Hollywood Gothique

Location: The Aero Theatre, 1328 Montana Avenue, Santa Monica, CA
Date: February 7 at 7:30pm
Link out: Click here
Description: The American Cinematheque presents a double bill from director Darren Aronofsky, with the director schedule to appear in person for a Q&A between the screenings; other guests are to be confirmed.

From the website:

Darren Aronofsky has been pushing the boundaries of American independent filmmaking since his debut feature PI sent reverberating shockwaves through the audience at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. A master of colliding the dreamlike with grit, and of creating portraits of individuals on the brink of revelatory breakthrough, Aronofsky continues to make one arresting film after another, including REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, THE FOUNTAIN, THE WRESTLER, and this year’s Oscar-nominated smash success, BLACK SWAN.

BLACK SWAN, 2010, Fox Searchlight, 108 min. Dir. Darren Aronofsky. Natalie Portman stuns in her Golden Globe-winning and Academy Award®-nominated performance as Nina Sayers, a timid yet talented ballerina who lands the dual role of White and Black Swan in her company’s production of Swan Lake. As Nina struggles with the sexual confidence needed to master the demanding role, a number of foreboding elements eclipse her world: a ferociously manipulative Mommy Dearest (Barbara Hershey), a lecherous ballet director (Vincent Cassell), a free-spirited yet malevolent rival dancer (Mila Kunis), and a set of horrific, otherworldly bodily changes. With a terrific score by Clint Mansell, riffing with delightful menace on Tchaikovsky ’s original music from Swan Lake.

PI, 1998, Lionsgate, 84 min. In director Darren Aronofsky’s trippy, edgy first feature which earned him a directing award at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival, an isolated and paranoid numbers theorist (Sean Gullette) accidentally discovers, loses, and then frantically tries to re-find a 216-digit number that can unlock the secret of universal patterns.