A man named Pierre gets off the train after serving a five-year prison sentence for armed robbery. Two men are waiting for him. Without a word, the three men march through the narrow streets of Arles in southern France in search of the man who betrayed them.

The guy who left Pierre is now his sister’s boyfriend. And Pierre is jealous – he also likes his sister (Marie-France Pisier).

“Death of a Killer” is a fascinating, frugal French film noir from 1964, which is the bizarre creation of Robert Hossein, who not only plays the twisted bulldog Pierre, but also the one in France as “La mort d ‘un tueur.” Sometimes it almost plays like a parody of the genre, but sometimes it is unexpectedly moving.

Over the years, Hossein has become the patron saint of Don Malcolm’s must-see noir festival called The French Had a Name for It, which first took place in San Francisco in 2014, and he is needed now more than ever. If the festival returns to the Roxie Theater after skipping last year due to the pandemic, who better to attract a crowd?

“We all love American Noir, but there’s something else about this stuff that I think makes it really fascinating,” Malcolm said. “We showed 112 films, and about a quarter of those films weren’t released until we showed them in the US. … Part of the mission statement is to find the lost things that are worth reviving and seeing again. “

Robert Hossein directed 1958 and played the lead role in “Blonde in a White Car” (“Toi le venin”) with Marina Vlady. Photo: Midcentury Productions

A Hossein triple feature opens the three-day, eleven-film series with five programs, which begins on Friday, November 12th at 6 p.m.

Hossein, who died on December 31 last year, the day after his 93rd birthday, was laughed at and dismissed by members of the French New Wave such as François Truffaut and Jean-Luc Godard. But Friday’s triple film list, shot over a 12-year period, shows that Hossein had a vision and reduced a B-movie aesthetic to the essentials.

“Blonde in a White Car” (“Toi le venin”, 1958) lets Hossein’s gullible juice be seduced in the dark of night by the title character, who then points a gun at him. He chases the car to a house in which two identical, rich sisters (Marina Vlady, then Hossein’s wife and Odile Versois) live in isolation in a villa. Who likes kink and guns?

“Death of a Killer” also has a sister obsession – while Hossein’s Pierre t does not admit that he has incestuous feelings for his sister, a one-night stand looks suspiciously like her (she is also played by Pisier) – but in this one the one The ornate mansion from the previous film is replaced by dingy, poor apartments and ends with a stalemate in the derelict, ancient Roman amphitheater of Arles. There are also fast-cutting close-ups of eyes and weapons that anticipate Sergio Leone’s operatic climax in “The Good, the Bad and the Ugly” two years later.

Robert Hossein and Marie-France Pisier played together in several films in the 1960s, including 1964 in “The Death of a Killer” (“La mort d’un tueur”) and in 1965 in “The Secret Killer” (“Le vampire de Düsseldorf “). Photo: Midcentury Productions

With “Falling Point” (“Point de chute”, 1970), Hossein focused on a single beach hut in which a kidnapper (Johnny Hallyday, a rock singer known as Elvis of France) almost wordlessly called an heiress (Pascale Rivault) Part of a ransom notice. There are long passages without dialogue in which the kidnapper, in a reversal of Stockholm Syndrome, is so carried away by the kidnapping victim that he cannot carry out the orders of his boss (Hossein, in a small role).

“It was a bit of a leaner approach, and Hossein likes to reduce what he’s doing. He kept growing over time, ”Malcolm said, adding that Phil Karlson (“ 99 River Street, ”“ Kansas City Confidential ”) is the only other filmmaker“ that close ”among American noir directors like everyone else”. with this ambience. “

The French Had a Name For It has many other joys filmed between 1931 and 1970 with stars like Jean Gabin, Yves Montand, Simone Signoret and Jean-Louis Trintignant and directors like Jean-Pierre Melville, Julien Duvivier and Costa-Gavras.

And yet Malcolm couldn’t resist slipping into another Hossein film: “The Secret Killer” (“Le vampire de Düsseldorf”, 1965), which will be shown on Sunday, November 14th at 3:15 pm. The film is his interpretation of the notorious serial killer Peter Kürten from the time of the Depression, a territory that the great Fritz Lang explored for the first time in “M”.

The French had a name for it: French noir film festival. Friday-Sunday, November 12th-November 14. $ 16 per program; $ 60 for the festival pass. Roxie Theater, 3117 16th St., SF 415-863-1087. www.roxie.com

The post San Francisco’s Roxie returns to noir with The French Had a Title for It competition appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.

“Life isn’t like in a movie. Life … is a lot harder.”

This is what the wise projectionist said in Giuseppe Tornatore’s film “Cinema Paradiso” from 1988. In March 2020, movie theaters around the world closed as the COVID-19 pandemic spread seriously.

To adapt, many independent theaters switched to a virtual demonstration model.

“Although our theater was closed for most of 2020, surprisingly it was still an extremely busy year for The Roxie,” said Lex Sloan, general manager of the historic, non-profit Roxie Theater, which is more than 100 years old. “Within two weeks of closing, we opened Roxie Virtual Cinema and began programming a dynamic series of films to keep engaging with our audiences.”

By the end of 2020, The Roxie had shown more than 200 virtual titles and engaged 30 artists and filmmakers. “Virtual cinema wasn’t lucrative,” says Sloan, “but it was a great way to keep our members and patrons busy!”

The Roxie has also partnered with the Sundance Film Festival to host screenings at Fort Mason Flix, a series of drive-in films hosted by the Fort Mason Center for Arts & Culture.

Meanwhile, giants battled – Cineworld suffered a $ 3 billion loss in 2020 – and sparked skepticism about whether the cinema industry could revive itself, already at risk from the rise of streaming services.

Beloved theaters went dark. The streets grew silent. Fear and sadness stained the air.

Hope was not lost, however.

“STAY HEALTHY AND SAFE”, read the marquee of the Castro Theater. “WE WILL BE BACK SOON.” As promised, The Castro reopened on June 26th and 27th to screen a range of films for the 45th annual Frameline Festival known as “the Bay Area’s most prominent and well-attended LGBTQ + arts program”. The Roxie also hosted multiple frameline functions, as it has been doing every year for over four decades.

When Bay Area favorites like the Balboa Theater and The Vogue reopened in early June, there was good news. Previously in financial freefall, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema emerged from bankruptcy under the new leadership of Altamont Capital Partners, an acquisition managed by Fortress Investment Group LLC and Alamo Drafthouse founder Tim League. The dine-in-cinema chain, which used to face a string of layoffs and cuts due to the pandemic, has now announced that it will open five new theaters within the next year. (Mission Street Alamo is scheduled to reopen August 13th.)

Additionally, the COVID-19 closings were not entirely destructive. Traditional theaters like The Roxie took the opportunity to undertake several renovations.

“The lobby has new carpets and tiles, a fresh paint job, and much-needed [Americans with Disabilities Act] Improvements, “says Sloan.” Thanks to a generous grant from the San Francisco Arts Commission, we now have air conditioning and improved air filtration. “

The Roxie also brought its “Take A Seat on 16th St.” on the market. Campaign to replace the used seating (originally from the Coronet Theater) with state-of-art seating from the Irwin Seating Company.

“I believe The Roxie not only survived the pandemic, but found new ways to thrive,” Sloan says.

On May 21st, The Roxie reopened with a screening of “Cinema Paradiso”, the winner of an audience poll. This showing was followed by David Lynch’s “Eraserhead,” which was shown frequently as a Roxie midnight film in the 1970s and 1980s. On May 22nd, “Eraserhead” was presented in all its surreal, eerie glory in 35mm. The first showing opened with a media meltdown drag show, which Sloan described as “jaw trapping”.

On July 17th, Lynch will return to The Roxie with a 35mm screening of “Mulholland Drive”. Further screenings in mid-July include Barbet Schroeder’s “Barfly” and “Linda and The Mockingbirds”, presented by the Los Cenzontles Cultural Arts Academy and the McEvoy Foundation for the Arts.

In early August, The Roxie will show Beth B’s “Lydia Lunch: The War Is Never Over”, with a personal visit from Lunch himself. David Lowery’s “The Green Knight,” a 4K restoration of Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Castle of Cagilostro” and Pablo Larrain’s “Ema” will also be shown this summer.

The Roxie is currently 50 percent full with limited show times. Masks remain required for entry but can be removed while eating and drinking in the theater. In the meantime, the Roxie Virtual Cinema will continue to offer streaming options.

“The doors of the Roxie were closed for 434 days, and despite the difficulties, I never doubted we would open again,” says Sloan.

“The patrons told me that it feels so good to finally be home.”

Copyright © 2021 Bay City News, Inc. All rights reserved. Republication, retransmission, or redistribution is prohibited without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. Bay City News is a 24/7 news service for the greater Bay Area.

Copyright © 2021 by Bay City News, Inc. Republication, redistribution, or other reuse is prohibited without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc.

The post The Roxie, Alongside With Different Beloved San Francisco Film Homes, Is Making A Comeback appeared first on Los Gatos News And Events.