Program Notes

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Program Notes

One Week: June 20 - 26, 2003 (and sometime in 2005, To Be Determined)

Brand New 35 mm Print! (1962, 216 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "Lawrence Of Arabia"

The gentle winds blowing the light layer of sand, the cruel sun hovering over the horizon; the race across the deadly desert, and the preening of Arab garb in the small reflection of a blade. Such make up the memories of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, a film whose reputation has only risen since its release in the early '60s, especially after directors such as Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg have praised it and cited its influence. The story of the bookish Brit, played by Peter O'Toole, who went on to become a warrior on behalf of nomads, has historical sweep and beautiful settings. It is also one of the few great epics not based on a book, officially anyway. The way to see LAWRENCE is on the big screen and the Cinema 21 provides that opportunity with this new 35mm print.

Two Weeks: June 27 - July 10

Premiere (2001, 89 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "Winged Migration"

"Avoid the reeking herd/Shun the polluted flock,/Live like the stoic bird/The eagle of the rock," wrote Elinor Wylie, taking inspiration from her favorite feathered friend. Birds have evoked both the admiration of poets and the jealousy of Icarus and his descendants, and though we have conquered flight, it is not with the grace of the true avian residents of the air. For producer, narrator, and writer Jacques Perrin (Microcosmos) and co-director Jacques Cluzaud, WINGED MIGRATION (also known as The Traveling Birds) is a celebration of birds, and they summoned some 15 French cinematographers to help them do it. Among the unusual things that the respectful filmmakers did while making this film was to expose the birds to the sounds of people and film cameras while still in the egg so that they would not be afraid of the noises later. Jack Mathews of the New York Daily News noted that, "People have to learn poetry. Birds are born with it. Perrin has merely copied their poetry on film, and it is breathtaking, frame by frame." "WINGED MIGRATION is a glorious celebration of birds in flight, conveying the beauty, the amazing feats of strength and the endurance of their long distance journeys. Here is one to stir your soul!," wrote Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat of Spirituality and Health. John Anderson of New York Newsday noted that, "Nature films are assumed to be plotless, but WINGED MIGRATION is full of major and minor narratives, from the basic struggle of a snow goose making its migratory trek from the Gulf to the Yukon, to sequences of decidedly high drama." Kirk Honeycutt of the Hollywood Reporter deemed it a "work of visual poetry," while Tom Long of the Detroit News called it "Simply one of the great feats of filming."

One Week: July 11 - 17

Premiere (2002, 89 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "American Gun"

View Official Website For American Gun

View Trailer (Quicktime) For American Gun

Evoking the likes of other American journey films by a father on behalf of a daughter, such as Paul Schrader's Hardcore, writer and director Alan Jacobs's AMERICAN GUN begins with Penny Tillman (Virginia Madsen) traveling home to Vermont to spend the holidays with her parents, Martin (James Coburn) and Anne (Barbara Bain). Their warm reunion is cut tragically short when a last-minute errand ends in Penny's untimely death, and the holiday cheer is abruptly silenced by the sorrow of burying a loved one. Unable to make sense of what has happened, Martin decides to take action. Using the serial number of the .357 Magnum that killed his daughter, Martin traces his grief to its point of origin. Starting with the factory where the gun was made, he begins the arduous process of tracking the gun's progress from owner to owner, a journey that takes him across America, from legitimate gun shops to the black market. While traveling to each city along the gun's trajectory, Martin is visited by memories of his service in World War II, a harrowing experience that haunts him to this day. David Hunter in the Hollywood Reporter notes that Jacobs gets "a lot of quality cinema out of a tight budget. Jacobs takes some risks in the storytelling department that result in a film that encourages one to think long and hard about the subject of guns." Promoting the film for the 28th Seattle Film Festival, the late James Coburn, then 73, told journalist K. J. Doughton, "I was attracted to AMERICAN GUN because it’s about something. It’s not just fluff."

One Week: July 18 - 24

Premiere (five films)

View The Guggenheim Museum Site Description Of The Series

For the first time, Portlanders can see all of Matthew Barney's fabled CREMASTER series at once, as the films were meant to be seen, including CREMASTER 3 which "brings to a spectacular completion one of the most complex, generous and subversive artworks of the last decade" according to Doug Harvey of the L.A. Weekly. CREMASTER is a sweeping series of films that attempt to capture the contradictions of America, from its broad landscapes to its phallic high-rises. From Gary Gilmore to the Rockettes, America's contradictory images, its fears and obsessions, are examined and parodied. To create this gender bending work in which men wear corsets, Barney (Mr. Bork to some) manufactured a series of bizarre Cronenberg-like utensils and sets that were later exhibited and sold as art objects. The cycle includes CREMASTER 1 (1995, 40 minutes), CREMASTER 2 (1999, 79 minutes) starring Norman Mailer as Harry Houdini and Barney as Gary Gilmore, CREMASTER 3 (2002, 182 minutes), staring artist Richard Serra as Hiram Abiff and Barney as The Entered Apprentice, CREMASTER 4 (1994, 42 minutes) CREMASTER 5 (1997, 55 minutes) with Ursula Andress as the Queen of Chain and Barney in the multiple roles of Diva, Giant, and Magician. "This epic film, eschewing dialogue and conventional narrative logic, tells a gripping tale of biological drama through a highly improbable series of evocative images, superb acting and editing, and haunting music," wrote Film Threat's David Finkelstein, while Ken Fox of TV Guide's Movie Guide calls the series "An enthralling aesthetic experience, one that's steeped in mystery and a ravishing, baroque beauty." The CREMASTER series "Exudes the fizz of a Busby Berkeley musical and the visceral excitement of a sports extravaganza," according to Stephen Holden of the New York Times. In the glossary included in the Guggenheim Museum catalog for the CREMASTER series, the word cremaster is defined as a "thin muscular layer whose fasciculi are separate and spread out over the spermatic cord in a series of loops."

See notes for The Cremaster Cycle 1 & 2

See notes for The Cremaster Cycle 1 & 2

One Week: July 25 - 31

Brand New Print! (1946, 114 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "The Big Sleep"

With great apercus and amusing action, Howard Hawks's version of Raymond Chandler's THE BIG SLEEP, with Humphrey Bogart as the noble Phillip Marlowe and a young Lauren Becall as his quasi client, rescue-worthy maiden, and muse, remains one of Hollywood's best murder mysteries and one of its darkest noirs. THE BIG SLEEP, but the Cinema 21 sorts it all out with this brand new print.

One Week: July 25 - 31

Brand New Print! (1968, 136 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "Rosemary's Baby"

Still one of the scariest movies ever made, Roman Polanski's classy adaptation of Ira Levin's novel concerns an actor named Guy Woodhouse (John Cassavetes) and housewife Rosemary (Mia Farrow) who move into the vast, shambling Bramford (filmed in Manhattan's notorious Dakota, where John Lennon was shot). Their new neighbors are Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer) and his wife Minnie (Ruth Gordon, who won an Oscar). Their predecessor, an old lady, died; and one of Rosemary's new friends, Terry Gionoffrio (Victoria Vetri), a homeless drug-addict taken in by the Castevets, makes remarks about her situation that alert the viewer's suspicions. When Terry ends up flinging herself from the Castevet's apartment window, it's pretty clear that something is up. D. K. Holm of the DVDJournal.com notes that "ROSEMARY'S BABY is an unusual horror film. Almost nothing horrific happens in it and hardly anything terrible is seen. Polanski, as is his wont, takes Ira Levin's bestseller and turns it into a slow-paced, creepy chamber-drama, a film of looks, of suspicions, of complex relationships, and of subtle wit."

One Week: August 1 - 7

Premiere (2003, 103 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "Northfork"

A powerhouse cast, including James Woods, Nick Nolte, Claire Forlani, Daryl Hannah, Peter Coyote, Anthony Edwards, and Kyle MacLachlan act for the directing brothers Mark and Michael Polish (Twin Falls Idaho) in this film set in 1955, amid the residents of a small Montana community who are forced to move their homes to make way for a new dam. Jules Brenner of Filmcritic.com writes that movie buffs " will not want to miss this visionary and difficult bit of inventiveness." Scout Foundas of Variety notes that NORTHFORK "eulogizes what might be the last town on the last frontier of the last untouched corner of God's country – a place where the buffalo roam, but in the company of earthbound angels, devils and other majestic creatures on the verge of extinction … NORTHFORK is a cinematic vision (visually and textually) unlike any with which most moviegoers, even arthouse regulars, will be familiar. The Polishes have crafted a snow globe of a movie, its curved surface radiating fantastic distortions of perception."

One Week: August 8 - 14

Premiere (2002, 99 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "The Cuckoo"

A European World War II drama set in Finland in September 1944 several days before this ally of Nazi Germany pulled out of World War II, THE CUCKOO concerns Veiko (Ville Haapasalo), a sniper whose comrades turn upon him for a being a pacifist and, in their eyes, a reluctant fighter, who is left in the tundra to be shot by the Russians. Escaping his bonds, he finds his way to the reindeer farm of Anni (newcomer Anni-Kristiina Juuso), whose conscripted husband has never returned. Anni is caring for Ivan (Viktor Bychkov), a captain in the Russian army accused of spying and wounded while being transported to prison. Evoking memories of Jean Renoir's Grand Illusion, the characters in THE CUCKOO find that World War II has created the unlikeliest of bonds among three different people from three different cultures, speaking three different languages. Comic, and sometimes tragic, misunderstandings soon arise, resulting in a passionate, and very human, three-way relationship. In a statement about the film, director Aleksandr Rogozhkin wrote that "We have not had a cinema of this kind before, in which three characters, each speaking his/her own language, understand each other while not understanding each other. I wanted to create the effect for the audience of understanding the characters without knowing the languages that they speak." Finnish snipers were called "Cuckoos," but the film's heroine also calls herself a cuckoo. Rogozhkin said, "I like the title to have several meanings. This title reflects the unnatural situation, the contradictions that were portrayed in the film – the unnatural aspect of the war, conflicts between people that meet each other at the war, and Anni – the cuckoo that reconciled two enemies who do not know that the war is over." Ed Scheid of Boxoffice found that "Rogozhkin has made a fascinating and accomplished film that leads to a gripping climax."

One Week: August 8 - 14

New 35mm Print (1941, 101 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "The Maltese Falcon"

One Week: August 15 - 21

Premiere (2002, 105 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "Madame Sata"

In a new spin on Marcel Camus's Black Orpheus, Karim Ainouz, in his directorial debut, tells the real-life story of Joao Francisco dos Santos (Lazaro Ramos), a gay black impoverished criminal who finds redemption as nightclub performer Madame Sata. Joao shares squalid quarters with a hooker Laurita (Marcelia Cartaxo) and her baby daughter, while Joao works for a diva in a funky club until his easily ignited rage loses him the job and lands him in jail. When Joao returns home, the owner of the Blue Danube Club allows him to celebrate his birthday among friends. Joao dresses in drag for the event and wows the crowd with his act, thus landing a permanent gig. Joao emerges as Madame Sata, the drag star of the famed Rio Carnival in the early ’40s. Moira Sullivan on FilmFestivals.com observes that MADAME SATA has "the exquisite cinematography of Walter Carvalho and a unique structure that breaks up narrative linearity." Doris Toumarkine of Film Journal International calls the film "a snazzy and sensual period biopic." An official selection at other major fests, the Brazilian import has won prizes at festivals stretching from Sào Paulo to Chicago.

One Week: August 22 - 28

Restored (1938, 102 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "The Adventures Of Robin Hood"

Robin and his Merry Men, including Friar Tuck and Little John, once again venture from Sherwood Forest to rescue Maid Marian and battle the evil Sheriff on behalf of the true king. And who could have played Robin Hood better than Errol Flynn? And who could have been more villainous than Basil Rathbone? And who was more sweet and virginal than Olivia de Havilland as Maid Marian? Throw in Claude Rains as Prince John, Eugene Palette as Friar Tuck, and Alan Hale as Little John, with Michael Curtiz directing, and you have the makings for a rousing and funny adventure film. Now, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD comes to us in a dazzling new Technicolor print, with digitally remastered picture and sound. Marjorie Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle calls HOOD "perhaps the quintessential Errol Flynn vehicle," while Ken Hanke of the North Carolina Mountain Xpress calls it "the classic swashbuckler. They don't get better than this."

One Week: August 29 - September 4

Premiere (2003, 100 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "American Splendor"

Comic book writer Harvey Pekar writes stories about himself and his mundane job and his musical interests. Yet amazing things have happened to him. He has been friends with R. Crumb and other noted comic artists, and has appeared on the David Letterman show, where he embarrassed himself in front of millions of viewers who were getting their first view of the eccentric creator of the comic book American Splendor. Now his story comes to the screen in a blend of fiction and documentary in co-directors Robert Pulcini and Shari Springer Berman film. Merle Bertrand of Film Threat notes that AMERICAN SPLENDOR is "one of the most wildly original, dryly comical, and smartly structured films ever created." The film immerses the viewer in the life and worldview of Pekar: file clerk, working-class intellectual, obsessive-compulsive collector, and creator of the seminal autobiographical comic book series American Splendor. For over two decades, the pages of American Splendor have documented the mundane tribulations, random experiences and cultural enthusiasms that make up Pekar's day-to-day existence in his native Cleveland, Ohio. AMERICAN SPLENDOR tells real life stories of a working-class everyman who found love, family and a creative voice through comic books. Like its namesake comic, AMERICAN SPLENDOR focuses on the large and small moments in the life of its prickly hero, and offers not one, but several illustrations of Harvey Pekar: the Harvey of the main narrative, portrayed by Paul Giamatti; a 2D animated Harvey; and the real Harvey, past (via archival footage) and present. Hope Davis plays Pekar's wife Joyce. The result is an inventive film that captures Pekar's voice in all its simple, honest, and cantankerous human scope. "It's a profound tribute to lives lived on the fringes of society – to the introspective loners who are the most observant chroniclers of our times," wrote Variety's Scott Foundas. The film, which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance, also stars James Urbaniak (Henry Fool) as Pekar's mentor, R. Crumb.

Starting September 5

Restored (1966, 181 minutes)

View the Internet Movie Database entry for "The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly"

Who can forget the trilling sounds of the music? Who has not been alternately gripped and amused by the story's epic sweep and cynical morality? Sergio Leone's THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY is simply one of the most influential films of all time, making a star out of TV actor Clint Eastwood and reviving interest in a flagging genre. Also starring Eli Wallach (the ugly) and Lee Van Cleef (the bad), it tells of three rogues scrambling for loot against the backdrop of the Civil War. Originally released in Europe at 180 minutes, the film was cut by some 20 minutes for its American release; the extra footage was in Italian only, so Eastwood and Wallach agreed to return after 40 years and re-voice their parts. Phil Hardy in the Western Encyclopedia writes that Leone "plundered the genre of its rituals and motifs and triumphantly re-assembled them to form a new and distinctly seedy, cynical, and Catholic European view of a genre for so long dominated by the angular morality of American Puritanism." It is "one of the greatest of all Westerns," praises Jeffrey M. Anderson of the San Francisco Examiner, and the film is "Long, funny, and features one of Ennio Morricone's greatest scores; THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY is a sheer pleasure to watch." adds Marjorie Baumgarten of the Austin Chronicle.