About Flagpole. (Athens, Ga.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2011)
NEWS OF ATHENS' CINEMA SCENE A Great Start: The Summer Classic Movie Series got underway at Cine two weeks ago with a sold-out Friday-night screening of Chocolat, preceded by a rousing introduction by Tony Eubanks. Tony has been appointed to head up the newly formed board of the Athens Film Arts Institute, the nonprofit organization that will take over the theater's operations starting in January. The summer movie series is a benefit for the AFAI, which will need to hire a director to replace Cine founder Brigitta Hangartner when she moves to Illinois in early 2012, soon after the transition. by Otto Preminger. When Brigitta asked if I'd be interested in introducing it I immediately agreed, despite not having seen it: I figured a Lubitsch film that had never been available on home video in the United States, even if it didn't rise to the level of his best work, couldn't be anything less than worthwhile. As it turns out, it's one of Lubitsch's very best movies, holding up strongly against his other late-career masterpieces, Ninotchka, The Shop Around the Corner and Heaven Can Wait. It has all the warmth, charm and ineffable grace of those films, along with the committed Jennifer Jones in Ernst Lubitsch's Cluny Brown, opening July 22 as part of Cine's Summer Classic Movie Series. Because of the AFAI's 501(c)3 status, Cine memberships (as well as donations to the foundation) will now be tax-deductible. The IRS will also consider ticket sales "support," which must constitute at least one-third of the organization's income in order for it to remain a nonprofit. That doesn't mean the AFAI won't still have to beat the bushes to raise funds for Cine's operation, but it will certainly help as the new group finds its legs and establishes ’tself in the community. In both his intro to Chocolat and his warmup for presenter Patterson Hood at last Friday's series screening of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Tony stressed Cine's role as an invaluable cultural asset to this community, a point with which you won't find any argument here. It's About the Movies: Sierra Madre was as much fun as ever, and terrific to see on a big screen—that's still playing through this Thursday, July 21. But Chocolat was really a pleasant surprise for me. I had remembered it as a super-slick commercial entertain ment with some light art-house pretensions. That's still a fair characterization of it, I sup pose, but it's only a partial one that doesn't acknowledge how beautifully executed it is. The script by Robert Nelson Jacobs from Joanne Harris's novel has all its pieces exactly in place, and Lasse Hallstrom's brisk direction keeps it humming along with just the right balance of sentimentality and good humor. It's great at being a crowd-pleaser, which made it an ideal choice for AFAI's series kickoff. An even greater revelation, though, is the film I'm presenting in the series, Cluny Brown. It's the last picture completed by the peer less Ernst Lubitsch, in 1946 before he died a year later at only 65 while in production with That Lady in Ermine, which had to be finished characterizations and depth of emotion that set them apart from his earlier, more breezily continental comedies and musicals. Not that Lubitsch had entirely abandoned the discreetly naughty wit that was his trademark—there's a vague but stirring running double enten dre about plumbing that must simply have stumped the censors. Cluny Brown opens this Friday, july 22 in a restored 35mm print; I'm introducing the early evening screening [check www.athenscine. com. for the specific showtime] And Don't Forget: The next entry in the sum mer classic series is pretty exciting, too: Josef von Sternberg's The Blue Angel, the first of his seven collaborations with Marlene Dietrich. The 7 p.m. opening-night screening on Friday, July 29 will be introduced by the immensely talented Sanni Baumgartner, a wonderful singer and multi-intrumentalist with a terrific affinity for the kind of Berlin cabaret music so iconically purveyed by Dietrich in this and many other films. Don't miss it. Adieu to iFilms, for Now: The ACC Library's excellent iFilms series will be taking a hiatus while the library auditorium undergoes reno vations beginning in August, so this month's final screenings are the last you'll see for awhile. July 21 is Secrecy, a 2008 documen tary that explores the role of government secrecy in the age of the War on Terror. July 28 is Questioning Faith, a 2002 doc that con tains director and seminarian Macky Alston's personal reflections on how God car. allow such suffering in the world. The free screen ings are Thursdays at 7 p.m.; go to www. clarke.public.lib.ga.us for more info. Dave Marr film@flagpole.com emporium hair & color salon Call for an appointment with MATT WHEELER Voted Athens' Favorite Hairstylist full service salon -EXCLUSIVELY- AVEDA 187 N. Lumpkin Street 706-546-7598 Monday-Friday 4-7 pm $2 Domestic Bottles • $4 House Wine $2 House Champagne WEDNESDAYS DffiB CEHB OTE7 QGb 032 KIP JONES Oysters S8 doz. raw or chargrilled * Open 4pm Mon-Fri and i lant Sat & Sun , [a 2095 S. 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