Marlon Brando and Maria Schneider star in Bernardo Bertolucci's masterpiece "Last Tango in Paris," one of the films in Cornell Cinema's tribute to cinematographer Vittorio Storaro.
On May 1, 5, 8, 12 and 19 moviegoers will have a chance to see six films shot by the Academy Award-winning master cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and directed by some of the world's most acclaimed filmmakers. The series is called "Master of Color and Light: The Cinematography of Vittorio Storaro." Admission to each film is $4.50/$4 for students and seniors.
A recipient of Academy Awards for his work on such films as "The Last Emperor," "Reds" and "Apocalypse Now," Storaro has established himself as one of the most influential practitioners in the art of cinematography, setting the standard for how motion pictures can use light and color to emphasize the emotion and drama of the story line.
On May 1 at 7:15 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre there will be a showing of "The Conformist," directed by Bernardo Berto-lucci and starring Jean-Louis Trintignant as the cold, middle-class protagonist whose need to conform renders him a willing executioner for the fascists in 1938 Europe. Storaro creates an appropriate claustrophobic world of light and shadow.
Also May 1 at 9:45 p.m. and May 5 at 9:30 p.m., both in Willard Straight Theatre, will be showings of "Last Tango in Paris," considered by many critics to be Bertolucci's finest film. Marlon Brando stars as an American expatriate living in Paris who has an intense sexual liaison with a much younger woman whom he barely knows in this brutal and sensual masterpiece. Storaro based the look of "Last Tango" on the work of painter Francis Bacon and his fragmented images of the human body.
On Wednesday, May 5, at 7:15 p.m. and Friday, May 7, at 7:30 p.m., both in Willard Straight Theatre, will be showings of "Flamenco," a riveting new documentary by Carlos Saura about the diverse styles and traditions of the passionate Spanish dance form. Storaro's breathtakingly sensual cinematography captures performances by more than 300 top singers, dancers and musicians, filmed in an abandoned train station in Brazil. In The New York Times, Janet Maslin called the film: "A very deserving recipient of a best foreign film Oscar nomination."
On May 8 at 9:45 p.m. in Uris Auditorium and May 12 at 9:30 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre there will be screenings of Francis Ford Coppola's "Apocalypse Now," a modern adaptation of Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness, set in the war-ravaged jungles of Vietnam. Light and shadow are used to maximum effect in this definitive film about war, morality and the darker side of human nature.
The series concludes on May 19 at 7:15 p.m. in Willard Straight Theatre with "One From the Heart," a romantic film by Coppola about a married couple starting over in Las Vegas. Richard Corliss wrote in Time magazine: "[The film is] a show-stopping amalgam of razzle and dazzle in gloriously garish Technicolor."
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