Silver Screen, a mini-season of film classics

02 May 2018 / Nuacht Leabharlainne
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To celebrate Bealtaine, we bring you a special selection of films: three certifiable masterpieces and a modern classic.

What is a ‘film classic’? A work that will endure through the centuries? But cinema is a very young art form, a mere 120 years old! Perhaps then, a classic is a film that endures through our lifetimes –that can change and adapt to us as we grow older, so that we always find something new in each new viewing. With time, some films get sillier, or harder to crack, more cynical, or playful, more tender, or uncompromising, or darker, or wiser. For this special season celebrating Bealtaine, we have selected three masterpieces from the 1940s and 1950s, as well as a modern classic. If you have seen them, you know they can be watched again and again and again. But if you haven’t seen them yet… how lucky you are! This is a treassure chest. From the amazing transformation of a character, to the turning of the tables in a story, from an unexpected life-saving friendship, to a solid alliance turned toxic, these four films have enough twists, shocks, tricks, and punchlines, enough “oooh” moments, “auch” moments, and “gasp!” moments to hook you from start to finish.

The films will be preceded by an introduction, and followed by an open discussion with the audience, hosted by Anne Legarreta.  Anne has selected the film choices and created this wonderful programme. as well as the film notes, whihc you can download here or pick up at any dlr Library.

Put yourself in the hands of brilliant directors like George Cukor and Billy Wilder. Let yourself be entranced by the flesh-and-blood characters created by great actors like Katharine Hepburn, Charles Laughton, Marlene Dietrich, or Jack Palance. Lose yourself in some of the best story-telling in the history of cinema, from the thousand twists of the Agatha Christie-based Witness for the Prosecution, to the meandering tale of a woman who finds herself at the edge of the world in Bagdad Café. Let your deep-seated beliefs be tested, by laughing at the crime-and-punishment tale of The Ladykillers, or by being swept away by the peculiar mix of brains and feminist comedy in Adam’s Rib. The four films of our Silver Screen mini-season have one thing in common, they are all about law-makers and rule-breakers. Join us and explore with us what are the limits of justice, and why the unwritten rules are the hardest ones to break.

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