Cinema to talk about
Lola Montès
Melbourne's mid-week film festival is back.
Humpday schmumpday. Wednesdays don't have to be boring. If you're struggling to get over the mid-week lull, take out a Melbourne Cinémathèque membership and immerse yourself in the rich and varied history of international cinema.
The 2010 program opens next week with a double feature celebrating the influential vision of Max Ophüls, a filmmaker critic Andrew O'Hehir describes as "European cinema's greatest world-weary romantic". Made in 1955, Lola Montès is a lush historical romance starring Martine Carol as the titular character, a 19th century courtesan whose list of dalliances includes Franz Liszt and King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Screening after Lola Montès is La Ronde, an urbane and witty adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's play chronicling the sexual and moral mores of European society in the 1900s.
The following week's double bill features works by the recently departed Éric Rohmer. Both Full Moon in Paris and Boyfriends and Girlfriends were made by Rohmer in the 1980s, when the 'Rohmer style' (described by French president Nicolas Sarkozy as "classic and romantic, wise and iconoclastic") was well and truly established. Then, on Wed 24 Feb, it's time to rediscover a couple of Martin Scorsese's lesser-known gems: Who's That Knocking at My Door? is Scorsese's first feature film and a fascinating blueprint for later works like Mean Streets, while After Hours is one of those Scorsese rarities - a black comedy and a film without De Niro (who woulda thunk it?).
This year's other program highlights include 'The Sweet Life: the World of Federico Fellini', 'Figuring Landscapes', a boutique season exploring the political and cultural links between Australia and the UK, and spotlights on Jacques Demy, Milos Forman, Akira Kurosawa and Maggie Cheung.
Melbourne Cinémathèque screens every Wednesday night from 7pm.
Published Thursday, 4 February 2010
|
|
|
