Killer of Sheep (1977)
NEVADA THEATRE 4/27: The first full-length feature film from celebrated American director Charles Burnett, KILLER OF SHEEP has long been considered a hard-to-find masterpiece. Unable to secure wide distribution due to copyright issues with its soundtrack, this film nevertheless achieved critical acclaim, winning the Critics’ Award at the Berlin International Film Festival upon release. In 1990 the Library of Congress declared the film a national treasure and placed it among the first 50 films inducted in the National Film Registry for their historical significance. KILLER OF SHEEP examines life in the Black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a teacup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife, holding his daughter. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life — sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy and gentle humor. Now, thanks to restoration work done by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, this touchstone of African American cinema returns to the screen.
Charade
SUNRISE CINEMA 5/17 - The on-screen chemistry between Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant sparks with pure electricity, in the stylish romantic thriller CHARADE! Reggie Lambert (Hepburn) returns home after a skiing trip to discover that her husband has died. At the funeral she finds out from CIA agent Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) that her husband was involved in the theft of a quarter of a million dollars during World War Two. The charming Peter Joshua (Grant) offers his help, but as the number of dead bodies increases so do Peter's aliases, and Reggie becomes uncertain whether or not she can trust him.
After Hours
AFTER HOURS 5/9 - The Onyx Theatre’s late-night programming returns with its namesake, Martin Scorcese’s black comedy gem AFTER HOURS. Desperate to escape his mind-numbing routine, uptown Manhattan office worker Paul Hackett (Griffin Dunne) ventures downtown for a hookup with a mystery woman (Rosanna Arquette). So begins the wildest night of his life, as bizarre occurrences—involving underground-art punks, a distressed waitress, a crazed Mister Softee truck driver, and a bagel-and-cream-cheese paperweight—pile up with anxiety-inducing relentlessness and thwart his attempts to get home. With this Kafkaesque cult classic, Scorsese—abetted by Michael Ballhaus’s kinetic cinematography and scene-stealing supporting turns by Linda Fiorentino, Teri Garr, Catherine O’Hara, and John Heard—directed a darkly comic tale of mistaken identity, turning the desolate night world of 1980s SoHo into a bohemian wonderland of surreal menace.
