SECRET MOVIE CLUB presents
Part of our DIRECTOR MINI-BITES Series, Friday, April 21, 2023
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.
7pm LA JETEE (1962, dir. Chris Marker, France, 28mns, Digital)
7:30pm TWELVE MONKEYS (1995, dir. Terry Gilliam, Universal, USA, 129mns, 35mm)
10:15pm FEAR & LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS (1998, dir. Terry Gilliam, Universal, USA, 118mns, 35mm)
Tonight get ready for a double dose of 1990’s Terry Gilliam with a dash of 1960’s Chris Marker.
That’s right. We screen Marker’s ground breaking sci-fi time travel short film La Jetee, comprised completely of haunting still photographs and voice over as a primer for the movie it inspired, the feature length Twelve Monkeys which Gilliam directed in 1996.
Twelve Monkeys takes the essential premise of La Jetee – a man is sent back in time by mysterious shadowy politicians to stop and/or understand the roots of an apocalypse that has rocked the world.
In Gilliam’s movie, this man is James Cole (played by Bruce Willis who starred in way more auteur driven projects than he is often given credit for), a prisoner in a future world where a virus has wiped out almost all of humanity. The remnants live underground.
Playing with the feature length form, the story is able to jump back and forth between the 1990’s, other time periods, and the future as Cole tries to stop the viral outbreak before it happens. Along the way he falls in love and meets a deranged “eco-terrorist” played by a game Brad Pitt.
Gilliam managed for most of the 1990’s to actually find a way to marry his absurdist striking cartoonist’s cinematic style with stories that appealed to mainstream audiences-quite a feat. And he did it without sacrificing his own voice and obsessions.
We follow Twelve Monkeys with possibly Gilliam’s greatest movie after his incandescent run of the 1980’s-Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
An adaptation of Hunter S. Thompsen’s near impossible to believe novel of excessive drug and alcohol use in 1970’s Las Vegas, Fear and Loathing features two of the best performances Johnny Depp (playing Thompsen) and Benecio Del Toro (playing an unhinged perpetually furious lawyer) have ever given.
Gilliam goes the full gonzo (as you have to) with a lysergic style that borders on the mind-exploding. In fact, when this programmer first saw this movie in a Santa Monica theater in the late 1990’s, an acid refugee from the 1960’s jumped up twenty minutes into the movie, screamed “No way, man, I can’t! I can’t do this again” and ran for the doors (true story).
When a crazy scene of gamblers turning into human sized lizards comes early and is one of the tamest scenes of the movie, you know you’re in for a ride.
Gilliam manages to capture both the lunacy and the political subtext of Thompsen’s novel and Hunter S. Thompsen himself makes a hilarious cameo appearance.
So join us for a night of nineties Gilliam. On 35mm!
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.