By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
Screening Gotham: April 21-23, 2006
Some of this weekend’s worthwhile cinematic happenings around New York:
–Fatty Arbuckle was a lot of things: An actor, a filmmaker, a mentor (to Buster Keaton, no less), a classic clown, a literal (300-pound) and figurative (dozens of movies per year) giant of the silent film era. But more than 80 years of myth and rumor has somehow cemented Arbuckle as the one thing he never was: a killer, charged with manslaughter in 1921 and blacklisted for more than a decade after his acquittal. Arbuckle’s tragedy provides the shattering counterpoint to MoMA’s Rediscovering Roscoe: The Careers of Fatty Arbuckle, a three-and-a-half week retrospective as exhaustive as any undertaken in the film legend’s name. This weekend’s programs highlight Arbuckle as the “Box Office Star” and “Sophisticated Director” he became in 1914-15; it peaks Saturday with a program featuring early Arbuckle/Keaton collaborations The Butcher Boy, The Rough House and Coney Island. Ben Model’s organ accompaniment provides the pulse, but as it has done off-and-on for almost a century, Arbuckle’s work provides the light.
–The wordy cinephiles at Reverse Shot appear to have stormed the theater at Makor, where they plan to spend the next week running the Reverse Shot Presents series of new and gently used films. Saturday night’s opener features the Rob Zombie tandem House of 1,000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects, followed by a chat with the latter film’s Ken “You Fuck Chickens?” Foree. Next week’s selections are not too bad either, with the New York premiere of Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert’s acclaimed documentary A Lion in the House wrapping things up April 30.
–I should not have to say it again, but the Brooklyn Underground Film Festival has its shit together and you absolutely should go. BUFF’s comedy shorts program Oh My God! goes off at 10 tonight, and ShootingPeople.org and Rooftop Films are buying the drinks for at least part of the dance party that follows. If you survive, there is tomorrow’s Music Showcase at Northsix and another two days of screenings to keep you busy in the run up to Tribeca. Try to behave yourself.
