Rivette! Etc!
I believe I actually yelped this morning when I saw that The Duchess of Langeais (2007), the legendary Jacques Rivette’s most recent film, will open in Pittsburgh tomorrow at the Manor Theater. His films rarely come to town (I can’t remember one playing during the eight years I’ve lived here), so this is an event of sorts. The critics rave:
“The first masterpiece of 2008″ (Glenn Kenny at Premiere.com)
“A nearly impeccable work of art — beautiful, true, profound.” (Manohla Dargis in the New York Times)
Sweeeeeet.
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The Silk Screen Asian American Film Festival, which has been bringing the sort of movies you usually read about on GreenCine Daily but never get to see on the big screen to Pittsburgh for three years now, has announced their 2008 schedule: can you dig it?
I’ve only seen one of these films, Nobuhiro Yamashita’s lovely A Gentle Breeze in the Village (2007). I liked it as least as much as his last movie, Linda Linda Linda (2005), and possibly more–it’s like a gentle . . . breeze. In a village. Of the rest of the slate, I’m most interested in Chop Shop (2007) (Ramin Bahrani’s Man Push Cart (2005), which I enjoyed, played Silk Screen two years ago), Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven (2007) (I loved Akin’s Head-On (2004)), Half Moon (2006) (reviews), Option 3 (2008), Ping Pong Playa (2007), Takva: A Man’s Fear of God (2006), and Tuya’s Marriage (2006) (reviews).
I’m also interested in 5 Centimeters per Second (2007) (although it’s available on DVD already), Amal (2007), Owl and the Sparrow (2007), Ploy (2007), and the Japanese Nikkatsu Action Cinema series at the Warhol (where Tears of the Black Tiger (2000) and Tsai Ming-liang’s I Don’t Want to Sleep Alone (2006) screened to bafflingly small crowds last year), although I could be talked into seeing pretty much anything.
It is by now customary to grouse about how there are too many film festivals in Pittsburgh these days whenever discussing any one in particular, but I’m not willing to say a single bad thing about Silk Screen. They do a magnificent job of spotlighting directors and national cinemas that are woefully underrepresented on local movie screens. I’m really looking forward to this year’s edition of the festival.
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And speaking of a national cinema that is underrepresented on local movie screens, The Russian Film Symposium 2008, “The Ideological Occult: Russian Cinema Under Putin,” will be running pretty much concurrently with Silk Screen. Here’s the schedule. The Friday, May 9 screening of Alexander Sokurov’s very highly regarded Alexandra (2007) (reviews) jumped out at me, being the Pittsburgh premiere of a film I’ve wanted to see for some time and being introduced by Ian Christie and all, but I’m sure that as usual my favorite films will be ones I’d never heard of before. I’m not 100% positive that all of these screenings will be open to the public–I’ll post something more once Filmmakers (these films will be shown at their Melwood Screening Room) puts some more information up on their site.
Updated: All of the Russian Film Symposium events are free and open to the public.
Thursday 10 Apr 2008 | andyhorbal | Film, Upcoming
Sounds like good pickins! I’ve seen about half of that Nikkatsu series, and if you can only make it to one, I recommend THE WARPED ONES.
Thanks for the recommendation!
I don’t know if you have cable, but THE DUCHESS has been playing since it was released theatrically on IFC On Demand (where films open theatrically and on Pay Per View on the same day). I know Comcast cable carries it, not sure of what other cable systems do.
They don’t advertise this much, since they still want people to go to the theatre. But it means that those in smaller cities without great distribution can get to see the films.
4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS… is also part of IFC ON DEMAND.
They are $7 each, so a bit more than standard PPV.
Not that you need to hear my endorsement, too, but I don’t think _Duchess_ will disappoint you. Masterpiece may be the appropriate word; its final fifteen minutes are surely “masterful,” no doubt. I’d like to see it again, in fact, but it’s playing across town and I don’t have the time what with this school thing winding down. If you can, given your own school-imposed time constraints, I’d love to read what your reading of the film. As much as I enjoy your (so far) basic return to, um, plain blogging, I look forward to your return, so to speak, to continuing your project to better define and practice film criticism. —And the first masterpiece of 2008 seems a fine thing to look at, right?
Moviezzz, I do not have cable, but thanks for the heads-up anyway!
This GreenCine Daily post makes me want to see Never Forever (2007).