Calling all Americans! See Oscar-shortlisted docs on the big screen
Dec
17
2019
American Factory “Oscars® Spotlight: Documentaries,” a screening initiative leading up to the 92nd Oscars gives audiences nationwide the opportunity to see Documentary Feature films shortlisted for an award in the 92nd Academy Awards.® The program, begun last year, is a really wonderful initiative by The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in tandem with AMC ...
Party on, Marion Davies, at the Beach House!
Dec
5
2019
1927: Conrad Nagel (1896 – 1970), Marion Davies (1897 – 1961) and cast and crew of the MGM film ‘Quality Street’ celebrate director Sidney Franklin’s birthday. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images) Marion Davies (1897 – 1961) — silent film actress, party hostess and the original occupant of the (now called) Annenberg Beach House — is ...
Prop poster portrays choreographer’s bad-taste pinnacle
This prop poster from The Producers (1968) is displayed outside the theater during the premiere of “Springtime for Hitler,” and is also visible at greater length in the “Playhouse Outtake” on the DVD. It is on auction December 10 at Bonhams as part of the TCM presents: 1939, Hollywood’s Greatest Year sale. “Springtime for Hitler” ...
Sin in style! High-fashion pre-Code double-bill at The Egyptian
Made between 1930, when the restrictive Production Code was adopted, and 1934, when it was in full effect, “pre-Code” films are beloved for their provocative content and risqué style. A Sunday double-bill screening program devoted to pre-Code films is hosted by the Art Deco Society of Los Angeles. The afternoon begins at one p.m. with ...
Thanksgiving with Lydia the Tattooed Lady 1
Our holiday pick: The Brothers Marx in their ode to the much-marked Lydia the Tattooed Lady. In Thanksgiving gratitude for Yip Harburg‘s brilliant lyric, “And a torso even moreso!” Kermit loves her too. Guitarist Gary Lucas plucks the polyphony – and poetry – in Groucho Marx’s torch song to the scribbled dame.
Boy enslaved: ‘Buoyancy’ (2019)
A real stunner — and a stunning achievement for a first-time feature-film director named Rodd Rathjen — Buoyancy, the Australian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards. At age 14, Charka (Sarm Heng) chomps at the bit to escape his daily labor in Cambodian rice paddies under his father’s tyrannical command. ...
Be with Merce — in books, films & classes
498 Third Avenue, photo courtesy of James Klosty, “Merce Cunningham Redux“ Looking in the rear view mirror, it appears that no artist in our great century of American dance — the 20th — had a more revolutionary impact on the art form as did Merce Cunningham. His genius (it long endured; he lived and worked ...
Reviewing ‘The Report’: Adam Driver to next play Martha Graham? 2
The two faces of Martha We just endured the earnest-but-meh new movie, The Report (2019), written and directed by Scott Z. Burns with the backing of producer Steven Soderbergh. The film’s noble mission is to recount yet another norm broken in our once-shining nation: the Geneva Convention. A ‘backstage drama’ (an underground “scif” in CIA’s ...
Agnes Varda smiles. So does Ava DuVernay. 2
Nov
4
2019
One of the most prodigious female artists of our lifetime, the fanciful, thought-provoking, highly humane and feminist filmmaker, Agnès Varda (1928 – 2019), received kudos, a showering of affection, and shared solace over her recent death Saturday at ARRAY360. The rich film festival, which took place at the superlative cinema-campus founded in Echo Park by ...
post sponsored by The Soraya
Farruquito, flamenco master, brings troupe to The Soraya
Juan Manuel Fernandez Montoya, aka Farruquito Ed. note: This article was commissioned and first published by The Soraya for Farruquito’s November 9, 2019 performance there. It is reprinted on artsmeme with permission. The brilliance was there from the start. At age 11, Juan Manuel Fernández Montoya, the reigning superstar of flamenco who performs under the ...