Masks are strongly encouraged for unvaccinated individuals.
May 20 – Seconds (1966) 107 min, directed by John Frankenheimer, starring Rock Hudson and Salome Jens
Seconds is only part thriller. It's also horror and science fiction, with a touch of Frankenstein and Faust. Arthur is a burnt out middle-aged bank executive. Thanks to a secret organization called The Company, and the wonders of plastic surgery, he can reinvent his identity and start over. What could possibly go wrong? Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate, Seven Days in May) continues his brilliant 1960s explorations of the modern world gone wrong, aided immeasurably by James Wong Howe's inspired cinematography and a searing performance from the perennially undervalued Rock Hudson.
(Image used with permission of Paramount Pictures)
CinemaLit / May 2022 – Thrillers!
May is nail-biting month at CinemaLit. We're featuring an array of thrillers designed to provoke, outrage, and frighten with their barely exaggerated plausibility in our current era. Seven Days in May (1964), The Parallax View (1974), Seconds (1966), and The President's Analyst (1967) play on themes particularly effectively when aiming to shiver the spine and stimulate the brain – psychology, politics, paranoia, romance, technology, top-secret organizations, and law enforcement. Each comes with the irresistible question: "Could this actually happen?" Or even more chilling: "Has this already happened?"
Matthew Kennedy, CinemaLit’s curator, has written biographies of Marie Dressler, Joan Blondell, and Edmund Goulding. His book Roadshow! The Fall of Film Musicals in the 1960s, was the basis of a film series on Turner Classic Movies.
“I don't have a favorite film,” Matthew says. "I find that my relationships to films, actors, genres, and directors change as I change over the years. Some don't hold up. Some look more profound, as though I've caught up with their artistry. I feel that way about Garbo, Cary Grant, director John Cassavetes, and others."
“Classic films have historical context, something only time can provide,” Matt observes. “They become these great cultural artifacts, so revealing of tastes, attitudes, and assumptions.”
MI Members Free
Public sliding scale Free to $10
Register with Eventbrite below.
CinemaLit Films
Future CinemaLit Films
May 27 - 6:00pm
CinemaLit: The President's Analyst (1967) 103 min -- ONSITE at Mechanics' Institute
May 2022 CinemaLit: – Thrillers!
Jun 3 - 6:00pm
CinemaLit: Harriet (2019) 125 min -- ONSITE at Mechanics' Institute
June 2022 CinemaLit: – Black Lives/Black Directors LIVE
Jun 10 - 6:00pm
CinemaLit: Selma (2014) 128 min -- ONSITE at Mechanics' Institute
June 2022 CinemaLit: – Black Lives/Black Directors LIVE
