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Cinema offers 'Dr. Caligari' with Devil Music Wednesday, September 17, 2003 In
preparation for Halloween, Studio Cinema of Belmont will screen the 1919
silent horror film "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari," on Friday, Oct.
10 at 7:30 p.m., with an original score performed live by the Boston-based
Devil Music Ensemble. One
of cinema's most influential and cherished films, this German Expressionist
gem inspired such genres as film noir, science fiction and horror, and the
likes of Tim Burton and Terry Gilliam. As a horror film it stands alongside
Dreyer's "Vampyr" and Murnau's "Nosferatu" for its
stunning embodiment of Expressionist ideals, which had its most influential
period after World War I, when depression and despair drove directors into a
macabre fantasy world. With its dramatic, larger than life visuals, the film conveys
a world of chaos where individual existence is limited by the fear of past
experiences and the hostile rule of authority figures. The
film is narrated by Francis, a young man confined to a mental institution who
tells a story about a fair that came to his town featuring the traveling
showman, Dr. Caligari, and his clairvoyant sleepwalker, Cesare. When Francis'
friend, Alan, asks Cesare about the date of his death, he learns that he will
die at dawn. His murder is followed by a pursuit through an artificial
landscape of over-sized furniture and ill-formed spiky trees where everything
tends towards spirals and spider webs. Francis' dislocated and disorienting
narration leaves the audience wondering about his ability to tell the truth. The
dynamic Devil Music Ensemble will bring the characters and the film to life.
DME is an eclectic rock band and a multi-media act, performing composed and
improvised scores to silent films. Formed in Boston in 1999 by guitarist
Brendon Wood, the group has been a rock trio, an Eastern European folk band,
a 16-piece modern orchestral ensemble, and a house band for live theater.
Most recently, it has performed original soundtracks for classic and modern
silent films. With
Wood playing standard and modified electric guitars in tandem with lap steel,
electric violinist Jonah Rapino and former Say ZuZu drummer Tim Nylander
paint soundscapes alternately serene and scary. Rapino, a member of Elvish
Presley and the acclaimed New Millennium String Ensemble, also handles
keyboard duties, using vintage analog synthesizers. To
hear MP3s or find out more about DME visit www.massdist.com and click on
Devil Music. General
admission is $12, or $8 for seniors and children under 12. Tickets can be
purchased in advance at the theater's box office or at the door. The theater
is handicapped-accessible. Studio
Cinema is located 376 Trapelo Road, Belmont. For recorded information and
updates, call 617-484-1706 or visit www.studiocinema.com. For more
information call the theater at 617-484-9751. |
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