Liars and Saints

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, ...

Everyone loves this theater. It is among my favorite spots in New York City--maybe second only to the Bronx Zoo. Returning to Film Forum today, on a breezy late-summer afternoon, in the heart of the greatest city of the world, I felt a bit sentimental. Film Forum was my boyfriend for several years. I exited a long, exhausting relationship with an actor who claimed to dislike movies. (An actor who disliked movies. See if you can figure that one out!) Suddenly overwhelmed with free time, I found myself going to Film Forum again and again and again. It is like the best kind of museum; the attention paid to movies, to old trailers, to old promotional posters ... feels scholarly. Unlike other museums, it allows you to sit down while you "consider the goods," and its subject is narrative art, the art of storytelling, which is maybe the only real art in my book. The movie I saw today was "Chinatown," and one of the many treats of my trip to Film Forum was seeing the or...