Film Noir

In the 1960s cinema found a new dawning in the French New Wave, a group of directors who drew their inspiration from classic French and American cinema but made movies for the baby boom generation. Among the movement’s directors, Jean-Luc Godard thought the most about the young boomers—he called them “the children of Marx and Coca-Cola”—and the new cinema that would need to be made. Born in 1931 he felt both older and younger than the young people that he made movies for in the 1960s. Steeped in classic Hollywood movies by Henri Langlois at the Cinémathèque Françiase, Godard lead the French New Wave in its honoring and remaking of cinema. Looking back at his films and interviews it seems like he understood that Hollywood was no longer, that the revolutions of 1968 were coming, and that the New Wave needed to do more than inject new energy into cinema: they had to reinvent it. Come witness his 1960s films all over again. They are the work of a pure talent, a young man who was shaking movies out of his sleeves.

Friday, September 25, 8pm Free
Bachchan: Zanjeer
(Prakash Mehra, 1973, India, 145 minutes, video)
Amitabh Bachchan plays Inspector Vijay Khanna, a police officer who is wrongly imprisoned based on false accusations by Teja, the leader of a powerful gang. Once released from prison, Vijay Khanna learns that Teja was also responsible for the murder of his family 20 years before and he sets out to seek revenge. Zanjeer is Bachchan’s breakout role into true stardom in India and a departure from his earlier romantic comedies. It also established him as the angry young man of Bollywood, a character type he’d come to own in the many films that followed.

Wednesday, September 30, 8pm

Rififi
(Jules Dassin, 1955, U.S., 122 minutes, 35mm)
Director Jules Dassin left his mark on film noir with classics like Brute Force and Night and the City. In 1952 he was summoned before the House Un-American Activities Committee, and after he refused to testify he was blacklisted. Three years later, he directed this low-budget French film noir that won him best director at Cannes and changed what was possible for film noir—in effect perfecting the modern heist movie where the protagonists are tragic heroes. Rififi is a virtuosic directorial performance, famous for its nearly thirty minute heist sequence that ratchets up the suspense by eliminating all music and dialogue: the silent scene is almost unbearably tense, as if the audience has been enlisted in the nighttime burglary.

Thursday, October 1, 8pm
Joe Swanberg in Person!

Mumblecore: Nights and Weekends
(Greta Gerwig and Joe Swanberg, 2008, U.S., 80 minutes, DVCam)
Joe Swanberg teams up with Greta Gerwig, the star of his two previous films, to write, direct, produce, and star in this unflinching examination of a couple struggling with a long-distance relationship. Mattie and James are split between Chicago and New York, and the film, which begins as their relationship starts to show some long-distance strain, is also split between their two cities. A yearlong break in the filmmaking matched a yearlong break in the narrative, adding a layer of authenticity to a film that already feels uncomfortably real. Nights and Weekends captures the intimacy of a relationship in a way that’s remarkably honest. Director Joe Swanberg will introduce the film.

Friday, October 2, 7pm Free

Bachchan: Deewaar
(Yash Chopra, 1975, India, 174 minutes, video)
Deewar is a classic Bollywood film, a mega-blockbuster that cemented Bachchan’s reputation as India’s angry young man. Perhaps the most famous commercial Hindi film ever made, Deewar summed up the attitude of a young, disaffected generation towards the turbulent politics and economy of 1970s India. The first collaboration between Bachchan and famed director Yash Chopra, Deewaar has been called “absolutely key to Indian cinema” by director Danny Boyle, who cited the film as an influence on his India blockbuster, Slumdog Millionaire. 

Wednesday, October 7, 7:30pm Free

Reeltime: Copyright Criminals
(Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod, 2009, U.S., 70 minutes, video)
Can you own a sound? It depends who you ask. Hip-hop artists have long sampled previously recorded music to create new compositions. But once record company lawyers got involved, sampling became “copyright infringement.” Featuring many of hip-hop’s founding figures, this documentary takes a close look at what happens when artistic expression collides with big money and copyright law. Discussion led by Professor Peter DiCola, Northwestern University. Co-Presented with ITVS Community Cinema, Independent Lens and WTTW 11.

Thursday, June 4, 8 pm
Two or Three Things I Know About Her
(Jean-Luc Godard, 1967, France, 90 minutes)
“I wanted to include everything: sports, politics, even groceries. Everything should be put into a film,” says Godard of his dense and insightful 1967 film exploring the state of 1960s Paris. Narrated by Godard with wonderful cinematography from Raoul Coutard, Two or Three Things I Know About Her is fascinated with Paris from its primary colors to its construction sites and cranes, from the protests against the Vietnam war to scenes of consumerist society.

Friday, June 5, 8 pm
A Woman is a Woman
(Jean-Luc Godard, 1961, France, 84 minutes, 35mm)
A tribute by Godard to his wife—Anna Karina, the Audrey Hepburn of the French new-wave—A Woman is a Woman is a dizzying kaleidoscope of a movie: flashy, hypnotic, and a glorious mess. Godard called it a “a Neo-Realist musical”—that is, a contradictions in terms. Short on narrative—Karina’s character wants to get pregnant—it replaces the plot with sheer brash attitude and visual élan. It’s the work of a pure talent, a young man who was shaking movies out of his sleeves.