Thursdays 2
SHATTERED VISIONS: LOSS OF IDENTITY IN CINEMA
Programmed by Alexander Fee
Framing itself on the fringes of reality where the pitfalls of man's fears reside, Shattered Visions reaches towards the outer realms of the mind, delving into the psyches of madmen and those avoiding such chasms. Fractured and disassociated, the series offers a fleeting glimpse of what might become when the the question of "Who am I?" arises. This series submerges the viewer into the increasing anxiety of losing oneself, a kaleidoscopic descent into the dreams and nightmares of others. What is at first familiar collapses - the natural occurrence of twins, often misconstrued as only halves of a whole ("Separation can be a terrifying thing" remarks Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers), the modern amenity of facial reconstruction that allows for exercises in assuming the confidence of another ("Come in, Mr. Wilson," declared Frankenheimer's harrowing Seconds as Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys lead songwriter, entered an empty theater in 1966, convincing the bandleader that the film was about himself) - the coils of this malady are disparate and far-reaching, permeating through the works of De Palma, Cronenberg and Frankenheimer. Degeneration, disintegration and the ultimate dissolution of persona takes on many forms...until, upon further reflection, one becomes a stranger to oneself...
3/29/18 @ 9:15 PM
Seconds
(John Frankenheimer, 1966) · "Who are Seconds?" Frankenheimer's eerie and disorienting film is a delirious descent into the life of unhappy banker Arthur Hamilton, who is offered a chance to start anew when he receives a call from a long-forgotten friend thought to be dead. Faking his death for a new face and life provides an opportunity for escape- Hamilton wakes to his new life as Antiochus 'Tony' Wilson (Rock Hudson in his crowning performance), but he soon finds that its luxury, wealth, and power comes at high cost.
runtime: 107m format: DCP
4/5/18 @ 9:15 PM
Dead Ringers
(David Cronenberg, 1988) · "Surely you've heard of inner beauty?" Cronenberg's crimson and macabre masterpiece is anchored by Jeremy Iron's captivating performance as the twin gynecologists Beverly and Elliot. Intertwined from the very beginning, the twins share everything - from patients to lovers. But when Beverly falls in love with a patient, their union comes under threat. Tethered by pre-natal bonds, their fraternal relationship is thrown into a state of disequilibrium, as it's fractured by love, jealousy, and corruption.
runtime: 115m format: 35mm
4/12/18 @ 9:00 PM
Pink Floyd: The Wall
(Alan Parker, 1982) · Pink, a drug-addled English rocker, traps himself in self-imposed isolation in a desolate Los Angeles apartment. The tortured and torn Pink's increasing disassociation brings out his inner demons and fantasies - the looming presences of his dead father, overbearing mother, sadistic school system, and wife who left him. Building a symbolic wall within his mind, Pink daydreams of fascism, destruction, and loss. 'All in all it's just another brick in the wall.'
runtime: 95m format: 35mm
4/19/18 @ 10:00 PM
Sisters
(Brian De Palma, 1973) · In true Hitchcockian fashion, even featuring a score by Bernard Herrmann, De Palma's voyeuristic eye trains itself on journalist Grace Collier, who believes her neighbor, the beautiful but timid Danielle Breton, has brutally killed a man in her apartment - even though no body is found when the police arrive. Grace's search for the truth uncovers Danielle's fraught past - including her twin sister, and the secrets that she holds. Print Courtesy of the Academy Film Archive.
runtime: 93m format: 35mm
4/26/18 @ 9:00 PM
The Face of Another
(Hiroshi Teshigahara, 1966) · A work-related accident changes more than the face of Okuyama, an industrial engineer who becomes obsessed with the concept of the human visage as suffocating social disguise. As an experiment, he contracts an unscrupulous psychiatrist to fashion him a mask of synthetic flesh, which he believes will enable him to embody the life of another man. Upon inhabiting his new persona, Okuyama's reality starts unraveling through the eyeholes of the mask.
runtime: 124m format: 35mm
5/3/18 @ 9:00 PM
Suture
(Scott McGehee, David Siegel, 1993) · Brothers Clay and Vincent encounter each other for the first time at their father's funeral. Clay, who has grown up poor (contrary to Vincent), is unaware of Vincent's plan to kill him and start a new life with their father's inheritance. Surviving the murder attempt, Clay finds himself bandaged in a hospital bed - disfigured, and struggling to restore his identity...unable to recall the memories of whether he truly is who he believes himself to be.
runtime: 96m format: DCP
5/10/18 @ 9:15 PM
A Zed & Two Noughts
(Peter Greenaway, 1985) · 'Why do we have to have two of everything?' An absurd and dark film of pairings: of life and death, of pleasure and grief, and of twin zoologists who lose their wives to a fatal car accident involving a swan. The brothers fall for Alba-the accident's only survivor, cared for by an amputation-obsessed doctor-and their attachment steadily intensifies as death, decay, and the woman who lost control, seize control over their minds. 'Symmetry is all.'
runtime: 115m format: 35mm
5/17/18 @ 9:15 PM
The Tenant
(Roman Polanski, 1976) · Roman Polanski casts himself as Trelkovsky, an outsider that moves into a spacious Parisian apartment after the former tenant throws herself out the window. As he attempts to settle in, his neighbors become increasingly intrusive, raising doubts about the mysterious circumstances of the former tenant's suicide. Trelkovsky gradually becomes obsessed with her, leading him into a labyrinth of delirium with no way out but to follow her steps. Profits will be donated to RAINN.
runtime: 126m format: 35mm
5/24/18 @ 9:30 PM
Magic
(Richard Attenborough, 1978) · A disquieting psychological thriller, Magic stars Anthony Hopkins as Corky, a failed magician, who renews his act by introducing his dummy, Fats, to his show. Overwhelmed by the newfound popularity, Corky returns to his hometown and reconnects with his high-school crush, Peggy Ann. But as their relationship begins to take form, Corky's fragile psyche untethers when Fats begins to have a voice of his own, driving Corky to acts of madness.
runtime: 107m format: 35mm
5/31/18 @ 10:15 PM
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
(Philip Kaufman, 1978) · Philip Kaufman's chilling reinterpretation of the 1956 paranoid-laced classic resituates the invasion in the hills of 1970s San Francisco. When their friends and loved ones begin to fall under strange trances, health inspector Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) and his co-worker, Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) uncover the growing seed of an invisible enemy that replaces humans with imposters. Desperate and in dire straits, they seek out a way to stop the sleepless terror and impending tragedy befalling mankind.
runtime: 115m format: 35mm
