THIS WEEK AT DOC
5/20-5/26
Gun Crazy
Monday 7:00PM
(Joseph H. Lewis, 1950) · Peggy Cummins marries John Dall. They’re in love. Then, the money runs out. Peggy tells John that if he won't become a criminal with her, she'll leave him. So he becomes a criminal, and, somehow, two seemingly good-natured people turn to robbing and killing as a frenzied way of life. The film features some beautiful location sequences, including a famous, single-take, point-of-view shot filmed from the back of a car during one of the bank robbery sequences.
runtime: 86 min format: DVD about this series
Minamata: The Victims and Their World
Tuesday 7:00PM
(Tsuchimoto Noriaki, 1971) · Aesthetics and ethics intersect in Tsuchimoto's famous documentary on Minamata, the place-name that became the namesake for a disease caused by corporate pollution, the clash between modern nation building and capitalism, and the structural collusion between the village and the corporation. Its exploration of the disease in and through the daily routines of the victims and their family reveals the medical and legal uncertainty in determining its real impact on people.
runtime: 167 min format: 16mm about this series
Woyzeck
Wednesday 9:00PM
(Werner Herzog, 1979) · Based on an unfinished stage play by George Bucher, this third film collaboration between actor Klaus Kinski and Werner Herzog focuses on the tormented and mad existence of a low ranking soldier named Woyzeck. An illegitimate child thought dull by the other provincials, Woyzeck becomes the choice candidate for a local doctor's medical experimentation. Things take a turn for the extreme when the doctor orders him to eat nothing but peas.
runtime: 82 min format: 35mm about this series
Breakfast At Tiffany's
Thursday 7:00PM
(Blake Edwards, 1961) · Holly Golightly lives by her own rules, traipsing through early 60s New York with her smitten neighbor Paul (George Peppard) in tow. Truman Capote wanted Marilyn to play the "American Geisha" from his 1958 novella. She declined, and Audrey's Golightly–diamond tiara, little black dress and a cigarette holder–became iconic. An early pairing for Edwards and composer Henry Mancini (whose "Moon River" appears throughout).
runtime: 115 min format: 35mm about this series
This Is Spinal Tap
Thursday 9:30PM
(Rob Reiner, 1986) · In one of the greatest comedies of all time, Rob Reiner tracks the exploits of Spinal Tap, a fictional British heavy metal band, in one of the greatest comedies of all time. Mixing the humor of golden-era Reiner with that of pre-fame Christopher Guest, the film parodies those boring rock docs you used to flip past on VH1. After watching the band's exploits on their "Smell the Glove" tour, Roger Ebert proclaimed, "Spinal Tap is not that much worse than some successful rock bands." Come rock out.
runtime: 82 min format: 35mm about this series
The Song Remains The Same
Thursday 11:15PM
(Peter Clifton & Joe Massot, 1976) · Zeppelin's manager Peter Grant and batshit-crazy tour dude Richard Cole tommy-gun the crap out of some dudes. John "Bonzo" Bonham rips through "Moby Dick" while his bandmates get wasted backstage. Robert Plant seeks the Holy Grail. The God of Rock, Sir James Patrick Page, takes the form of a hermit and climbs a mountain. John Paul Jones doesn't do much, but he rocks nonetheless. Come get the Led out and witness the birth pangs of a new style.
runtime: 137 min format: 35mm about this series
Taxi Driver
Friday 7:00PM 9:15PM 11:30PM
Sunday 1:00PM
(Martin Scorsese, 1976) · Based off of one failed political killing and, and the inspiration for another (Reagon's), Taxi Driver is an imprint of 1970's New York, thought to be the pimp-studded navel of hell. It was also, of course, Scorsese's hometown. Here, Vietnam vet Travis (De Niro) drives around in his insomniac taxi cab, furious at the "scum". Then, he decides to fight it, disconnecting himself from social reality—and then staring back at us.
runtime: 113 min format: 35mm about this series
Side Effects
Saturday 7:00PM 9:00PM
Sunday 3:15PM
(Steven Soderbergh, 2013) · It's best to go into this one with as little information as possible. Skip the reviews. Skip the trailers. Supposedly Soderbergh's last theatrical endeavor, it's everything a movie should be–nuanced, perfectly paced, compelling, and featuring C-Tates. Soderbergh's has since toned down the Leaving Forever To Be a Painter talk, but just in case he changes his mind, take every opportunity to catch pieces of his oeuvre in the big bright darkness of the cinema.
runtime: 106 min format: 35mm about this series
Jacquot de Nantes
Sunday 7:00PM
(Agnes Varda, 1990) · A moving tribute to Varda's late husband, director Jacques Demy. As a child growing up during the Nazi Occupation, the young Jacquot must retreat into his imagination in order to retain some hope of future happiness. Documentary footage is intercut with fiction, biography speckled with fantasy, and the black-and-white often bursts into color. Varda takes her inspiration from a line of Baudelaire: "I know how to call forth the moments of bliss."
runtime: 118 min format: 35mm about this series