Artist’s Choice: Stephen Sondheim
December 19–January 8, 2006

The Artist’s Choice series began in 1989, when the artist Scott Burton was invited to organize an exhibition of works drawn entirely from the Museum’s collection. Subsequently, John Baldessari, Chuck Close, Mona Hatoum, Ellsworth Kelly, and Elizabeth Murray have also made Artist’s Choice selections. When, in 2005, MoMA asked the composer, lyricist, and screenwriter Stephen Sondheim to prepare an exhibition, Sondheim decided to make his choices strictly from MoMA’s film archives. He selected fifteen feature-length films, nine of which are shown this month. Sondheim writes, "These are just a few of my favorite movies. I wanted to restrict the list to films that many movie buffs might not know, but The Museum of Modern Art doesn’t own a lot of them (for example, [Lucian] Pintilie’s The Oak, [Vyacheslav] Krishtofovich’s Adam’s Rib, [Nikita] Mikhalkov’s Slave of Love, [Robert] Bresson’s Au hasard balthazar). As a result, there are some overly familiar titles on the list. The Museum asked me to include a sentence or two explaining each choice. I hope my reasons don’t sound too much like the pompous pitches that often constitute the program notes at film festivals."

Organized by Laurence Kardish, Senior Curator, Department of Film and Media.

The Artist's Choice exhibition series is made possible through The Agnes Gund Artist's Choice Fund endowed by Iara Lee and George Gund III, Lulie and Gordon Gund, Ann and Graham Gund, and Sarah and Geoffrey Gund. Additional support is provided by The Dana Foundation.

The following descriptions are written by Stephen Sondheim.

Kontrakt (Contract). 1980. Poland. Written and directed by Krzysztof Zanussi. With Tadeusz Lomnicki, Zofia Mrozowska, Krzysztof Kolberger. "A high (i.e., social) comedy about Poland in the 1970s, subtly acted, sharply written, and with—for my money—the most devastating last shot in cinema (pace fans of City of Lights, The 400 Blows, I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang)." In Polish, French, and English, English subtitles. 114 min. Monday, December 19, 6:00; Saturday, December 24, 4:00. T1

Karakter (Character). 1997. The Netherlands. Directed by Mike van Diem. Screenplay by van Diem, Laurens Geels, Ruud van Megen. With Fedja van Huêt, Jan Decleir, Betty Schuurman. "A full and surprising Dickensian plot with rich and strange characters, many established in just a few strokes. It also won the Academy Award for foreign films, and no one noticed." In Dutch, English subtitles. 125 min.
Monday, December 19, 8:30; Saturday, December 24, 1:30. T1

Dead of Night. 1945. Great Britain. Directed by Alberto Cavalcanti, Charles Crichton, Basil Dearden, Robert Hamer. With Michael Redgrave, Mervyn Johns, Roland Culver. "Five stories of the supernatural wrapped in a sixth, one of which (the mirror episode) gives you the creeps in a very short time, and another of which (the ventriloquist episode) is overdirected and overacted to sensational effect." 104 min.
Wednesday, December 21, 6:00; Thursday, December 29, 8:00. T1

Elephant. 2003. USA. Written, directed, and edited by Gus Van Sant. With Alex Frost, Eric Deulen, John Robinson. "Even creepier than Dead of Night. The minimalist style is mesmerizing, and makes the subject matter much more than a cause for opportune topical suspense." 81 min.
Wednesday, December 21, 8:15; Thursday, December 29, 6:00. T1

The Sea Wolf. 1941. USA. Directed by Michael Curtiz. Screenplay by Robert Rossen, based on the novel by Jack London. With Edward G. Robinson, Ida Lupino, John Garfield. "My favorite of the wonderful Warner Bros. stock company melodramas." 90 min.
Thursday, December 22, 6:00; Monday, December 26, 8:30. T1

Pygmalion. 1938. Great Britain. Directed by Anthony Asquith, Leslie Howard. Screenplay by George Bernard Shaw, W. P. Lipscomb, Cecil Lewis, Ian Dalrymple, Asquith, based on the play by Shaw. With Leslie Howard, Wendy Hiller. "For the performances. And a lesson in how to adapt a static play for the movies." 96 min.
Thursday, December 22, 8:00; Friday, December 30, 6:00. T1

The Thief of Bagdad. 1940. Great Britain/USA. Directed by Ludwig Berger, Michael Powell. Screenplay by Lajos Biro, Miles Malleson. With Conrad Veidt, Sabu, June Duprez. "The best fantasy picture of them all, and I had to include at least one Michael Powell." 106 min.
Wednesday, December 28, 6:00; Saturday, December 31, 5:00. T1

Henry Fool. 1997. USA. Written and directed by Hal Hartley. With Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniank, Parker Posey. "Completely original in tone and story, but not just a private whim like a lot of independent movies. It’s genuinely mysterious, and one of those rare films that feels greater than the sum of its parts." 138 min.
Wednesday, December 28, 8:15; Sunday, January 1, 5:00. T1

Tengoku to jigoku (High and Low). 1962. Japan. Directed by Akira Kurosawa. Screenplay by Ryuzo Kikushima, Eijiro Hisaita, Kurosawa. With Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Nakadai, Kyoko Kagawa. "A choice familiar to many, but maybe not to most. The moment with the fans is worth the price of admission." In Japanese, English subtitles. 142 min.
Friday, December 30, 8:00; Sunday, January 1, 2:00. T1

Nobi (Fires on the Plain). 1959. Japan. Directed by Kon Ichikawa. Screenplay by Natto Wada, based on the novel by Shohei Ooka. With Eiji Funakoshi, Osamu Takizawa. "For Ichikawa, a not-well-known-enough director, I would have preferred to have the extravagant An Actor’s Revenge, or the monumental Tokyo Olympiad, which is just as stunning and original as Riefenstahl’s German model. But this one is good and shocking, and will serve as an introduction to Ichikawa’s style for those who don’t know his work." In Japanese, English subtitles. 105 min.

Monday, January 2, 8:00; Saturday, January 7, 5:00. T1

I compagni (The Organizer). 1963. France/Italy/Yugoslavia. Directed by Mario Monicelli. Screenplay by Age-Scarpelli, Monicelli. With Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot. "Monicelli is one of my favorite directors, and this is my favorite film of his. It hasn’t been shown much since it was released." English-language version. 126 min.

Wednesday, January 4, 6:00. T1; Saturday, January 7, 7:30. T2

L’Histoire d’Adèle H. (The Story of Adele H). 1975. France. Directed by François Truffaut. Screenplay by Truffaut, Jean Gruault, Suzanne Schiffman, based on "The Diary of Adele Hugo." With Isabelle Adjani, Bruce Robinson, Sylvia Marriot. "The same story as Ettore Scola’s 1981 film Passione d’Amore (the basis for the musical Passion), but with an entirely different sensibility, which makes for an interesting comparison. Both films moved me, but in opposite ways. (Curiously, both stories were based on real events.)" In French, English subtitles. 97 min.

Wednesday, January 4, 8:30; Friday, January 6, 5:30. T1

Le Voleur (The Thief). 1967. France/Italy. Written and directed by Louis Malle. With Jean-Paul Belmondo, Geneviève Bujold, Marie Dubois. "One of Louis Malle’s undeservedly lesser-known pictures. As with Barry Lyndon, the combination of elegance and modulated violence is spectacular." In French, English subtitles. 119 min.

Thursday, January 5, 6:00; Sunday, January 8, 2:30. T1

Barry Lyndon. 1975. Great Britain. Written and directed by Stanley Kubrick. With Ryan O’Neal, Marisa Berenson, Patrick Magee. "Notable for, among other things, the use of extravagantly beautiful photography to depict bloodlessness and violence." 184 min.

Friday, January 6, 7:30; Saturday, January 7, 1:30. T1

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