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Easter Weekend

To me, one of the most exciting things about this coming Easter Weekend is the start of Film Forum's Trilogies series.

I don't know if I'll see any of the films at the actual theater, but I'm hoping Film Forum will inspire me to see some smart rentals at home. (This is often how Film Forum "works" with me.)

The Trilogies series highlights many directors, and three of them have special value in my book:

*Francis Ford Coppola. Of course, the FF series will put the "Godfather" series front and center. I am happy for any chance to recall Marlon Brando stalking his tiny grandson with a big orange in his mouth: Brando is a monster, yes, but even a monster can be good with children. I'm happy to recall Connie's transformation, and the sinister final Fredo scenes, and little Michael arriving at Ellis Island, dwarfed by the mysterious Americans around him. So many unforgettable characters!

*Carol Reed. Mr. Reed didn't make a real trilogy, in the conservative sense of the term, but people feel that his three post-war noir films are thematically linked. They're a pseudo-trilogy, even if the cast of characters varies from movie to movie.

Mr. Reed's name always makes me think of "The Third Man," which then makes me think of Orson Welles seeming to come back from the dead, and the speech about the cuckoo clock, and the enigmatic romance in the final seconds of the story. Orson Welles--like Marlon Brando--seems larger-than-life.

*Whit Stillman. I don't know much about Mr. Stillman, and his most recent big movie, "Love and Friendship," isn't part of the trilogy FF will show. (We're talking about "Metropolitan," "Barcelona," "Last Days of Disco.") Still, I like Stillman, because he taught us all, or reminded us all, that Jane Austen could be as interested in satire, wickedness, and goofiness as she was interested in romance.

Whit Stillman is my hero for including this bit of dialogue in an Austen movie....A fool pokes at something on his plate. "Delightful, strange objects!" he says. "Small and green and round!" And a friend, working hard to conceal her disdain: "Yes, enough. They're called peas."

One of my favorite moments in movie history. If you're looking for weekend plans, check out Film Forum....
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