tenth anniversary tribute: milestone film and video august 9 -- 24, 2000 photo: antonio gaudi

box office and ticket information | calendar program description Ten years ago, Dennis Doros and Amy Heller started a distribution company based on a simple, elegant idea: there’s always a market for good films, new or old, silent or talking, and that each of those films deserves to be seen in a state that’s as close as humanly possible to its original pristine form. Their integrity, their sense of invention, and their tireless devotion to their task have made them one of the most highly regarded independent distributors in America. The range of titles they’ve taken on is amazing—-from the breathtaking sights of the silent documentary epics GRASS and SOUTH to the coolly modern beauty of Takeshi Kitano’s FIREWORKS, from the low-budget inventions of Kevin Brownlow and Andrew Mollo’s IT HAPPENED HERE to the elaborate, large-scale visions of WHY HAS BODHI-DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST? and I AM CUBA, there’s a great chunk of film history represented here. Come join us for some special events (SOUTH, with a score by the Alloy Orchestra), some noteworthy premieres (the Boulting Brothers’ early anti-Nazi melodrama PASTOR HALL, the widescreen version of Roland West’s gorgeous THE BAT WHISPERS), and some old favorites. Come help us pay tribute, on the occasion of their tenth anniversary, to the little distributor that could, Milestone Films.

maborosi south: ernest shackleton and the endurance expedition i am cuba why has bodhi-dharma left for the east?

program: MABOROSI Hirokazu Kore-eda, Japan, 1995; 110m A visually lush, poetic tale of love and loss with a touch of mystery, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film features a stunning performance by newcomer Makiko Esumi as Yumiko, a young woman fearful that she somehow brings death to the ones she loves. Moving between the city and the country, the young widow’s intense quest to understand her husband’s death is conveyed in exquisitely photographed extended scenes. Harking back to the golden age of Japanese cinema, Kore-eda’s remarkable use of light, space and stillness perceptively conveys the lives and emotions of his characters. The result is a film of great cinematic beauty and narrative elegance. Wed Aug 9: 1 Thurs Aug 17: 4 & 8:10 Thurs Aug 24: 3:45 SOUTH: ERNEST SHACKLETON AND THE ENDURANCE EXPEDITION Frank Hurley, Antarctica,1919; 88m Shot in 1919, this is one of the more extraordinary experiences you might have at the movies this year. Reason one: the images of snowy and stormy expanses and the members of Ernest Shackleton’s expedition fighting the elements to survive after they were trapped by pack ice are like nothing else you’ll see on any other movie screen. Reason two: there’s more drama in this documentary than in most works of fiction. Reason three: the British Film Institute’s restoration of the original version of the film, tinted and toned, is breathtakingly beautiful. Reason four: the musical accompaniment is by the Alloy Orchestra. Get your tickets early. Wed Aug 9: 6:30 & 9 Admission: non-members: $15; members: $12 The silent film program at the Walter Reade Theater is made possible through the generosity of The Ira M. Resnick Foundation. ANTONIO GAUDI Hiroshi Teshigahara, Japan,1985; 72m One of Teshigahara’s least seen films is a documentary on the great Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi. With no dialogue except for a brief interview at the end with Gaudi’s assistant, the film is visual poetry made more stunning by Takemitsu’s score and sound effects. "With the sound parallelling the images," Takemitsu wrote, "it looses [Gaudi’s] unique art...born of Catalonian folk pieces, all of which have been electronically altered or combined with other sounds." Teshigahara and Takemitsu create a joyful, elegant, and enchanting film that has a rare ability to capture an artist’s genius while achieving great artistry in its own right. Thurs Aug 10: 1 & 5:15 Tues Aug 15: 1 Sat Aug 19: 9:45 Sun Aug 20: 1 I AM CUBA / SOY CUBA Mikhail Kalatozov, Cuba/USSR, 1964; 141m "Visually staggering...a newly discovered classic! Deliriously choreographed...I AM CUBA is one gorgeous image after another. Astounding...incredible!"—-Dennis Harvey, Variety. Banned by the Soviets and rescued from 25 years of limbo, Mikhail Kalatozov’s feverish hymn to the Cuban revolution is the most extravagantly delirious piece of political poetry ever set to images-— the poet in this case being the great Yevgeny Yevtushenko, whose words are spoken over the film’s jaw-dropping camerawork and utterly ravishing black and white. Keep your eye out for the one-of-a-kind shot in which the camera comes down the length of a luxury apartment building and then goes underwater to follow a bikinied swimmer-—the ultimate reflection of conspicuous consumption under the reign of Batista. If you missed it during its theatrical run a few years ago, don’t miss it this time-—it’s a genuinely one-of-a-kind big-screen experience. Thurs Aug 10: 2:35 Sun Aug 13: 12:45 & 6:10 Wed Aug 16: 3:30 & 8:15 WHY HAS BODHI-DHARMA LEFT FOR THE EAST? Bae Yong-Kyan, Korea, 1989; 135m In the heart of the Korean mountains live three generations of monks: an old Zen master, a young apprentice, and an orphan adopted by the aging priest. Each perceives reality differently, and each makes his own necessary journey to revelation. The octogenarian knows that his soul will soon leave his body, while his student clings to mundane worries about family and society. When the child accidentally kills a bird, he comes to see life, death, and suffering as facets of one experience. A meditation upon Zen Buddhist realities and mysteries, the recurring motifs of fire, wind, and water emphasize the eternal cycles of birth, death and regeneration with a marvelous sense of visual poetry. Rhim Hye-Kyung notes that there is "no room in this film for the superfluous, only a mathemetical precision of dramaturgies—- of story, light, sound, music. The overwhelming scenic beauty is indeed the contemplative; but unlike Ozu, where tranquility implies a sadness at the transitory nature of human existence, Bae’s film is a vivid and affirmative engagement in the recognition of this reality". Fri Aug 11: 1:30 & 6:15 Sun Aug 13: 3:30 & 8:50 Tues Aug 15: 2:40 Fri Aug 18: 8:30 Thurs Aug 24: 1 & 9 WUTHERING HEIGHTS / ABISMOS DE PASION Luis Buñuel, Mexico, 1953; 91m During his Mexican melodrama period, Luis Buñuel returned to a cherished project he’d been trying to get off the ground since the 30s, an adaptation of the surrealists’ favorite British novel. Heathcliff becomes Alejandro (Jorge Mistral), Cathy becomes Catalina (Irasema Dilián), and northern England becomes the Mexican high chaparral. Buñuel took the second half of Emily Brontë’s novel and made it work within the low-budget constraints of the revenge melodramas of the period. The film has an unforgettably lurid intensity, and its final sequence is a truly shocking surrealist invention. A rarely seen tour de force from one of the cinema’s greatest artists. Fri Aug 11: 4:15 & 9 Sat Aug 12: 4:45 Thurs Aug 17: 2 & 6:15

the bat whispers hana-bi / fireworks chac: the rain god grass: a nation's battle for life a woman without love

TABU F.W. Murnau & Robert Flaherty, USA, 1929-31; 82m Conceived by two master filmmakers of the silent screen, but essentially realized by only one, TABU has been a classic since its initial release in 1931, but it was only with Milestone’s showcase presentation in 1990 that the movie could be seen in its originally intended, uncut form. Few great films have had a more fraught history. The notion of combining the radically different visions of the documentarian Robert Flaherty and the supreme poet of the supernatural, F.W. Murnau, was probably foredoomed. After selecting the South Seas locations, collaborating on the scenario, and doing some preliminary photography, Flaherty withdrew from the project. That left Murnau to shape and refine this tale of forbidden love and implacable retribution in an earthly paradise. The results, ravishing to behold yet ineffably haunted, complete a spiritual trilogy begun with Nosferatu (1921-22) and Sunrise (1927), Murnau’s other narratives of young couples drawn asunder by phantoms. Floyd Crosby won an Academy Award for his cinematography. Sat Aug 12: 1 & 6:45 Wed Aug 23: 1 & 8:30 THE BAT WHISPERS Roland West, USA, 1930; 82m One of a handful of feature films made in both widescreen and conventional versions shortly after the coming of talkies, THE BAT WHISPERS was unseen in its "Magnifilm" version for nearly six decades; restored by the UCLA Film and Television Archive, it proved to be some kind of lunatic masterpiece—-and a prime instance of Milestone’s passion for rediscovering the odd film out. This is the ultimate creepy-villain-in-a-lonely-country-house movie, with a memorable cast of gargoyles and a truly surreal vision—-in terms of both its florid narrative and its inky, deliriously angular images. The special effects are mind-blowing even when their trickery shows through, and there’s some landscape-engulfing shadowplay that seems to have leaked right out of the collective unconscious. Based on the popular melodrama The Bat by Mary Roberts Rinehart and Avery Hopwood (which Roland West had previously filmed as a silent); photographed by Oliver T. Marsh and Ray June. With Chester Morris, Una Merkel, Grayce Hampton, Gustav von Seyffertitz, and Maude Eburne. Sat Aug 12: 2:50 & 8:40; Sat Aug 19: 8 HANA-BI / FIREWORKS Takeshi Kitano, Japan, 1997; 103m Perfomance artist, comedian, actor, writer and omnipresent television personality, director Kitano stars as a former police detective who considers himself responsible for his ex-partner’s crippling injury. Determined to make amends, he devises a master plan that includes robbing a bank, tangling with a loan shark and launching his friend on a career as a painter—-all the while arranging for a final trip to the seaside with his terminally ill wife. Breathlessly moving from outrageous humor to highly stylized violence to scenes of unexpected emotional power, Kitano--whose sly wit and hardboiled, yakuza-like demeanor has made him the toast of Japan-—has created his finest work to date. Mon Aug 14: 2 & 6 Tue Aug 15: 8:30 IT HAPPENED HERE Kevin Brownlow & Andrew Mollo, GB, 1966; 99m "A film that firmly grips the imagination and makes the blood run cold." —-The New York Times "Jolting! An Orwellian nightmare." —-Newsweek What’s so extraordinary about film historian Kevin Brownlow’s feature debut, made in collaboration with Andrew Mollo, isn’t merely its low-budget ingenuity, its careful eye for detail or its brilliantly nuanced execution—-it’s the rigor of its conception. The idea is apparently simple-—Britain is invaded and occupied by the Nazis after Dunkirk. But Brownlow and Mollo eschew the sensational simplicity of most "what if" fiction and pursue every strand of their conception to its logical end by following the progress of a quiet, acquiescent nurse (Pauline Murray) who chooses to work under the fascist government. Every small detail feels shockingly right, and the net effect is a revelation of the latent fascism not just in British culture but in any quiet, orderly nation. A wonder, thematically and cinematically. Mon Aug 14: 4 & 8:10 CHAC: THE RAIN GOD Roland Klein, Mexico, 1974; 95m "A visual banquet...its scenes glow with golden Rembrandt lighting and its compositions recall the best work of John Ford and William Wyler."-- William Arnold, Seattle Post-Intelligencer. A fascinating rediscovery that somehow fell through the cracks of film history, CHAC was shot by Chilean filmmaker Rolando Klein in the Chiapas region of southern Mexico, with a story based on Mayan legend. A Mayan tribe is plagued by a severe drought, their shaman is rendered virtually powerless by drink, and they appeal to a monklike mountain dweller schooled in ancient customs and rituals for help. He takes the tribesmen on a spectacular journey that ends in an ancient cave, with a truly awe-inspiring chanting ceremony. A strikingly beautiful film of real visual power, that affords a glimpse at a world unknown to most westerners. A premiere. Tue Aug 15: 6:30 Wed Aug 16: 1:30 & 6:15 PASTOR HALL Roy Boulting, GB, 1940; 97m Based on the true story of Pastor Martin Niemoller from Altdorf, Germany, who quietly and steadfastly resisted National Socialist directives and was sent to Dachau. The twin-brother team of John and Roy Boulting (Thunder Rock, Seven Days to Noon) wanted to make PASTOR HALL their first feature, but they had to put up with miles of interference and objections before they were finally allowed to shoot the film in 1940, making it one of the very first anti-Nazi films (it was heavily censored in America, which was still pursuing an isolationist policy). A stirring, historically potent melodrama, starring Wilfred Lawson as Pastor Hall. With Nova Pilbeam (Hitchcock’s star in The Man Who Knew Too Much and Young and Innocent). This is the American premiere of the uncut version. Sat Aug 19: 6; Mon Aug 21: 1 & 8:30 Silent Classics (With live piano accompaniment by Curtis Salke) AMARILLY OF CLOTHESLINE ALLEY Marshall Neilan, USA, 1918; 77m There was a time, from the teens through the mid-20s, when Mary Pickford was one of the biggest stars in the world, and this is one of the films that earned her the name America’s Sweetheart. Pickford is Amarilly, the Irish beauty from the Lower East Side with five brothers and a beloved mother who washes floors to get by. Amarilly strays from her bartender boyfriend and takes up with a wealthy sculptor, whose aunt wants to use her as an "experiment." Charming, inventive and beautifully mobile in the best tradition of silent cinema, AMARILLY OF CLOTHESLINE ALLEY is an altogether lovely star vehicle for an actress whose beauty once defined the new medium of cinema for the nation. Sun Aug 20: 4 GRASS: A NATION'S BATTLE FOR LIFE Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack & Marguerite Harrison, USA, 1925; 70m The motto of Cooper-Schoedsack Productions: "The Three Ds: Keep It Distant, Difficult and Dangerous." GRASS' directorial trio travel through Asia Minor to reach a tribe of nomads in Iran known as the Bakhtiari. They follow the tribesmen on their 48-day trek across deserts, raging rivers and snow-topped mountains to reach summer pasture for their flocks. There are hardships and conquests galore for the 50,000 tribesmen leading 500,000 animals across the treacherous land. They ford the rapids of the Karun River by floating rafts buoyed by inflated goatskins. Hardest of all is the ascent in bare feet of an almost perpendicular mountain only to face the even more towering Zardeh Kuh, pathless and coverd in deep snow. Finally, the pilgrims descend to their goal—-a fertile, grassy valley. Sun Aug 20: 7 The silent film program at the Walter Reade Theater is made possible through the generosity of The Ira M. Resnick Foundation. A WOMAN WITHOUT LOVE / UNA MUJER SIN AMOR Luis Buñuel, Mexico, 1951; 91m The dutiful young wife of an older, sickly antiques dealer falls in love with a young engineer and friend of the family. They have an affair, but she valiantly stays by her husband. Twenty-five years later, the now wealthy lover leaves a fortune to her son, who accuses her of being a whore. Like most of the films Buñuel made for producer Oscar Dancigers during his resurrection as a filmmaker in Mexico during the early 50s, this adaptation of Maupassant’s "Pierre et Jean" is a torrid melodrama. But never fear: there’s always a subtly, sneakily subversive lining in the melodramatic clouds. Tues Aug 22: 1 & 8:30