La Chimera. Thank you, YouTube.

Movies, NewScreen Stuff, Strange Stuff

The reason I give props to YouTube? I was recording a trailer for the movie I had planned to show tonight, and the algorithm queued up the trailer for this. I had never heard of it, nor was I familiar with the work of director, Alice Rohrwacher. So… it turns out that I don’t know a lot about a lot of things… but the trailer grabbed me, and I set to “work” watching it. I was blown away, as were our guests tonight.

When I say set to work, I mean that I feel it’s my duty to know a film before I show it to a group of trusting people who make the effort to schlep to Alphabet City for NewScreen. I made an exception recently for Hundreds of Beavers, which I just KNEW would be fantastic, and wanted to be on the discovering side, along with my guests. Good call. What a crazy ride!

In case you’re interested, the film that got “bumped” tonight was All Your Faces (Je verrai toujours vos visages). That would have been a great screening as well…

Hundreds of Beavers was not the first unseen feature I’ve ever shown. Many many years ago, I found myself in a Blockbuster (remember them?) and managed to get my hands on their last copy of the recently released The Hurt Locker, which I showed unseen at MovieNight. As it turned out, my instincts were good ))

Housekeeping for Beginners. Moviemaking for experts.

Movies, NewScreen Stuff

Goran Stolevski branched out in a new direction with Housekeeping for Beginners. His previous movie, You Will Not Be Alone entranced me (and some of you, I hope, after being screened here for the third time, a few weeks ago) and I had been eagerly awaiting this new work from the Macedonian-born, now living in Australia, director.

This did not disappoint. We laughed, we cried, we laughed again. And then we applauded when the closing credits rolled. Another great NewScreen night!

Hundreds of Beavers. OMFG.

Strange Stuff, Trailers

Tonight’s feature was arguably the craziest thing I’ve ever seen. Our audience was enthralled, to say the least. What kind of imagination comes up with this kind of thing? Well, obviously that of Mike Cheslik. If you feel like being thoroughly entertained by 108 minutes of unrelenting visual thrills, gags, and slapstick, please watch Hundreds of Beavers.

Of course, our short feature tonight had to be Evil Beaver!

Swingers. Go Daddy-O!

Trailers

28 years later, Swingers remains relevant, even though the answering-machine is pretty much a thing of the past. I mention the aforementioned device, because it plays a huge role in one of the cringiest and funny scenes in the movie. Poor Mike! (not to worry though… happy ending alert!)

Our crew was held enraptured, as happens most NewScreen nights. So happy I got this one off my to-show list!

Our short tonight was Tasty Fish, a music video that I directed in the early 90’s for The Other Two, after the split up of New Order. Is it ok that I featured my own work two weeks in a row???

The Night of the 12th. Where were you?

Movies

Based on an actual unsolved murder, this fascinating police procedural came up with so many likely suspects (homegirl fell in love easily, apparently) only to discover that none of them could actually have done it. The scenario was indeed bleak, but director Dominik Moll focused more on the workings of the police department, the detectives and the things that haunt them, and their personal problems. Somehow, there was plenty to laugh at.

Speaking of plenty to laugh at… my homemade short Miracle at MovieNight worked it’s magic on our guests once again tonight.

You Won’t Be Alone. Nor was I tonight.

Movies, NewScreen Stuff
Witches need loving too

I was craving something rich and delicious this week, and when this came to mind, it was impossible to shake off. It came to mind because Goran Stolevski’s new film, Housekeeping for Beginners, is just about to hit American theaters… I can’t wait to see what he does with that story. I the meantime I thought we should see this one again. Result!

Thanks to all my loyal peeps who came out on yet another rainy April night to enjoy this astonishingly beautiful work.

Also… our short was amazing too… Thank You For Not Answering, directed by Paul Trillo. Spooky.

Anatomy of a Fall. Hail Hüller!

Trailers

The weather tried it’s best to shut us down tonight, but we prevailed. Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall was a transfixing view, and Sandra Hüller was at her finest. She managed to even be funny, in the face of everything happening to her. I got a bit excited, and considered re-visiting Toni Erdmann (her big breakout role). Probably not next week, but…

Past Lives. Finally.

Trailers
Marry. Go round?

I watched this beautiful film with friends on a warm night last summer, on the big outdoor screen upstate, and kinda filed it away for “later”. In the meantime, a lot of glittering gems pushed their way into my queue. But with it’s Best Picture Oscar nomination, Celine Song’s Past Lives came back into sharp focus for me, and tonight was the perfect “later”.

It’s hard to say what makes this story so moving… but it manages to touch a few places that are difficult to access, in a very non-Hallmark way. Greta Lee was perfectly cast as Nora, although she did seem to have aged significantly more than her childhood sweetheart Hae Sung (Teo Yoo). In the end, though, it doesn’t really matter. The bond between them is totally palpable. Of course I cried.

Lovely to see new guests here tonight, along with our loyal regular crew.