The Parallax View (1974)

Thursday, March 01, 2018 @ 7:00 PM
Globe Cinema - 617 8 Avenue SW, Calgary, AB
$12 General | $10 Members/Seniors/Students | $40 5-Pack Punch Pass | $99 Season Pass

Critical Cinema: WEXLER & WILLIS

THE PARALLAX VIEW | Dir. Alan J. Pakula | 1971 | 102 min

A POLITICAL CONSPIRACY THRILLER PAR EXCELLENCE AND A CANDIDATE PERHAPS FOR BEATTY'S FINEST SCREEN MOMENT. ALAN J PAKULA'S MONUMENTAL THE PARALLAX VIEW RETAINS ITS INTENSE INTELLIGENCE AND SENSE OF CLAUSTROPHOBIC SKULLDUGGERY EVEN 25 YEARS AFTER ITS RELEASE.
Joseph Frady (Beatty) is an investigative reporter prone to upsetting both the authorities and his colleagues. Following the assasination of a prominent US senator, it comes to Frady's attention that the journalists who witnessed the event themselves begin to mysteriously meet their ends. Drawn into a nightmarish world of shady corporations and menacing shadows, Frady links the murders to the sinister Parallax Corporation, an enigmatic therapy institute. Driven by inquisitiveness, Frady enrolls at the institute in an attempt to discover the truth.

Stunningly shot by Gordon Willis, the film accurately captures the climate of political unease surrounding the film's production. Pakula (who also directed Klute), one of the most productive and analytical directors of the 70s, the heyday of intelligent American cinema, directs with supreme confidence and imbues the proceedings with genuine menace and angst. Beatty is superb, initially smug but ultimately chastened as his investigations uncover uncomfortable truths. Immortalised by the poster tagline for the film - 'As American as apple pie' - The Parallax View remains the political cat and mouse cliffhanger all others must live up to. (via BBC Films)

Awards
Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival 1975 - Won (Critics Award | Alan J. Pakula)
Edgar Allan Poe Awards 1975 - Nominated (Edgar, Best Motion Picture | David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr.)
National Society of Film Critics Awards, USA 1975 - Won (NSFC Award, Best Cinematography | Gordon Willis).
Writers Guild of America, USA 1975 - Nominated (WGA Award (Screen), Best Drama Adapted from Another Medium | David Giler, Lorenzo Semple Jr. )

The Parallax View is the fifth title in our SPOTLIGHT: WILLIS AND WEXLER series. 

SPOTLIGHT: WEXLER & WILLIS

In a new direction for CCS, we're shining a spotlight on cinematographers, choosing two Americans, Gordon Willis and Haskell Wexler, and their politically charged films of the 1960s and 1970s.

Calgary Showtimes: The Parallax View >

CC: Spotlight: Wexler & Willis Whitepaper >

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