The Gleaners & I (2000)

WHO: Agnès Varda made this documentary, and appears in it too.

WHAT: Late in life, Varda has focused her energy on documentaries, weaving personal, poetic essays in visual form.  Inspired by famous 19th-century paintings of "gleaners", and by the French law that allows people to take food from a farmer's field after a harvest, in this film she playfully investigates a wide array of modern gleaners, from artists and anarchists to the Roma.  But ultimately the film is a touching self-investigation, as Varda recognizes her own status as a gleaner of images others would throw away.

WHERE/WHEN: Tonight only at the Pacific Film Archive at 7:00 PM

WHY: I unfortunately was unable to attend last night's screening of L'Opéra-Mouffe and two other of Varda's earlier shorts last night after all, but I'm hoping to be able to pull myself away from other projects to make it tonight. The Gleaners & I is one of my very favorite of Varda's films, one I've seen several times already, and one I'd particularly love to hear the filmmaker speak about in person.

It's hard to think of a more appropriate day to see it than on an election day, as "gleaning" is something inscribed in the French legal system. It's a cold hard fact that much of the quality of life for the materially impoverished is at the mercy of the laws a society enacts, so it's important for all of us to exercise our democratic voice when we have the opportunity to. You won't want to attend tonight's screening guiltily knowing you missed a chance to weigh in on propositions whose passage or failure are likely to increase or decease economic inequality in the region.

HOW: 35mm print with Varda in person.

L'Opéra-Mouffe (1958)

WHO: Agnès Varda wrote and directed this short film.

WHAT: One of the "boni" on the Cinema Guild DVD for Varda's Cinévardaphoto triptych of shorts is an inventive three-way (Varda with Anne Huet & Alain Bergala) interview-film called From the Rooster To the Donkey (Hands and Objects), in which the legendary French filmmaker discusses her parallel career as a short filmmaker, a career that would distinguish her as a major film artist on its own, if only it weren't overshadowed by the many tremendous feature films she's directed since filming La Pointe Courte nearly sixty years ago.

In this "bonus", Varda discusses L'Opéra-Mouffe a.k.a. Diary of a Pregnant Woman, placing it as the first short film she made on her own volition. (O saisons, ô châteaux preceded it but that was a commissioned work she feels less than passionate about.) She says:

I was pregnant. I shot on La Mouffe, the rue Mouffetard, a documentary about its people. Back then, the neighborhood was mostly cafes and poor people. It was really a poor area. There were no toilets. Just buckets put out every morning. And there was the market. I shot the film with the impression that the more fulfilled I was, [...] the more I saw how poor the people on that street were. I wanted to blur the line between the belly that eats and the belly that makes a baby. I did that film on my own, with my own money. [Actor] Gérard Philipe's wife lent me a camera. [...] I quickly understood that the desire to make a short film was enough, or nearly. Especially now, with all these little cameras to borrow. You can do a lot with very little. I don't worship poverty, and I don't worship money. What does seem important is the ability to move quickly from desire to realization.

WHERE/WHEN: Screens on a program starting at 7:00 tonight only at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley.

WHY: Tonight's screening of L'Opéra-Mouffe along with two other Varda-directed shorts (the Frisco Bay-made Uncle Yanco and Black Panthers, neither of which I've seen in full) is not just an opportunity to see rarely-screened works on the big screen; it's an opportunity to do so with one of France's great living directors in person. On her way to Hollywood, where she will be the Guest Artistic Director at AFI Fest (wish I were able to go this year), Varda will be visiting Berkeley to appear with her short films tonight, and with her tremendous The Gleaners & I tomorrow. Both screenings are said to be sold out, so if you don't have tickets already, you're probably out of luck (though arriving at the PFA early with a "I need a miracle" sign couldn't hurt). There are still tickets available to see the remaining programs in the PFA's Varda tribute, Le Pointe Courte in 35mm Friday and Cléo From 5 to 7 in a new DCP in two and a half weeks, but Varda will not be on hand for those showings.

Varda was involved in writing French dialogue for Bernardo Bertolucci's Last Tango In Paris, which screens in 35mm this Thursday at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, making it possible to see a Varda-related film four out of five weeknights this week.

HOW: L'Opéra-Mouffe and Uncle Yanco screen in 35mm tonight, while Black Panthers screens in 16mm, the latter two in new restorations since their last PFA appearance in 2009.

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

WHO: Kumar Pallana, who died at age 94 a few weeks ago, has a small but memorable role in this.

WHAT: Though it didn't hit me emotionally on first viewing, unlike some other films made by Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Moonrise Kingdom and even The Darjeeling Limited), upon repeated exposure The Royal Tenenbaums has become one of my very favorites. It's in many ways the quintessential Anderson picture, and its elements tend to dominate parodies of his style (such as the recent Saturday Night Live example) more than those from his other films.

I recently purchased and enjoyed reading Matt Zoller Seitz's new book about Anderson and his films called The Anderson Collection, which features short essays and lengthy interviews between Seitz and the filmmaker on each of his films released so far, not to mention a huge selection of unearthed and original images and artworks relating to Anderson's influences and his ouevre. For a sample from the book, check out the text excerpt and video on The Royal Tenenbaums on Seitz's blog.

WHERE/WHEN: Today only at the Castro Theatre at 3:00 and 8:50 PM.

WHY: If Pallana's recent passing and Seitz's book aren't enough to inspire a viewing of The Royal Tenenbaums today, perhaps a Wes Anderson triple-feature might do it? The film plays with his first feature Bottle Rocket (which also features Pallana) and last year's Moonrise Kingdom. With the release of his new film The Grand Budapest Hotel just around the corner (it's expected to arrive in US theatres next March) it's a good time to reacquaint yourself with some of his best past films.

HOW: All three Anderson films screening today play in 35mm.

Night Hunter (2011)

WHO: Stacey Steers made this.

WHAT: A collage/animation installation whose video portion was shown as a single-channel work at the Pacific Film Archive in September, at a screening described here. The title derives from the Charles Laughton-directed masterpiece Night of the Hunter, featuring Lillian Gish in a key role. Other films starring Gish in her silent-film heyday are incorporated into the work.

WHERE/WHEN: On display starting today at the Catherine Clark Gallery; its open hours are 11-6 Tuesdays through Saturdays.

WHY: Though film and video can be wonderfully experienced in the communal darkness of a cinema, it find another audience, and another form of appreciation, when presented in a gallery setting. Though I have not seen Night Hunter in this form yet, I'm very much looking forward to visiting the gallery and getting another perspective on a piece I enjoyed in the cinema context.

HOW: An installation involving sculpture and 35mm animation transfered to video.

Written On the Wind (1954)

WHO: Douglas Sirk directed this.

WHAT: One of the best-known of Sirk's high-gloss melodramas made for producer Ross Hunter. I've historically preferred Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows and Imitation of Life myself, but I feel like it's about time I took another look at this one too. Tag Gallagher calls it the director's "fullest expression of [the] “Faust” theme". 

WHERE/WHEN: Tonight only at the Pacific Film Archive at 8:50 PM.

WHY: This screens as part of the PFA's Fassbinder's Favorites mini-series; a sampling of the German cinephile-director's most cherished films made before his own career began in the late 1960s. All but one of the four selections screen on the same night as a Fassbinder film at that venue; tonight's screening is preceded by one of Chinese Roulette. The odd one out is Jean-Luc Godard's Vivre Sa Vie, which screens November 22nd, the same night that Cleo From 5 To 7 closes a short series of Agnès Varda's films inspired by her trip to the PFA this coming Monday and Tuesday.

HOW: 35mm print.