Peter Greenaway
Peter Greenaway
September 28 - 30, 2007
"Once you develop an interest in Greenaway, it cannot stop."-WASHINGTON POST
We are honoring the great British filmmaker Peter Greenaway (THE PILLOW BOOK; THE COOK, THE THIEF, HIS WIFE AND HER LOVER) with new prints of two of his earliest and most engaging works. These films should be considered not as narrative stories and but more collections of ideas, thoughts, and philosophies. They are crammed full of lists and collected esoterica with metaphors piled on top of symbols, tottering under the weight of some obscure mathematical structuring device. Take them straight and you're liable to wind up drunk on invention. We offer you two cups of Greenway, for revelation and inspiration!
The Draughtman's Contract
Sep 28 - Sep 30, 2007
Peter Greenaway, UK, 1982, 35mm, 103 min
Mrs. Herbert (Janet Suzman) and her husband (Dave Hill) are having some marital difficulties, so Mr. Herbert decides to take a two-week holiday by himself. To surprise him on his return, Mrs. Herbert commissions an artist (Anthony Higgins) to paint twelve portraits of their estate. The artist agrees, but on the condition that Mrs. Herbert lend him the use of her bodily favors for those two weeks. When Mr. Herbert is found dead in his own moat at the end of those two weeks, the artist is the prime suspect, and Mrs. Herbert believes the mystery can be solved by close examination of the paintings. Greenaway's film feels a bit like BLOW-UP, but examines a world far stranger than the one of its setting. It feels as though the film takes place in a parallel universe rather than the 17th century. In English, German & Dutch with English subtitles.
A Zed and Two Noughts
Sep 28 - Sep 30, 2007
Peter Greenaway, UK / Netherlands, 1985, 35mm, 115 min
Oliver Deuce (Eric Deacon), a successful doctor, experiences a life changing event when his wife is in a car accident. He and his twin brother Oswald, who spends much of his time researching how carcasses decay at the local zoo, become involved with the other driver from the accident, Alba Bewick (Andrea Ferreol). Together they uncover dubious trafficking in zoo property.