Part of REEL FILM DAY! Ticket includes admission to PUNCH-DRUNK LOVE at 5:30pm.
Description provided by the George Eastman House:
It's the classic story of boy-meets-girl, both lonely but not alone, cyphers lost among the bustle of the big city until at last fate brings them together. They share a brief moment of utter joy (in this case at Coney Island) before being torn apart again to go back to their lives. The style, however, is not classical at all. Director Fejos uses double exposure, quick edits, and a carefully designed color palette to create a contrast between the industrial city and the oasis of the amusement park. Produced at a time of great change, the sound design is also important, particularly the repeated use of Irving Berlin’s “Always,” and features three talking sequences, added after the entire film had been shot silent. The original nitrate print was repatriated to the US in a trade James Card made with Henri Langlois at the Cinémathèque Française. The title has gone through no fewer than three preservations as technologies became available to restore the film to its original visual and auditory brilliance, and restore the title to its place among the greats of the late silent era.
35mm print from George Eastman Museum, preservation funded by the Packard Humanities Institute and Universal Studios.
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December 19 – December 26 / View All