Handmaid's Tale meets Alien in Times Square

Often on Saturday, a choir (I think they might be Amish) sings in the busy Times Square subway station. They set up in front of a panel of back-lit ads that changes from week to week. On a recent Saturday, the juxtaposition of puritanically-styled singers next to a promo for the latest Alien flick seemed to carry a hidden message. The end is near? Ain't life funny? What we define as 'alien' is only a matter of perspective?

Moonlight Memories (Lincoln Center)

 

I was lucky enough to attend the opening of Moonlight last October at the New York Film Festival. I remember reading the description of the film and thinking, "A movie about being black and gay? Sounds interesting." And of course I was happy we bought the tickets because it turned out to be amazing.

I never posted the photos because I took them with my phone, which does a lousy job in low light. But in honor of Moonlight's Oscar win, I thought I could celebrate by sharing them.

Congrats Barry Jenkins, Mahershala Ali, and the rest of the creators, cast and crew!

Carol (Midtown, Manhattan)

Todd Haynes, director, and Christine Vachon, in a q&a about their film Carol at the Paris Theater. Then afterward, they went outside and snapped a photo of the marquee, right. I love how even totally amazing and accomplished filmmakers don't take the wonder of their accomplishments (as evidenced by the beautifully understated, class Paris marquee) for granted.

Noah Baumbach Q&A (Lincoln Center, Manhattan)

I saw a screening tonight of While We're Young, Noah Baumbach's new film, due to be released in 10 days. It's a funny, fast-moving film peripherally about documentary film-making but mostly about aging and the poignant allure of youth (in this case a young Brooklyn hipster-y couple) to those entering middle-age (in this case a childless, somewhat directionless couple whose biggest thrill comes from Googling information on their iPhones).

In answering the question "How do other films influence your work?" he explains in the clip I filmed below that the black socks with brown shoes worn by Robert Redford's character in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN had "a real impact" that influenced his film THE SQUID AND THE WHALE. He doesn't explain the impact further but the comment elicited a chuckle from the crowd.

Celebrity Scrum

All lenses are on Charlotte Gainsbourg, at opening night of the Rendez-Vous with French Cinema festival at Lincoln Center. We were there tonight to see her in Benoît Jacquot's  3 Coeurs (3 Hearts), a good, interesting, disturbing, if unrealistic in many ways film that felt more like a parable than a portrait of reality.