I wasn’t with it, but just that very minute, it occurred to me the suckers had authority …
– Public Enemy, “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”
Today is when it all goes down, figuratively and literally. Regardless of where you sit on the political spectrum, the gravity and the portentousness of today's events in Washington D.C. can hardly be understated, even if it often seems that the ascendant occupant of the U.S.'s highest office doesn't fully appreciate that fact.
So, whether you wish to contemplate the consequences of our new national and world order, are looking for inspiration for resisting it, or just want to forget about the whole thing for a couple of hours, my choices this week have you covered.
In the gallery below, you will find details on Trump-inspired programming at Anthology Film Archives, two early Scorsese features and a trilogy of Iranian documentaries at Museum of the Moving Image, adaptations of novels by Patricia Highsmith at Metrograph, and a midnight screening of Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, one of Jim Jarmusch's finest works, at Nitehawk Cinema.
Inauguration of the Displeasure Dome: Coping with the Election at Anthology Film Archives
New Yorkers have many options this weekend (and no doubt in the days, weeks, and years to come) to rage against the Trump machine, from marches, rallies, museum free admissions, and spoken word performances, to drowning your sorrows and/or anger in beer or other liquor, with the proceeds going to organizations fighting the good fight.
For cinematic contemplation of the issues and our new reality, Anthology Film Archives offers this series of films running from January 20-24, with chillingly prescient visions of dystopia and alternate realities - almost seeming like documentaries when seen from today's perspective - as well as inspiring visions of resistance to the powers that be.
These films include:
A Face in the Crowd (Elia Kazan, 1956; Jan. 20, 6:30pm and Jan. 22, 3:15pm) (pictured), with Andy Griffith as a media celebrity who parlays his fame into demagogic political success (sound familiar?);
Punishment Park (Peter Watkins, 1970; Jan. 22, 6pm), a proto-Hunger Games scenario concerning anti-Vietnam War activists forced to play deadly games with law enforcement officers as an alternative to prison;
It Happened Here (Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo, 1965; Jan. 20, 9:15pm), a frightening, meticulously detailed alternate-history docudrama that imagines Germany winning World War II and occupying England.
Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets and Who's That Knocking at My Door? at Museum of the Moving Image
The Museum of the Moving Image's ongoing complete Martin Scorsese retrospective continues this weekend with two key early works that contains all the hallmarks - obsessive explorations of Catholic guilt, pop soundtracks, kinetic editing, cinephilia - that Scorsese is known for, proving that he was nearly a fully formed artist from the very beginning.
Who's That Knocking at My Door? (1967; Jan. 21, 2:30pm and Jan. 22, 2:30pm), Scorsese's first feature, introduced audiences to not only his own unique stylistic alchemy, but two frequent collaborators: actor Harvey Keitel (in his first film role), and ace editor Thelma Schoonmaker.
Mean Streets (1973; Jan. 20, 7pm and Jan. 22, 5pm)(pictured) was Scorsese's true breakthrough, melding gangsters, brotherhood, and Catholicism to create an impassioned work from its young director. This also introduced many filmgoers to Robert De Niro, who may have played a secondary character, but all but stole the movie with his charismatic, nervy live-wire performance.
Starless Dreams and other films by Mehrdad Oskouei at Museum of the Moving Image
Most discussions of Iran in the mass media concern nuclear weapons and Islamic fundamentalism, so it can be easy to forget that this country has also given us some of the world's finest cinema artists, such as the late Abbas Kiarostami, Jafar Panahi, and Asghar Farhadi.
Documentarian Mehrdad Oskouei - whose latest film Starless Dreams receives its U.S. theatrical premiere at MoMI, and will screen multiple times over the next two weekends - deserves to be placed in this hallowed company, just on the basis of this film alone.
It is set in a juvenile detention center for girls on the outskirts of Tehran, and it is a visually lyrical and often heartbreaking work, as well as a profound expression of deep empathy. Oskouei's gentle, patiently questioning voice is frequently heard off-screen, prodding the girls to tell often harrowing stories of sexual abuse and abandonment by their families. For many of the inmates, this prison serves as a shelter from terrible families and a hostile society. It's not all misery, however; they play with and befriend each other, behaving like normal teenage girls anywhere, despite their unfortunate circumstances.
On January 21, 4pm, MoMI will also screen the first two installments of Oskouei's trilogy of documentaries about incarcerated youth: It's Always Late for Freedom (2007) and The Last Days of Winter (2011), both of which focus on teenage boys.
Based on a Book by Patricia Highsmith at Metrograph
The great success of Todd Haynes' 2015 film Carol - with its lush, sensual cinematography by the legendary Ed Lachman, and its stars Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara, who both delivered performances for the ages - reintroduced audiences to the work of Patricia Highsmith, who wrote Carol's source material, the pseudonymously published 1952 novel The Price of Salt.
However, this novel was atypical of Highsmith's celebrated work, which were artfully written mystery and suspense thrillers, elevating the genre with its psychological acuity and instantly memorable characters. As such, Highsmith's work naturally attracted many filmmakers, a number of whom successfully translated these novels into films that are now considered classics of the medium. This, despite the fact that Highsmith herself usually disapproved of the final results of the cinematic adaptations of her work.
Metrograph celebrates some of these great films this weekend, including:
Alfred Hitchcock's 1951 classic Strangers on a Train (Jan. 20, 7pm);
Purple Noon (Rene Clement, 1960; Jan. 21, 4pm), The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony Minghella, 1999; Jan. 20, 9:15pm), and The American Friend (Wim Wenders, 1977; Jan. 22, 4:15pm), all based on Highsmith's series of novels about Tom Ripley, the sociopathic, wily, social-climbing con man who became her most enduring literary creation;
And, of course, Carol (Jan. 22, 7pm), which has screened at Metrograph rather frequently since the theater has opened. You'll get no complaints about that from me, however; it's a modern classic that only gets better with age and multiple viewings.
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai (Jim Jarmusch, 1999) at Nitehawk Cinema
With Jim Jarmusch's latest deadpan charmer Paterson now in theaters and getting welcome awards-season reception, it's a good time to look back on some of his past, greater work. And one of the greatest is Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, starring Forest Whitaker as a hitman for the mob who strictly follows the ancient code of the samurai. Whitaker's fine performance as a Japanese-influenced Don Quixote, as well as Jarmusch's witty subversion of the gangster film genre - peppered with clever literary references and sight gags - help to make Ghost Dog great entertainment as well as great art. It screens both weekend nights at 12:10am as part of Nitehawk Cinema's "Jarmusch at Midnite" series.