White Light Cinema and The Nightingale at Cinema Borealis (1550 N. Milwaukee Ave., 4th Floor) - Saturday, 7pm
With a concept, style,
and politics that are still radical and relevant, Lizzie Borden's 1983
film gets a revival screening that is long overdue. Railing against the
patriarchal and racist structures that remained in even the most
progressive corners of American Society after the '60s and '70s, we are
thrust into a feature length narrative of critique. Borden is able to
place her ideology front and center, but also let the story sneak up
around it. Embracing the gritty look of both 16mm film and the more
battered parts of New York City in the early '80s, and combining them
with an objective camera, she uses her low-budget as a storytelling
asset. The world in which the anarchist movement dubbed the Women's Army
carries out its counterrevolutionary campaign of pirate radio and
direct action is rendered complete through a skillful combination of
narrative and documentary modes. Artificial news clips about the
progress of the current Socialist government and covert operations of
the Women's Army's are mixed with observational shots of unemployed men
and women on the streets, and we are constantly reminded of the veiled
nature of the allegory. Other fictional scenes feel like we're watching
the unedited negotiations between rival factions in a civil war as shot
by an embedded cameraperson. When the pirate radio DJ—who acts as the
film's voiceover—declares that the true nature of socialism is constant
revolution, it seems a natural reinforcement of the film's message,
rather than a didactic add-on. Managing to tow the line between
preaching and pandering is not an easy task when taking on the very
fiber of our society, and rarely has a film done it with such ease. The screening will be introduced by SAIC grad student Beth
Capper. (1983, 90 min, 16mm) JH - Cine-File.info
Friday, January 20, 2012
Perry Henzell's THE HARDER THEY COME (Jamaican Revival)
Doc Films (University of Chicago) - Thursday, 9:45pm
Too often dismissed as "that Jimmy Cliff film," it might be overlooked that this 1972 slum-gangster click cum star-vehicle was the first feature to be made in Jamaica by Jamaicans, and is a heck of a smart story. Loosely based on the true story of Rhygin, a '50s era outlaw folk hero, alongside elements taken from Cliff's own life, the film mixes pop and politics to capture the emerging identity of the post-colonial Caribbean nation and the structural struggles that its people faced. Violent and self-reflexive, the scenes of destitute poverty in the Kingston slums stand in contrast to the pockets of wealth where Ivan (Jimmy Cliff) begs for work upon his arrival from the country. Finding no opportunities, the plight of many in the third world is captured as Cliff digs through the garbage at Kingston's landfill alongside real people who were scavenging for their daily subsistence. He turns to a preacher in the ghetto for help, and is offered employment, but not respect. This affords the subplot containing high-energy scenes of a poor Baptist congregation, its choir singing and dancing with palpable emotion so real it's hard to discern the actors from the extras. Wearing out his welcome with the preacher, Ivan leaves and gets the chance to cut a record, only to find out that he has to sign away the rights if he wants it released. His exploitation almost complete, he takes a job trafficking marijuana, and becomes an outlaw. Just as his song is starting to get radio play, he shoots a cop and as he goes on the lamb. He tries to flee the country, but the film hurtles towards a finale where the hero will be gunned down before he can escape the cycle of poverty for a shot in the US. The movie also features a soundtrack that's a who's who of the Reggae world (sans Bob Marley) and served as a primary vehicle for the worldwide popularization the music. A fitting film for an art that was itself a social and political movement. Though not particularly well received upon its release, THE HARDER THEY COME has aged well, and remains a benchmark in post-colonial cinema. (1972, 120 min, 35mm) JH - Cine-File.info
Too often dismissed as "that Jimmy Cliff film," it might be overlooked that this 1972 slum-gangster click cum star-vehicle was the first feature to be made in Jamaica by Jamaicans, and is a heck of a smart story. Loosely based on the true story of Rhygin, a '50s era outlaw folk hero, alongside elements taken from Cliff's own life, the film mixes pop and politics to capture the emerging identity of the post-colonial Caribbean nation and the structural struggles that its people faced. Violent and self-reflexive, the scenes of destitute poverty in the Kingston slums stand in contrast to the pockets of wealth where Ivan (Jimmy Cliff) begs for work upon his arrival from the country. Finding no opportunities, the plight of many in the third world is captured as Cliff digs through the garbage at Kingston's landfill alongside real people who were scavenging for their daily subsistence. He turns to a preacher in the ghetto for help, and is offered employment, but not respect. This affords the subplot containing high-energy scenes of a poor Baptist congregation, its choir singing and dancing with palpable emotion so real it's hard to discern the actors from the extras. Wearing out his welcome with the preacher, Ivan leaves and gets the chance to cut a record, only to find out that he has to sign away the rights if he wants it released. His exploitation almost complete, he takes a job trafficking marijuana, and becomes an outlaw. Just as his song is starting to get radio play, he shoots a cop and as he goes on the lamb. He tries to flee the country, but the film hurtles towards a finale where the hero will be gunned down before he can escape the cycle of poverty for a shot in the US. The movie also features a soundtrack that's a who's who of the Reggae world (sans Bob Marley) and served as a primary vehicle for the worldwide popularization the music. A fitting film for an art that was itself a social and political movement. Though not particularly well received upon its release, THE HARDER THEY COME has aged well, and remains a benchmark in post-colonial cinema. (1972, 120 min, 35mm) JH - Cine-File.info
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