Friday, June 19, 2020 - 6:00pm
CinemaLit Popcorn Pop-Up Salon: May British New Wave
Hello Film Lovers,
Welcome back to CinemaLit! We have missed our Friday night gatherings. Laura, Pam, and I are excited to launch this new format for CinemaLit as we Shelter at Home. We will be viewing films on Kanopy and gathering online for a Popcorn Pop-Up Salon!
We start up the summer with a month of Romance in Full Color with four films to carry us away: Summertime (1955), Black Orpheus (1959), Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963) and the beautiful, heartbreaking The Umbrellas of Cherbourg (1964).
All you will need is either a Mechanic’s Institute library card, or a San Francisco Public Library card, which will give you access to Kanopy and its treasure trove of movies. Make a reservation as usual via Eventbrite and watch the film on Kanopy at your leisure. You will receive a link to the Friday night CinemaLit salon on Zoom two days in advance. On the night of the salon click the Zoom link and join us.
If you do not receive a Zoom Link by the day of the event, contact Pam Troy at rsvp@milibrary.org.
KANOPY INSTRUCTIONS
Mechanics’ Institute members can now sign up for FREE access to Kanopy, a wonderful film streaming service. To sign up:
1. Click on THIS LINK.
2. Click on the large orange login button that reads, “Log in to milibrary.”
3. Enter the 14-digit bar code from your MI Library card
4. Set up your account following Kanopy’s instructions, including your email and a password.
5. Kanopy will send verification to your email address.
You’ll be able to choose from a wonderful selection of films, including classics, pre-code, foreign films, and documentaries, including the films we’ve scheduled this month for CinemaLit.
If you are not a Mechanics’ Institute member, consider membership and click HERE to join online:
Or, you can check with your public library to see if they are Kanopy members. If so, you may use your public library card to set up a Kanopy account.
Since we all might be going a bit stir crazy, for our second month of CinemaLit while sheltering, we're highlighting films shot on location far from North America. They are all classics exploring the various joys and heartaches of love and romance. Additionally, they are all brimming with color and music. Only one is in English. Two won the Best Foreign Language Film Oscar. All four are dedicated to matters of the heart.
Grab your popcorn and hankies and join us on Friday nights in June!
Matthew Kennedy, curator and host
CinemaLit Film Series
June 2020: Love and Romance in Faraway Places
Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
Vittorio De Sica's Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (leri, oggi, domani) is a trilogy film – three stories of love and sex starring the peerless screen team of Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni at the height of their careers. It posted a hefty profit, made evocative use of locations in and around Naples, Milan, and Rome, won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and features a memorable striptease. Even so, it had its detractors. The Village Voice found it, "easily the most offensive film of this rapidly maturing year. I wish it were possible to render a Bronx cheer in Mandarin prose, because I know how difficult it is to believe that a movie starring Sophia Loren and Marcello Mastroianni could be completely worthless."
Others were similarly put off, and saw this as De Sica in decline, or at least wildly out of character. He was well known for profoundly mournful films – The Bicycle Thief (1948), Umberto D. (1952), and Two Women (1960) – so no one was quite prepared for a bubbly risqué comedy from the master of Italian Neo-realism. But this is hardly a mindless sex romp. Each episode has Loren using what's necessary, including her body, to get what she wants. Far removed from any display of the alpha male, Mastroianni is by turns her kaput husband, throwaway lover, and libidinous john. The years have been good to this film. Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow offers a startling display of sexual politics delivered by two of the most charismatic film stars of all time.
Curated by Matthew Kennedy
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.”
