SERIES
Winter at the Trylon & the Heights
Back in the ’40s and ’50s, films noir were movies that embraced the dark side of the American dream—often quite literally with their chiaroscuro lighting and intense themes. For the Heights and Trylon’s Fifteenth Film Noir Festival, however, we have embraced color, with metaphorical darkness descending on this more modern cinematic world. Ranging from 1967 to 2018, the five films at the
Heights and the thirteen at the Trylon perhaps make this Fifteenth Film Noir Festival our most extensive noir festival yet.
(1985, 35mm, 116m) dir William Friedkin w/William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, Debra Feuer. In this scorching, sun- and neon-drenched action-noir, Secret Service agent Richard Chance (Petersen) hunts violent counterfeiter Eric Masters (Dafoe)—and his own demons. One of Friedkin’s (who we so recently lost) finest, relatively unheralded films. For Perisphere, Jay Ditzer dives into Wang Chung’s iconic […]
Showings: Dec. 3 7:30, Dec. 4 7:00, 9:15, Dec. 5 7:00, 9:15
(1985, 35mm, 132m) dir Terry Gilliam w/Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro. Sam Lowry (Pryce) sorts through bureaucratic (and plumbing!) hell with help from Harry Tuttle (De Niro). Climate change, banking issues—it’s all here in one of the most biting satires on film. SUN 7:45 MON/TUE 7:00 9:30
Showings: Dec. 10 7:45, Dec. 11 7:00, 9:30, Dec. 12 7:00, 9:30
(1980, DCP, 114m) dir John Mackenzie w/Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, Paul Freeman. London gangster Harold (Hoskins) is about to close an important business deal with powerful underworld allies. After a series of brutal hits on his territory threaten the contract, he has one day to find out who crossed him. SUN 7:30 MON/TUE 7:00 9:15
Showings: Dec. 17 7:30, Dec. 18 7:00, 9:15, Dec. 19 7:00, 9:15
(2005, DCP, 103m) dir Shane Black w/Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan. Petty thief Harry Lockhart (Downey Jr.) accidentally lands a role in a detective movie and heads to Los Angeles to learn from real-life Hollywood PI “Gay Perry” (Kilmer). He becomes embroiled in a real-life murder mystery. Its fantastic cast, whip-smart dialogue, and […]
Showings: Dec. 25 5:00, 7:00, 9:00, Dec. 26 7:00, 9:00
(1995, 35mm, 145m) dir Kathryn Bigelow w/Ralph Fiennes, Angela Bassett, Juliette Lewis. In a dystopian L.A., the seedy distributor of illicit recorded memories (Fiennes) stumbles onto gruesome snuff films connected to the assassination of an important political figure. SUN 7:30 MON/TUE 7:00
Showings: Dec. 31 7:30, Jan. 1 7:00, Jan. 2 7:00
(2003, DCP, 131m, Korean w/English subtitles) dir Bong Joon Ho w/Song Kang-ho, Kim Sang-kyung, Roe-ha Kim. Following the first serial murders in Korea, two small-town detectives search for the killer. Nuanced, gorgeously photographed, and eerily paced, Memories is Bong’s first masterwork. SUN 7:00 MON/TUE 7:00 9:30
Showings: Jan. 7 7:00, Jan. 8 7:00, 9:30, Jan. 9 7:00, 9:30
(1982, 35mm, 117m) dir Ridley Scott w/Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young. In 2019, L.A. detective Rick Deckard (Ford) tracks down genetically engineered replicant renegades who are indistinguishable from humans. This is the definitive version of Scott’s 1982 classic. SUN 7:00 MON/TUE 7:00 9:30
Showings: Jan. 14 7:00, Jan. 15 7:00, 9:30, Jan. 16 7:00, 9:30
(1996, DCP, 101m) dir Paul Thomas Anderson w/Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Gwyneth Paltrow. Professional gambler Sydney (Hall) finds John (Reilly) hard up for cash and takes him under his wing. Tightly written with deft character studies, Hard Eight is a striking debut. SUN 7:15 MON/TUE 7:00 9:15
Showings: Jan. 21 7:15, Jan. 22 7:00, 9:15, Jan. 23 7:00, 9:15
(1967, DCP, 91m, Japanese w/English subtitles) dir Seijun Suzuki w/Jô Shishido, Mariko Ogawa, Annu Mari. Hanada (Shishido), a boiling-rice-sniffing hit man, hunts and gets hunted in the underground world of ranked assassins. This wildly experimental yakuza film got Suzuki fired and blacklisted from the film industry for a decade. SUN 6:45 MON/TUE 7:00 9:00
Showings: Jan. 28 6:45, Jan. 29 7:00, 9:00, Jan. 30 7:00, 9:00
(1974, DCP, 130m) dir Roman Polanski w/Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston. Jake Gittes (Nicholson) is hired to find the daughter of Evelyn Mulwray (Dunaway) while Evelyn herself is trying desperately to escape the clutches of her venomous father, Noah Cross (Huston). Los Angeles has never looked the same since. At the Heights Theater! 7:30 […]
(1981, 35mm, 108m) dir Brian De Palma w/John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow. Sound engineer Jack (Travolta) accidentally records evidence of an accident, or is it murder? De Palma, master of the homage, rewrites the neo-noir script in red, white, and blue. SUN 8:30 MON/TUE 7:00 9:15
Showings: Feb. 4 8:30, Feb. 5 7:00, 9:15, Feb. 6 7:00, 9:15
(1990, DCP, 115m) dir Joel & Ethan Coen w/Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro. A loose adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett novels The Glass Key and Red Harvest, Miller’s Crossing follows mobster Tom Reagan (Byrne), who plays both sides of rival gangs in a desperate attempt at redemption. The film pulls off being both unbelievably […]
(1990, DCP, 97m) dir George Armitage w/Alec Baldwin, Fred Ward, Jennifer Jason Leigh. Baldwin endears as Junior, a deranged felon, who meets student and sex worker Susie (a transcendent Leigh) as Sgt. Hoke Moseley (Ward) reels him in, sharing recipes along the way. An under-the-radar triumph, Miami Blues should find its time in the sun. […]
Showings: Feb. 11 7:00, Feb. 12 7:00, 9:00, Feb. 13 7:00, 9:00
(1967, DCP, 111m) dir Arthur Penn w/Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Gene Hackman. When Clyde Barrow (Beatty) tries to steal Bonnie Parker’s (Dunaway’s) car, she’s instantly smitten, and a violent crime spree through Texas ensues. At first a failure until it was embraced by critics who championed counterculture film, like Pauline Kael, Bonnie and Clyde became […]
(2018, DCP, 138m, Mandarin w/English subtitles) dir Bi Gan w/Tang Wei, Huang Jue, Sylvia Chang. One of recent cinema’s great works, this ghostly tone poem follows Luo Hongwu’s (Huang’s) return home in search of a woman he once loved and who has occupied his mind since. SUN 7:00 MON/TUE 7:00
Showings: Feb. 18 7:00, Feb. 19 7:00, Feb. 20 7:00
(1969, DCP, 122m, French w/English subtitles) dir Jacques Deray w/Alain Delon, Romy Schneider, Maurice Ronet. Jean-Paul (Delon) and Marianne (Schneider) have borrowed a friend’s villa on the French Riviera. There, under a blistering sun, they abandon themselves to their twin passions of love and hate. When the friend returns with his fetching teenage daughter in […]
(1983, DCP, 100m) dir Jim McBride w/Richard Gere, Valérie Kaprisky, John P. Ryan. Jesse (Gere) is a reckless, likable criminal on the run from the LAPD. McBride’s remake of the Godard classic was savaged by critics upon release, but the energetic, imaginative neo-noir romance has since become a cult classic. SUN 7:15 MON/TUE 7:00 9:00
Showings: Feb. 25 7:15, Feb. 26 7:00, 9:00, Feb. 27 7:00, 9:00
(1981, 35mm, 108m) dir Herbert Ross w/Steve Martin, Bernadette Peters, Jessica Harper. Steve Martin is Arthur, a sheet-music salesman who wants the world to be like the songs he sells; Bernadette Peters is Lulu, a schoolteacher seduced by Arthur. Murder and sex blend with astonishing dance numbers. Don’t miss this rare 35mm screening! At the […]