What's in a Series?

By Rob Christopher in Arts & Entertainment on Apr 8, 2009 4:00PM

Think of a film series as a mixtape that you listen to one song at a time, once a week. Each title enriches the previous ones, and experiencing them in sequence means a heightened appreciation for all of them. Two upcoming series offer a great chance to see some classic (and not-so-classic) movies in context.

Queer Cinema 101, which starts Monday at the Center on Halsted, is a weekly series comprising five important features, each one chosen and introduced by local gay film critics. The first movie is The Celluloid Closet, a documentary narrated by Lily Tomlin spanning the history of GLBT cinema. It's packed chock full of clips, trivia and gossip (and thanks to an interview with Gore Vidal, you'll never look at Ben-Hur the same way again). The screening is hosted by Richard Knight Jr., writer for Windy City Times and one half of the Movie Queens. The other four titles are Velvet Goldmine (hosted by Hank Sartin, Time Out Chicago), The Killing of Sister George (Charlie Shoquist, Gay Chicago), Parting Glances (Gregg Shapiro, Chicago Free Press) and Victor/Victoria (Jonathan Lewis, Gay Chicago). The movies will be shown each week at 7 p.m. with a suggested donation of $5. A cash bar and movie concessions will be available.

Not far down the spectrum of camp is Facets' new Saturday midnight movie series, Facets Night School. The first "session" runs May 2 through June 27, with a different "professor" offering a lecture each week. The titles are a great mixture of cult favorites (Labyrinth, Dawn of the Dead), obscure oddities (The Entity, Street Trash) and bona fide classics (The Night of the Hunter, Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One). First in the lineup is Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 mind-bender Holy Mountain, which incidentally was partially financed by a certain couple known as John and Yoko. Facets describes it as "a big budget carnivalesque succession of psychedelic vignettes, shocking iconography, alchemical set pieces, fascistic mass movements, and Brechtian distanciation devices." Brian Elza, Facets’ Catalog Writer/Researcher, will examine its surprising influence on macho action films (The Road Warrior, Conan the Barbarian) and rock bands like Marilyn Manson and The Mars Volta. Admission is $5 per lecture/screening (or $40 for all 9 programs); more info here.