Janus Films at SIFF Cinema (Week 3)

At SIFF Cinema, the celluloid birthday party for Janus Films 50th continues!

Films by Federico Fellini, Jean Vigo, Luis Bunuel and Juan Antonio Bardem were screened this week.

The 3rd week of SIFF's tribute to Janus Films has completed and it was another wonderful week of movies. Luis Bunuel's 1961 classic Viridiana was shown and it was tremendous fun. More fun than a house full of partying beggars! It seemed the print was brand spanking new. Just luscious to look at. Janus films truly deserves high praise for their amazing restoration work, which allows us movie fans the opportunity to see great works of cinematic art on the big screen (where they belong). Make sure you come down to SIFF Cinema and support both SIFF and Janus with your attendance.

The second film from Spain that screened this week was Juan Antonio Bardem's cool, mysterious Death of a Cyclist. Released in 1955, this film is a fun ride with a great performance by Carlos Casaravilla as "Raffa" that is as wonderfully creepy as Peter Lorre at his best.

France was represented this week with Jean Vigo's Zero for Conduct which had a few SIFF filmgoer's pondering what part of this film has earned it such high regards among film fans (including Francois Truffaut).
For 1933, it was daring, honest and ahead of it's time. After viewing it and Truffaut's 400 Blows recently, the influence of Vigo on Truffaut is very clear. The stories of youth have never been told on screen as genuinely and poignantly as they have by Vigo and Truffaut. For some reason, Miranda July's 2005 film Me and You and Everyone We Know just sprang to mind as a contemporary film that might belong in that echelon.

The fourth and final Janus film this week was a knockout. From Italy, Federico Fellini's 1954 gem La Strada was a hit with the SIFF film goer's, receiving ovations after the Friday and Sunday night screenings. Nino Rota's haunting musical score sounded fantastic over the SIFF Cinema's state of the art sound system and it made the cinematic experience absolutely perfect.

Thanks again go out to SIFF for bringing movie treasures to us movie nuts here in Seattle. Working especially hard at the ticket booth (and running the behind scenes operations smoothly) were Dawn Wills and Joshua Nye. Bravo!

Wednesday is the first day of Spring, and week #4 of the Janus birthday celebration begins the 5-day-long Ingmar Bergman invasion, featuring The Seventh Seal, Wild Strawberries, Smiles of a Summer Night, Monika and Fanny & Alexander.

Also on the Janus film subject, Jean Renoir's masterpiece Rules of the Game ends it's Seattle run this Thursday at the Harvard Exit. Screening from a new print, this is a must see if you can make it. The 4:30 screening is a bargain matinée so you can save a few bucks by going early. And then after the film, you can head over to SIFF Cinema on Wednesday or Thursday and catch a pair of Ingmar Bergman films.

Gosh....Seattle is a great place to live if you love movies!