Last night, Bruce Jackson and Diane Christian hosted a showing of NIght and the City at the Market Arcade Theater as part of their ongoing series of Buffalo Film Seminars. The 1950 Jules Dassin movie was a treat to watch, especially with discussion before and after that made the entire experience fuller. In the theater, full of UB students and other film aficionados, the husband and wife team of Christian and Jackson are a large part of the attraction.
Like any seasoned couple, the two have a tendency to fill in each other’s blanks, step in to lend a hand in articulating an idea, and perhaps even engage in healthy debate, making the discussion all the more interesting and informative for the audience.
In the case of Night and the City, Jackson’s
introduction included the thought that by the end of the film, one might even feel sympathy toward actor Richard Widmark’s lowly character.
This caused us to conclude that Jackson is quite generous in his assessment of human failings; we couldn’t find that understanding within. But being led into the film by scholars was priceless, along with the audience participation afterward.
The series will continue as follows:
Feb 9 Charles Laughton, Night of the Hunter (1955)
Feb 16 Kon Ichikawa,The Burmese Harp 1956
Feb 23 Sam Peckinpah, Ride the High Country 1962
Mar 2 Costa-Gavras Z 1969
Mar 16 Peter Yates, The Friends of Eddie Coyle 1973
Mar 23 John Cassavetes, A Woman Under the Influence 1974
Mar 30 Stanley Kubrick, The Shining 1980
Apr 6 Wolfgang Petersen, Das Boot 1981
Apr 13 Federico Fellini, Ginger & Fred, 1985
Apr 20 Michael Mann, Collateral 2004
Jackson and Christian made a laughing apology for having chosen a roster that held so many examples of film noir – that were particularly dark – for the doldrums of winter, promising to lighten up in the future.
For our money, this was a lot of entertainment and enlightenment to be had on a chilly Tuesday in February, both the movie and the discussion.
Tuesdays @ 7PM through April 20th
$8 adult, $6.50 w/ student ID, $6 seniors