antiplex

coming up at boston's independent moviehouses - the brattle, harvard film archive, mfa and coolidge

The Duchess by Saul Dibb (2008, 110 min, Rated PG-13 for sexual content, brief nudity and thematic material. ) Keira Knightley stars as 18th century aristocrat Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, who was adored for her glamour and reviled for her extravagant political and personal life. Ralph Fiennes and Charlotte Rampling also star in this lavish period production. one day only

Romance of Astrea and Celadon by Eric Rohmer (2007, 109 min.). From My Night at Mauds to A Tale of Springtime, Eric Rohmer has made a career from treating modern romance like great classical love stories. In his latest film, the romance of ill-fated lovers Celadon and Astrea is torn asunder by a sudden misunderstanding. A suicide attempt lands Celadon in the clutches of the sensual Galathea and her handmaidens, but a helpful passerby soon inspires our hero to reconcile with Astrea. Filled with nymphs, druids, and angels, the film is literally atwitter with medieval soundslutes, crickets, and waterfalls dominateand sensuously aflutter with countless breezes caressing the billowing shirts of our hero, heroine, and sundry nubile lasses. Like all things old becoming new again, this ancient tale embodies Rohmers contemporary themes, presenting its mlange of romantic befuddlement, entanglement, and desire as effortlessly and entertainingly as any modern romance. showing through friday

Sadko by Alexandr Ptushko (1952, 90 min.). In one of the darkest years for Soviet cinema, the master of fantastic cinema managed to create his most beautiful work. Aleksandr Ptushkoalready internationally famous for The New Gulliver and The Stone Flower transformed the Arab seafarer Sindbad into Sadko, a medieval Russian adventurer. Sadko sets out on a voyage in search of true happiness. His travels take him to every exotic corner of the globe, as well as to a sprawling undersea kingdom before he finally returns to the arms of his beloved Lubava, Special effects master Ptushko creates a true cinema of enchantment, with every character, object and background alive with wondrous possibilities. Years later, Sadko was purchased by American producer Roger Corman, who released the film as The Magic Voyage of Sinbad after it had been re-edited by a very young Francis Ford Coppola. one day only

Battleship Potemkin by Sergei Eisenstein (1925, 80 min.) One of the immortal classics of world cinema, Battleship Potemkin was a perfect vehicle for the young, brilliant and restless Eisenstein to experiment with his theories about montage, the creation of new ideas and filmic realities through the creative juxtaposition of images. Based on the famous revolt by the crew of a Russian warship in Odessa in 1905, the film celebrates the courage of the rebels and those on land who supported them, and it also depicts, in the extraordinary and oft-quoted Odessa Steps sequence, the raw brutality of the Tsarist regime. Well-received in the USSR when first released, the film was among the first Soviet films shown in the Western Europe, where it created an enormous sensationthe most powerful evidence yet of a new, revolutionary art emerging from what claimed to be a new, revolutionary society. Silent Bob Winter provides live piano accompaniment. one day only

Happiness by Aleksandr Medvedkin 1934, 66 min.). Anarchic in its humor, caustic in its view of peasant life, Happiness defies easy categorization or definition. The painted backdrops inspired by Russian woodprints evoke the atmosphere of a Russian folk tale and give the action a curious theatricality. The story concerns a poor and lazy peasant, Khmyr, who hates work of any kind and dreams of doing nothing. Before the Revolution, he and his much more industrious wife Anna make a living through a combination of improbable good luck and cutting corners wherever they can. After the revolution, the local peasants all decide to form a collective and Khmyr and Anna are invited to joinbut can this committed slacker ever be trusted? Eisenstein among others strongly defended Happiness, but its ambiguity unsettled the authorities, who effectively banned the film until the '60swhen it was re-discovered by new generations of filmmakers and film lovers both in Russia and internationally one day only

The Cranes Are Flying by Mikhail Kalatozov (1957, 98 min.). No other work more powerfully symbolized the coming of the Khrushchev "thaw" in Soviet culture than Kalatozov's masterpiece, winner of the Golden Palm at the 1958 Cannes Film Festival. Like many other Soviet films, it was a tale of wartime love and loss, but here Soviet audiences saw characters who were not model heroes but flawed, contradictory and completely understandable human beings. Veronika (Tatyana Samojlova) and Boris (Aleksey Batalov) are lovers looking forward to a life together. When the war breaks out, Boris heads off to the front while Tatyana stays behind and succumbs to Boris' cousin Mark (Aleksandr Shvorin). Aided by cinematographer Sergei Urushevsky's extraordinarily vibrant camerawork, The Cranes Are Flying achieves an almost mythic dimension, as the story of these star-crossed lovers becomes the story of a nation. one day only

The Gates by Antonio Ferrera, Albert Maysles, David Maysles, and Matthew Prinzing (2007, 98 min. video). In 1979, artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude proposed one of the largest public art installations in history: a "golden river" of 7,503 fabric-paneled gates in Central Park. The installation was finally completed in 2005, and The Gates chronicles the artists' twenty-six-year commitment to transform winter darkness into a garden of light and color. Featuring meetings and conversations with Christo, Jeanne-Claude, and city officials from the 1970s through 2005, The Gates portrays the artists' unique passion to bring art to the people of New York City. An HBO Documentary Film. one day only

Romance of Astrea and Celadon by Eric Rohmer (2007, 109 min.). From My Night at Mauds to A Tale of Springtime, Eric Rohmer has made a career from treating modern romance like great classical love stories. In his latest film, the romance of ill-fated lovers Celadon and Astrea is torn asunder by a sudden misunderstanding. A suicide attempt lands Celadon in the clutches of the sensual Galathea and her handmaidens, but a helpful passerby soon inspires our hero to reconcile with Astrea. Filled with nymphs, druids, and angels, the film is literally atwitter with medieval soundslutes, crickets, and waterfalls dominateand sensuously aflutter with countless breezes caressing the billowing shirts of our hero, heroine, and sundry nubile lasses. Like all things old becoming new again, this ancient tale embodies Rohmers contemporary themes, presenting its mlange of romantic befuddlement, entanglement, and desire as effortlessly and entertainingly as any modern romance. final showing