The unfettered imagination of Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys) is on full display in The Imaginaium of Dr. Parnassus, an endlessly playful movie that contains Heath Ledger's final performance. (Johnny Depp, Jude Law, and Colin Farrell were brought in after Ledger's death to complete and amplify his role). Christopher Plummer is Dr. Parnassus, a trickster showman who travels through contemporary England, with a seemingly ramshackle show in which audience members step through a magical mirror into a surreal other world. Gilliam discussed the unique adventure of making this movie, following a Museum of the Moving Image preview screening.
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Jane Campion's Bright Star is a romantic drama about the final years of 19th-century romantic poet John Keats, seen through the eyes of his lover, Fanny Brawne. As in her best films, Campion creates a strong female character, depicting layers of desire and emotion that churn beneath the surface, and using imagery, music, and performance to create a tactile, sensual cinematic experience. Campion spoke after a preview screening for the Museum of the Moving Image.
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Judd Apatow, the writer/director of Funny People, Knocked Up, and The 40-Year-Old Virgin is the most prolific and influential figure in contemporary screen comedy. His work combines emotional honesty and insight with unabashed, frequently vulgar comedy, as he explores the most fundamental life experiences, including coming of age, losing virginity, dealing with pregnancy, getting married, and confronting mortality. In this Museum of the Moving Image program, Apatow talked about his career, from his early days hosting a radio show at Syosset High School to Funny People, a loosely autobiographical film starring Apatow's former roommate Adam Sandler as a famous comedian who has a near-death experience.
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Harold Ramis, who directed and co-wrote Year One, is the man behind some of the funniest Hollywood movies of the past thirty years. He wrote Animal House, whose raunchy humor revitalized screen comedy. He also wrote Ghostbusters and starred in the film with Dan Aykroyd and Bill Murray. His many credits include Caddyshack, Groundhog Day, Analyze This, and The Ice Harvest. In this special Museum of the Moving Image program, Ramis talked about his career, starting with his days as head writer of the series Second City TV. Comedian and actor David Cross, who co-stars in Year One, introduced Ramis.
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The documentary Food, Inc., which lifts the veil on America's food industry, is a muckraking film that is elegantly made and entertaining. The Museum of the Moving Image presented the New York premiere, followed by a discussion with: Eric Schlosser, whose best-seller Fast Food Nation inspired the film; Robert Kenner, the director; Alice Waters, the renowned chef of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, California; Gary Hirshberg, the president of Stonyfield Farm, the world's leading organic yogurt producer; and Marcel Van Ooyen, the executive director of the Council on the Environment of New York City, which runs nearly fifty greenmarkets.
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Composer Carter Burwell on his creative process and his favorite scores
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The big-top movies of Tod Browning
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Sex workers on film, from fallen women to anti-bourgeois rebels
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Revenge missions in the films of Clint Eastwood
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The tough questions of Clint Eastwood's White Hunter, Black Heart
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