Film Screenings / Programs / Retrospectives
THE CINEMA ACCORDING TO MARK RAPPAPORT [ONLINE + THEATRICAL]
August 11 – August 24
Screening virtually from August 11-24, and theatrically from August 19-22
[PLEASE NOTE: DUE TO HURRICANE HENRY, THE IN-PERSON SCREENING OF PROGRAM 1 ON SAT, AUG 21 AT 8:45, AND ALL IN-PERSON SCREENINGS ON SUN, AUG 22, HAVE BEEN CANCELLED. THE VIDEO ESSAYS CAN STILL BE PURCHASED TO STREAM ONLINE, ANYTIME THROUGH TUES, AUG 24 - SEE BELOW FOR ACCESS DETAILS.]
Anthology has demonstrated a longstanding devotion to the work of Mark Rappaport, hosting a retrospective in 2011, and showcasing a new preservation of his 1975 film MOZART IN LOVE last year, alongside encore screenings of some of his other work (we snuck that program onto the calendar in February, just under the pandemic wire!). Both series included his seminal and pioneering “séance” films – ROCK HUDSON’S HOME MOVIES (1992) and FROM THE JOURNALS OF JEAN SEBERG (1995) – in which Rappaport conjures the spirits of Hudson and Seberg as a means to unpack the social, sexual, historical, and aesthetic dimensions of classic cinema. But the programs left the unwitting impression that Rappaport’s career as a filmmaker came to a close soon after those two remarkable films. In fact, he has continued in something like the ROCK HUDSON/JEAN SEBERG vein, producing a flood of short videos that use film clips, various editing strategies, and on-screen and spoken commentary to create illuminating moving-image works of film history and criticism. Reflecting Rappaport’s keen perception, wide-ranging knowledge and passion, dry sense of humor, and unique sensibility, these short works excavate hidden dimensions of films, filmmakers, and actors both familiar and obscure.
This series – which, in a first for Anthology, will take place both virtually and in person – comprises eight of Rappaport’s recent video essays, grouped into three programs. The programs will be available online from August 11-24 for a streaming rental fee of $8, and will screen theatrically from August 19-22. The theatrical component of the series will include in-person-only screenings of ROCK HUDSON’S HOME MOVIES and FROM THE JOURNALS OF JEAN SEBERG.
“The Cinema According to Mark Rappaport” is presented in collaboration with Kino Lorber. Special thanks to Mark Rappaport, and to Jonathan Hertzberg (Kino Lorber).
To watch the programs online, click on the titles below:
PROGRAM 1:
THE VANITY TABLES OF DOUGLAS SIRK (2014, 11 min, digital)
THE CIRCLE CLOSES (2015, 20 min, digital)
TATI VS BRESSON: THE GAG (2016, 20 min, digital)
TWO FOR THE OPERA BOXES (2021, 16.5 min, digital)
Total running time: ca. 70 min.
Available for streaming rental ($8) from Aug 11-24, and screening theatrically Fri, Aug 20 at 7:00 and Sat, Aug 21 at 8:45.
PROGRAM 2:
SERGEI / SIR GAY (2016, 36 min, digital)
AMERICA’S GRANDPA (2018, 31 min, digital)
Total running time: ca. 70 min.
Available for streaming rental ($8) from Aug 11-24, and screening theatrically Fri, Aug 20 at 8:45 and Sat, Aug 21 at 7:00.
PROGRAM 3:
I, DALIO – OR THE RULES OF THE GAME (2015, 33 min, digital)
L’ANNÉE DERNIÈRE À DACHAU (2020, 29 min, digital)
Total running time: ca. 65 min.
Available for streaming rental ($8) from Aug 11-24, and screening theatrically Sat, Aug 21 at 5:15 and Sun, Aug 22 at 8:45.
IN-PERSON ONLY:
ROCK HUDSON’S HOME MOVIES
1992, 63 min, digital. With Eric Farr.
Rappaport’s first experiment with his singular film-criticism essay form (“VCR-cheology” in J. Hoberman’s phrase) was this hour-long work, in which actor Eric Farr serves as an on-screen stand-in for closeted gay Hollywood star Rock Hudson, conducting us on a guided tour of excerpts from his films in a search for traces of his hidden life.
“Rappaport plays his new brand of film criticism like a grand organ. Showing us a way to talk back to the movie mythologies that influence and often corrupt us, even to the point of poisoning our dreams, he suggests that we don’t have to be millionaires or commandeer a television network to enter into a dialogue with the crushing Hollywood machine. At the bare minimum all we need is a will, two VCRs to play with, and something trenchant to say.” –Jonathan Rosenbaum, CHICAGO READER
“[Rappaport] invest[s] that thing we called ‘Rock Hudson’ with a degree of passion and pathos only barely evident in his original performances.” –J. Hoberman, VILLAGE VOICE
Thurs, Aug 19 at 7:00 and Sun, Aug 22 at 4:30.
FROM THE JOURNALS OF JEAN SEBERG
1995, 97 min, 35mm-to-digital. With Mary Beth Hurt.
“Adapting the inventive technique of his 1992 film ROCK HUDSON’S HOME MOVIES, Rappaport invokes Jean Seberg herself, as played by actress Mary Beth Hurt, to lead us on a guided tour of her life. Rappaport’s imagined Seberg is self-conscious and sardonic, able to comment from beyond the grave on all the forces that defeated her in life. She looks directly into the camera, addressing the audience with the same first-person candor that, as Rappaport suggests, was Seberg’s great strength and discovery. […] Rappaport has discovered a new form here – part straight biography, part fictional speculation, part critical investigation. It is a rich and volatile combination that yields one of the more intellectually engaging films of recent years.” –Dave Kehr, DAILY NEWS
Thurs, Aug 19 at 8:45 and Sun, Aug 22 at 6:15.
