Are you in the mood for love and melodrama? The Film Society of Lincoln Center is banking that you are and boy, do we feel ever so lucky to be New Yorkers. FSLC has announced “Emotion Pictures: International Melodrama,” a staggering and sweeping 62 film series devoted to the expressive genre in all its complex, moody and beautiful shapes and sizes. A massive historical survey of the genre that boldly endeavors to put emotion on screen in its purest form, ‘Emotion Pictures’ runs from December 13, 2017 – January 7, 2018. And we’re proud to present the new trailer for this glorious series.
All the usual suspects and masters of melodrama are present, golden age filmmakers like Douglas Sirk and Nicholas Ray, silent-film era helmers such as Erich von Stroheim and F.W. Murnau, plus modern titans of cinema like Martin Scorsese, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Pedro Almodóvar, Todd Haynes, Leos Carax, Lars von Trier, Wong Kar Wai, and many, many more. It is literally the cinematic treat of the season and a godsend for cinephiles in New York. Highlights? Literally too many to mention, but we’ll try: Three films by the undisputed master of melodrama Douglas Sirk, plus a documentary about the filmmaker and two key cinematic homages to his work; Todd Haynes’ “Far From Heaven,” and Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s “Ali: Fear Eats the Soul” which is essentially a remake of 1955’s “All That Heaven Allows.”
There’s also David Lean’s ravishing “Brief Encounter,” George Cukor’s noir-melodrama “Gaslight,” Wong Kar-Wai’s modern masterpiece “In the Mood for Love,” Kenji Mizoguchi‘s sublime “The Life of Oharu,” Max Ophüls’ “Letter from an Unknown Woman,” Vincente Minnelli’s “Some Came Running,” Federico Fellini’s “La Strada”, the heartbreaking musical, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” and dozens more. Here’s more on the series and tickets are already on sale. The trailer below and the full, 62 film line-up is on the next page. It’s a must-attend paean to the overflowing genre of melodrama.
