Filmbrain's Screen Capture Quiz: Round 16, Week 1

Spring has finally sprung in New York, and as it is every year, there's an almost overwhelming number of great retrospectives cropping up at the same time as the Tribeca Film Festival, that unruly beast that always manages to include a few gems. (I first saw The Free Will at the festival two years ago, and, well, now I'm distributing it.) Between the Tomu Uchida retrospective at BAM, the 1968 films at the Walter Reade (including Robert Kramer's Milestones, which I've never seen) and the complete Godard 60s cycle at Film Forum, there's more than enough to aid cinephiles with their bouts of spring fever. Spring is also the perfect time to begin yet another round, the sixteenth in fact, of Filmbrain's weekly screen capture quiz! Though most of you know the drill by now, a quick overview for the uninitiated: each Wednesday morning a new screen capture quiz will be posted. All films come from my personal collection, and are limited to Region 1 releases. Answers may be submitted, via email, up until the morning of the following quiz. (Please don't post answers in the comments section.) Some quizzes may contain an additional bonus point question, which is a good opportunity to flex your cinephilic muscles and show 'em what you got. At the end of twelve weeks, the top three scorers will be allowed to choose any DVD used in the round as a prize. For the inaugural week, a film that's been on my mind of late. Not a great film by any means, and nowhere near as interesting now that I've watched it for the first time without the aid of certain....substances, but that's not to say it doesn't have its merits. Name it. Submit your answers to this address. Good luck!

Comments

[Peter Nellhaus]

Good luck with The Free Will. The post on the IMDb is less than encouraging. Then again, at an IMDb poll of people naming their favorite film by Akira Kurosawa, the big winner was "I've never seen his films". I'm sure that I recognize the screen grab. Should I re-see this to check if it holds up after all these years?

[Filmbrain]

Peter --

It's a shame that that particular comment is the first one on IMDB. If you click and look at the other comments, you'll see far more positive reviews. That said, The Free Will isn't going to be everybody's cup of tea, but those willing to go with it and see it through won't be disappointed.

[wells]

Not to mention Peter Hutton at MoMA, Luc Moullet Selects at Anthology, Jean Eustache at French Institute... New York in springtime!

Do you have the full line-up for the WRT's '68 series yet? And any recommendations for the Uchidas? I think I'm going to all three this weekend; his work is definitely a blind spot for me.

[Filmbrain]

Ah...I completely forgot about the Eustache films! I'm looking forward to those. (They're also showing Pialat's first film, Naked Childhood, which I've always wanted to see.)

I do have the complete 68 schedule -- I'll email it to you.

As for the Uchida films, The Mad Fox is a must see. A Hole of My Own Making and Twilight Saloon are both pretty amazing. I've been dying to see the 3-hour A Fugitive From the Past, which screens this Sunday. Hope I can make it.

[wells]

NAKED CHILDHOOD is amazing; I like it more than 400 BLOWS. Go go go!

[flickhead]

Nice clue on the photo! And how...uh...True!

[Jeff]

You're going to distribute The Free Will? Totally awesome! I hope the packaging is as nice as Quiet City. I know it will. You rule, dude! When's it coming out? Ever seen Radio On? That's one of my all-time favorite movies.

[Filmbrain]

Jeff --

Thanks for the kind words. The Free Will will be out on June 24.

[Glenn Kenny]

I am reminded of Bob Shaye's directorial filmography here. Shall the last in fact be the first?

[Aaron Hillis]

Oh, Glenn, you're just like them borogoves.

[Lady Wakasa]

There's also the restoration of Beggars of Life at Walter Reade on the 25th, and the continuation of the Classic Korean Movie series at the Korea Society (plus a couple other non-movie items). I'm calling this the Month of Undelayed Gratification - there are a lot of things I've been waiting to see that are happening now.

Thanks for mentioning the Uchidas - I've been enjoying them a lot lot lot. Enough to set myself a writing task tied with catching them, so far batting 1000. (I don't live in NYC.) He's very visual, even with his b&w's, and I'm thinking that Fugitive From the Past, for example, is much more about postwar Japan than about being a policier. I just wish that there was more information available about him in English.

I've actually been away from Filmbrain for a bit - will have to check into The Free Will...