Chauvel Cinematheque

Overview

The Chauvel’s Cinematheque may be the closest thing we’ll ever come to an ideal world. Germany and France border the USA harmoniously. Black, white and colour receive equal treatment. Comedy follows horror; romance follows tragedy. 

November starts off with seminal zombie film Night of the Living Dead (Nov 2), followed by a bit of drama and a lot of moral confusion in Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Chinese Roulette (Nov 9). A German country home is the perfect setting for total manipulation of six adults at the hands of disabled, doll-obsessed teenager Angela (Andrew Schober). Yes, dark. However, Angela's ability to trick those around her begins to seem more like a necessary evil as the power structures between the guests shift, and the line between destructive and self-destructive becomes all the more blurred.

Like any good universe, Cinematheque is diverse and ever-changing so be sure to check the program regularly for updates.

Previously at Cinematheque:
October in the curated utopia means an Andy Warhol triple (trust the man to do it in threes not twos). First up is1976’s Lonesome Cowboys, a parody of the Western genre, starring Joe Dallesandro and Viva Superstar. This Warhol-produced, Paul Morrissey-directed film is all transvestite sheriffs and suicide pacts, but if you don’t mind a bit of onscreen rape before dinner time (what?) then it’s all smooth sailing in Warhol’s West.

Following that is a double-header of 1963’s The Kiss and 1965’s My Hustler. The Kiss was originally made as a series of shorts, and without spoiling the plot line we will say that if the title doesn’t appeal to you then the film itself definitely won’t. My Hustler is a little more high-concept and captures, in intimate detail, the psychological nuances of the seduction of a call-boy by an older man.

What with the Doppelganger Festival also going on down the road, you’ll probably be all Andy-d out by at this point, so take the edge off with The Tin Drum. Based on Gunter Grass’s novel, which is recognized as a key work in German literature after WWII, the 1979 film follows young Oskar, living in the Free City of Danzig in 1925. Appalled by the behaviour of the adults around him, he decides to never grow up – opting instead to witness history from the perspective of a child.

Image: Chinese Roulette