This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
How Many Gondrys Can Fit In One Couch? | Photo courtesy of Oscilloscope Laboratories
One of filmmaking's most chaotic spirits re-emerges this week. Harmony Korine unleashes Trash Humpers upon the Nuart this week. It's a trademark Korine faux-found-footage-freakout tracking a group of deranged rabblerousers. The twist this time is that, rather than focus on his usual disaffected youth or mentally disturbed, Korine populates Trash Humpers with a trio of thuggish, fallen elders. If you're unfamiliar with Korine's work, be warned: this is a home video from hell, that looks like it was stolen from an evidence locker. In 1993. As if that weren't classy enough, the Nuart's midnight schedule features the already-infamous Human Centipede. I'd summarize the plot, but this is a family column.
Which is just as well, since Michel Gondry brings his family to the Laemmle's Sunset with his latest, The Thorn in the Heart. In some ways the French filmmaker's finally come down to earth - the non-fiction piece traces Gondry's aunt and her unique family history, with much meditation on loss, change, and acceptance. But then, adding more Gondrys also ups the ante for wild hearts and creative spirits. The conflict between hearts and spirits is rarely executed more beautifully than in Metropolis, a truly timeless classic, playing at other Laemmle's locations. An epic silent with forbidden romance, monstrous factories, hedonistic excess, mad scientists, class conflict and robot vixens, it's got something for everybody. Thanks to a miraculous film discovery of 25 minutes of lost footage in Buenos Aires, the film screens in its complete form for the first time in over 80 years. Now I know what that soul was worth on the open market.
Full list appears below. See you at the movies!
The Only SFW Moment in the Entire Movie | Photo courtesy of Alcove
All Week
The Complete Metropolis (1927) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Everyone Else (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Exit Through the Gift Shop (2010) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Happiness Runs (2010) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Mother and Child (2009) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Princess Kaiulani (2009) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
A Thorn in the Heart (2009) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Trash Humpers (2009) (Nuart Theatre)
Why Am I Doing This? (2009) (Laemmle's Music Hall 3)
Thursday 5/13
Black Moon (1975) / Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (1970) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (Fairy Tales for Grown-Ups)
Hugh Hefner: Playboy, Activist and Rebel (2010) (w/ Hugh Hefner and director Brigitte Berman) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum)
Iron Man 2 (2010) (21+) (Arclight Hollywood) (Arclight Sherman Oaks)
Nightmare on Elm Street (2010) (21+) (Arclight Pasadena)
Saboteur (1942) / Rebecca (1940) (Aero Theatre) (Monochrome Mind-Bogglers: Alfred Hitchcock's Black & White Films)
Sita Sings the Blues (2008) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
This is It (2009) (Warner Grand Theatre)
The Way Home (2002) (free event) (Korean Cultural Center)
The Woman In Green (1945) (dubbed by L.A. Connection Comedy Group) (Laemmle's Royal Theatre)
Friday 5/14
Ace in the Hole (1951) / The Harder They Fall (1956) (New Beverly Cinema)
Deliverance (1972) (The Bay Theatre)
Eggshells (1968) (midnight drive-in screening) (Steve Allen Theater)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) (Pride Fest Midnight Show) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
Human Centipede (2009) (Nuart Theatre) (Cine-Insomnia Midnight Movie)
Infra-Man (1975) / Godzilla vs. Megalon (1973) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (The Big Blue Marble)
Li Shuangliang (2008) (w/ screenwriter Su Xiaowei) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Recent Popular Cinema of Mainland China)
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) (Old Town Music Hall)
Out of the Past (1947) / Where Danger Lives (1950) (LACMA) (The Noir Cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca)
Pulp Fiction (1994) (midnight show) (New Beverly Cinema)
Ran (1985) (Egyptian Theatre) (Centennial Celebration: The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Part I)
Rear Window (1954) / The Trouble With Harry (1955) (New Beverly Cinema)
Robocop (1987) / Screamers (1995) (w/ Peter Weller) (Aero Theatre)
Sneaker-head the Mini Doc: Season 1, Episode 3: The Unexpected (w/ cast and director) (Space15 Twenty)
A Thorn in the Heart (2009) (w/ Michel Gondry at 7:40pm screening) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Trash Humpers (2009) (w/ filmmaker Harmony Korine at 7:30pm and 9:45pm shows) (Nuart Theatre)
What's Up, Lovely (2010) (w/ filmmaker Gary King and afterparty on the roof) (Downtown Independent)
Saturday 5/15
8 1/2 (1963) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
Ace in the Hole (1951) / The Harder They Fall (1956) (New Beverly Cinema)
CAP Teen Animation, Photography, Puppetry and Video Screening (REDCAT - Roy & Edna Disney/Calarts Theater)
Cat People (1942) / The Ghost Ship (1943) (LACMA) (The Noir Cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca)
The Ceibas Cycle (2007-2010) / Centralia (2010) (w/ filmmaker) (Echo Park Film Center)
Dazed and Confused (1993) (Regency Academy) (Insomniac Cinema Midnight Movie)
Deliverance (1972) (The Bay Theatre)
E.T. Rip-Offs Night feat. Mac and Me (1988) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre) (HFS: Fucked-Up Kids' Movies)
Firestorm (1998) (w/ screenwriter Chris Soth) (New Beverly Cinema) (New Beverly Midnights)
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (2001) (Pride Fest Midnight Show) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
In My Sleep (2009) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Los Angeles 3-D Movie Festival (Downtown Independent)
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) (Old Town Music Hall)
On the Grind (2009) (Art Theatre of Long Beach)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Sins O' The Flesh Midnight Show) (Nuart Theatre)
Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975) (Midnight Insanity Midnight Show) (Warner Grand Theatre)
See What I'm Saying (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
The Seven Samurai (1954) (Egyptian Theatre) (Centennial Celebration: The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Part I)
Stop Making Sense (1984) / The Last Waltz (1978) (Aero Theatre)
A Thorn in the Heart (2009) (w/ Michel Gondry at 7:40pm screening) (Laemmle's Sunset 5)
Two Women in Red Scarves (2006) (w/ writer/director Han Zhijun and actor Zhao Xiaoyi) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Recent Popular Cinema of Mainland China)
Val Lewton: The Man in the Shadows (2007) (free event) (LACMA) (The Noir Cinematography of Nicholas Musuraca)
The Wizard of Oz (1939) (Hollywood Forever Cemetery) (Cinespia Screenings)
Sunday 5/16
8 1/2 (1963) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7)
Alice in Wonderland (1933) / Treasure Island (1934) (New Beverly Cinema)
Batman (1966) / Flash Gordon (1980) (w/ Lorenzo Semple, Jr.) (Aero Theatre) (Written Communication: A Tribute to Lorenzo Semple, Jr.)
Charles Phoenix and the Third Dimension (Downtown Independent)
In My Sleep (2009) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex)
Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) (Old Town Music Hall)
Perhaps Love (2005) (UCLA Film & Television Archive @ Hammer Museum) (Recent Popular Cinema of Mainland China)
See What I'm Saying (2010) (weekend morning show) (Laemmle's Monica 4-Plex) (Laemmle's Playhouse 7) (Laemmle's Town Center 5)
Stray Dog (1949) / High and Low (1963) (Egyptian Theatre) (Centennial Celebration: The Films of Akira Kurosawa, Part I)
Venom (1966) (w/ film curator Jack Stevenson) (Cinefamily @ Silent Movie Theatre)
Westbound: A Documentary (2010) (Downtown Independent)
Yvonne Rainer Retrospective (Part 8 of 8) (w/ Yvonne Rainier) (Los Angeles Filmforum) (Egyptian Theatre)
That's all for this week. You have 20 seconds to comply.
Compiled, as always, by the amazing and diligent Edward Yerke-Robins (and family!)
