January 5, 2023
A Matter of Life and Death
“Produced and directed by Powell and Pressburger, this 1946 classic is in fact jaw-droppingly imaginative existential fantasy – it’s totally original - doesn’t look or feel like any other film!†– Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer
In Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s visually ravishing film, in which an elaborate stairway connects a Technicolor earth with a monochrome Heaven, David Niven plays a downed bomber pilot in WWII who senses that his having eluded a fiery death was arbitrary at best. On the operating table he finds himself suspended between Heaven (where he is summoned to argue his case in the celestial courts) and earth (where he has fallen in love with a heavenly WAC in the person of Kim Hunter). This is existential fantasy at its finest. “The doctor who befriends him diagnoses ‘a highly organized hallucination’ and much the same could be said of the film with its bewildering alternations of microcosm and macrocosm, poetry and pathos, monochrome and color. A stunning, subversive masterpiece.†— British Film Institute. The supporting cast includes Marius Goring, Roger Livesey, Raymond Massey, and a very young Richard Attenborough. (1946, 104 min)
January 20, 2023
Beo String Quartet
The eclectic and highly polished Beo String Quartet has created a niche for itself as a daring, genre-defying ensemble. Rigorously trained in the classical tradition, violinists Jason Neukom and Andrew Giordano, violist Sean Neukom, and cellist Ryan Ash also know their way around contemporary expression.
We expected an exciting concert as this ensemble brought their expressive and technical talents to THE 222 stage as part of an extensive California tour. They have thrilled audiences on three continents with their passionately committed performances. The name “Beo†derives from Latin, meaning “to make happy.â€
January 28, 2023
Nate Klug - Hosts and Guests
“Klug is writing some of the strongest poetry you can find in American letters these days. Stoically fierce and vividly alert.†– McSweeneys
We gathered for an evening with poet and essayist Nate Klug, hailed by the Threepenny Review as a poet who is "an original in Eliot's sense of the word." He read from Hosts and Guests, his latest book of poetry, and joined THE 222’s literary programmer Laurie Glover in conversation.
Klug’s theme is “the existential life found within embodied experience,†the “baffling unpredictable welcome he finds hidden in ordinary life.†His chiseled, musical lines blend close observation of the natural world, social commentary, and spiritual questioning. Hosts and Guests was published by Princeton University Press in 2020 and is Klug’s second book of poetry.
Klug has been supported by prestigious fellowships from James Merrill House, the MacDowell Colony, and the poetry foundation’s Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Poetry Fellowship.
February 2, 2023
Jindabyne
“Though the actors are speaking English, this film feels very, very foreign – lots of extended shots of landscapes and water that feel ominous, while the film deals with emotional dissonance. Edgy and beautifully rendered.†– Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer
“Set in a mountainous corner of Australia, Ray Lawrence’s film starts with an ominous threat of violence before switching abruptly to what seems to be an everyday tale of marital difficulties. Stewart and Claire (Gabriel Byrne and Laura Linney, both in top form) have never quite bounced back from a breakdown Claire suffered when their child was born. When Stewart and three buddies having various women troubles of their own escape on a fishing trip, a macabre discovery forces them to confront their individual demons with a terrifying and inescapable immediacy. Starting from Beatrix Christian’s adaptation of Raymond Carver’s story “So Little Water Close to Home,†Lawrence uses genre elements, much as he did in Lantana, to investigate the secrets and lies that corrode sexual relationships. And he discovers both horror and redemption in the powerful natural landscape.†— Telluride Film Festival (2006, 123min)
February 11, 2023
Kim Stanley Robinson
Robinson is “generally acknowledged as one of the greatest living science-fiction writers.†– The New Yorker
“the gold-standard of realistic, and highly literary, science-fiction writing.†– The Atlantic
We gathered for a conversation and book reading with NY Times bestselling author Kim Stanley Robinson. Robinson has penned more than twenty books, including the internationally bestselling Mars trilogy, and more recently Red Moon, New York 2140, and The Ministry for the Future, which Jonathan Lethem calls “the best science fiction non-fiction novel I’ve ever read.â€
Many of Robinson’s novels and stories have ecological, cultural, and political themes, and feature scientists as heroes. He read from his latest work, The High Sierra: A Love Story. In it, a departure from science fiction for which he is best known for, he lavishly celebrates this exceptional place, and explores what makes this span of mountains one of the most compelling places on earth. It is a gorgeous, absorbing immersion in a place, born out of a desire to understand and share one of the greatest rapture-inducing experiences our planet offers.
February 18, 2023
A Pair of Silent Film Classics with Live Music
We relived the silent film era, complete with live music and an original score!
Renowned pianist/composer Stephen Prutsman and the San Francisco Chamber Music Society String Quartet accompanied two contrasting classics: cult favorite The Cabinet of Dr Caligari, followed by Buster Keaton’s hilarious Sherlock Jr.
March 2, 2023
Boudu Saved from Drowning
“In this film, the deeply revered French director Jean Renoir takes advantage of a host of Parisian locations, and the anarchic charms of his lead actor (Michel Simon) to create an effervescent satire of the bourgeoisie.†– Eleanor Nichols, Film Programmer
Despite the problems of sound recording in 1932, Jean Renoir (the son of the great Impressionist painter) went out of the studio and shot this film on the streets of Paris and along the banks of the Seine. It is not only a lovely fable about a bourgeois attempt to reform a rebellious bum (Michel Simon is the shaggy, bearded tramp who spills wine on the table and wipes his shoes on the bedspread), but a photographic record of an earlier France. “A beautifully rhythmed film that makes one nostalgic for when it was made.†— Penelope Gilliatt (1932, 87 min, in French w/English subtitles)
March 4, 2023
Julia B. Levine - Ordinary Psalms
Levine read from her fifth collection of poetry, Ordinary Psalms. In it she “asks everyday life to help her learn how to see beyond appearances into fundamental truths.†As she contemplates the loss of one friend to cancer and another to suicide, along with her own impending visual impairment, Levine holds the world “close as I needed / to see.†Imagistic, lyrical, and at times imploring divine intervention from a god she does not know or trust, these poems curse and praise the extraordi- nary place we live in and are in danger of losing. Lamenting that “this world is a mortal affliction / with wounds in the beautiful,†Ordinary Psalms provides a seductive and lyric rumination on radiance, loss, and grief.
March 12, 2023
ALEXANDER MALOFEEV
“unabashed virtuosity†– The Straights Times
“Malofeev’s artistry is truly remarkable for a young pianist who is at the beginning of what hopefully will be a long and fruitful career." - Boston Classical Review
THE 222 was excited to present an exceptional opportunity! Audiences experienced an up-close performance by pianist Alexander Malofeev in the intimate setting of THE 222, before his debut at Davies Symphony Hall later in the month. At 21, Malofeev has quickly established himself as one of the most prominent pianists of his generation.
Alexander plays with profound sensitivity, youthful passion, and stunning virtuosity. He is drawn to the reportedly most difficult pieces in the repertoire. But what may strike listeners more are his cantabiles. Here he shows a deep tenderness that can move his audience to tears. He himself says "I give myself completely. I simply give myself."
Malofeev came to international prominence when he won the International Tchaikovsky Competition for Young Musicians in 2014 at age thirteen. Reviewing the performance, Amadeus noted, “Contrary to what could be expected of a youngster … he demonstrated not only high technical accuracy but also an incredible maturity. Crystal clear sounds and perfect balance revealed his exceptional ability.†In 2017, he became the first Young Yamaha Artist.
Alexander Malofeev’s star continues to rise. 2022 appearances include a debut at the Tanglewood Music Festival under Michael Tilson Thomas, where he performed the devilishly difficult Rachmaninoff Third Piano Concerto, and a debut at the Aspen Music Festival with Vasily Petrenko. He has substituted for such luminaries as Martha Argerich and Evgeny Kissin, and recently completed a tour of Asia, the UK, and Italy.