From the Film Vault
Program Notes: Leadbelly (1976)
Leadbelly reminisces about the hard life of the blues legend - from wide-eyed innocent country boy to swaggering, hot-tempered young man to a still-robust white hair carrying the weight of years of sin and experience.
Program Notes: The Commitments (1991)
“Hey, kids! Let’s put on a show!” Heaven knows how many movies have taken that cry as their starting point but few have been as infectiously enjoyable as Alan Parker’s The Commitments.
Program Notes: L.A. Confidential (1997)
L.A. Confidential, the densely plotted '50s cop yarn based on James Ellroy's novel, is chilly and brutish and unforgiving. But for all that, it never quite sinks into utter cynicism and the principle characters retain a shred of idealism.
Program Notes: The Skin I Live In (2011)
Simultaneously creepy and beautiful, The Skin I Live In is a heady mashup of mad scientist horror story, sexual fantasy, revenge yarn, and existential escape caper. A disturbing film for the art house crowd.
Program Notes: Bloody Sunday (2002)
There's no subtext in Bloody Sunday. No allegorical references. No symbolism. This docudrama is obsessed with one thing: re-creating reality. And the story unfolds with the grim inevitability of Greek tragedy.
