Coming Up @ MoMI: Culture Wars, Summer of Suspense, and More
The Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is offering an eclectic mix of film programming this season.
Starting this month, the Museum of the Moving Image has many retrospectives to watch out for, including one that looks back to the beginnings of the culture wars in the 1980s and ’90s, and others celebrating the suspenseful films of Brian DePalma, honoring Dolby sound, and more. Read on below.
De Palma: Summer of Suspense (June 12 - Aug 29)
This retrospective honoring the New Hollywood auteur will run until the end of August. Heavily influenced by Alfred Hitchcock, De Palma has spent most of his career exploring movie suspense in thrillers like Dressed to Kill (1980), Blow Out (1981), Snake Eyes (1998), and more. Even his 1983 remake of the gangster classic Scarface is brimming with suspense that only escalates as Tony Montana increasingly becomes paranoid and distrustful of those around him. Learn more about the retrospective here.
Culture Wars (June 26 - July 11)
The U.S. culture wars seem neverending. A new threat to American society seems to pop up every few years: gays, trans people, undocumented immigrants, Latinos, the Black community, and more have all been subjected to unnecessary hatred by the right—and it’s only gotten worse. But when did this cycle begin? That’s the question that cultural critic, film historian, and author Isaac Butler tackles in his new book, The Perfect Moment: God, Sex Art, and the Birth of American Culture Wars.
While the election of Ronald Reagan in 1980 officially killed the anything goes, free love era of the 1970s, Butler argues that it was 1988, the last year of his presidency, when the end of the Cold War was in sight that Americans began turning on each other. The Moral Majority were increasingly gaining power, AIDS was killing thousands, and the First Lady was encouraging everyone to just say no to drugs.
Politicians like Jesse Helms, Pat Buchanan, and Pat Robertson were on a mission to “clean up” avant-garde cinema and popular art—especially if that art had received government funding. They started attacking the most controversial at first—Andres Serrano, Robert Mapplethorpe, David Wojnarowicz, and Karen Finley, before moving on to the bold, new voices of the New Queer Cinema movement—Todd Haynes, Cheryl Dunye, Marlon Riggs, and Gregg Araki. They even attacked Martin Scorsese for The Last Temptation of Christ (1988). The “Culture Wars” retrospective will be screening some of these controversial films. Learn more here.
Summer Saturdays with Dolby Atmos (Jul 25 - Aug 29)
Last year MoMI’s Redstone Theater’s audio system underwent a major renovation, featuring Dolby Atmos surround sound capability. With 63 output channels, featuring Dolby speakers and amplification, the theater is an even better place to watch—and hear—movies. To celebrate, MoMI is presenting a new series of movies mixed or re-released in Dolby Atmos. The Museum will screen a different film to commemorate the new sound system, featuring Mad Max Fury Road, First Man and more.
New York Stories (ongoing)
Once described by Robert De Niro as the most cinematic city in the world, New York City has been a muse to many directors throughout film history. From the silent era to the 1950s eruption of on-location filmmaking to the gritty 1970s, there’s never been an era where filmmakers in NYC weren’t pumping out films. This retrospective presents films that were made in the five boroughs.
This month’s New York story is Susan Seidelman’s Smithereens (1982), her first film before directing Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan (1985). Starring Susan Berman and Television frontman Richard Hell, Smithereens follows Wren (Berman) as she makes her exodus from New Jersey to the promised land of NYC, where she aims to join what was left of the punk scene. Finding her first friend in the scene boring, she eventually meets Eric (Hell). After it’s too late, she realizes she might have gotten more than she bargained for because he might be a little too dangerous for her liking. In Smithereens, Seidelman captured the grit of 1980s NYC, when Alphabet City was lawless and could pass for a bombed-out European city during WWII.
Las Premieres (ongoing)
In collaboration with the NYC-based distributor of Mexican cinema Cinema Tropical, Las Premieres offers New Yorkers the monthly opportunity to catch Latin American titles before they”re in theaters or on streaming. This month’s screening is Ritas, a personal portrait of Brazilian music icon Rita Lee told in her own words through her final, previously unseen interview.
Song & Dance (ongoing)
Free for Museum members, this series presents a wide selection of films from across history and the globe, honoring movies that feature music and dancing. Showcasing more than just classic Hollywood musicals, this retrospective highlights Bollywood, experimental musical films, concert movies, and documentaries.
Also a part of De Palma: Summer of Suspense, Phantom of the Paradise is this month’s Song & Dance screening. Set in the world of glam rock, Phantom of the Paradise merges The Phantom of the Opera with Faust. Not only did Paul Williams star in the cult classic as a songwriter seeking revenge on a malevolent music mogul, he also wrote the music.
This substack makes me want to subscribe to the Museum of the Moving Image