SEPTEMBER
Friday 6 at 7PM
Cine Club @ SF Art Institute (800 Chestnut Street)
Ridley Scott's BLADE RUNNER (1982, UK/USA)
This mesmerizing thriller set in a dystopian future follows Harrison Ford as a burnt-out police detective who is forced to take one last assignment: hunting down four deadly androids who have blended in among Los Angeles’ human population. Its vision of the future is dazzling, but its exploration of what it means to be human—and an amazing performance by Rutger Hauer—is what makes this film a classic.
Warning: graphic gun violence
Why we’re showing this film:
We show Blade Runner every few years because it is a classic of sci-fi filmmaking, exemplifying many of the best aspects of the genre. It presents a fascinating and imaginative future while raising questions relevant to us in the present. At first glance, it follows a somewhat stock thriller plot—a dangerous enemy that can hide in plain sight is on the loose in Los Angeles—but Blade Runner manages to keep the plot twists coming while taking the Frankenstein themes of being an outsider, of displacement, and of what it means be human, to new heights. Visually, the film is breathtaking, creating a world at once completely foreign and yet believable. There are few films to equal its visual abundance. This is Ridley Scott at his best.
About the director:
Ridley Scott is a director who came to filmmaking from the world of television commercials, having produced ads so strong they’re considered classics today (the 1984 Apple commercial being his most famous). His first feature, The Duellists, a Napoleonic War period drama, won the prize for new director at the Cannes Film Festival. It was an artistic triumph, but a commercial failure. He then came to Hollywood and turned out a number of blockbusters starting with Alien and then Blade Runner, each an instant classic. More recent films of note include Gladiator, Black Hawk Down and Prometheus.
Friday 13
Cine Club @ SF Art Institute (800 Chestnut Street)
Wes Anderson's THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL (2013, USA)
This screening is generously sponsored by alumna Jasmine de Lung.
This wildly entertaining story about the world’s most dedicated hotel concierge is possibly Anderson’s finest. Its visual style, immaculate art direction and cornucopia of stars (too many to list) will leave you in awe. A maverick artist at the height of his career!
Why we’re showing this film:
In certain rare cases, exceptional style becomes so finely tunes, so absolute, it becomes more central to the film than even character or plot. Another recent example of this is Jeunet's Amélie. This isn't to say these films don't have compelling plots or characters, but these stories couldn't possibly function outside of the extraordinarily specific and imaginative worlds their directors built in order to present them. Anderson has always been noted for his idiomatic style—his vision is like no other—and in The Grand Budapest Hotel he takes this vision to the furthest limits.
About the director:
Wes Anderson has been marching to the beat of a different drum since his earliest films. Words like "hipster" and "geek chic" and "twee" are thrown at his films a lot these days, but his work pre-dates all of these trends.
His films frequently explore somewhat eccentric adolescent friendships (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore and Moonrise Kingdom) and quirky family dynamics (The Royal Tenenbaums and The Darjeeling Limited). His best films always have an affection for the obsessed and single-minded (Fantastic Mr. Fox) and The Grand Budapest Hotel allowed his own obsessions to widen.
Saturday 14
Art Saturday @ Downtown Art Galleries
We're starting a year of Art Saturdays by getting back to basics! This is how Art Saturdays began back in 1993. A tour of the downtown art galleries and a great picnic in Yerba Buena Gardens. Come meet with other students from around the Bay Area and see brand new work from top contemporary artists!
11 am Meet inside SFMOMA (the Howard Street entrance by the JR photo of San Francisco.)
11:15 A gallery walk of downtown art galleries including the Berggruen, Gagosian, Fraenkel, Koch and Haines galleries.
1:00 pm We'll walk across the street for a lovely picnic lunch in Yerba Buena Gardens!
Art Saturday lunches are generously donated by Mission AOC I, LLC.
Friday 20
Cine Club @ SF Art Institute (800 Chestnut Street)
Alfonso Cuaron’s CHILDREN OF MEN (2006, USA)
Decades after every woman on earth has mysteriously become infertile, humanity is on the brink of collapse. A disaffected activist is compelled to help a miraculously pregnant woman escape to a sanctuary at sea. Cuarón’s masterful directing makes you feel like you are running through the crumbling police state right alongside them.
Warning: graphic gun violence.
Why we show this film:
Dystopian films are a dime a dozen these days, so it takes thoughtfulness and ingenuity to produce something as compelling as Children of Men. We wanted you to see how the suspense of a thriller can be combined with important themes – social panic and discord, flawed idealism – to produce truly exciting filmmaking. Some of the most memorable scenes in the film deal with the heritage of the past and the cooperation between people of contrasting cultures and identities. Children of Men never loses hold of the larger picture hovering above its action filled plot.
About the director:
After all the publicity and awards that surrounded Roma, it’s hard to imagine that anyone interested in film has not heard of Alfonso Cuaron. His beginnings were less than brilliant; he was initially brought to Hollywood to make un-inspired versions of A Little Princess and Great Expectations. It was only when he returned to Mexico to make Y Tu Mama Tambien that his international career took off. His Harry Potter film, Prisoner of Azkaban, was hugely popular as was the Academy Award smash, Gravity.
Friday 27
Cine Club @ SF Art Institute (800 Chestnut Street)
Jean Renoir’s THE GRAND ILLUSION (1937, France)
This screening is generously sponsored by Rita & Michael Laven.
In World War One, two French fighter pilots are shot down and taken to a German POW camp where they begin to plot their escape. The film follows them from prison to prison as they attempt to find a way home, giving an original and unforgettable portrait of men in captivity. One of the finest anti-war films.
Why we show this film:
The Grand Illusion has war as its subject, but approaches it uniquely through the complexities of human relationships, and shows its futileness with an absence of traditional villains and heroes. The code of honor that existed in the early 1900s was unsuited to the barbarism of World War 1, and to observe the way it’s carried out among prisoners of war from all classes reveals a tapestry of complex human experience. Central to its success is the work of actor Erich Von Stroheim. The Grand Illusion refuses to give any neat closure, instead leaving its themes as open questions for the audience.
About the director:
Jean Renoir was the son of another famous Renoir: Auguste, the painter. He had the privilege of spending his childhood in the company of famous artists and writers, and was encouraged to indulge in his love of theater. He worked as an actor, dabbled in ceramics, married a beautiful actress who he tried and failed to make into a movie star by casting her as the star in his grandiose home movies. Slowly he gained credibility as a film maker, and produced some of the most lauded films of the 30’s. They were never very popular—The Grand Illusion opened on the eve of WW2 and an anti-war film was not what the public wanted to see! By the end of his life, however, he was considered one of the great humanist directors.
Saturday 28
Art Saturday @ SFMOMA
We’ll take a tour of the excellent Andy Warhol retrospective as well as “Don’t! Photography and the Art of Mistakes,” a show that explores how photographic techniques such as double exposure, lens flare, and motion blur, deemed errors by one generation of photographers, became interesting aesthetic intentions by the next. Don’t miss it! (sorry)
11 am Meet inside SFMOMA (the Howard Street entrance by the Richard Serra sculpture)
11:15 Tour the shows at SFMOMA.
1:00 pm Picnic lunch in Yerba Buena Gardens
Art Saturday lunches are generously donated by Mission AOC I, LLC.