About six months ago I presented a film series which I called Genre Fluid . Sometimes "noir" comes from the Kitchen Sink. I argued at the time that we can very easily fall into a trap when trying to label things. Does it really matter whether a film fits the dictionary definition of a "Western" or a "Rom-Com" (said I, at the time) and anyway who gets to decide what those definitions are in the first place? If a film is of merit (said I, at the time, said I) it should stand on its own. Why should we waste time and energy trying to stuff it into a box marked Sci-Fi or Chick-Flick ; especially if it doesn't fit exactly? Are we so obsessed with with putting labels on everything that we can't enjoy something for what it is unless we can establish what it isn't ? In a nutshell: Not everything is about pronouns . All of this is what I said six months ago. I then of course proceeded to devote a whole new series of films to exploring (and perhaps... de...
When I launched this current series of films back in January, I dubbed it Post-Depression Tragedy ; partly to compliment the series I had presented last year ( Depression/Comedy ). But beyond that, I personally feel that 1940s film noir is more than just "Dark Cinema". I chose the word Tragedy very deliberately. Scarlet Street , which I didn't screen last week, is about as dark as they come, but it's also cruel and sadistic; and it brutally punishes the main character chiefly because (in the judgement of the screenplay) he is the most pathetic order of life on the planet: a man who isn't a man . Noir can do better. At the very beginning of this series I quoted Jean Anouilh's discussion of Tragedy, which he describes as "restful". True tragedy is never sadistic or cruel because (in his reading) it is inevitable. There is no hope of escape because there is nowhere else for the story to go, and "that makes for tranquillity," as he puts it. ...
The year is 1944. World War II has been dragging on for years, with no end in sight. Allied forces have just landed at Normandy. Hollywood has been pumping out rousing war movie after rousing war movie in an effort to maintain popular support for a war that is sending a seemingly unending stream of young men to their deaths. And then Preston Sturges released Hail the Conquering Hero . Hail the Conquering Hero tells the story of Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith, a young man from a small town whose father had died a hero in World War I. Raised on stories of family courage and bravery during wartime, Woodrow had joined the Marines in the hopes of emulating his legendary father, only to be disqualified after one month by a slightly embarrassing medical ailment. Ashamed to admit this to his mother, he has written to her that he is being sent into active combat, while he is actually working a civilian job in a San Diego shipyard. When he encounters a group of genuine Mar...
A Few Notes on Hygiene and Social Distancing While Movie-Going After 18 months of Lockdown and enforced germophobia, it is with not a small degree of caution that we are resuming our film evenings at the Victoria Park Baptist Church on the 16th of September. Inevitably, we have considered how free and open to make these evenings. Should we go full-on Doomsday Scenario and insist on masks, vaccine cards, social distancing, the whole enchilada? Or should we throw caution to the wind and simply party like it's 1979? Ultimately, we have decided to proceed with cautious abandon . We will not insist on masks at all times, however everyone should feel free to wear them if they choose. Seats will be socially distanced, but everyone will be welcome to sit with their trusted friends and family. We do strongly encourage vaccination, and if you are not fully vaccinated, please think long and hard about attending a public function such as this. Humanity did not pull itself, ...
Welcome back, everyone! We are back for a few more weeks of film nights after our brief recess. I am happy to announce that we are also back upstairs in the Main Hall (or "Screen One" as I like to call it) now that the essential repairs have been completed. A great big thank you to everyone for your patience and understanding while we showed films in our "temporary accommodations" downstairs in the basement ("Screen Two"!). I plan to show three more films in December before we break for the holiday season, and we will then resume on the 12th of January with a brand-new film series (more about that in due course, so stay tuned!). For our first December screening (on Thursday, the 1st of December) I want to draw a line under our recently concluded series of Ordinary Ladies with a film that is, effectively, the antithesis of Ordinary Ladies. The Stepford Wives (1975) is based on Ira Levin's 1972 novel, and plays out like Betty Friedan's darkest in...
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