Metrograph Pictures is ending the year strong with a variety of new film series and special presentations. The NYC cinema has a rich calendar of screenings and events for December, and their streaming service has some delights as well. One of the best bits of programming this month features deep cuts from the Deutsche Kinemathek, but also the annual bit of holiday programming the theater presents beginning Dec. 20, 2024. You can stream movies at Metrograph At Home here and find the Metrograph Theater’s calendar here. Learn about the programming below:
Obscure Films from the Deutsche Kinemathek
The Deutsche Kinemathek is a Berlin institution devoted to preserving cinema, with more than 20,000 titles in its archive. Metrograph is collaborating with them in December to unearth some forgotten films from Eastern Germany’s history with “An Alternate Cinema.” The titans of prewar Expressionism and New German Cinema have never lacked for repertory programming slots, but the riches of German film culture don’t stop there, as this series of deep cuts from the Deutsche Kinemathek Archives decisively proves.
Bringing together such works as Christoph Schlingensief’s splatterhouse reunification era satire The German Chainsaw Massacre (1990), and the East Coast restoration premieres of Pia Frankenberg’s tongue-in-cheek charmer Ain’t Nothin’ Without You (1985) and Michael Brynntrup’s punky avant-garde Super 8 Biblical epic Jesus – Der Film (1985), “An Alternate Cinema” — adapted from a program that played the 74th Berlin International Film Festival — is a tribute to German films made outside mainstream production channels, brimming with outsider adventurousness and anything-goes daring.
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The Brilliant Cinema of “Urban Ghosts”
Some of the best movies coming to Metrograph in December are part of their series, Urban Ghosts. The free-floating desire spurred by the sight of an alluring stranger, the sense of aloneness in the crowd, the yearning — so often unfulfilled — for the chance encounter that might change everything… These are some of the themes that run through this series of films addressing the bittersweet (and occasionally just bitter) experience of modern urban life as experienced in our haunted cities, places that exist a perpetual state of expansion, self-destruction, and “renewal.”
The incredible programming drifts from the decadent 1960s Rome of Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita to the desolate 1980s downtown Manhattan of Jim Jarmusch’s debut Permanent Vacation to the neon-wreathed 1990s Hong Kong of Wong Kar-wai’s Fallen Angels, among many more stopovers. A feast of flâneurie, an extravaganza of ennui, these are some of the most beautifully made films of all time.
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Studies of America from International Filmmakers
And then there’s “It Looks Pretty from a Distance,” a film series devoted to the poetic takes of outsiders looking upon the American landscapes. International directors like Wim Wenders, Ang Lee, Sergio Leone, Chantal Akerman, Werner Herzog, and Babette Mangoldt helm this selection of films about the great American myth. From Metrograph:
“On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the premiere Paris, Texas, Düsseldorf-born Wim Wenders’s Palme d’Or-winning cinematic confrontation with the arid majesty and spectacular sprawl of the Lonestar State, a program of works which find filmmakers born outside the United States giving their individual and idiosyncratic impressions of the American landscape, be it Werner Herzog exploring Wisconsin (Stroszek), Chloé Zhao in the South Dakota Badlands (The Rider), Chantal Akerman at the Rio Grande borderlands (From the Other Side), or Babette Mangolte’s studies of Western vistas (There? Where?, The Sky on Location). American visions, as seen by artists raised amongst very different scenery.”
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Mikey and Nicky with Elaine May
For one night only in December, Metrograph welcomes writer-director Elaine May to be in discussion with editors Phillip Schopper, ACE, and Jeffrey Wolf, ACE, on the process of cutting her 1976 triumph Mikey and Nicky.
May’s mordantly funny character study of two small-time hoodlums and lifelong friends, perpetual troublemaker Nicky (Cassavetes) and his put-upon childhood pal, Mikey (Falk), who’s been bailing him out for as long as either of them can remember, on the run together through seedy after-hours Philadelphia from the criminal outfit they both work for, who’ve put a price on Nicky’s head. Dave Kehr of the Chicago Reader calls it, “One of the most innovative, engaging, and insightful films of [the 1970s].”
Dirty Beaches & Yasujirō Ozu
A must-see live event at Metrograph, Yasujirō Ozu’s very funny silent film I Was Born, But… will be screened with live accompaniment from Alex Zhang Huntai of the great band, Dirty Beaches, on the sax and trumpet, with Lester St. Louis (cello), and Laura Cocks (flute).
The film for which Ozu won his first prestigious “Best One” award from the magazine Kinema Junpo and the most enduringly cherished of his extant silents, I Was Born, But… shows the influence of the director’s considerable fondness for the Hal Roach Little Rascals shorts, a painful and poignant work about two bullied and beleaguered suburban Tokyo boys (Suguwara Hideo and Tokkan Kozou) who, upon catching their salaryman father in a moment of groveling deference to his boss, decide to go on a hunger strike. An enormously lovable film that addresses itself to some enormously unpleasant facts about growing up.
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The Holidays at Metrograph Theaters
Metrograph also presents The Holidays at Metrograph, thier annual offering of seasonal programming, beginning December 20 at Metrograph In Theater. They’ve got plenty of cinematic goodies under the tree for the discerning moviegoer, as an established canon of seasonal classics (Carol, Eyes Wide Shut, Phantom Thread) return alongside festive chestnuts courtesy of Tim Burton, Wong Kar-wai, Greta Gerwig, and the Muppets.
The Holidays at Metrograph runs from December 20 to January 2, with select encore screenings to follow. Titles include 2046, Carol, Edward Scissorhands, Eyes Wide Shut, Little Women, The Muppet Christmas Carol, Phantom Thread, and Willow.
You can also cozy up on the couch this December with the Metrograph At Home streaming platform and newcomer titles like Once a Moth starring Filipina superstar Nora Aunor, two films by indie stalwart Jem Cohen, Jan Švankmajer’s nightmarish take on Faust, Spacked Out, and Leonor Will Never Die from Hong Kong and the Philippines, respectively, a Neo-noir quartet, and an eclectic holiday series that includes Georges Méliès, Miguel Gomes, and Carolee Schneeman. And this Friday, December 6th, the exclusive streaming premiere of Lev Kalman and Whitney Horn’s homage to 90s erotic basic cable thrillers, Dream Team, with a special introduction from the filmmakers.
If you haven‘t already, you can become a Member to enjoy Metrograph At Home anywhere in the U.S. and the Metrograph Theater when you’re in New York — one Membership for hand-curated films on demand, exclusive events and premieres, $10 Member tickets at the Box Office (standard price $17), discounts in our Commissary and Editions bookstore, $10 off our brand-new biannual film publication, The Metrograph (plus free shipping), and more! There’s a sale on memberships that’s been extended through Friday, December 6th. Use code HOLIDAY24 for 50% off Annual, Dual, and Gift Metrograph memberships.