Fall 2009 Lineup at the Trylon microcinema

Considering that all 12 screenings in the better-than-advertised Buster Keaton series at the new Trylon microcinema completely sold out, you'd be wise to get tickets well in advance for the next slate of films. Barry Kryshka is following through with his pledge to bring weekly repertory programming back to the Twin Cities in his terrific new space, and the recently released fall lineup boasts a few can't-miss opportunities.

The first three months each feature a different theme, and many of us will be seeing some movies for the first time in the theater. For example, as I was intent on rushing a viewing of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three in before Tony Scott's disastrous remake, I was forced to stream it online on my tiny laptop screen one night. Little did I know that Take-Up Productions would be showing the original in all of its refreshingly imperfect 35mm glory, sure to be sweet relief for all those who are still reeling from this summer's version (speaking of Tony Scott - see The Warriors here before Scott ruins that, too).

Below is the confirmed fall schedule for the Trylon (note that Take-Up is also programming Audrey, an Audrey Hepburn series, at the Heights for six Monday nights beginning Sept. 14). All descriptions are taken directly from Take-Up Productions:

SEPTEMBER - "Crime Spree"
New York Crime - The New Classics

September 4 and 5
The Warriors (1979) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 9:00 PM
dir Walter Will, starring Michael Beck and David Patrick Kelly
*As color-coded gangs gather in the thousands in the Bronx, charismatic leader Cyrus is assassinated and the finger points, mistakenly, at the Warriors - now it’s one long train ride back to Coney. A stylized violence-packed update of Xenophon's Anabasis. See it now, before Tony Scott "re-imagines" this film the way he did with...

September 11 and 12
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) in 35mm @ 7:00 and 9:05 PM
dir Joseph Sargent, starring Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw
*"Screw the goddamn passengers! What do they want for their thirty-five cents? To live forever?"
Wisecracks and bullets fly as Robert Shaw, Hector Elizondo and Martin Balsam hijack a southbound No. 6 train, the ransom-carrying cop car jackknifes in Astor Place, and TA cop Walter Matthau negotiates via subway squawkbox.
(Read my thoughts on the original and this summer's remake.)

September 18 and 19
Dog Day Afternoon (1975) in BD @ 7:00 & 9:25 PM
dir Sidney Lumet, starring Al Pacino and John Cazale
*The robbery should have taken 10 minutes. 4 hours later, the bank was like a circus sideshow. 8 hours later, it was the hottest thing on live TV. 12 hours later, it was all history. And it's all true.
(Revisit a classic scene from Dog Day Afternoon.)

September 25 and 26
Inside Man (2006) in BD @ 7:00 & 9:00 PM
dir Spike Lee, starring Denzel Washington, Clive Owen and Jodie Foster
*It looked like the perfect bank robbery. But you can't judge a crime by it's cover. This is Spike Lee's pitch perfect tribute to the NYC crime films of the 70s. Spot on casting includes Christopher Plummer, Willem Dafoe, Chiwetel Ejiofor and James Ransone (who you may know from his role in HBO's Generation Kill).

OCTOBER - "Cronenberg"
The Films of David Cronenberg

Oct 9 and 10
Videodrome (1983) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 8:50 PM
starring James Woods
*First it controlled her mind, then it destroyed her body...Long live the new flesh!

Oct 16 and 17
Scanners (1981) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 9:10 PM
starring Stephen Lack and Michael Ironside
*There are 4 billion people on earth. 237 are Scanners. They have the most terrifying powers ever created...and they are winning. 35mm

Oct 23 and 24
The Brood (1979) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 9:00 PM
starring Oliver Reed and Samantha Eggar
*The Ultimate Experience Of Inner Terror!

Oct 30 and 31
The Fly (1986) in 35mm & BD @ 7:00 & 9:00 PM
starring Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis
*Something went wrong in the lab today. Very wrong.
(Take your pick, on Friday we run film at 7, digital at 9, on Saturday we run digital at 7, film at 9.)

NOVEMBER - "Capra"
The Films of Frank Capra

Nov 6 and 7
American Madness (1932) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 8:35 PM
starring Walter Huston, Pat O'Brien and Kay Johnson
*Bank president Walter Huston insists on lending on "character" collateral, despite an almost cheating wife, embezzling cashier, and spectacular bank run.

Nov 13 and 14
It Happened One Night (1934) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 9:05 PM
starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert
*Following a memorable Greyhound bus ride, only the "walls of Jericho" separate story-hungry newshound Clark Gable from bratty runaway heiress Claudette Colbert. The apotheosis of the screwball comedy swept the Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and (for Robert Riskin) Best Screenplay.

Nov 20 and 21
Mr Deeds Goes To Town (1936) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 9:15 PM
starring Garry Cooper and Jean Arthur
*"Mr. Deeds is Capra's finest film, and that means it is a comedy quite unmatched on the screen." -Graham Greene, 1936

Nov 27 and 28
Lost Horizon (1937) in 35mm @ 7:00 & 9:35 PM
starring Ronald Colman, Jane Wyatt and Edward Everett Horton
*Millions to make it!...Two years in production!...The best seller that sets a new style in romance floods the screen with splendor and drama.

*The Trylon projects from 35mm film or 1080p high definition video. "35mm" denotes a program projected from film, "BD" is a digital screening.

Download the full Fall 2009 schedule in PDF format.

The Trylon microcinema (612.424.5468) is located at 3258 Minnehaha Avenue S (click for a map and for my profile of the Trylon prior to its grand opening last month). All tickets at the Trylon are $8, but discount cards can be purchased for $25 (5 admissions, good for up to two per screening).

Purchase tickets EARLY (they will sell out) at www.trylon.org.

REVIEW: Eastern Promises (B+)

Background: David Cronenberg's last film, A History of Violence, was gripping - an intriguing story and plenty of suspense. And violence, oh the violence. Indeed, he displays a catalog of violence that was way too brutal for me to watch - when I couldn't avoid it. Cronenberg teams up again with Viggo Mortenson (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) for Eastern Promises, this time with Naomi Watts (King Kong,The Painted Veil) as the blond love interest. (One interesting note - Watts's next role is in the wildly violent Funny Games.) Both stars prepared intensely for their roles, Watts (pregnant while filming) as a midwife and Mortenson as a Russian gangster, for which he actually spent weeks alone all over Russia. I didn't know much about the story beforehand, but I did mention to the friends I saw it with that it would surely have some hyperviolent scenes. Wow, was that an understatement. A new area of my mind has been scarred, right next to the spot still suffering from A History of Violence.

Synopsis: Midwife Anna (Watts) finds a diary in the belongings of a young Russian girl named Tatiana who suspiciously dies from labor complications. The diary is in Russian. Conveniently, Anna's uncle is Russian and also happens to live with her. With amazing naivete, Anna follows the diary's link to a restaurant conspicuously serving as the franchise office of the local Russian organized crime family, or vory v zakone. The more warnings she is given to let well enough alone, and the more sordid details she learns from her uncle's translation, the more determined she is to learn of Tatiana's background so her surviving infant can be sent home. In the meantime, Nikolai (Mortenson) is the family's driver and boss-in-waiting, hoping to get "made" and earn his "stars." He quietly obeys the orders given him by current boss Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) and his incompetent son Kirill (Vincent Cassel), but something tells you Nikolai is more than just a puckered face. We soon learn he is an undercover lawman with a crush on Anna. All of these details emerge amid wickedly violent scenes, and Nikolai is forced to decide between his profession and love life as he rises in the ranks of the vory v zakone.

I Loved:
+ The production design - rainy, noir London and cozy Russian feasts, just like I remember from the old country.
+ Vincent Cassel's disgusting performance - the quintessential impulsive heir, the movie would have suffered without him.

I Liked:
+ The cinematography - there is something about the way Cronenberg frames shots that set them apart from everyone else.
+ The musical score.
+ Learning about the vory v zakone.

I Disliked:
- Naomi Watts - she toned down her trademark crying and shrieking, but it was still more than enough.
- Armin Mueller-Stahl's accent - look, the guy is German, he's always going to be German, and trying to make him sound like he is anything other than German is ridiculous.
- The totally unnecessary diary entry narrations.

I Hated:
- The extremely graphic violence, of course.

Grade:
Writing - 9
Acting - 9
Production - 9
Emotional Impact - 8
Music - 5
Significance - 4

Total: 44/50= 88% = B+

Last Word: For me, this was all about the violence. The story is somewhat interesting, but the brutality was a major distraction for me. If you can look past that, you'll probably love Eastern Promises. It's a well-made, taut film with viciously evil characters and a clear hero to root for, but you're left wondering who really had the best motives. Never having seen The Sopranos (yes, I'm serious), I don't know how Eastern Promises compares to popular crime family dramas, but fans of the show will likely fill theaters to see this. Just expect the violence to be as bad as I'm describing it. Maybe you'll shrug your shoulders and laugh (some people did), or maybe you'll really be affected by it, like I was. I guess I just see it as real - people are actually killed in those ways, and I don't need to see it to know that. My imagination usually does just fine given the chance, but Cronenberg leaves no opportunity here.