OFFICE 934 SW SALMON ST MAIL 1219 SW PARK AVE PORTLAND, OR 97205 TEL 503.221.1156 VISIT NWFILM.ORG Bending the Bard: Cinematic Twists on Shakespeare With well over 400 film and TV adaptations made of his works—more than 80 of Hamlet alone— William Shakespeare is credited as being the world’s most filmed author. And though they’re now synonymous with “high” culture, his works were always intended as popular entertainment, which is perhaps why Shakespeare and cinema have always so successfully aligned. Even when his words are amended, transposed, or pared away entirely, Shakespeare’s stories, characters, and imagery are able to translate seamlessly between countries and cultures around the world. In this spirit, and to commemorate the 400th anniversary of his death, Bending the Bard: Cinematic Twists on Shakespeare presents seventeen “unconventional” cinematic adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays. Freed from restrictions of a certain time, location, or even language, the filmmakers in this series have created works that both reflect and transcend their immediate cultural origins. The films span eight countries and seven decades of filmmaking, with genres ranging from sci-fi, Western, queer cinema, war propaganda, musical, and horror. to a samurai Macbeth, a Bollywood Othello, and a Finnish neo-noir Hamlet set in a rubber duck factory. Bringing together well-known classics alongside lesser-seen adaptations, Bending the Bard celebrates these unique, inventive films as well as the powerful way in which Shakespeare’s universal stories have become a shared global language. Friday, September 9, 8 pm Throne of Blood, Japan, 1957 dir. Akira Kurosawa (111 mins., Action/Drama, 35mm) One of the most enduring cinematic “twists on Shakespeare” is Akira Kurosawa’s take on Macbeth, which relocates the play to 15th century feudal Japan. Two warriors returning from battle encounter an eerie spirit in the forest who promises them great fortune upon their return. Spurred on by the spirit’s prophecy—and the power-hungry manipulations of his conniving wife—one of the warriors, Washizu (Kurosawa favorite Toshiro Mifune), decides to betray and murder his warlord to fulfill his foretold destiny as the Lord of Spider Web Castle. Kurosawa’s brilliantly staged set pieces—the chilling encounter with the forest spirit, the fog-suffused battle sequences, the tangle of arrows at the devastating finale—elevate the film far beyond the realm of mere adaptation. Shot on the slopes of Mt. Fuji and filled with moody, atmospheric cinematography, Throne of Blood “remains a landmark of visual strength, permeated by a particularly Japanese sensibility, and is possibly the finest Shakespearean adaptation ever committed to the screen.”—The Guardian. In Japanese with English subtitles. OFFICE 934 SW SALMON ST MAIL 1219 SW PARK AVE PORTLAND, OR 97205 TEL 503.221.1156 VISIT NWFILM.ORG Saturday, September 10, 4:30 pm All Night Long, UK, 1961 dir. Basil Dearden (91 mins., Drama, DCP) All Night Long takes the tragic sweep of Othello and narrows it into a brilliant drawing room thriller set in the stylish swinging ’60s jazz scene of London. Wealthy jazz aficionado Rod Hamilton (Richard Attenborough) hosts a star-studded anniversary celebration for bandleader Aurelius Rex and his wife Delia, a recently retired singer. What starts out as a lively night of drinking and music rapidly turns sour when ambitious drummer Johnnie Cousin, hoping to coax Delia out of retirement and into his own band, sets a plan in motion to split the couple apart. Unfolding its story of passion and deceit over the course of a single smoke-filled, booze-soaked night, All Night Long features a refreshingly matter-of-fact approach to the protagonists’ mixed-race marriage, slick black-and-white cinematography, and show-stopping performances by the party’s “guests”: jazz legends Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, Johnny Dankworth, and Tubby Hayes (all playing themselves.) “The smoky interiors and musical interludes only add texture to the increasingly volatile atmosphere… [Dearden provides] a subversively searing focus on complex social issues normally banished behind closed doors.”—Slant Magazine. Saturday, September 17, 4 pm Henry V, UK, 1944 dir. Laurence Olivier (137 mins., Costume drama, 35mm) Tasked by Winston Churchill to create a rousing piece of morale-boosting, pro-British entertainment during the twilight years of World War II, revered thespian Laurence Olivier had his work cut out for him. Many previous attempts to translate Shakespeare to the screen had been met with lackluster, commercially unsuccessful results. But Henry V perfectly captured the cultural zeitgeist through both Olivier’s assured direction and the inescapable parallels between the eponymous king’s conquest of France and the wartime world of 1944 (not to mention Churchill’s uncanny nose for propaganda—it was no accident that the film’s release coincided with the Allied invasion of Normandy). Seven decades later, Henry V remains a stirring and surprisingly inventive take on Shakespeare's play, morphing from a staged production set in the Globe Theatre to a breathless cavalry charge on the fields of Agincourt. “The movies have produced one of their rare great works of art.”—Time Magazine. Sunday, September 18, 4:30 pm Caesar Must Die, Italy, 2012 dir. Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani (77 mins., Documentary, DCP) Subtitles Situated somewhere between the realms of documentary and drama, Caesar Must Die toys endlessly with the conventions of its genre, blurring the lines between the reality of its subjects and the characters they portray. Shot by famed Italian directors Paolo and Vittorio Taviani, Caesar Must Die OFFICE 934 SW SALMON ST MAIL 1219 SW PARK AVE PORTLAND, OR 97205 TEL 503.221.1156 VISIT NWFILM.ORG stages Julius Caesar in and around a high-security wing in Rome’s Rebbibia prison and follows its inmates—convicted killers, thieves, and members of organized crime syndicates—as they mount Shakespeare’s enduring tale of betrayal and murder. As the rehearsals progress and the play unfolds, it becomes increasingly difficult to tell which words are Shakespeare’s and which are the prisoners’. Filmed in a deeply evocative neorealist black and white, Caesar Must Die wisely avoids any cheap emotional catharsis and opts instead to hew as closely as possible to Shakespeare’s original text— resulting in a film that is powerful, unflinching, and deeply moving. “[Caesar Must Die] ranks among the most involving adaptations of Shakespeare ever put on screen.”—Los Angeles Times. In Italian with English subtitles. Sunday, September 18, 7 pm Forbidden Planet, US 1956 dir. Fred M. Wilcox (98 mins., Sci-fi, 35mm) A major landmark in the evolution of cinematic science fiction, Forbidden Planet is credited with a number of pioneering achievements: the first depiction of “light speed,” the first “personable” robot, the first entirely electronic score, and (perhaps most notably) the first miniskirt on film. The film’s story echoes that of The Tempest: a spaceship crew led by well-scrubbed, all-American commander John Adams (Leslie Neilsen) is sent to a distant planet to determine the fate of a 20-year-old expedition. To the crew’s surprise, the only people remaining on the planet are Dr. Morbius (Walter Pidgeon) and his fetching daughter Altaira (Anne Francis). Though Morbius warns Adams of danger, the ship lands and the crew are soon threatened by the mysterious and deadly forces at work on the planet. With its glossy ’50s rendering of future technologies and a considerably dated approach to gender politics, Forbidden Planet could easily have been a light and forgettable caper. However, thanks to its prescient take on the complex themes, philosophical questions, and sci-fi conventions that would be further explored in such seminal genre works as Star Trek, Aliens, and the films of Andrei Tarkovsky, it has rightfully become an enduring classic. “An ingenious script, excellent special effects and photography, and superior acting…make it an endearing winner.”—Time Out. Saturday, September 24, 7 pm Titus, US, 1999 dir. Julie Taymor (162 mins., Drama/Thriller, 35mm) Shakespeare’s bloodiest play springs vividly to life in Julie Taymor’s (Broadway’s The Lion King, Frida, Across the Universe) inventive cinematic adaptation. Anthony Hopkins stars as the titular Roman general Titus Andronicus, who, after returning to Rome with the conquered Queen of the Goths (Jessica Lange) and her sons, is soon embroiled in a deadly plot riddled with political conspiracy and bloody revenge. Filled with Taymor’s trademark colorful and unconventional production design and featuring standout performances from an all-star cast including Alan Cumming, Jonathan Rhys- Meyers, Lange, and Hopkins (whose Titus bears more than passing resemblance to his infamous portrayal of Hannibal Lecter), Titus is a visceral experience whose macabre humor and inventive vision brilliantly evoke the satirical, almost gleeful spirit of Shakespeare’s text. “In peering into the raging OFFICE 934 SW SALMON ST MAIL 1219 SW PARK AVE PORTLAND, OR 97205 TEL 503.221.1156 VISIT NWFILM.ORG hearts of characters hellbent on destroying one another and inflicting maximum pain and humiliation, Ms. Taymor discovers many unsettling contemporary resonances.”—Stephen Holden, The New York Times. Sunday, September 25, 7 pm Yellow Sky, US, 1948 dir. William Wellman (98 mins., Western, 35mm) The remote island of The Tempest becomes a desolate ghost town in William Wellman’s skillfully crafted Western. A gang of robbers, led by charismatic outlaw Stretch (Gregory Peck), hold up a bank and then flee across the desert. Out of water and near death, they stumble upon Yellow Sky, an abandoned mining town inhabited only by an old prospector and his flinty granddaughter Mike (Anne Baxter), who falls under the predatory gaze of the gang. But when Stretch’s conniving lieutenant Dude (a perfectly cast Richard Widmark) becomes convinced that the prospector is hiding gold, the fragile truce between the two parties is stretched to its breaking point.