NYC Happenings: "The Master: Philip Seymour Hoffman," A Fittingly-Titled Tribute to One of Our Finest Actors

The phrase “greatest actor of his/her generation,” is one that gets tossed around very often, and as with any hyperbolic description of this kind, some are more deserving of this praise than others. But the great, towering actor Philip Seymour Hoffman was one who, much more often than not, powerfully and persuasively made the case for being eminently worthy of this title.

Hoffman’s abrupt and untimely demise at the age of 46 in 2014 tragically cut short a brilliant career that contained as much future promise as proven accomplishment. However, even at that young age, Hoffman built a lasting legacy, captured on film by his extremely talented actor, director, and crew collaborators, that will serve as infinitely rich inspiration to all who enjoy them, whether they be aspiring actors, filmmakers, or regular film fans.

This legacy is celebrated in the Museum of the Moving Image’s 16-film retrospective “The Master: Philip Seymour Hoffman,” screening from September 16 through October 2. This series concentrates on many of the key performances that showcased his immense talent and cemented his industry acclaim. The screenings will also be accompanied by guest appearances by a number of filmmakers, actors, and writers he collaborated with, such as Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York), Laura Linney (The Savages), John Patrick Shanley (Doubt), and others. The series will also include clips from other films not included in the retrospective, to give a fuller sense of the tremendous range and variety of his screen work.

Although Hoffman made some memorable appearances in huge Hollywood franchises such as the Mission: Impossible and Hunger Games movies, his most significant and acclaimed performances were in the kinds of smaller and more intimate, auteur-driven films that this retrospective concentrates on. This includes what is probably his most fruitful and lengthy collaboration, with director Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom Hoffman made five films, three of which screen in the series: Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and The Master (which will screen in 70mm).

Other series highlights include: Spike Lee’s 25^th Hour, the brilliant post-9/11 drama cited by many critics as one of the best films of this century so far; Bennett Miller’s Capote, for which he won his only Oscar; the series opener Jack Goes Boating, Hoffman's sole directorial effort; the little-seen true-life crime tale Owning Mahowny; Sidney Lumet’s final film Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead; and Anton Corbjin’s A Most Wanted Man; Hoffman’s final leading role.

“The Master” is a most fitting title for this retrospective; many of Hoffman’s performances were virtual master classes in acting. Hoffman immersed himself in the characters he inhabited with a fearlessness, lack of vanity, and dedication to his craft that was often no less than stunning. Even when he appeared in some big Hollywood blockbuster, or in a movie that overall seemed less than worthy of his great talent, you never got the impression that he was phoning it in or just cashing a paycheck; he had too much respect and reverence for the art and craft of acting for that. This fine series gives viewers the opportunity to celebrate Hoffman’s talent for conveying the full gamut of humanity, with all its ugliness and beauty, to his appearances on screen, as well as mourn the further great performances that will never be.

Below are full details of the retrospective, for more information and to purchase tickets, visit the Museum of the Moving Image’s website.

Philip Seymour Hoffman was a singular talent, an actor and director whose performances were always immersive and electrifying. He was beloved in the film and theater world, and his untimely death in 2014 at age 46 took away the promise of so much great work to come. To honor his legacy, Museum of the Moving Image will present The Master: Philip Seymour Hoffman from September 16 through October 2, a retrospective featuring sixteen films, including his directorial debut Jack Goes Boating; Capote, for which he won an Academy Award for Leading Actor; and The Master, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights—three films he made with Paul Thomas Anderson. The screenings will be accompanied by guest appearances and clips from other work, to showcase his astonishing versatility. Actress Laura Linney will introduce the September 17 screening of The Savages, the deeply moving independent drama directed by Tamara Jenkins; writer John Patrick Shanley will introduce Doubt on September 24; other speakers to be announced.

“Philip Seymour Hoffman had an uncanny ability to disappear into a role yet at the same time to invest his performances with such complexity, depth, and empathy that they always felt deeply personal,” said Chief Curator David Schwartz. “Drawn to playing highly flawed characters, he was able to seem at once larger than life and recognizably imperfect. In over 60 film performances, the boldness of his choices was always breathtaking.”

Almost all of the sixteen films will be presented in 35mm. In addition to Paul Thomas Anderson, Hoffman worked with many notable actors and directors including the legendary New York director Sidney Lumet (Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead); Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York); Bennett Miller (Capote); playwright and director John Patrick Shanley, Meryl Streep, and Amy Adams (Doubt); Mike Nichols and Tom Hanks (Charlie Wilson’s War); the late English director Anthony Mingella, Matt Damon, Jude Law, and Gwyneth Paltrow (The Talented Mr. Ripley); Spike Lee (25^th Hour); and many others. All of these films are included in this series. A full schedule with descriptions is included below and posted online.
 
Special thanks to Mimi O’Donnell.

SCHEDULE AND DESCRIPTIONS
All screenings take place in the Sumner M. Redstone Theater or Celeste and Armand Bartos Screening Room at Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35 Avenue in Astoria, New York. Tickets are $12 ($9 seniors and students / $7 youth ages 3–17 / free for Museum members at the Film Lover and Kids Premium levels, free for Silver Screen members and above). Advance tickets are available online at http://movingimage.us. Ticket purchase may be applied toward same-day gallery admission.

Jack Goes Boating 

With Bob Glaudini (playwright and screenwriter), Beth O'Neill (producer), Brian Kates (editor), Therese DePrez (production designer),  Mott Hupfel (director of photography), Curtis Smith (first assistant director), Avy Kaufman (casting director), and Peter Saraf (producer) in person   

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Philip Seymour Hoffman. 2010. 89 mins. DCP. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, Daphne Rubin-Vega. For his impressive directorial debut, Hoffman adapted this lovely, affecting play produced by the off-Broadway Labyrinth Theater Company (where he served as Artistic Director). In the story of a quartet of working-class New Yorkers, Hoffman is a loner limo driver who enters a tentative romance. “There's a dreamy aspect to the film,” said Hoffman. “It's really emotional; it's not analytical. These people are being pulled by their emotional life. Whether it's a psychic pain or a true desire and hope for something else, they're all looking to be relieved of whatever burden they've been carrying...that's the journey we take with them.”

The Master

Presented in 70mm

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2:00 P.M.

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. 2012, 144 mins. 70mm. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams. As the thundering, charismatic cult leader Lancaster Dodd, Hoffman reveals the character’s magnetic power and manipulative charm, in one of his most complex and electrifying performances. Joaquin Phoenix is the rootless naval WWII vet who falls under Dodd’s spell after arriving home. A magnificent cinematic achievement, The Master is one of just a few films in recent decades photographed in 70mm. Tickets: $15 with discounts for seniors, students, and Museum members at select levels.

The Savages
Introduced by Laura Linney
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 5:00 P.M.
Dir. Tamara Jenkins. 2007, 113 mins. 35mm print from the Academy Film Archive. With Laura Linney, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Philip Bosco. Hoffman gave some of his best and most underrated performances in relatively low-budget independent films, such as Tamara Jenkins’s deeply moving and comical The Savages. Hoffman plays a self-absorbed Buffalo college professor who must team up with his sister, a struggling playwright, after their father’s mental health starts to deteriorate. As Manohla Dargis wrote in The New York Times, “There isn’t a single moment of emotional guff or sentimentality...the film caused me to periodically wince, but also left me with a sense of acute pleasure, even joy.”

Boogie Nights
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2:00 P.M.
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. 1997, 155 mins. 35mm. With Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Standing out in the swirling disco haze of Paul Thomas Anderson’s epic saga of the California porn industry of the late 1970s and early 1980s, Hoffman gave a performance that marked him as a truly great screen actor. He is an awkward, repressed boom operator hopelessly enamored of Mark Wahlberg’s porn star Dirk Diggler.

Owning Mahowny
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 5:00 P.M.
Dir. Richard Kwietniowski. 2003, 104 mins. 35mm. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Minnie Driver, John Hurt. Based on the true story of the largest one-man bank fraud in Canadian history, Philip Seymour Hoffman is at his best as a mild-mannered bank manager with a nasty gambling habit and a job that gives him access to a $20 million account. Of his resemblance to the film’s real-life inspiration, author Gary Ross said “Philip somehow managed to assimilate the psychic essence of Mahowny, a yawning emptiness that nothing except gambling was able to fill.”

Almost Famous
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 7:15 P.M.
Dir. Cameron Crowe. 2000, 122 mins. 35mm. With Billy Crudup, Patrick Fugit, Kate Hudson, Philip Seymour Hoffman. In Cameron Crowe’s lovingly detailed self-portrait of an underage rock journalist, an endearing but clear-eyed valentine to a world of trashed hotel rooms, long bus rides, groupies, and greedy businessmen, Hoffman is the movie’s heart and soul as the iconoclastic music critic Lester Bangs. As Crowe said, Hoffman “soaked in the mannerisms and gregarious sharpness of Lester’s wit.”

Capote
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Bennett Miller. 2005, 114 mins. 35mm. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener. Novelist and nonfiction writer Truman Capote’s investigation of the shocking murder of a Kansas family, which resulted in the classic book In Cold Blood, is the basis of Bennett Miller’s exquisitely wrought drama, the film that earned Hoffman his Academy Award. As Roger Ebert observed, “Philip Seymour Hoffman's precise, uncanny performance as Capote doesn't imitate the author so much as channel him, as a man whose peculiarities mask great intelligence and deep wounds.”

Doubt

Introduced by John Patrick Shanley

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 2:00 P.M.
Dir. John Patrick Shanley. 2008, 104 mins. 35mm. With Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis. When Sister Aloysius suspects wrongdoing at St. Nicholas school, her concerns about Father Flynn’s relationship with a black altar boy set into motion a course of actions in which the pursuit of truth is clouded by doubt. John Patrick Shanley’s adaptation of his own play is a magnificent ensemble piece that earned Academy Award nominations for all four of its lead actors. 

Synecdoche, New York

Charlie Kaufman in person

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 4:00 P.M.
Dir. Charlie Kaufman. 2008, 124 mins. 35mm. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Samantha Morton, Michelle Williams. Obsessed with his mortality, and with his personal life falling apart, playwright Caden Cotard builds a massive set reconstruction of New York City for an upstate production. In this dazzlingly ambitious directorial debut of screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), the lines between reality and art dissolve. Hoffman anchors the film’s mind-bending conceits with a profound and moving portrait of an artist driven by a quest for deeper truth.

Happiness
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Todd Solondz. 1998, 134 mins. 35mm print from the Academy Film Archive. With Jane Adams, Jon Lovitz, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Todd Solondz’s darkly comic, incisive, and unsettling exploration of the underbelly of suburban New Jersey features an astonishing performance by Hoffman as a sexually deviant loner who pleasures himself on phone calls to random women. Perhaps only Hoffman could have brought such tenderness and pathos to this role.

Magnolia
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. 1999, 188 mins. 35mm. With Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman. In the midst of Paul Thomas Anderson’s masterful epic of interlocking lives in Southern California is Hoffman’s deceptively simple, lovely performance as a hospice nurse attending to Jason Robards’s former quiz show host Earl Partridge. Hoffman brings almost magical sincerity to the scene in which he says "I know this sounds silly, like this is the scene in the movie where the guy’s trying to get ahold of the long-lost son, you know, but this is that scene. And I think they have those scenes in movies because they’re true, you know?”

Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2:30 P.M.
Dir. Sidney Lumet. 2007, 117 mins. 35mm. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ethan Hawke, Marisa Tomei. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays Andy, an overextended broker who lures his younger brother, Hank (Ethan Hawke) into a larcenous scheme: the pair will rob a suburban mom-and-pop jewelry store that appears to be the quintessential easy target. The problem is the store owners are Andy and Hank’s actual mom and pop. The great director Sidney Lumet’s final film is a bracing, energetic modern-day noir.

25th Hour
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 6:00 P.M.
Dir. Spike Lee. 2002, 135 mins. 35mm. Edward Norton, Barry Pepper, Philip Seymour Hoffman. As a doleful English teacher, Hoffman stands out in the outstanding ensemble for Spike Lee's film, which was the first major movie to acknowledge the September 11th attacks. Adapting David Benioff’s novel, Lee captures the somber atmosphere of life near ground zero with a story set over the course of a tense day in which a convicted drug dealer (Edward Norton) tries to make peace before going behind bars.

Charlie Wilson’s War
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2:00 P.M.
Dir. Mike Nichols. 2007, 102 mins. 35mm. With Tom Hanks, Amy Adams, Julia Roberts, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Om Puri. In this ever-timely based-on-truth story of secret government dealings in Soviet-era Afghanistan, Hoffman earned an Academy Award nomination for his thrilling performance as brilliant maverick CIA agent Gust Avrakotos. As played by Hoffman, Gust is a sheer force of nature and intelligence, a son of blue-collar immigrant parents and at odds with his Ivy League colleagues.

The Talented Mr. Ripley
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 4:00 P.M.
Dir. Anthony Minghella. 1999, 139 mins. 35mm. With Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law, Philip Seymour Hoffman. “Half charm, half poison, and rich enough to dispense with the former whenever he likes, Freddie Miles is every friend-of-a-friend you can’t stand,” is how film critic Tim Robey describes Hoffman’s snobbish character in Anthony Minghella’s sun-drenched and sinister adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith’s novel. Matt Damon plays Ripley, a young man sent to Italy to track down playboy millionair Dickie Greenleaf (Jude Law.)

A Most Wanted Man
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 7:00 P.M.
Dir. Anton Corbjin. 2014, 122 mins. 35mm. With Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Daniel Brühl. Based on John le Carré's novel, A Most Wanted Man is a contemporary thriller about an immigrant who turns up in Hamburg's Islamic community, laying claim to his father's ill-gotten fortune. In his final starring role, Hoffman gives one of his best, and most unlikely, performances as a German intelligence officer. John le Carré was initially skeptical about the casting. "For the first few minutes of listening to him, I thought 'Crikey.' Then, gradually, he did what only the greatest actors can do. He made his voice the only authentic one, the lonely one, the odd one out, the one you depended on amid all the others."