Antonioni’s sophisticated chick flick
Aug
26
2010
How pleasant to stroll onto the campus of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and travel in time and space to Italy of the 1950s — and totally avoid LAX. At LACMA we enjoyed Michelangelo Antonioni’s “Le Amiche” (“The Girlfriends,” 1955), the great Italian director’s refined social melodrama. The film depicts the world of ...
All hail Travis Banton, Paramount Pictures costume designer
LACMA’s retrospective of Ernst Lubitsch comedies, made in America with a classy European sensibility, opened with the giddy perfection of the German-born director’s “Trouble in Paradise” (1932). Of all the ingredients simmering in this film’s sweet stew, it’s the pre-code evening gowns in which “Trouble”‘s two leading ladies circulate the sound stage dropping witty dialogue ...
Ernst Lubitsch’s 90-minute tour of paradise
Jul
9
2010
Tonight at LACMA — the launch of Ian Birnie’s 16-film retrospective of the American-made comedies of Ernst Lubitsch. Both films run a dreamy 90 minutes long! Let’ s see how much great entertainment the German expat could pack into 1.5 hours. Nicola Lubitsch, the director’s daughter, will be in the house for a curtain talk. ...
Robert Ryan fan club 2
May
30
2010
arts·meme, when she is not kvelling on symphony or ballet, is a fan girl. She has favorite movie actors. The male contingent includes Ralph Fiennes, early Peter Saarsgard, early Tim Roth, and the red-headed Briton, Damien Lewis. But why oh why was the great b-movie guy, Robert Ryan, heavily featured in LACMA’s recent series on the cinematography ...
And the mini Oscar goes to LACMA film
May
14
2010
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced today a $12,500 grant in support of LACMA’s film program for 2010-11 season. While this check will hardly float the program, it bears significance and good will on a symbolic level. The Academy is Hollywood, Inc. And so I would like to humbly thank the Academy ...
Go ahead, Clint, make our day
May
11
2010
The subject is the long-term funding of LACMA’s film program, which is still not secured. In a February 17 curtain talk with Richard Schickel held in tandem with the museum’s respectful retrospective of his oeuvre, Clint Eastwood said: “I want to thank everyone for coming out here and supporting LACMA. I must confess I wasn’t as familiar ...
Musuraca put the noir into film noir 4
May
5
2010
LACMA film curator Ian Birnie has some great stuff coming up this month – a retrospective of the films of Italy-born, New York-raised cameraman Nicholas Musuraca, known for his atmospheric noir cinematography at RKO studios in the 1940s. Says Ian: “Musuraca is the third in my unofficial survey of noir cinematographers; the first was Stanley ...
LACMA film falters …
Apr
20
2010
“Save Film at LACMA,” the grassroots activist group Doug Cummings and I headed up last August, published its update on LACMA chieftain Michael Govan’s progress in sorting out the fate of the museum’s classic film program. We explain that while much has changed since Mr. Govan reversed his decision to cancel the 40-year-running program, much remains ...
Film critic Manny Farber tribute @ LACMA
Apr
18
2010
Among the most tempting of the surfeit of film series "plaguing" our city in April is LACMA’s tribute to the eclectic artist and film critic Manny Farber. LACMA’s associate film curator Bernardo Rondeau nurtured and developed the series to honor Farber, whose essays were published for decades in The New Republic, The Nation, and Time ...
Our exigent film-viewing life in Los Angeles 2
Apr
1
2010
We are truly April fools! It’s a topsy-turvy world … because the laid-back capital of the universe is on fire with film events this month. We in Los Angeles are sweating bullets trying to attend all the film festivals on offer in our city. For film alone, the April line-up is quadruple-booked. arts•meme’s good friend, ...