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COLD WAVE III: EURO & SOVIET SCI-FI
O-BI, O-BA: THE END OF CIVILIZATION 1985
What remains of mankind post–nuclear apocalypse is confined to a squalid underground bunker where survivors toil desperately to uphold the last vestiges of civilization. They are spurred on by their fervent belief in a fabled Ark that will deliver them from their living hell—a myth propagated by the powers that be, and spread, in part, by the increasingly disillusioned Soft (Jerzy Stuhr) as he attempts to stave off total collapse. Working in an expressionistically grimy, grey- and blue-toned palette, Szulkin crafts a shattering existential parable about the false promises of politics and religion that plays out like a Sisyphean journey into madness.
Thursday, January 30
Director: Piotr Szulkin​
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Starring: Jerzy Stuhr, Krystyna Janda, Kalina Jędrusik
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Runtime: 89 min., Poland
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Language: Polish w/ English subtitles
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WILD AT HEART & WEIRD ON TOP: A TRIBUTE TO DAVID LYNCH
ERASERHEAD 1977
A dream of dark and troubling things . . .
David Lynch’s 1977 debut feature, Eraserhead, is both a lasting cult sensation and a work of extraordinary craft and beauty. With its mesmerizing black-and-white photography by Frederick Elmes and Herbert Cardwell, evocative sound design, and unforgettably enigmatic performance by Jack Nance, this visionary nocturnal odyssey continues to haunt American cinema like no other film.
Friday, February 7
Saturday, February 8
Director: David Lynch​
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Starring: Jack Nance, Charlotte Stewart, Allen Joseph
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Runtime: 89 min., USA
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Language: English
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WILD AT HEART 1990
With the success of Blue Velvet and the Twin Peaks pilot bolstering his career, David Lynch’s 1990 Wild At Heart finds the director at his most fearless, a mood that suits the film’s young, love-crazed couple. Adapted from a novel by Barry Gifford and starring a Nicolas Cage (before he slipped into self-parody but still delightfully nutzo) and a never sexier Laura Dern, Wild At Heart is Lynch’s love-letter to The Wizard of Oz, Elvis Presley, road movies and the power of reckless love. Supporting the lustful couple is a stellar cast featuring Harry Dean Stanton, Willem Dafoe (at his all-time creepy best), Crispin Glover, Isabella Rosellini (herself romantically linked to Lynch at the time) and Laura Dern’s real-life mother Diane Ladd in a wonderfully histrionic villain role. Despite some explosive violence and truly unsettling moments, it’s the most traditionally “fun” of Lynch’s catalog, one that doesn’t sacrifice an ounce of his trademark surrealism or pitch black sensibility. (Roxy NYC)
Friday, February 14
Saturday, February 15
Director: David Lynch​
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Starring: Nicolas Cage, Laura Dern, Willem Dafoe, Harry Dean Stanton
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Runtime: 89 min., USA
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Language: English
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LOST HIGHWAY 1997
“We’ve met before, haven’t we?” A mesmerizing meditation on the mysterious nature of identity, Lost Highway, David Lynch’s seventh feature film, is one of the filmmaker’s most potent cinematic dreamscapes. Starring Patricia Arquette and Bill Pullman, the film expands the horizons of the medium, taking its audience on a journey through the unknown and the unknowable. As this postmodern noir detours into the realm of science fiction, it becomes apparent that the only certainty is uncertainty.
Saturday, February 22
Sunday, February 23
Director: David Lynch​
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Starring: Patricia Arquette, Bill Pullman, Balthazar Getty, Robert Blake
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Runtime: 89 min., USA
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Language: English
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MULHOLLAND DRIVE 2001
A love story in the city of dreams . . . Blonde Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) has only just arrived in Hollywood to become a movie star when she meets an enigmatic brunette with amnesia (Laura Harring). Meanwhile, as the two set off to solve the second woman’s identity, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) runs into ominous trouble while casting his latest project. David Lynch’s seductive and scary vision of Los Angeles’s dream factory is one of the true masterpieces of the new millennium, a tale of love, jealousy, and revenge like no other.
Friday, February 28
Saturday, March 1
Director: David Lynch​
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Starring: Naomi Watts, Laura Harring, Justin Theroux
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Runtime: 147 min., USA
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Language: English
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