FILM SERIES

The Method on Film

 
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Jul 22—Jul 28, 2022
 
   
 
 
 
 
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In conjunction with the publication of Isaac Butler’s critically acclaimed The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act, Butler and film curator Livia Bloom Ingram curate a century-spanning program tracing the development of Method acting in cinema. From Konstantin Stanislavski and the ambitious Moscow Art Theater troupe to Stella Adler and the community-born traditions of Yiddish theater—and from John Garfield’s sheepish grin to Jack Nicholson’s menacing snarl—the films in this program show the evolution of the naturalistic and internalized approach to performance that actors define themselves in relation to today.

Developed by the Group Theatre in the 1930s and brought to generations of actors by the Actors Studio beginning in the late 1940s, the Method has radically transformed Hollywood since the mid-twentieth century. This series offers an invaluable primer on this much misunderstood and quintessentially American form of acting.

Programmed by Isaac Butler and Livia Bloom Ingram


 
PAST EVENTS
Streetcar Named Desire
Film
A Streetcar Named Desire + Meet Marlon Brando
 

A Streetcar Named Desire is paired with the Maysles’ rare candid glimpse of Brando as himself.

Fri, Jul 22, 2022
 
 
Place In The Sun
Film
A Place in the Sun
 

Montgomery Clift plays the ambitious and doomed George Eastman in this influential, Oscar-winning triumph.

Sat, Jul 23, 2022
 
 
Anna Lucasta
Film
Anna Lucasta
 

American Negro Theatre’s Broadway hit on film, starring Eartha Kitt and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Sat, Jul 23, 2022
 
 
Wild River
Film
Wild River
 

An electric performance from Montgomery Clift anchors this timeless study of American individualism.

Sat, Jul 23, 2022
 
 
Raisin In The Sun
Film
A Raisin in the Sun
 

Sidney Poitier and an all-star ensemble reach new dramatic depths in Lorraine Hansberry's seminal masterpiece.

Sat, Jul 23, 2022
 
 
Queen Of Spades
Film
The Queen of Spades
 

Silent Russian actors foreshadow the Method's physicality and vivid emotionality.

Sun, Jul 24, 2022
 
 
American Matchmaker
Film
American Matchmaker
 

Nicknamed "the Yiddish Fred Astaire," actor Leo Fuchs stars in this rarely shown musical-comedy.

Sun, Jul 24, 2022
 
 
 Reds
Film
Reds
 

Warren Beatty’s tribute to the utopian dreams of the early 20th-century—including those that helped birth the Method itself.

Sun, Jul 24, 2022
 
 
TV Program
Film
TV Program
 

In this pairing of TV programs, The Method shows its range with powerhouse performances by Kim Stanley and Joanne Woodward.

Mon, Jul 25, 2022
 
 
Humoresque
Film
Humoresque
 

John Garfield stars as a poor musician discovered by a wealthy arts patron.

Mon, Jul 25, 2022
 
 
Five Easy Pieces
Film
Five Easy Pieces
 

Jack Nicholson gives one of his most emotionally complex performances in the story of a working-class cad with a surprising past.

Tue, Jul 26, 2022
 
 
Wanda
Film
Wanda
 

Actors Studio member Barbara Loden directs and stars in this raw, neo-realist milestone.

Tue, Jul 26, 2022
 
 
Symbio
Film
Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One
 

William Greaves' meta-cinematic mind-bender is informed by the Method's core preoccupations.

Wed, Jul 27, 2022
 
 
Graduate
Film
The Graduate
 

Anne Bancroft and Dustin Hoffman star in this generation-defining document of 1960s youth culture.

Wed, Jul 27, 2022
 
 
 Pawnbroker
Film
The Pawnbroker
 

Lee Strasberg’s Method is elicited in Rod Steiger’s Oscar-nominated performance as a Holocaust survivor.

Thu, Jul 28, 2022