METROGRAPH IN NY, MUSIC BOX IN CHICAGO, TIFF IN TORONTO, AMERICAN CINEMATHEQUE IN L.A.
'THE UNTOUCHABLES' IN 70MM JUNE 22 AT MUSIC BOX IN CHICAGO
A24, the company distributing the Noah Baumbach/Jake Paltrow documentary on Brian De Palma, seems to have conjured up a terrific plan for fans and casual filmgoers alike: De Palma retrospectives in major cities, centered around screenings of De Palma. Already announced a couple of weeks ago is the fairly comprehensive retrospective at Metrograph in New York City. Now several more have popped up, in Toronto, Los Angeles, and Chicago. I don't know for sure that this was part of A24's strategy, but it certainly seems likely they would have made the suggestion to theaters as a way to generate interest in the documentary.TIFF will begin a spread-out series that begins June 18th with Casualties Of War, ending on September 3rd with De Palma's latest feature, Passion. Included in its line-up will be rare screenings of Dionysus In '69 (June 21) and Murder a la Mod (June 23).
Meanwhile, in Chicago, the Music Box Theatre plans a much more modest affair, screening several of De Palma's better-known films from June 17 through June 23, along with daily screenings of De Palma. However, the big news in Chicago: on Wednesday, June 22nd, the Music Box continues its series of 70mm screenings with The Untouchables, at 7:30pm. The Music Box built a special 40-foot screen for this series in anticipation of the 70mm release this past December of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight.
In Los Angeles, American Cinematheque begins a 5-day De Palma series on June 1st with a 40th anniversary screening of Carrie. The next three days see double features (Dressed To Kill/Obsession June 2nd, Body Double/Femme Fatale June 3rd, Scarface/Carlito's Way June 4th), leading up to a "Members only" screening of De Palma on Sunday June 5th.
"THINK OF DE PALMA'S CINEMA IN THE SHAPE OF THE SPIRAL FROM THE OPENING CREDITS OF 'VERTIGO'"
In the programmer's essay for the TIFF retrospective, Brad Deane writes, "Though De Palma's oeuvre doesn't follow a clear thematic trajectory, ideas, motifs, and images repeat obsessively throughout his work; each of his films exists resolutely on its own terms, yet the more you watch, the more they all seem to be haunting each other. Rather than a straight line, think of De Palma's cinema in the shape of the spiral from the opening credits of his beloved Vertigo: an endlessly swirling vortex where recurring stylistic, thematic and narrative elements whirl into and out of view. And against that spiral, think of the split: the knife thrusts that slice open bodies, the doubled protagonists and fissured psyches, and that bifurcated screen which shatters the illusion of a single, immersive reality. In the cinema of Brian De Palma it is always, finally, the audience who must somehow sew that split back together."
Updated: Sunday, May 22, 2016 1:11 AM CDT
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