for his Seventies career earning him three Oscar noms and eventually a win for One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975).

But Nicholson's not the only reason to watch these two flicks. Five was nominated for a Best Picture Oscar and his co-star Karen Black is a dim-witted spitfire with a monologue that nabbed her an Oscar nom as well. Not to mention you get to see Sally Struthers engaged in some very un-Little Goyl activities.

Detail was directed by Harold & Maude auteur Hal Ashby and also featured an Oscar-nommed supporting performance from Randy Quaid as the childlike AWOL dufus that Nicholson is tasked with retrieving. Robert Towne was Oscar-nommed for the screenplay and would go on to win the next year for another Nicholson classic, Chinatown (1974).

Badlands/Carrie

Sissy Spacek started her movie career with a bang. As homicidal gal pal, Holly, in Terrence Malick's harrowing murder-opus Badlands (1973), Spacek creates an initial impression of freckles and sweetness.

But through the picture, she helps her murderous boyfriend Kit (an impossibly young Martin Sheen) in a cross-state killing spree, evolving into a complicit and complicated woman. The performances from these two actors are spellbinding- and that's saying something as Malick's camerawork with the endless Texas prairie and radiant sunsets competes for our attention.

Three years later, Spacek would again play an innocent hiding darker, blood-soaked urges in Brian de Palma's horror classic Carrie (1976). So much has been written about this movie that it would be a waste of pixels for me to try and find something original to say.

It is a standout for the genre in this time period, period. I once sat in an audience packed with Carrie fans (and Piper Laurie) who knew what was coming at the end- and we all still screamed our fool heads off.



Taxi Driver/Mean Streets

This double feature doubles-up on several items: Direction by Martin Scorsese, performances by Robert De Niro, and the grubby setting of Seventies New York City.
Taxi Driver (1977) is an unassailable classic with distinctive direction from Scorsese, chilling Oscar-nommed performances from De Niro and Jodie Foster, and a posthumous Oscar nom for film score maestro Bernard Herrmann. It's a sick, dark chocolate of a movie- but wow, it holds up.

Before Taxi Driver though, Scorsese, De Niro, and New York cut their teeth on Mean Streets (1973). While his later work gets the majority of the attention, Mean Streets is a fascinating watch to see how the elements of Scorsese's direction that would become his signature style were all there from the beginning.

Morally ambiguous (or downright moral-less) protagonists, a loose- improvisational dialogue style, and a visually cynical view of the New York streets are the center of this tale about a hood who dreams of bigger crimes and greater glory. One particular scene employs inventive, swirling camerawork to bring the audience into a sprawling barfight- almost by centrifugal force. Scorsese always had it, and Mean Streets proves that.

Desperately Seeking Susan/After Hours

Who would have thought of doing a Rosanna Arquette/80's New York double feature? Apparently Mr. Goldstein- and it's a fantastic idea! Both released in 1985, these two cultural gems set in New York City offer a more lively and eccentric view of the Big Apple as it crawled its way back from being told to "Drop Dead."

Desperately is best remembered for helping launch the media domination of a girl named Madonna. Having released her Like a Virgin album only six months earlier, Madonna was becoming a pop star- but wasn't content with just ruling the airwaves. She wanted to be a movie star too.

It didn't hurt that her hit song "Get Into the Groove" was on the soundtrack and the accompanying hit video with clips from the movie had young girls (and gays) flocking to the theater to see their newfound idol of music, fashion, and chutzpah. Madonna's made many attempts since Desperately to conquer the big screen, but her most natural, genuine performance happened in this film. Oh yeah. Rosanna Arquette's in it too.

If after seeing Taxi Driver and Mean Streets you think Scorsese would not be a good candidate to direct a comedy, think again! Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) plays a square microprocessor who falls down the rabbit hole into the quirky art world of Soho. At a time where there are no smartphones, ATMs, or Venmos Paul goes from whacky misfortune to whacky misfortune all with the hope of making it with the screwy object of his desire, Marcy (Arquette playing screwy well).

With a supporting cast full of notables like Cheech & Chong, Linda Fiorentino, Terri Garr, Catherine O'Hara, John Heard, and a pre-Balki Bronson Pinchot, After Hours proves that Scorsese could find comedy on the grungy streets of New York as much as he found drama.
"Is That All There Is?" indeed.

If you want to go from double-vision to triple-vision, I HIGHLY recommend you check out the documentary Three Identical Strangers (2018). This is one of those times where I can barely tell you anything about this film without spoiling it, so all I'll say is this story of triplets separated at birth is an emotional rollercoaster ride with twists and turns that will leave you with your mouth hanging open. Director Tim Wardle dispenses and reveals facts to us in such a way that the film plays more like an ingenious suspense story than a documentary. I literally gasped and yelled at the screen. Don't miss this one. Also, the triplets have a cameo in Desperately Seeking Susan.

How's that for making connections, Film Forum?

Happy Birthday NYFF!

In 1962 Lincoln Center President William Schuman had the bright idea to ask film critic Richard Roud to program a film festival to be held in Lincoln Center that would highlight the best of American and international films. And on September 10th, 1963 Roud opened the very first New York Film Festival with Luis Bunuel's The Exterminating Angel. That unique choice would start a trend for the festival to highlight films that appealed to the intellectual film set, focusing on new filmmakers and international and Avant-Garde fare. Ever since, the festival has been a high-water mark for cinema that highlights the work of top directors like Polanski, Tarantino, Altman, Demme, Jarmusch, the Coen Brothers and- oh hell. The list is too long. Just check it out here.

To honor NYFF's 53rd birthday, here are my Top 5 New York Film Festival films:

The Battle of Algiers (1966) 

In 1966 the first NYFF Selection Committee chose Gillo Pontecorvo's Italian neorealism war classic The Battle of Algiers as the opening film. The film takes place during the Algerian War of Independence in the mid-50's. Unlike conventional war movies, Pontecorvo shot Battle in a quasi-documentary style in black-and-white with non-professional actors. So on the one hand- it looks like it's real. On the other, it's not. It's the perfect sensibility for a story about a group of freedom fighters (or terrorists) fighting against a country's government (or French imperialist occupiers) where there are villains and heroes- justice and injustice on all sides. The film becomes the uncertain truth of the war it is depicting. Ennio Morricone supplies the score- which is always a plus. Battle would go on to earn three Oscar noms including Best Foreign Film.

Badlands (1973) 

Terrence Malick closed the 1973 NYFF with his feature film debut, Badlands. Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek are a 1950's Bonnie and Clyde who hightail it out of their South Dakota home after Kit (Sheen) plugs Holly's (Spacek) father. It's the start of a crime spree that leaves several dead and Holly questioning her newfound soulmate.

Malick's first film is as clear an indicator of his future work as you're likely to see. His grasp of shooting the unfettered horizons of nature and man's communing with and fighting within it are clear visual and thematic motifs that he uses time and time again in his works. The cinematography of the prairie is breathtaking- although none of the three primary photographers on the film would work with Malick again. Sheen and Spacek are electric in their youth and their naturalness.

As with all Malick scripts, the focus is not on dialogue. What is used is spare and feels improvised creating a sense of a moment-to-moment existence for these two screwed-up kids. Malick was a student of Bonnie and Clyde (1967) director Arthur Penn- so some have drawn comparisons between the two films. For me, Malick's brutal and beautiful Badlands emerges as a unique cinematic image from B&C's shadow.

Chariots of Fire (1981) 

For most of 1981 you couldn't go anywhere without hearing the strains of Vangelis' Oscar-winning Theme to Chariots of Fire and picture guys running on a beach in slow motion. It was odd that a British movie about track would grab ahold of the American zeitgeist- but for that one year, it did.

Chariots tells the true story of two British athletes- Eric Liddell (Ian Charleston) a Scottish Christian and Harold Abrahams (Ben Cross) an English Jew who are competing for gold in the 1924 Paris Olympics. It's 1924, so being Jewish meant harassment and outright antisemitism in the halls of Cambridge. And for Liddell, being a devout Christian meant he couldn't run a race on the Lord's Day.

So Chariots in a very British way pits two of the world's religion against each other in a race that ultimately becomes a team effort for the good of the country. The film wound-up raking in four Oscars, including Best Picture, but director Hugh Hudson stumbled in his following films and never regained his Oscar stride.

Chariots is the quintessential British movie. Not a lot happens. The tensions and turmoils burble under the surface until they can no longer be contained underneath a proper stiff upper lip. But that's what makes British cinema so interesting- looking for what lies beneath. I would have liked for the beach running scene to be shot sans shirts so I would be able to look beneath their tops- but maybe that's just me.

Bullets Over Broadway (1994) 

The argument over what is the funniest Woody Allen film is more violent than the opening of  Saving Private Ryan. But if I can dodge the shrapnel of Bananas (1971) and Annie Hall (1977), my vote lands squarely with Bullets Over Broadway.

This centerpiece of the 1994 NYFF is an all-star laughfest about playwright David Shayne (John Cusack playing Woody Allen- without the obvious character twitches) whose new play gets a Broadway run and all the selling-out that goes along with it. Shayne in his attempts to make his play more commercial discovers that the botchagaloop bodyguard (Chazz Palminteri) of moll/actress Olive (Jennifer Tilly at her finest) is an undiscovered genius writer whose ideas are even better than his. What's a neurotic New York writer to do?

Allen has always been good at including lively characters other than himself in his work- but Bullets really showcases other performers spectacularly. Oscar-winning Dianne Wiest is an absolute revelation as revered Broadway actress Helen Sinclair whose catchphrase, "Don't speak!" can still be heard whenever one wishes to silence someone. Palminteri received an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of the mobster with the heart of Eugene O'Neill as did Tilly for her ridiculously funny stage-struck floozy.

The rest of the cast is a who's-who of character actors hitting their marks brilliantly: Tracey Ullman, Jim Broadbent, Rob Reiner, Mary-Louise Parker, Jack Warden, and Annie Joe Edwards who practically steals her scenes as sassy maid Venus. Allen was nominated for Best Director and Best Screenplay proving that he is a comedy master who doesn't have to be in a movie to make it funny.

Bad Education (2004) 

NYFF loves Pedro Almodovar. His films have been chosen for the festival seven times. And why shouldn't they? Almodovar has become the defacto face of modern Spanish cinema with his unique character-driven mixture of comedy and drama.

Much like Almodovar's thriller The Skin I Live In (2011), Bad Education (which was the Festival's centerpiece film in 2004) relies on some pretty substantial plot twists, so I'll not go into the plot too extensively so as not to become an Almodovar spoiler. But needless to say, the film is an intense exploration of same-sex first-love, transgenders, the Catholic Church sex abuse, drug use, and how our art exposes secrets from the past.

Almodovar has always been interested in sexual expressions outside the norm and the secrets and masks that come with being an outsider. Bad Education takes these questions one step further by questioning how art and artists communicate truths. Is the script that Ignacio (Gael Garcia Bernal) gives to Enrique (Fele Martinez) a true story hidden behind a movie? What are the truths in Bad Education hidden behind an Almodovar movie?

Bernal is fantastic, with that dangerous sexiness that makes you question whether you should trust him or not. That being said, I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating paella.




What NYFF films are your favorites?

Film Forum's Return of the Double Features

Double features. These wonderful cinematic dinosaurs roamed the earth back before megaplexes hit and caused the great extinction. In order to sell as much of their film product as possible to exhibitors, the studios would often sell their top movies along with other B movies to force theaters to show both. This meant movie audiences often would see two movies back-to-back- the double feature! Moviegoers could sit back and eat popcorn, mello-rolls, drink original Original Coke, heavy pet, and watch two movies for the price of one.

As time went on the studios were legally prevented from these block booking tactics, and television ate into movie screening time. Most people no longer went and sat in the movie theater for a whole day anymore. So theaters moved towards showing one A-level movie over and over (on however many screens they had) to maximize the audience. Double features were relegated to drive-in movie theaters and second-run houses that specialized in film festivals- making the double feature a rare connoisseur's delight. Well, for the next 3 1/2 weeks, New York's Film Forum is showing a Double Feature Festival, hooking-up movies like a cinematic Grindr.

Here are my recommendations that are guaranteed to double your fun:

Friday 8/19
Vertigo (1958) & Rear Window (1954)

Two well-known Hitchcock classics. Personally I would show Rear Window first because Vertigo feels a little long- but no matter. Seeing both of these on the big screen is a must. Vertigo because it's an effective psychological use of color and image and Rear Window because it's a wonderful use of camera perspective... and because they both star the lovable Jimmy Stewart.

Monday, 8/22
Sunrise (1927) & Nosferatu (1922)

The silent film era was uniquely able to innovate storytelling through the use of images and F.W. Murnau was masterful at it. His Oscar-Winning romantic drama Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans is beautiful and touching to look at, and its vision of The City makes me want to move to this crazy, magical place.

Earlier, Murnau went for the dark side of the film image with his Dracula (1931) progenitor, Nosferatu. Some people love Bela Lugosi's Dracula, but I put my money on Max Schreck's Count Orlok. Creeparific.


Friday 8/26
Psycho (1960) & Repulsion (1965)

Let's go crazy! Whether it's the shower scene or Mama Bates in the basement, Psycho is one of Hitchcock's best shockfests. Anthony Perkins' portrayal of Norman Bates became iconic, creeping around the edges of "normalcy", hiding his true proclivities away in that famous hotel.

In Repulsion, poor Carol (Catherine Deneuve) also has a problem relating to other people, but for her, hiding away in her sister's apartment doesn't help. It intensifies her madness until the walls are reaching out to her. Literally. Polanski's impressive first English-speaking film is terrific and hints at ideas he would explore later in his horror classic Rosemary's Baby (1968). This film duo may give you nightmares. I'm just sayin'...

Sunday, 8/28
Singin' in the Rain (1952) & The Band Wagon (1953)

Two musicals made a year apart covering two eras of the movies.
Singin' has Gene Kelly & Co. dancing through the birth of the talkies, and Band Wagon has Fred Astaire dancing through the end of his character's movie musical career.

Directors Stanley Donen and Vincente Minnelli both excelled at filming musicals: Donen and Kelly's athletic dancing perfectly capture the excitement of the beginning of the sound era when musicals could finally take flight; and Minnelli's sensitive filming style and Astaire's graceful movements make us empathize with endings as well as beginnings. And both feature the excellent writing of Betty Comden and Adolph Green and the unparalleled hoofing of Cyd Charisse.

Monday, 8/29
The Bicycle Thief (1948) & Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985)

Two movies- two important bikes. Bicycle Thief is pure Italian neo-realism and Pee Wee pure '80's escapism. Two great tastes that taste great together.

On a persnickety side note, I prefer the title Bicycle Thieves to the oft-used The Bicycle Thief. It represents the central relationship of the film of the father and his son better than the singular version. But that's just me.


Friday, 9/2
Ed Wood (1994) & Plan 9 From Outer Space (1959)

First watch the touchingly wacky Tim Burton-directed bio-pic of the infamous B-movie director and then watch one of Wood's best-worst films. Look for Bela Lugosi's stand-in through most of the latter.


Saturday, 9/3
Badlands (1973) & Days of Heaven (1978)

If it's possible to overdose on too much breathtaking natural cinematography, these two might just kill you. Terrence Malick's two movies about couples who break the law are very different in tone- but oh-so gorgeous to see on the big screen. As usual, Malick's visuals link man and nature and our baser instincts.

Sunday, 9/4
City Lights (1931) & Modern Times (1936)

Hands down these are my two favorite Chaplin films. City Lights in particular is such a beautiful blend of comedy and touching romance, that I dare you not to cry at the end. I dare you!
You can cry at the end of Modern Times too if you like- it's just not required- especially since the song playing at the end is "Smile."

Thursday, 9/8
The Maltese Falcon (1941) & The Thin Man (1934)

Dashiell Hammett is known as one of the fathers of the modern crime novel- so it's natural that his work would be the basis for some of Hollywood's best film noirs. The Maltese Falcon and The Thin Man take two different approaches to his material, however. Falcon is a dyed-in-the-wool crime movie with a conflicted hero, shadowy criminals, and twists and turns.

Thin Man takes a more urbane and comical look at the crime story with Nick and Nora Charles (the sublime William Powell and Myrna Loy) bantering and drinking their way through the first of a series of hit films. So whether you like your men thin or fat (Sydney Greenstreet in Falcon is a rotund masterpiece), these two crime-classics are the stuff that dreams are made of.

Friday, 9/9
Notorious (1946) & His Girl Friday (1940)

If I were forced to choose the two best Cary Grant movies out of his long Hollywood career, I could not settle on just two. So Film Forum made the task easier by selecting the two best Cary Grant movies written by Broadway playwright and screenplay doctor extraordinaire Ben Hecht. Notorious pairs Grant with Ingrid Bergman in Hitchcock's tale of a party-girl who marries a suspected German spy (the very suspectable Claude Rains) in order to catch him in the act of espionage. Is she doing it for love of country, or for love of Grant? Just don't drink the coffee.

In His Girl Friday Grant and Rosalind Russell verbally rat-a-tat Hecht's sharp dialogue like a couple of fencing pros, creating one of the smartest romance films of the Forties. Grant and Hecht also worked on Gunga Din (1939) and Monkey Business (1952) but that's for another double feature.

Sunday 9/11
Laura (1944) & Leave Her to Heaven (1945)

Gene Tierney was one of the most beautiful leading ladies of the Forties and these two movies show her off at her best. In Laura she is the beguiling girl in the painting at the center of one of the best murder mysteries ever made, and in Leave Her to Heaven, she is the woman who will do anything to keep her man- even if it means giving Darryl Hickman a swimming lesson. Whether in black and white or blazing Technicolor, Tierney was gorgeous- and if you like Vincent Price, he's in both movies too.

Tuesday, 9/13
Double Indemnity (1944) & Mildred Pierce (1945)

Hollywood loved making movies out of James M. Cain's novels, and these are two of his best. Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck headline the Billy Wilder noir classic Double Indemnity as a couple who can't keep their hands off each other. That spells trouble for Babs' husband.

Mildred Pierce came along a year later and because Cain's Double Indemnity and The Postman Always Rings Twice were such successful murder novels, director Michael Curtiz decided to turn Mildred Pierce into a noir film too- even though the murder that opens the movie never happens in Cain's book.

Mildred Pierce the movie is an exquisite blend of noir and women's film and Joan Crawford's performance was career-defining- even if she'd already had a hugely successful career for almost twenty years before she made Mildred. If you wanted to add a third Cain marital murder movie, Lana Turner and John Garfield in The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) should finish off the night nicely. But that might be overkill.

So those are the Film Forum's choices. What's your dream double-feature?