March Art House Madness: Al Pacino, Terence Stamp & Michel Piccoli Retrospectives
March appears to be white man month at the movies as far as many of our favorite New York City cinemas are concerned. Perhaps we shouldn’t dwell. The curators have come up with some excellent series for us to frequent. However, if there was ever a time to parade the merits of women, wouldn’t it be the month that’s designated as Women’s History Month? Anyway, now, that we’ve said our peace in that regard, let’s move on to highlighting the reasons you should be heading to Metrograph, Quad Cinema and Film Forum this week.
After devoting screen time earlier this month to French filmmaker Philippe de Broca and photographer William Klein, the Quad has set their sights on acting legend Al Pacino. The born-and-bred New York star of stage and screen is being celebrated with a 16-day retrospective that brings together over 30 titles that showcase Pacino’s range and accomplishments both in front of and behind the camera. The series, entitled Pacino’s Way, is followed by the theatrical premiere on March 30 of the docu-drama Wilde Salomé (2011), and its companion piece Salomé (2013), both of which are directed by Pacino.
As for what you’ll find in the series, the Quad has pulled from all eras of Pacino’s career. Early Pacino is covered with films such as The Godfather, Serpico, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Panic in Needle Park. Mid-career Pacino is represented with Sea of Love, Glengarry Glen Ross, Scent of a Woman, Heat, and our favorite Carlito’s Way. As for his later career works, the series serves Any Given Sunday, You Don’t Know Jack, and Chinese Coffee, which Pacino stars in and directs. Additional films to seek out include William Friedkin’s Cruising and Donnie Brasco. The series also spotlights Pacino’s lifelong interest in creating a bridge between film and theater, as is seen most explicitly in his documentary-drama project Wilde Salomé (2011). With this film, Pacino both explores the complexities of Oscar Wilde’s acclaimed play Salomé and the playwright himself.
Also of note, Pacino will be doing an hour-long conversation following a double-bill screening of Wilde Salomé and Salomé on March 28, and will also in attendance for select screenings on March 29.
For tickets and showtimes for Pacino’s Way, visit The Quad’s website.
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Michel Piccoli in Marco Ferreri’s LA GRANDE BOUFFE (1973). Courtesy Film Forum.
Film Forum boldly entered March with the remainder of their five-week, 47-film centennial retrospective of Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman and have now segued into a weeklong feting of French actor Michel Piccoli. Lauded for his versatility, Piccoli’s career spans over 70 years and more than 150 films. He has worked with everyone from Godard, Rivette and Carax to Buñuel, Hitchcock and Agnès Varda. For their 17-film fest, the West Village art house is screening such films as Contempt (1963), Manoel de Oliveira’s I’m Going Home (2001), Marco Ferreri’s award-winning La Grande Bouffe (1973), and 60s mod romp Danger! Diabolik (1967).
The Piccoli mini-retrospective, which runs through March 22, is a warm-up to the Film Forum’s weeklong run of a new 4K restoration of Luis Buñuel’s Belle De Jour (1967). Piccoli stars opposite Catherine Deneuve in the erotic classic about a Parisian housewife who spends her days secretly working at a bordello. Belle De Jour runs March 23-29.
For tickets and showtimes for the Michel Piccoli and Belle de Jour, visit Film Forum’s website.
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Metrograph’s entry into the white guy film series melee is a worthy contender. After giving brief pomp and circumstance to Burt Reynolds last week, their next object of affection is Terence Stamp. The oh-so-easy-on-the-eyes English actor made his film debut in 1962 playing the title role in Peter Ustinov’s Billy Budd. His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination and attention among the international film community, which lead to parts in William Wyler’s The Collector (1965), John Schlesinger’s Far from the Madding Crowd (1967), and Ken Loach’s Poor Cow (1967).
In addition to the movies mentioned above, Metrograph’s 14-film, one-week series (March 23-31), also features Steven Soderbergh’s The Limey (1999), Neil Jordan’s The Company of Wolves (1984), and Stephan Elliott’s cult classic The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), which sees Stamp playing Bernadette, a transgendered woman.
For the full line-up and showtimes visit Metrograph’s website.
