Evenings that you must come to …

When I was in school we used to go every Sunday to a Morning Show that had Cartoons and Comedies and Captain Marvel and Nyoka and more. Nishat Cinema ran the first membership for children for their shows. It was brilliant.

But that was before people started watching TV and then followed later with multiple films at home and got up at 11am and then at Noon and then at 1PM.

Damn!!!

•••••

T2F decided we'd have occasional morning shows to see how they would go. That was on it's first place on Ittehad Avenue. The film we started with was What's Up Doc. It started at 11am. The place was crowded. There were many old people, a bunch of teenagers, and a few little kids.

We were asked to do this often … and we did that once a month for the next few months until we got pushed out of the old spot by a crooked landlord who kept our money, too. But I think I've mentioned that in one of my blogs so I won't go there.

Peter Bogdanovich's hilarious film, What's Up Doc, had Barbra Streisand and Ryan O'Neal … and the the audience hadn't laughed so much in days. If you missed it (or want to see it again!), it's worth watching when T2F does this in Thinking Films on May 2nd 2018.

Sabeen and I loved many films (I've shown many of them in Thinking Films, so far) and we made a long list. I started the series with Cinema Paradiso - a great favourite of us both.

Here's a letter she wrote to me after watching it:

There are movies, and then, there are life-altering experiences.
I was a trifle apprehensive before watching Cinema Paradiso. I was exhausted after weeks of all-nighters at work, the film was in Italian with English sub-titles, and I’d heard so much about it being such a wonderful film, that I feared I might end up hating it.
However …
For over 2 hours, I sat mesmerized by one of the finest films ever made. Told mostly through flashbacks, Cinema Paradiso is about one man’s love affair with films, and his special friendship with a projectionist. That may not sound particularly exciting but I don’t want to give away the story. It was all about the small touches and details - the stunning direction, the gorgeous cinematography, adorable little Toto, Alfredo - the real hero, the priest whom you can’t help but like, the lilt of Italian dialogue (am so glad it wasn’t in English), the smoothness with which numerous other stories were told alongside the main plot without hype and confusion, the evolution of a little village, and of course, the myriad glimpses into the golden age of movies.
This is not a movie that you like or don’t like. It’s just too special to be conveniently boxed into a category or superficially commented on. Cinema Paradiso is a multi-sensory feast, and a movie made with heart, mind, and soul. Cinema Paradiso - at the risk of being labeled an inarticulate Gen X idiot - was simply awesome.
In awe. 

P.S. Zak, thank you for waiting patiently. One has to experience a little bit of what life has to offer (and take away) before watching Cinema Paradiso to truly appreciate it. And I do intend to watch it again, and again, so that I can focus on different aspects each time.

The next films on our Thinking Film series was Quo Vadis, followed by Luther and 12 Angry Men (the first black and white version).

Here's Sab on them in the same letter:

Quo Vadis brought to life the time of Nero in the most spectacular fashion. Luther coldly illustrated the unbelievable selling and branding machine that is religion. 12 Angry Men tore the infallible American judicial process to shreds. 

And the week after Eed we'll have more Thinking Films. The one to really watch will be what Sabeen talked about in that letter:

Judgement at Nuremberg placed 4 Nazi judges on trial before a panel of 3 American judges, for war crimes, and made me question seemingly simple notions of right and wrong till I felt sick to the bone. 

Judgment at Nuremberg is a 1961 American courtroom drama film that is 3 hours long! Directed by Stanley Kramer, and starring the great actors of that time — Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Richard Widmark, Maximilian Schell, Werner Klemperer, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, William Shatner, and Montgomery Clift. Set in Nuremberg in 1948, the film depicts the Judges' Trial of 1947.

(I loved Montgomery Clift in this role … in fact I loved him in all of his roles. The others were all brilliant, too, as they were remarkable actors).

Do come and see both of these.

Laugh your head off at the first one; Think hard after watching the second one.

And eat Popcorn to support T2F bringing you these wonderful films. There's a lot more to go.