This semester New Center for Psychoanalysis in Los Angeles (NCP) is screening three later Woody Allen films plus two by Julie Taymor. Check the NCP website http://n-c-p.org/edu-filmbook.asp and mark your calendars now. Programs are Friday nights and begin at 7:30 pm and include psychoanalytic discussion following. The series combines professional education with community outreach.
Woody Allen has made/released 47 films–seven since 2005. We will screen three of his recent thoughtful films that are good entertainment but not not as well known as Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Midnight In Paris (maybe we’ll show those in the Spring).
Our series begins On Oct 14 with Beverly Feinstein MD discussing Woody Allen’s 2010 You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger (with Anthony Hopkins, Naomi Watts, Gemma Jones, Josh Broslin, and Antonio Banderas). Typical of Allen’s later films, this is a complex and somewhat dark farce leavened with characterizations both droll and sparkling. Hope to see you there…
The other two Allen films are Matchpoint (2005) discussed by myself and our master-reviewer Apura Shah MD on November 18 and Whatever Works (2009) starring Larry David and Evan Rachel Wood, discussed by Bettina Soestwohner PhD on December 2.
On Oct. 28, we will screen Taymor’s second film, Frida (2002) with a discussion by Kathleen Gates PhD and Elena Balashova-Shamis PhD. Frida is a 2002 biographical film which depicts the professional and private life of the surrealist painter Frida Kahlo. It stars Salma Hayek in her Academy Award nominated portrayal as Kahlo and Alfred Molina as her husband, Diego Rivera. The film begins with the accident Frida Kahlo suffered at the age of 18 when a car trolley collided with a bus she was riding. She is impaled by a metal pole and the injuries she sustained plague her for the rest of her life. To help her through convalescence, her father brings her a canvas upon which to start painting. Throughout the film, a scene starts as a painting, then slowly dissolves into a love-action scene with actors.
Many people know Taymor’s Frida (which we screen Oct 28 ), but few have seen her spectacular The Tempest , which to my mind is a delightful and successful presentation of Shakespeare’s great, final play. We screen Tempest January 20, 2012 with a discussion led by Jill Lummus PsyD and Apurva Shah MD. Plan to see it!
Open to the public with Continuing Education Units provided for mental health professionals.
Thomas M Brod MD, DFAPA
Associate Clinical Professor, Psychiatry
Geffen UCLA School of Medicine
Office: 12304 Santa Monica Blvd.
Suite 210, Los Angeles CA 90025