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Bad Boy Made Good: The Revival of George Antheil’s 1924 Ballet Mécanique directed by Ron Frank (2003, 74 min.)

Honestly, I had no idea what to call this event.

Scored for 16 synchronized player pianos, two pianists, seven percussionists, seven electric bells, three airplane propellers, and one siren, the piece was a thundering, abrasive noise-fest unlike any heard before, with about 630 time-signature changes in its 1,240 measures.

Ballet Mécanique called for technology that didn't exist at the time. It took a forward-thinking music publisher, a music technologist, a modern player-piano manufacturer, and the latest in computer technology before the piece was heard the way the composer wanted it-seventy-five years after it was written.

Here's the link to the trailer where you can decide if it is either mesmerizing or annoying :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eo0H8ztju78&feature=related

George Antheil was an American composer who wrote the music for a number of Hollywood films during the 30's and 40's, most notably Cecil B. DeMille's Union Pacific and Nicholas Ray's In a Lonely Place . In the 1920's he mixed with many of the major artists of his day, including James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, and Eric Satie. In particular, he befriended Ezra Pound, who became his unofficial publicist, and the Russian composer Igor Stravinsky, his major musical influence. His musical output of the time, partly inspired by the Dada movement and the Italian Futurist composers, includes such percussive, mechanistic works as the "Airplane Sonata," "Death of the Machines," and the "Sonata Sauvage."
After the rediscovery of the original score of "Ballet Mecanique" by William Holab , the idea for the new performance was born. Bad Boy Done Good -- directed and edited by Ron Frank, written and produced by Paul D. Lehrman (the MIDI expert who used computer-based MIDI technology to synchronize the 16 pianos), and narrated by Tony Kahn -- mixes scenes from the performance with interviews of various composers, musicians, and scholars and vintage footage and photos. It's a compelling look at a fascinating man -- essential viewing for lovers of 20th century music and a great introduction for those of us whose tastes are less noisily inclined.

By the way, with actress Hedy Lamarr, George Anheil invented a jam-proof missile guidance system, the principles of which are used today in the spread-spectrum technology of cell phones. New England Film.com

After the film we'll go to a nearby eatery for our discussion-wish there was a restaurant serving 3-alarm Chile con Carne. Anyway- hope to see you there,

Tom

Claire Denis has an almost-unparalleled gift for blending poeticism and realism, a combination once again seamlessly achieved in 35 Shots of Rum, her magnificently understated and piercing portrait of the difficulty of letting go. With a tip of the hat to Yasujiro Ozu via the recurring sight of trains (specifically, the dawn, midday and dusk views out their lead cars’ front windows), Denis subtly addresses the inexorable forward march of time – as well as the desire to halt that progress and remain in immediate moments of bliss – through the story of metro conductor Lionel (Alex Descas), his grown daughter Josephine (Mati Diop), their neighbor and Josephine’s potential romantic interest Noé (Grégoire Colin), and Lionel’s sometimes girlfriend, taxi driver Gabrielle (Nicole Dogue). Lionel and Gabrielle have professions defined by movement, and the story’s focus is on their (and Josephine and Noé’s) attempts to cling to a current situation that’s slipping through their fingers or pine for one already lost, whether it be Lionel’s desire to have Josephine remain at home, Noé’s inability to move out of (and sell all the furniture within) his parents’ apartment, or Gabrielle’s longing for earlier days when Josephine was young and she and Lionel were closer. Such issues, also felt in the difficult transition into retirement experienced by Lionel’s colleague René (Julieth Mars Toussaint), permeate 35 Shots, which expresses its individual, familial and romantic relationships and tensions with an affecting blend of lived-in authenticity and graceful lyricism. Once again working with moody Brit band Tindersticks and cinematographer par excellence Agnes Godard, whose work here is both silky and warm, Denis depicts everyday details (buying a rice cooker, going to work) and conveys overarching emotional upheavals with a compassion and gentleness that’s quietly devastating. More straightforward than The Intruder, her keenly observed latest pinpoints the pain and joy felt by parents and children as they learn to move on, never more so than in a sumptuous late-night café sequence that casts drinking and dancing as mechanisms for her characters’ process of gauging, changing and defining viewpoints.

this film is only playing for a week - so, hopefully members who cannot make johns friday night meetup can make this one

thanks to: http://www.nickschager.com/nsfp/2009/09/35-shots-of-rum-2009-a.html - for the description

My first hosting - i will find out about actual film time in the coming days.

yes, we will be going to a near by restaurant for food and discussion...

actual start time is 2:05pm

Sneak Previews of New Cinema Followed by Lively Conversation

Now in its 16th year, Talk Cinema, created by Harlan Jacobson, exists to give film lovers a chance to be part of a community.

Note that individual tickets are $20

Each screening showcases innovative independent and foreign films that have not yet been theatrically released, followed by discussions led by distinguished critics and filmmakers.

You don't know what you will see until you arrive at the theatre! And while what you see is a complete surprise until the lights go down, we can tell you that last year's series included sneaks of such Oscar-winning fare as Slumdog Millionaire, and Man on Wire. The Sneak Preview on September 12 was Bright Star, a film by Jan Champion.

Some selections are meant to stretch the viewer’s perspective, some are meant to expand the viewer’s geopolitical horizons, and always to inform... New cinema is viewed as a peephole into new territory, whether it is cinematic, thematic, political or geographic.

Everyone is a critic: One of the program’s distinctive features is the opportunity for members to review films and to refer films to each other. This is a great way to deepen your film experience and connect with other cinephiles.

Seen so far:
Sept 13 - BRIGHT STAR
Oct 4 - AN EDUCATION
Oct 25 - ???

John will be sipping coffee across the street at the Panera Bread starting at 9:15 to meetup with folks so that we can sit together. Look for the sleepy dude with a piece of paper with the word Meetup sitting atop his Globe. Due to the discussion after the film, there will be no formal meetup following Talk Cinema.

Update: The actual starting time is 1:55 pm.

There has been a lot of press about this film, especially about Carey Mulligan's performance, and it looks like the quality actually lives up to the hype. Lately I've been curious about the early sixties thanks to Mad Men, so anything from that era is very interesting to me right now. And if you're a fan of Nick Hornby like I am, there's one more reason to see this.

About the film:
An Education is the story of a teenage girl's coming-of-age set in 1961 London, a city caught between the drab, post-war 1950s and the glamorous, more liberated decade to come. Jenny (Carey Mulligan) stands on the brink of becoming a woman: a brilliantly witty and attractive 16-year-old whose suburban life is about to be blown apart by the utterly unsuitable 30-something David (Peter Sarsgaard). Urbane and witty, David manages to charm her conservative parents Jack (Alfred Molina) and Marjorie (Cara Seymour). David introduces Jenny to a glittering new world of classical concerts and late-night suppers with his attractive friend and business partner, Danny (Dominic Cooper) and Danny's girlfriend, the beautiful but vacuous Helen (Rosamund Pike). Just as Jenny's family's long-held dream of getting their brilliant daughter into Oxford seems within reach, Jenny is tempted by another kind of life. Written by Nick Hornby (About a Boy, High Fidelity) and directed by Lone Scherfig (Italian for Beginners).

"An Education is the vivid story of how one girl became a woman — and how Olde England morphed into the youthquake center of '60s yeah yeah yeah. None of which would be quite so vivid without the beguiling performance of newcomer Mulligan. She's very much an It Girl, with her natural elegance in a brunet upsweep à la Audrey Hepburn. And she's protectively partnered by Sarsgaard in the tricky job of playing sweet yet suspect, a balance he sustains with nonchalance." Grade: A-: Entertainment Weekly

89% -- Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes

(It was also a subject of Harlan Jacobson's Talk Cinema, which John hosted as Meetup a few weeks ago. I'm told the reaction was also very positive!)

After the movie we'll go to an area restaurant for a discussion.

Hope to see you there!

Lisa

T

Combine suburban alienation, philosophical inquiry, moral seriousness, a mixture of respect for and utter indifference to Torah, and, finally, a ton of dope, and you get one of the most remarkable oeuvres in modern film.- David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Larry Gopnik, a Jewish academic, lives in a middle-class Jewish neighborhood in St. Louis Park, Minnesota in 1967. His wife is on the verge of leaving him for one of his colleagues, his students are defaming him and putting his tenure at risk, and a beautiful neighbor distracts him by sunbathing in the nude. Faced the possibility of his life coming apart at the seams Larry begins to question the value of his existence as he seeks advice from three different rabbis in an attempt to solve his problems and become an austere and devoted man.

NYT CriticsPick Review

While the dude abides, we can't miss the latest film by the Coen brothers. An 86% rating on rotten tomatoes, at the very least, we'll have plenty to talk about, afterward. I guarantee that the discussion will add to your appreciation of this film as we are A Serious Meetup with A Serious Group of Cinephiles who make each event A Serious Good Time.

I will make reservations for us at Zaftigs (Deliciously plump, or carrying your extra weight very well)
for the post film discussion as, seriously, is there any other possible place to discuss this film?!

See you at the movies,

John