KING OF HEARTS
Sunday, March 21st at 1:00 p.m.
and Tuesday, March 23rd at 7:00 p.m.
ADMISSION: FREE
**Suggested donation: $5.00**
All ESSENTIAL CINEMA films screen Sunday at 1:00 p.m. and Tuesday at 7:00 p.m., and admission is FREE!
See classic art films the way they were meant to be seen - with an audience and on the big screen in 35 mm!
"An extravagant and highly comic morality play ... Phillipe De Brocca's parable is a funny and touching experience." - Vincent Canby, THE NEW YORK TIMES
"One of the greatest 'sleepers' of all time ... became one of the biggest cult hits of the '70s ... full of fairy tale atmosphere and carnival energy." - TIME OUT LONDON
"For all its exuberance and madcap silliness, this is a startlingly effective anti-war film." - FILMS DE FRANCE.COM
One of the most popular foreign films of all time, KING OF HEARTS became one of the biggest midnight cult films of the early 1970s when, after flopping during its initial mainstream release, it was re-released to U.S. arthouse cinemas in college towns, playing continuously to enthusiastic audiences in some theaters for over five years! Directed by French filmmaker Phillipe de Broca (That Man from Rio), KING OF HEARTS became a cinematic touchstone of the late 1960s, when it was seen as a satirical antiwar allegory for a world in which madness seemed to reign.
Bumbling Scottish Private Plumpick (Alan Bates, Women in Love) is sent to a village in the beautiful French countryside during World War I on a suicide mission to detonate explosives set by the retreating German army. The village, soon to be blown sky-high, has been abandoned by its inhabitants and replaced with escapees from the local insane asylum. Now, with the mentally challenged running the town, Plumpick is crowned King! But his new title brings him his first horrible decision: to carry out his deadly mission or join the ranks of the blissfully ignorant who know nothing about war.
Infused with an irresistible, carnival-esque atmosphere and stellar supporting performances from a large cast including Michel Serrault (best know as one half of the unambiguously gay duo in La Cage Aux Folles) and Geneviéve Bujold (Choose Me, Dead Ringers) as the beautiful, tutu-wearing inmate Coquelicot, KING OF HEARTS is an absurd, freewheeling and tenderhearted fable that still speaks to the importance of maintaining a little healthy "insanity."
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE "KING OF HEARTS" MOVIE TRAILER!
http://www.spout.com/films/King_of_Hearts/19001/353977/trailers.aspx