Emma Seligman’s debut feature, Shiva Baby, made us cringe tonight… in the way that we like to cringe. Although it’s not a horror movie, it almost could be, with new plot twists coming hard and fast, spiraling ever downward with every glass of wine Danielle (Rachel Sennott – excellent) knocks back, and every staccato note of Ariel Marx’s haunting score. The cast is all solid, but Dianna Agron brought another level of tension, with her knockout performance as Kim, a Westchester blonde “Shiksa” entrepreneur (she’s actually Jewish btw). Perfect.
Our short tonight was the vintage I Fink U Freaky, by Die Antwoord. Dark stuff all night!
I went out on a bit of a limb tonight with this one. Bad Luck Banging or Loony Porn opens with what used to be called a sex tape, the existence of which provides the premise for the rest of the movie. I stayed hunkered down behind my bar, worried that my guests could be offended or embarrassed by the three and a half minutes of hard core action on screen. It turns out that I had nothing to worry about. It seems that people are pretty familiar with this kind of thing! The pacing of Radu Jude’s movie is perfect (one IMDB contributor, not wanting to give anything away, described it as a roller coaster ride) and kept our audience suspended in delight.
It felt like old times here tonight. We had a couple of fresh-off-the-boat newbies (always great to welcome), and Ellen insisted that the lazy bartender make popcorn for her to distribute. lol
Our short feature was Emma Allen’s Ruby a fast moving stop motion self portrait
What can I say? The Night of the Iguana never fails to entertain, and certainly didn’t fail this evening. This was our 7th screening in 20 years. Can you believe it’s been 20 years? OMG.
Tonight’s short was another perennial favorite: Anna Mantzaris’ first year film at the Royal College of Art, Enough
“The death of a grandmother, the grief of a parent, the acquisition of a new friend — these ordinary experiences, occurring over a few weeks in the life of an 8-year-old girl, provide the basic narrative structure of this spare, perfect film. Whether it’s best described as a modern-dress fairy tale, a psychological ghost story or a low-tech time travel fantasy is up to you. What’s certain is that the performances of Josephine and Gabrielle Sanz, real-life twins playing possibly imaginary friends, have a clarity and purity that Sciamma (“Portrait of a Lady on Fire”) deploys for maximum emotional impact.” (A. O. Scott – The New York Times)
Indeed, Petite Maman left us afloat in the sort of warm comfort that a young child might find in their morning bowl of hot chocolate… a quintessential French breakfast fare. Another fine movie night at NewScreen.
Less well received tonight was our short, which featured Kyiv rapper, Tricky Nicki’s Ride for Ukraine (in English). I guess people here have the luxury of being tired of the war already?
Paul Thomas Anderson returned to form (by which I mean, Magnolia form… it’s not as though his film-making has been too shabby in the inerim!) with the multi-layered and star-studded Licorice Pizza. Alana Haim and Cooper Hoffman are officially stars.
NewScreen continues to return to form too. Tonight was one of those nights that I felt hesitant about starting the movie. Conversation at the bar was lively, with some first-timers, unable to hide their delight at this “new discovery”, striking up conversations with our more “regular” guests, some of whom hadn’t attended for many years. But… the show must go on, and so it did. As expected, we were mesmerized.
The old “Aprez” playlist got dusted off too, and although I know it’s just wrong, we danced once again to that perennial favorite, Step In The Name Of Love, by the disgraced R.Kelly. Oops.
Our very short feature tonight was a mid-eighties Wendy’s commercial poking fun at the lack of choice in the then Soviet Union. And, by the way… Fuck Putin.
It’s hard to believe that Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Les Diaboliques is 67 years old! The re-mastered Criterion release looked great on our screen tonight. We had a nice turnout for this creepy delight… some folks returned for the first time since Parasite! It felt like old times, and we managed to not think about the war for a minute.
Keeping it French, our short this week was Justine Vuylsteker’s somewhat erotic graduation film, Fish Don’t Need Sex.
My choice of tonight’s feature was rather polarizing. Some of you wouldn’t even consider watching another (supposed) biopic about Lady Di, and/or the Royal Family, for various reasons political and otherwise (one person loved The Crown so much, that they weren’t eager to see the royals portrayed by actors that they were unfamiliar with in their roles). Still others can’t bear to watch Kristen Stewart at all, and were recently appalled by her Oscar nomination for Spencer.
I beg to differ! This trippy movie was never meant to be an accurate account of Diana’s life, rather a dark portrayal of a woman imprisoned in a loveless marriage, on the verge of cracking up completely. Personally, I believe this fictional account was full of non-fiction. Of course, there were some purely fantastical elements thrown in to spice up this twisted dish, but the “dish” came out of the oven cooked to perfection. Stewart did an amazing job, albeit the same job she always does. This time she had something more to sink her lovely teeth into.
A point of trivia for you movie lovers: have you noticed that Neon seems to have become the new A24? Almost everything good that I see these days is a Neon release.
As Putin’s murderous onslaught rages on, we repeated short intro: a rousing video performance of the anti war Disenchantment, by the Ukrainian metal band, Ignea. Planning to attend the I Stand with Ukraine rally in Times Square on Saturday, rocking this two-sided sign. Bigly.
No ambiguity hereUkrainian for “Putin is a dickhead”
Just a few hours before tonight’s screening, Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine, using the preposterous pretext of keeping the peace in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Unfortunately, many Russians have no easy access to real news, and have swallowed Putin’s lies whole. There but for the grace of god go we. Think “Fox News” and now “Truth Social”.
Run, Julia, run.
Our crew of four managed to find some solace in each others’ company though, and occasionally rise above the pervading sense of doom . Although it wasn’t always easy to concentrate on the movie, when we could, we were moved to laughter and tears.
As a tribute to our friends in Ukraine, our short intro featured a rousing video performance of the anti war Disenchantment, by the Ukrainian metal band, Ignea
A very small group of us were mesmerized (once again, in my case) by Jane Campion’s masterpiece tonight. Benedict Cumberbatch transformed himself brilliantly and convincingly from a British gentleman to a rough-edged, toxicly masculine 1920’s American cowboy. Well, he’s rather more complicated than that, as is the movie itself. If you’re interested in dissecting The Power of the Dog more deeply, I suggest that you watch Lucas Blue’s thorough explanation on YouTube.
My dog, Tick, a Jack Russell Terrier, watches movies earnestly with us… I’ve never seen anything quite like it. He pays very close attention and takes exception to animals being on the screen, particularly horses. You can imagine how much he didn’t like The Power of the Dog… unless maybe he finds pleasure in “protecting” us from them. In any case, he gets used to the idea that these big critters are going to be sharing our space for a few hours, and finds himself a friendly lap to settle down in.
Our short opening feature was Maestro directed by Illogic… It’s so great to be back.
Tonight marked the return of NewScreen after 1 year, 10 months and 27 days of Covid-19 shutdown. Our small group of fully-vaxxed folks practiced sensible mingling, while enjoying a beautiful movie and great cocktails, etc. The sense of magic was palpable.
Who knows where the road ahead will take us, but in the meantime, we’re so happy to be here, and provide this small Thursday night oasis. Hopefully it won’t turn out to be a mirage.
Our short this week featured the British band, Wet Leg, performing their zany, tongue-in-cheek Chaise Longue. Wonderful.
