Tag Archives: Aero Theatre

THOM ANDERSEN

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Slow-Writing-cover

“The world is beautiful. A useful image of the world must register this beauty.” — Thom Andersen

The remastered and re-edited version of LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF—Andersen’s landmark cinematic essay on Hollywood, and the city that foregrounds, backdrops, and contextualizes it—will screen this weekend at the Aero.

Andersen will be on hand to sign copies of his latest volume SLOW WRITING, and will discuss his work in a post-screening conversation.

 

LOS ANGELES PLAYS ITSELF, Sunday, September 2, at 7:30 pm

AERO THEATRE, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica.

americancinemathequecalendar.com/los-angeles-plays-itself

Slow Writing—Thom Andersen on Cinema, ed. Mark Webber (Visible Press, 2017).

thevisiblepress.com/slow-writing

See: cinema-scope.com/slow-writing-thom-andersen

and: theguardian.com/thom-andersen

Special thanks to Andrew Crane.

Image credit above: The Visible Press.

Below: Fred Halsted’s L.A. Plays Itself is one of the films Thom Andersen drew from to create his masterpiece.

BARBARA LODEN’S WANDA

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“WANDA’s theme is elegantly revealed in its first few minutes: we have a woman who simply doesn’t fit within her environment, doesn’t belong anywhere (she’s never shown as having a home of her own), and whose very presence, more often than not, is an eyesore to the men around her (which doesn’t prevent her from being a sex object).” — Bérénice Reynaud

A new restoration of the Barbara Loden masterpiece WANDA (1970) opens in Los Angeles this week. A key work of modern American cinema, this was Loden’s only feature film as a director.

Loden’s son Marco Joachim, and Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte will introduce the screening this weekend at the Aero.

 

WANDA

Saturday, August 4, at 7:30 pm.

Aero Theatre

1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica.

 

Saturday and Sunday,

August 11 and 12, at 7:30 pm, and August 18 and 19 at 8 pm.

Spielberg Theatre at the Egyptian

6712 Hollywood Boulevard, Los Angeles.

Poster image credit: Cinetic Media.

Barbara Loden, Wanda. Image credit: Janus Films.

BEAT THE DEVIL

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BEAT THE DEVIL—a delicious concoction from writer Truman Capote, director John Huston, and stars Humphrey Bogart, Jennifer Jones, and Peter Lorre—will screen this weekend at the Aero, the closing night film of the American Cinematheque series on Bogie.

 

BEAT THE DEVIL (preceded by THE AFRICAN QUEEN), Sunday, July 29, at 7:30 pm.

AERO THEATRE, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica.

americancinemathequecalendar.com/african-queen-beat-the-devil

Humphrey Bogart and Jennifer Jones in Beat the Devil (1953).

Image result for bogart lorre beat the devil

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BERGMAN’S RITE

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In RITEN (The Rite, The Ritual), three actors – played by Ingrid Thulin, Anders Ek, and Gunnar Björnstrand, each reflecting various personal traits of their director, Ingmar Bergman – are accused of pornographic performances, and must testify before a judge (Erik Hell).

This 1969 television drama, slightly over an hour in length, was quickly put together to relieve and reflect on the tension and anger that had marked Bergman’s tenure as head of the Royal Dramatic Theater in Stockholm.

“Thea, the woman in the film, is, I believe, a half-conscious attempt to depict my own intuition. She is faceless, doesn’t recognize her maturity, submissive, and has a need to please. She has sudden impulses, speaks with God, angels, and demons, believes herself to be a saint. She tries to accomplish stigmatization, is unbearably sensitive – cannot even stand to wear clothes at times. She is a kind of satellite dish for secret signals from extraterrestial radio stations.” – Bergman*

As part of the American Cinematheque series The Season of Bergman, this rarely screened film will play in 35mm on a double-bill with Bergman’s classic SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT.

SMILES OF A SUMMER NIGHT and THE RITE, Wednesday, May 16, at 7:30 pm.

AERO THEATRE, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica.

americancinemathequecalendar.com/smiles-of-a-summer-night-the-rite

ingmarbergman.se/en/ritual

Top: Bergman’s shooting script.

Above: Ingrid Thulin.

Below: Scenes from Riten.

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PAUL SCHRADER AT THE AERO

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The iconoclastic writer and director Paul Schrader will be at the Aero for two nights of screenings this week, engaging the audience with a discussion of his work.

On Wednesday night, Schrader will introduce two of his films from the 1990s: AFFLICTION (with Nick Nolte and Sissy Spacek) and LIGHT SLEEPER (Willem Dafoe and Susan Sarandon).

The following evening the director will present his latest work, the Bresson-meets-pulp fiction tour de force FIRST REFORMED. The film’s star Ethan Hawke will join Schrader for a post-screening conversation.

“When I look back on my life and think of the various people who have befriended me, whether it be Pauline Kael or Charles Eames or whoever, obviously they saw in me a hungry, thirsty sensibility that wanted what they had to give very badly, and if you’re a decent person then you realize that this is what you are put on this earth to do…

“[Eames taught me] that the cult of personality is transient, that we are in fact all alike and that if you don’t understand how we are alike then you won’t get anything done.” — Paul Schrader, 1989*

AFFLICTION and LIGHT SLEEPER

Wednesday, May 9, at 7:30 pm.

FIRST REFORMED

Member’s screening on Thursday, May 10, at 7:30 pm.

For membership information, see: egyptiantheatre.com/join

Aero Theatre

1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica.

* From Schrader on Schrader & Other Writings, edited by Kevin Jackson (London: Faber and Faber, 1990), 27.

From top: Ethan Hawke, poster detail, First Reformed; Susan Sarandon and Willem Dafoe in Light Sleeper (1992).