An influential woman still and always: Gena Rowlands
May
24
2014
Looking forward to attending a special screening, next Wednesday evening, of A WOMAN UNDER THE INFLUENCE (1974), a landmark film directed by John Cassavetes and featuring a groundbreaking and courageous performance by actress Gena Rowlands. The film was one of the first preserved by the National Film Registry because of its cultural significance. Rowlands will ...
Romain Gary, the Hollywood years, celebrated May 15
The French Consulate General in Los Angeles is hosting an homage to the multifaceted French intellectual, statesman, novelist and filmmaker, Romain Gary, on the centennial of his birth. War hero, diplomat and film director, Gary moved from the Russian Empire, where he was born, to Nice, where he spent his childhood, and from his Air ...
Philip Glass on Cocteau’s “La Belle et La Bete”
Our friends at the Center for the Art of Performance (CAP-UCLA) have shared with us an essay by Philip Glass concerning his musical reconfiguring of Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et La Bete” (“Beauty and the Beast”) to be screened this Friday night, May 2, one night only, at Royce Hall. The film will have live ...
Claude Lelouch on the friendship in “We Love You, You Bastard” 1
French film director Claude Lelouch, whose seventh film, A Man and a Woman (1966), catapulted an international career, persists in his cinematic exploration of the perils of the human heart — not just in love but in friendship. LeLouch’s 44th feature, “We Love You, You Bastard,” which opened the 18th annual COLCOA French film festival ...
COL·COA tickets still available this weekend, says Francois Truffart
Apr
24
2014
Midstream through COL·COA [City of Lights · City of Angeles], the inimitable week-long film festival showcasing the best of new French cinema in Los Angeles premieres, we chatted with Francois Truffart earlier this afternoon. And the Festival director wants to spread the word. “We still have tickets,” said Truffart, speaking during the annual COL·COA luncheon ...
Historic Raleigh Studios to host “Photo Independent”
Photo Independent, the artist-only fair for photographic artists, collectors and art professionals, rolls out this weekend at an unusual venue: Hollywood’s Raleigh Studios. An amazing and charming movie complex that dates to the ‘teens and comprises fourteen sound stages, Raleigh occupies a distinct niche of Hollywood dream-factory history. Paired with Paramount Studios, which sits to ...
Hallyday, in Hollywood not on holiday but at COL·COA
French rock star Johnny Hallyday, who resides in Los Angeles, manly, subtle and sensitive in director Claude LeLouch‘s latest, “Salaud, On t’Aime” (“We Love You, You Bastard” its less charming English title) seen last night, with Lelouch and Hallyday in the house, at opening night of the 18th annual COL*COA, French film festival. In the ...
The art of going to the movies, courtesy of Laemmle Theatres
The community-minded, venerable Los Angeles art-house theater chain, Laemmle Theatres, invites us to join them this Thursday, April 24, for the opening of an art exhibit by painter Taylor Negron. The evening will include a presentation about the artist as well as wine and cheese. Pop into a movie afterward and it sounds like a ...
TCM Fest: The rise and rise of digital restoration 1
Last weekend’s unveiling of seven digital restorations (five of them world premieres) at the fifth annual TCM Classic Film Festival came at an interesting moment. I saw four of them, and had previously seen a fifth, Hitchcock’s half-silent/half-sound 1929 “The Lodger,” at LACMA’s “Hitchcock 9” program. It was impossible to see all of them due ...
Oh, COL•COA!
Apr
18
2014
The wonderful French film festival in Los Angeles turns 18 this year. A big draw amongst the 41 feature films on view in the festival: Roman Polanski‘s riveting direction of “Venus in Fur” with a killer courageous performance by Emmanuelle Seigner. A little disappointing that it’s not a truly auteur film; instead, it’s based on ...