April's Special Events
Don't miss our lineup of great classics with expert commentary
by Staff
Dirty politics, wine-making, Shakespeare, a masterful silent, ground-breaking comedy, a night of the bizarre, and Tennessee Williams. That’s what you’ll find in our rich roster of special screenings for April, introduced by informative and entertaining guest experts.
Tennessee Project: A Streetcar Named Desire, Tuesday, April 24, 6:45 p.m.
You’ll hear that cry, “Stella!” loud and clear at The Revue this month. Vivien Leigh, Marlon Brando and Karl Malden take to the screen in the 1951 Oscar-winning Tennessee Williams' as part of the Tennessee Project, an ambitious cultural initiative that aims to connect art, business and community programming at the neighbourhood level. Williams is the focus. As well as Streetcar, get ready for seven nights in May of seven productions of Tenn’s one-act plays, rotating through seven different neighbourhoods, including Roncy.
Mid Week Mondo Madness, Wednesday, April 25, 9 p.m.
Film curator Dion Conflict, the man who brought you Christmas Kitsch-a-Roo and the Hunka Junk series, returns to The Revue with vintage science fiction -- Things to Come, a 1936 film based on the H.G. Wells novel. It stars Raymond Massey, Ralph Richardson and Cedric Hardwicke. Parkdale’s own Mysterion the Mind Reader will also jointhe fray, demonstrating his amazing clairvoyant and telekinetic powers.
Epicure's Revue: Mondovino, Thursday, April 26, 6:30 p.m.
This 2004 documentary by director and sommelier Jonathan Nossiter explores the wine industry in seven countries and on three continents, and how it is affected by powerful critics, the pressure of globalization and giant wine producers. You’ll be able to sample wines at the cinema at this licensed event, and hear from George Brown prof Jean-Pierre Centeno. As always, there will be delectable free samples from local chefs and restaurants. $10/$12. This truly is the tastiest movie deal in town.
High Park Library has also set up a display of books on wine. Here's a great opportunity to sharpen your palate! Click here to read about Mondovino.
Tickets: $10 for members and seniors/$12 for non-members.
Silent Sunday: The Last Laugh, Sunday, April 29, 4 p.m.
It’s described as one of the most famous silent films ever made, and one of the most unusual for its lack of title cards, those convenient explanations that punctuate silents. Through pantomime and camera work, director F.W. Murnau evocatively tells the story of an old man, proud doorman demoted to washroom attendant, played by Emil Jannings. Live accompaniment on the piano by Laura Silberberg and introduced by Charles Keil, head of Cinema Studies, at U of T’s Innis College.
Silent Sundays are curated by Eric Veillette. Visit his website.
COMPLETED EVENTS
Book Revue: All the President's Men, Sunday, April 15, 3:30 p.m.
Our books and film program again moves to Sunday this month, with a screening of the Oscar winning Watergate chronicle, starring Robert Redford and Dustin Hoffman, directed by Alan Pakula, who made a name for himself and commercial success with conspiracy-themed movies. Toronto critic Geoff Pevere will introduce the program and lead a discussion about the book, by intrepid Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Berstein, and its adaptation. As well as revisiting this 1974 classic on campaign machinations and political corruption, you might also want to dip into the just published book Leak: Why Mark Felt Became Deep Throat, which contends that the heroic journalists were pawns in a power struggle of succession within the FBI. $10 for members/$12 for non-members. Book giveaways and complimentary refreshments.
Check out the High Park Library, now that the strike is over. Chief librarian Brian Bertrand has set up a display of Watergate books for Book Revue fans.
Comedy Revue: Lenny, Thursday, April 19, 7 p.m.
Comic, author, critic, Yuk Yuks Comedy Club creator, broadcaster (we could go on) Mark Breslin introduces Lenny, the 1974 film directed by Bob Fosse and starring Dustin Hoffman as Lenny Bruce, the courageous, influential and self-destructive comic. He was harassed by obscenity charges, barred, as a result, from clubs and plagued by drug addiction, which killed him in 1966 at age 40.
(We're doing something of a Hoffman retrospective, with our screening of The Graduate in January, All the President's Men and Lenny this month, and Midnight Cowboy in May.) Tickets: $10 for members and seniors/$12 for non-members.
Shakespeare: Coriolanus, Sunday, April 22, 4 p.m.
We’re marking the bard’s birth and death (April 23, 1564 and April 23, 1616) with a special screening of Ralph Fiennes’ 2011 adaptation, introduced by High Park resident Philippa Sheppard, who's an expert on Shakespeare in film and is working on a book on the subject. The subject matter of this later play, which Fiennes played to acclaim on stage, lends itself easily to cinematic adaptation, says Sheppard, who also lectures at Stratford and teaches at U of T: “War is always, unfortunately, a current issue.”
Tickets: $10 for members and seniors/$12 for non-members.