Film Screenings / Programs / Series
VALENTINE’S DAY MASSACRE 2019
February 14 – February 21
Anthology continues our cherished tradition of celeb(/denig)rating Valentine’s Day by presenting a selection of radically anti-romantic films. The series is anchored by two films that are virtually identical in many ways, save for their wildly different tones: Maurice Pialat’s grueling, autobiographical study of a dysfunctional off-and-on relationship, WE WON’T GROW OLD TOGETHER, and Albert Brooks’s hilarious yet no less painful MODERN ROMANCE. This Jekyll and Hyde pairing is supplemented by Andrzej Zulawski’s POSSESSION, a batshit crazy depiction of an imploding marriage that’s perhaps the ultimate dysfunctional relationship film, and Elaine May’s masterpiece, THE HEARTBREAK KID, which in the spirit of Valentine’s Day Massacre is at once a hilariously funny and bitterly corrosive depiction of male/female relations. And this year we make room for a couple 21st century additions, with a pairing of two Paul Thomas Anderson films about strange, alarming, and functionally dysfunctional romantic couples: 2002’s PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE and the brand new PHANTOM THREAD.
Thanks to Brian Block (Bleeding Light Film Group), Chris Chouinard (Park Circus), Johan Ericsson (Swedish Film Institute), Jason Jackowski (Universal), Dave Jennings (Sony), Dieynaba N’Diaye (TF1 Studio), and Jacob Perlin (The Film Desk).
