Wed, December 6
Carpenter Center Theater
Damien Chazelle, Baby Jane Holzer Visiting Artist, AFVS, in Person
Screening 1, 3:00PM
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench
Damien Chazelle
(2009, USA, 82 minutes)
Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench tracks a pair of young lovers after they meet by chance in a Boston Park and bond over a passion for old-timey music. But like his constantly searching camera, Chazelle doesn't linger too long in any one place in the story. Soon Guy (Jason Palmer) and Madeline (Desiree Garcia) are separated and searching for new romance on city streets and in smoke-filled jazz clubs. Guy has an electrifying chance encounter with the lovely Elena (Sandha Khin), and Madeline entertains new suitors along with her own dreams of escaping to New York, but love may ultimately lead them back to one another. (Tribeca)
Screening 2, 6:00pm
Babylon
Damien Chazelle
(2022, USA, 188 minutes)
While Damien Chazelle’s 2016 film La La Land celebrated the beauty and possibility of Hollywood, his latest film turns it over and examines its seedy underbelly. In Babylon, Nelly LaRoy and Jack Conrad (Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt), both stars of the silent film era, struggle to adapt to the demands of sound films and to the surveillance of gossip columnist Elinor St. John (Jean Smart). As they struggle with fame, Manny Torres (Diego Calva) struggles with obscurity as a Mexican immigrant who dreams of working in Hollywood before Jack takes the young man under his wing. With the star’s help, Manny quickly climbs the ranks at a major studio and is initiated into the harsh reality of the world he once revered. Chazelle’s screenplay and debaucherous direction exposes the depravity and the sadness behind the glitter of stardom. (TIFF)
Baby Jane Holzer Visiting Artist Damien Chazelle’s first feature, Guy and Madeline on a Park Bench (2009) was a masterful display of his early craftsmanship that laid the foundation for his later success with films like La La Land (2016) and Whiplash (2014). His most recent feature, Babylon (2022), takes audiences on a desirous and delirious exploration of early Hollywood. The AFVS department is thrilled to welcome Damien ‘07 back to AFVS, to show his first and latest features, and to be in conversation with students and the audience.
