SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our PASSPORT TO NOIR Series, Saturday, November 19, 2022
LOCATION: The Secret Movie Club Theater, 1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, CA 90021
*Please note entrance/parking is actually in the back of the building. Make a right on Wilson Street, then a right behind the building. We’re the first set of black steps after the big gate.
6:30pm STRAY DOG (1949, dir. Akira Kurosawa, Janus, Japan, 122mns, DCP)
9pm HIGH AND LOW (1963, dir. Akira Kurosawa, Janus, Japan, 143mns, DCP)
Our Passport to Noir series concludes with two of Akira Kurosawa’s best movies. Both Noir powerhouse punches to the jaw.
First up is Stray Dog, Kurosawa’s riff on Georges Simenon noir in which a young police detective (Toshiro Mifune) gets his gun stolen in post-WWII Tokyo and teams up with a wiser detective (Takashi Shimura) to methodically track down the thief. But as the thief, feeling cornered, uses the gun to kill, Mifune feels more and more guilt and frustration.
Set across the hottest week in summer, Stray Dog (along with Drunken Angel) is Kurosawa’s earliest stone-cold masterpiece. So known for the Samurai genre (as John Ford was known for the Western), Kurosawa actually made many of his greatest movies (Ikiru, The Bad Sleep Well, High and Low, etc) about present day Japan. Stray Dog shows the impossible choice faced by so many returning WWII vets to a country besieged by shame and poverty. But it also shows that some, like Mifune, chose to struggle ethically while others, like our thief, used crime as an excuse.
A powerful, stylish, nail biting movie.
We follow it up with one of Kurosawa’s greatest towering achievements, High And Low. When Gondo, an executive in a shoe company, receives a call from a kidnapper saying his son has been kidnapped, he agrees to pay an unbelievably high ransom. But when he finds out moments later that his son is safe and that the kidnapper has accidentally stolen his chauffeur’s child, Gondo is faced with an excruciating moral decision. Does he sacrifice his entire livelihood and risk his family’s own poverty for another’s child or does he ignore another’s suffering when it’s not his own?
A tough as nails, propulsive look at the emotions, motivations, drives of the haves and have nots of society, High and Low takes the conceit of Stray Dog (that we are often delineated only by the choices we make in moments of crisis) and pushes it to its logical extreme. An incredible noir that marks one of the highest points of Kurosawa’s career.
Come see both these movies.
Best always,
Craig Hammill
Secret Movie Club Founder.Programmer
*Please note that though we strive to always show titles on 35mm film if advertised, we may have to screen digitally if the print we receive is in such bad shape or if we don't receive the print in time because of a shipping delay. We will do our best to alert the audience. When this does occur, we will offer each ticket holder who chooses not to attend a complimentary ticket to a future event in exchange. (Disclaimer: Good for 90 days – Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
REFUNDS:
We can offer refunds up to 24 hours before showtime. Please request a refund through Eventbrite and we will process ASAP. After that, no refunds. Sorry.
However if something last minute comes up and you can’t make the screening, for whatever reason, just write to us before showtime: community@secretmovieclub.com and we’ll offer you complimentary tickets to a future screening, good for 90 days. (Disclaimer: Future screening must have available tickets, cannot be a fundraiser, and must be comparably priced)
HELPFUL SECRET MOVIE CLUB (1917 Bay Street, 2nd Floor, LA, CA 90021) THEATER PARKING TIPS:
We recommend that you park just outside our theater. Remember our theater is actually in a beautiful street art alleyway in the back of the 1917 Bay Street building. You get to our entrance by taking a right on Wilson, then a right behind the building. We are the first set of black steps on the right after the big gate.
There is also a parking lot at the corner of Mateo and Violet Street, just 2 blocks from our theater, which costs $7 per car.
HOW CAN WE STAY ON TOP OF NEWLY ANNOUNCED 35MM SCREENINGS, EVENTS, ETC?
You can follow us on Instagram/Twitter: @secretmovieclub or Facebook: @secretmovieclub35mm
You can also subscribe to our weekly email newsletter at secretmovieclub.com or by writing to us at community@secretmovieclub.com and using the header “SUBSCRIBE ME TO NEWSLETTER”.
HOW CAN I CONTACT YOU IF I HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS:
You can always email us at community@secretmovieclub.com with any other questions, concerns, thoughts, recommendations.