French Kisses: Nouvelle Vague and Reel Criminals: The Heist

In January, the Mechanics' Institute is screening a series call French Kisses: Nouvelle Vague as part of their CinemaLit program. Nouvelle Vague mean New Wave.

The series looks promising.

Friday, January 8
Les Bonnes Femmes (1960) 93 min.
Directed by Claude Chabrol; Starring Bernadette Lafonte, Stephane Audran
Four vibrant Parisian shop-girls harbor secret and not-too-secret dreams.

Friday, January 15
Paris Vu Par...(Six in Paris) (1965) 92 min.
Directed by Jean Rouch, Jean Douchet, Eric Rohmer, Jean-Luc Godard, Claude Chabrol, and Jean-Daniel Pollet; Starring Stephane Audran, Jean-Pierre Andreani
An eclectic anthology of short films by leading directors, each set in a different Paris neighborhood.

Friday, January 22
Lola (1962) 90 min.
Special guest: Anita Monga, artistic director of the Silent Film Festival
Directed by Jacques Demy; Starring Anouk Aimee, Marc Michel
This lovely, lyrical romantic tale, full of homages to America and American movies, centers on a caberet dancer in Nantes.

Friday, January 29
The Bride Wore Black (1968) 107 min.
Directed by Francois Truffaut; Starring Jeanne Moreau, Michel Bouquet
A widow pursues revenge against her husband's murderers in this Hitchcock homage featuring a scene by Bernard Herrmann.

All the films start at 6 PM and are followed by "a salon style discussion."

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Anita Monga's presence on January 22 reminds me that the San Francisco Silent Film Festival has announced that its 2010 festival will be July 15—18, 2010. They have added a fourth day to the festival. The festival usually runs Friday to Sunday but this year will run Thursday to Sunday.

I was not able to attend the festival's winter event on December 12. I would have liked to have seen West of Zanzibar (1928) starring Lon Chaney and directed by Tod Browning. The rain and a program at PFA kept me away. I ended up watching The Man with the Golden Arm instead.

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The Mechanics' Institute's February CinemaLit series is called Reel Criminals: The Heist. The series also appeals to me. The Asphalt Jungle is screening in January at Noir City on January 24.

I recall seeing parts of The Taking of Pelham One Two Three on television. The original was R rated so I probably watched edited versions on television.

I can't recall the last time I saw The Great Train Robbery; it must have been as a child on television. I recall enjoying it.

I've never been a big fan of A Fish Called Wanda.

Friday, February 5
The Asphalt Jungle (1950) 112 min.
Directed by John Huston; Starring Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore
From assembling the gang through pulling the job, this hard-boiled flick laid the foundation for an entire genre.

Friday, February 12
The Great Train Robbery (1979) 111 min.
Directed by Michael Crichton; Starring Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland
A wily, witty threesome schemes to steal a gold shipment from a moving train in mid-Victorian England.

Friday, February 19
The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) 104 min.
Directed by Joseph Sargent; Starring Robert Shaw, Walter Matthau
A ruthless gang hijacks a subway train in gritty '70s New York, and the tension just keeps building.

Friday, February 26
A Fish Called Wanda (1988) 108 min.
Directed by Charles Crichton; Starring John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis
Dishonor among thieves propels this London-set caper comedy co-starring Kevin Kline and Michael Palin.

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Noir City runs from January 22 to January 31 at the Castro Theater. By my count, I've seen 6 of the films in recent years on the big screen. I've also seen 4 of them on television years ago. So I've seen 10 of the 24 films they are screening. I may have to miss the matinee screening on January 23 due to other commitments.

Despite these impediments, I'll likely purchase a festival pass.