Cinematheque Film Schedule

United States | 1920-21 | Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline

Here are the first four of the 19 hilarious two-reelers that Buster Keaton starred in and directed before turning his attention to features. (The remaining 15 shorts will show over the next four weeks.) Program includes: The High Sign (1921), in which Buster plays a contract killer; One Week (1920), in which Buster builds a pre-fab house; Convict 13 (1920), in which Buster escapes Death Row only to be mistaken for a prison guard by...

France | 1969 | Pierre Étaix

In this whimsical, delightful 1960s French comedy that wasn’t released in the U.S. until last year, rediscovered comedian Pierre Étaix plays a married, middle-aged businessman who falls for his barely legal new secretary and starts fantasizing endlessly about her. Full of sight gags, this is “Étaix’s last, most cohesive, and greatest feature” (Film Forum, NYC). Étaix’s wife in the film is played by Annie Fratellini, France’s first female circus clown and Mrs. Étaix in real...

United States | 2012 | Paul Bunnell

This mad, midnight-movie concoction blends 1950s teensploitation flicks with cheesy sci-fi, and tops it off with wacky musical numbers à la Rocky Horror! Former Troma star Will Keenan and Creed Bratton of The Office star in this outlandish tale of an alien juvenile delinquent banished to self-destructive planet Earth for punishment. There he interacts with humans and tries to retrieve his stolen, all-powerful “resurrection suit.” With Kevin McCarthy (Invasion of the Body Snatchers) and Paul...

Germany | 1931 | Fritz Lang

Here’s a new 2K digital restoration of Fritz (Metropolis) Lang’s great crime film! It tells of a mentally disturbed child murderer (Peter Lorre) who is hunted by both the Berlin police and by the city’s underworld, whose illicit activities are being disrupted by the cops’ extensive, intrusive manhunt. Lang’s first sound film was his favorite of all his movies. “Five stars (highest rating)…Intense, ominous and controversially humane, Fritz Lang’s 1931 masterpiece is not only the...

United States | 1920-21 | Buster Keaton et al.

Four more hilarious Buster Keaton two-reelers made before the star and director turned his attention to features. Program includes: Neighbors (1920; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which a high wooden fence won’t stop acrobatic Buster from seeing his beloved girlfriend in the tenement next door; The Haunted House (1921; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which Buster plays a disgraced bank clerk involved with thieves and counterfeiters; Hard Luck (1921, co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which...

France, Italy | 1972 | Maurice Pialat

Never before released theatrically in the U.S., this late French New Wave masterpiece from the ferocious, unsparing Maurice Pialat charts the long-term, on-again/off-again love affair between a failed, married, middle-aged filmmaker and his 24-year-old mistress who still lives with her parents. This naturalistic (and semi-autobiographical) movie depicts a relationship of unsettling volatility and brutality. With Jean Yanne and Marlène Jobert. “An opportunity for a new audience to discover one of the great lions of international...

Canada | 2009 | Xavier Dolan

Wildly praised at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival (where it received an eight-minute standing ovation), then never released in America because the U.S. distributor went bankrupt, the semi-autobiographical debut film by then 20-year-old French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats, Laurence Anyways) chronicles the love-hate relationship between a gay 16-year-old (Dolan) and his single mother. Despising her kitschy tastes and old-fashioned values, he escapes into art and his boyfriend. But even though he is incapable of loving...

United States | 1920-21 | Buster Keaton et al.

Four more hilarious Buster Keaton two-reelers made before the star and director turned his attention to features. Program includes: Neighbors (1920; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which a high wooden fence won’t stop acrobatic Buster from seeing his beloved girlfriend in the tenement next door; The Haunted House (1921; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which Buster plays a disgraced bank clerk involved with thieves and counterfeiters; Hard Luck (1921, co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which...

France | 1962 | Pierre Étaix

Pierre Étaix’s first feature finds the French comic playing a shy and studious young man who is urged by his mother to marry. Knowing nothing of romance or courtship, he proposes to the first available woman he sees, his family’s Swedish au pair, but she does not understand what he’s saying. So he leaves the house to observe and learn the ways of love, and gets involved with a string of unsuitable women. “The most...

France | 1962 | Pierre Étaix

Pierre Étaix’s first feature finds the French comic playing a shy and studious young man who is urged by his mother to marry. Knowing nothing of romance or courtship, he proposes to the first available woman he sees, his family’s Swedish au pair, but she does not understand what he’s saying. So he leaves the house to observe and learn the ways of love, and gets involved with a string of unsuitable women. “The most...

Canada | 2009 | Xavier Dolan

Wildly praised at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival (where it received an eight-minute standing ovation), then never released in America because the U.S. distributor went bankrupt, the semi-autobiographical debut film by then 20-year-old French-Canadian wunderkind Xavier Dolan (Heartbeats, Laurence Anyways) chronicles the love-hate relationship between a gay 16-year-old (Dolan) and his single mother. Despising her kitschy tastes and old-fashioned values, he escapes into art and his boyfriend. But even though he is incapable of loving...

France, Italy | 1972 | Maurice Pialat

Never before released theatrically in the U.S., this late French New Wave masterpiece from the ferocious, unsparing Maurice Pialat charts the long-term, on-again/off-again love affair between a failed, married, middle-aged filmmaker and his 24-year-old mistress who still lives with her parents. This naturalistic (and semi-autobiographical) movie depicts a relationship of unsettling volatility and brutality. With Jean Yanne and Marlène Jobert. “An opportunity for a new audience to discover one of the great lions of international...

United States | 1921-22 | Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline

Four more amazing two-reelers that their star and director Buster Keaton made right before turning to features. Program includes: The Playhouse (1921), in which Buster imagines a variety show that stars him in every role; The Boat (1921), in which Buster builds a boat (the “Damfino”) that leads to a series of catastrophes; The Paleface (1922), in which Buster plays an entomologist who runs afoul of warring Indians who hate white men; and Cops (1922),...

Brazil, France, Germany, Portugal | 2012 | Miguel Gomes

Voted the second best movie of 2012 in the Sight & Sound critics’ poll (it finished #10 in the Village Voice film poll and #11 in Film Comment’s), Miguel Gomes’ two-part b&w film borrows the title of a 1931 silent movie by F.W. Murnau (Sunrise, Nosferatu). The first part, “Paradise Lost,” takes place in modern-day Lisbon, where a middle-aged woman checks in on the elderly, slightly batty woman who lives next door. Part two, entitled...

France | 2011 | Bruno Dumont

The latest inquiry into the sacred and the profane (and the feral and the spiritual) from French master Bruno Dumont (Humanité)is a characteristically spare, laconic, gorgeously lensed work. Set in and around the coastal dunes of northwestern France, the movie focuses on a mysterious drifter who meets a young girl fleeing her abusive stepfather. The vagrant seems half devil, half saint; he can kill with impunity, but also work miracles. Essential viewing! “A secular invocation…An...

United States | 1921-22 | Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline

Four more amazing two-reelers that their star and director Buster Keaton made right before turning to features. Program includes: The Playhouse (1921), in which Buster imagines a variety show that stars him in every role; The Boat (1921), in which Buster builds a boat (the “Damfino”) that leads to a series of catastrophes; The Paleface (1922), in which Buster plays an entomologist who runs afoul of warring Indians who hate white men; and Cops (1922),...

France | 1965 | Pierre Étaix

“The second and possibly the best of Étaix’s features” (Time Out Film Guide) stars Étaix as an unhappy millionaire who joins the circus where his lost love works as an equestrienne. The first part of this film, set during the 1920s, has no dialogue—only music and sound effects—like a silent film of that era

France | 1965 | Pierre Étaix

“The second and possibly the best of Étaix’s features” (Time Out Film Guide) stars Étaix as an unhappy millionaire who joins the circus where his lost love works as an equestrienne. The first part of this film, set during the 1920s, has no dialogue—only music and sound effects—like a silent film of that era

France | 2011 | Bruno Dumont

The latest inquiry into the sacred and the profane (and the feral and the spiritual) from French master Bruno Dumont (Humanité)is a characteristically spare, laconic, gorgeously lensed work. Set in and around the coastal dunes of northwestern France, the movie focuses on a mysterious drifter who meets a young girl fleeing her abusive stepfather. The vagrant seems half devil, half saint; he can kill with impunity, but also work miracles. Essential viewing! “A secular invocation…An...

Brazil, France, Germany, Portugal | 2012 | Miguel Gomes

Voted the second best movie of 2012 in the Sight & Sound critics’ poll (it finished #10 in the Village Voice film poll and #11 in Film Comment’s), Miguel Gomes’ two-part b&w film borrows the title of a 1931 silent movie by F.W. Murnau (Sunrise, Nosferatu). The first part, “Paradise Lost,” takes place in modern-day Lisbon, where a middle-aged woman checks in on the elderly, slightly batty woman who lives next door. Part two, entitled...

United States | 1922 | Buster Keaton et al.

The brilliant Buster Keaton in four more classic shorts he starred in and directed. Program includes: My Wife’s Relations (1922; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which Buster mistakenly marries a woman with four gorilla-like brothers; The Blacksmith (1922; co-directed by Malcolm St Clair), in which Buster plays a bumbling smithy; The Frozen North (1922, co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which Buster spoofs William S. Hart’s melodramatic westerns (Hart was not amused); and Daydreams (1922; do-directed...

Germany | 2012 | Christian Petzold

Germany’s official entry for this year’s foreign language film Oscar was one of the most gripping and acclaimed movies of 2012, with unanimous favorable reviews on metacrtic.com and an overall rating of 86 out of 100. Nina Hoss, the regular muse of director Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow), plays a surgeon in 1980 East Germany who is demoted to a small rural hospital on the Baltic Sea after she expresses a desire to leave the repressive...

Germany | 2010 | Baran bo Odar

In this “harrowing and humane German-language whodunit” (Entertainment Weekly), a bicycle belonging to a missing 13-year-old girl is found in the same field where another child was murdered 23 years earlier. Detectives try to locate the girl. But this new disappearance causes the cops, culprits, and parents from the previous unsolved case to revisit their painful past. “Four stars…A first-rate thriller.” -Time Out New York.

United States | 1922 | Buster Keaton et al.

The brilliant Buster Keaton in four more classic shorts he starred in and directed. Program includes: My Wife’s Relations (1922; co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which Buster mistakenly marries a woman with four gorilla-like brothers; The Blacksmith (1922; co-directed by Malcolm St Clair), in which Buster plays a bumbling smithy; The Frozen North (1922, co-directed by Eddie Cline), in which Buster spoofs William S. Hart’s melodramatic westerns (Hart was not amused); and Daydreams (1922; do-directed...

France | 1966 | Pierre Étaix

Pierre Étaix’s third feature presents four comic vignettes on modern life. The stories focus on an insomniac spending the night reading about vampires; a moviegoer who can’t find a seat in a crowded theatre; a psychiatrist with more problems than his patients; and a hunter who has a run-in with a farmer and a bickering, picnicking couple. Preceded at showtime by Étaix’s Feeling Good (En Pleine Forme, 1966/2010), a short camping comedy that was originally...

France | 1966 | Pierre Étaix

Pierre Étaix’s third feature presents four comic vignettes on modern life. The stories focus on an insomniac spending the night reading about vampires; a moviegoer who can’t find a seat in a crowded theatre; a psychiatrist with more problems than his patients; and a hunter who has a run-in with a farmer and a bickering, picnicking couple. Preceded at showtime by Étaix’s Feeling Good (En Pleine Forme, 1966/2010), a short camping comedy that was originally...

Germany | 2010 | Baran bo Odar

In this “harrowing and humane German-language whodunit” (Entertainment Weekly), a bicycle belonging to a missing 13-year-old girl is found in the same field where another child was murdered 23 years earlier. Detectives try to locate the girl. But this new disappearance causes the cops, culprits, and parents from the previous unsolved case to revisit their painful past. “Four stars…A first-rate thriller.” -Time Out New York.

Germany | 2012 | Christian Petzold

Germany’s official entry for this year’s foreign language film Oscar was one of the most gripping and acclaimed movies of 2012, with unanimous favorable reviews on metacrtic.com and an overall rating of 86 out of 100. Nina Hoss, the regular muse of director Christian Petzold (Yella, Jerichow), plays a surgeon in 1980 East Germany who is demoted to a small rural hospital on the Baltic Sea after she expresses a desire to leave the repressive...

United States | 1922-23 | Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline

The last three of the 19 inventive short comedies that Buster Keaton starred in and directed before turning his attention to features. Program includes: The Electric House (1922), in which botanist Buster tries to wire a house; The Ballonatic (1923), in which Buster accidentally takes off in a hot-air balloon and has a series of fantastic adventures; and The Love Nest (1923), in which Buster joins the crew of a whaling ship run by a...

France | 1971 | Pierre Étaix

The fifth (and final) feature by France’s Pierre Étaix is a striking (and biting) change of pace for the mild-mannered, Keaton-like comedian. It’s a group portrait of complacent French people on holiday at the beach and in the countryside, shot three months after the explosive events of May 1968. Étaix’s camera captures the vacationers as they spout off on a variety of topics—from eroticism and violence to marriage and even architecture. It was not well...

United Kingdom | 1938 | Alfred Hitchcock

In Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated comic thriller, a little old lady traveling by train with a beautiful young British woman suddenly disappears—though fellow passengers deny ever having seen her! A young musicologist volunteers to help solve the mystery. With Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. “Four stars (highest rating)…Hitchcock at his best.” –Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide.

United States | 1922-23 | Buster Keaton, Eddie Cline

The last three of the 19 inventive short comedies that Buster Keaton starred in and directed before turning his attention to features. Program includes: The Electric House (1922), in which botanist Buster tries to wire a house; The Ballonatic (1923), in which Buster accidentally takes off in a hot-air balloon and has a series of fantastic adventures; and The Love Nest (1923), in which Buster joins the crew of a whaling ship run by a...

France, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands | 2012 | Carlos Reygadas

The new film from Mexico’s most provocative auteur Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light, Battle in Heaven) is a semi-autobiographical, Tarkovskian dreamscape full of musings and memories, fears, fantasies, and forebodings. The story centers on an affluent man who has moved his wife and two young children to a new house in the remote Mexican countryside. There he struggles with demons and dualities: tranquility and violence, privilege and poverty, guilt and salvation. Reygadas’ meanings will be debated...

France | 1963 | Louis Malle

Perhaps the greatest of Louis Malle’s early films focuses on an alcoholic writer (Maurice Ronet) who leaves a clinic determined to kill himself. He spends 24 hours visiting friends in the hope that they might give him a reason to live. With Jeanne Moreau and Alexandra Stewart; music by Erik Satie

France, Germany, Mexico, Netherlands | 2012 | Carlos Reygadas

The new film from Mexico’s most provocative auteur Carlos Reygadas (Silent Light, Battle in Heaven) is a semi-autobiographical, Tarkovskian dreamscape full of musings and memories, fears, fantasies, and forebodings. The story centers on an affluent man who has moved his wife and two young children to a new house in the remote Mexican countryside. There he struggles with demons and dualities: tranquility and violence, privilege and poverty, guilt and salvation. Reygadas’ meanings will be debated...

United Kingdom | 1938 | Alfred Hitchcock

In Alfred Hitchcock’s celebrated comic thriller, a little old lady traveling by train with a beautiful young British woman suddenly disappears—though fellow passengers deny ever having seen her! A young musicologist volunteers to help solve the mystery. With Margaret Lockwood and Michael Redgrave. “Four stars (highest rating)…Hitchcock at his best.” –Leonard Maltin’s Classic Movie Guide.