Screening Gotham: July 8-10, 2005

This weekend's worthwhile cinematic diversions in New York:

--This is probably the only opportunity I will ever have to recommend seeing a new Ingmar Bergman film, so I definitely want to take advantage of it. Saraband reunites Johan and Marianne, the on- and off-again couple to whom Bergman (right) introduced his viewers in 1974's epic Scenes From a Marriage. Sure, the combined age of those involved is pushing four figures, and sure, it was reputedly shot on low-grade digital video. That aside, Erland Josephson and Liv Ullmann share some of the most magical chemistry in film history, and it would only be your loss not to get more acquainted with a master like Bergman. The Reeler is first in line.

--Johnny Depp gets the semi-dreaded "Mid-Life Retrospective" treatment at BAM, starting with tonight's screening of A Nightmare on Elm Street (he dies) and ending next weekend with two days of Dead Man (he is dead). In between are a few of his most acclaimed performances (Edward Scissorhands) and most underrated (Donnie Brasco), though his Oscar-nominated turn in Pirates of the Caribbean is strangely absent. Or maybe not so strangely—this is BAM, after all.

--If you have not seen Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho in a while, drop by the Sunshine tonight or Saturday for a midnight screening. It goes without saying how well the film holds up, but repeat viewings bear the rewards of studying Tony Perkins' truly skin-crawling performance and the transgressive pleasure of rooting for the bad guy. Come on—tell me you do not feel bad for Norman when Marion Crane's car stops sinking into the swamp for that brief moment. What genius.



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