FLM 53 — Remarkable Films That (Almost) No One Has Ever Seen
Quarter: Spring
Instructor(s): Mick LaSalle
Date(s): Apr 4—Jun 6
Class Recording Available: No
Class Meeting Day: Thursdays
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Class Meeting Time: 6:30—9:00 pm (PT)
Tuition: $550
Refund Deadline: Apr 6
Unit(s): 2
Status: Closed
Quarter: Spring
Day: Thursdays
Duration: 10 weeks
Time: 6:30—9:00 pm (PT)
Date(s): Apr 4—Jun 6
Unit(s): 2
Tuition: $550
Refund Deadline: Apr 6
Instructor(s): Mick LaSalle
Grade Restriction: No letter grade
Recording Available: No
Status: Closed
Many great movies never make it into American theaters. We see only the scantest fraction of what Europe produces, and we don’t necessarily see the best. Even quality American films are often held up because of marketing concerns. A film will fall through the cracks when it doesn’t clearly fit a single advertising category, or distributors will lose their nerve because a subject is deemed too daring. In this course, we will screen 10 remarkable films from the United States, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spain, and India that either have never been released in the Bay Area or had such small releases that they went virtually unseen (earning less than $500,000 at the domestic box office). These are entertaining, eye-opening movies that give a window into their respective cultures. Why did few get to see them? What scared away distributors? And why do some movies make it while others never see the light? Many of the movies in this course have appeared on Mick LaSalle's end-of-year top 10 lists of the past 35 years, including Mothering Sunday, Voyager, The Details, Dogfight, and Callas Forever. These films will be shown either in full or in clips. Featured stars will include Tobey Maguire, Fanny Ardant, Colin Firth, Olivia Colman, Sam Shepard, Julie Delpy, River Phoenix, Dennis Quaid, and Val Kilmer.
For students who have previously taken the course, the structure is the same but the content is new. Past students are encouraged to join.
MICK LASALLE
Film Critic, Hearst Newspapers
Mick LaSalle is the author of Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood, Dangerous Men: Pre-Code Hollywood and the Birth of the Modern Man, The Beauty of the Real: What Hollywood Can Learn from Contemporary French Actresses, and Dream State: California in the Movies. He writes for the San Francisco Chronicle and other Hearst newspapers. Textbooks for this course:
There are no required textbooks; however, some fee-based online readings may be assigned.