JULES DASSIN RETROSPECTIVE @ FILM FORUM: 3/27/9—4/7/9

Jules Dassin got his start as an actor in New York's Yiddish theater scene, back in the 30's. He eventually found his way to MGM and became a successful—if creatively constrained—director. He was blacklisted as a former Communist by fellow director Edward Dmytryk; he ended up making the best films of his career while exiled in Europe.

Dassin died last year in his adopted hometown of Athens, Greece.

Film Forum has assembled a fifteen film retrospective of Dassin's work, the best of which mixed neo-realism, big message liberalism, and film noir shadowplay with a bold disregard for convention. His films jumped all over the continent, from London (Night and the City) to Paris (Rififi) to Athens (Never on Sunday), but what interests this writer the most are the American classics The Naked City (which paints a gorgeously moody picture of late 40's New York) and Up Tight, an incedniary Black Power remake of John Ford’s The Informer. You should go,

Jules Dassin retrospective
Through 4/7/9
Film Forum
209 W Houston Street
New York, NY
(212) 727-8110