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Gordon Willis was arguably the greatest New York City-based cinematographer ever. Working with such directors as Francis Ford Coppola and Woody Allen, this Astoria-born maverick had the ability to use shadow and underexposed film to gain commercial fame while shunning the Hollywood system. The Museum of the Moving Image is currently celebrating Willis (1931–2014) and his contribution to film as part of its ongoing, periodical See In Big! series, which shows classical movies on a large screen. With films scheduled on weekends through March 1st, the next one is this Friday. A list and another photo follow on the jump page.

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Willis worked on many major features with black-and-white film in the 1970s. Almost all of the movies in this series are presented in 35mm, including a rare, archival IB Technicolor print. Here’s the schedule.

  • Manhattan (above): February 20th at 7 pm. With Woody Allen and Diane Keaton, this urban romance features unforgettable black-and-white imagery shot by Willis and music by George Gershwin.
  • The Landlord: February 21st at 2 pm. For this comedy/social critique, Willis sharpened the culture-clash satire by utilizing high-key lighting for the realm of WASP-y privilege and subdued shadows for urban settings.
  • Loving: February 21st at 4:30 pm. This forgotten treasure of American New Wave cinema stars George Segal as an NYC advertising artist headed for a nervous breakdown due to the pressure of juggling a career, family, and an extramarital affair. Willis lends gauzy lensing to this comedy.
  • Little Murders: February 21st at 7 pm. Willis uses edgy cinematography to provide an extra jolt to this black comedy which Alan Arkin adapted from Village Voice cartoonist Jules Feiffer’s play.
  • The Purple Rose of Cairo: February 22nd at 3 pm. This Woody Allen comedy stars Mia Farrow as a 1930s movie fan whose idol enters her life. Willis uses pastel colors to capture small-town life and a controlled array of optical effects to portray the different layers of fantasy and reality.
  • Klute: February 22nd at 5 pm. With Jane Fonda and Donald Sutherland, this film noir is an archetypal example of 1970s “paranoia cinema.” Willis employs dim lighting and disorienting camera angles to amplify the atmosphere of dread.
  • The Parallax View: February 22nd at 7:30 pm. With Warren Beatty, this paranoid thriller is about a reporter who enters politics to solve a presidential candidate’s assassination. Willis uses off-kilter framing to convey a creeping sense of unseen, sinister forces.
  • All the President’s Men: February 27th at 7 pm. Dustin Hoffman and Robert Redford star in this depiction of the Watergate scandal. Willis made a name for himself with a virtuoso opening sequence (filmed at the Library of Congress), deep-focus photography, and a dynamic blend of static and moving compositions.
  • Interiors: February 28th at 2 pm. Woody Allen directs this portrait of three sisters whose lives are thrown into turmoil by their parents’ divorce. The psychological intensity is enhanced by Willis’s somber color palette and claustrophobic rendering of space.
  • Broadway Danny Rose: February 28th at 4:30 pm. Woody Allen is a talent agent with a hilariously talentless roster of clients. Willis works in cool black and white to take exquisite photographs in some unlikely places, such as New Jersey’s swamps.
  • Pennies from Heaven: February 28th at 7 pm; and March 1st at 7 pm. This adaptation of Dennis Potter’s TV series stars Steve Martin as a sheet music salesperson during the Great Depression, captured in exquisite, Edward Hopper-esque images by Willis.
  • Zelig: March 1st at 2 pm. Woody Allen is human chameleon Leonard Zelig, who has an uncanny ability to imitate anyone he meets in this pseudo-documentary which blends actual newsreel footage from the 1920s and 1930s with new, posed photography. Willis got his first Oscar nomination for this blend.
  • Stardust Memories: March 1st at 4 pm. Woody Allen is a director whose recollections of his relationships with three women return during a retrospective of his work. Willis shot this dark comedy in luminous black and white.

Details: See It Big! Celebrates Gordon Willis, Museum of the Moving Image, 36-01 35th Avenue, Kaufman Arts District, now until March 1st, times vary, general admission.


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