UA Film Festival

by Ari

The Film Forum here in NYC is hosting a festival to celebrate the 90th Anniversary of United Artists. The festival runs from now till May 1st, with over 50 classic films returning to the big screen for a whole new generation to discover and enjoy. Or at least that’s the point of the festival, I believe. If you’re in New York for the next month or so, this is an amazing chance to see several brilliant films the way they should be seen.

Yes, you can rent most of these movies on dvd and enjoy them from the comfort of your living room, but to see a classic film in a theater with a full audience is really the way it should always be. One of the best things about Los Angeles is the Egyptian theater in Hollywood. It’s the best revival house in America, and to experience a movie like Sweet Smell of Success or Odds Against Tomorrow in a cinematic palace is something you can never get at home. The Film Forum is New York’s Egyptian theater, only much smaller, but the passion for the theatrical experience is the same. The UA Festival kicked off yesterday with one of the best films ever made.

Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)

This virtuoso masterwork by Scorsese is arguably his greatest achievement. When Scorsese says he put everything into this story and filmed it like it was his last movie, he really meant it. The directorial skill and energy that was brought to this film is as stunning as De Niro’s transformation and emotional self-destruction as the troubled, violent and insecure Jake La Motta. Scorsese’s visual mastery has never been better than Raging Bull. The way he and cinematographer Michael Chapman undercrank and overcrank during the boxing scenes, the use of color for the home videos of La Motta and his family, the visceral and claustrophobic atmosphere used for the domestic fights between he and his wife, the constant placement of religious imagery - everything is constructed and executed with a feverish intensity that places this film in the top ranks of personal filmmaking. Scorsese has made a few masterpieces since Raging Bull (The Last Temptation of Christ, Goodfellas, Kundun), but there’s still something that separates his 1980 classic from the rest. There’s just a special quality to Raging Bull that has to be felt. It’s an exhausting movie that represents one of the great moments in the history of American film.

Manhattan (Woody Allen, 1979)

“I think people should mate for life, like pigeons or Catholics”. “We’re just people...you think you’re God!” - “Well, I gotta model myself after someone”. Woody Allen’s black-and-white classic is still fresh and hilarious and moving. When Allen strikes that perfect balances of humor and drama, there’s really nothing like it. Manhattan is one of those perfectly balanced films, terribly funny on the surface but quietly sad at its core. The ending between Allen and his 17-year-old girlfriend is funny and pitiful, one of the most revealing and memorable sequences of his career. Gordon Willis’ photography is a thing of beauty. The chemistry between Allen and Diane Keaton is perfection. One of the great movies of the ‘70s.

Paths of Glory (Stanley Kubrick, 1957)
I’ve written about my love for this film on the site a few times before. Most recently I hailed Paths of Glory for having my favorite movie ending. It’s funny when you read criticisms and attacks at Kubrick for being too cold or emotionally distant as a storyteller. That argument makes absolutely no sense if you’ve seen Paths of Glory. The conclusion of this movie is as emotionally wrenching as anything put to film. It helps if you’ve seen the entire movie, but this sequence is still powerful enough to affect you all on its own. . Here, just watch it.

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Brings me to tears. Never fails.