The Magic of Paul Mazursky
A True American Original May 4 – 10, 2007
Somewhere in screenland between the doomsday hilarity of Woody Allen and the outrageous parody of Mel Brooks lives Paul Mazursky, a satiric filmmaker whose territory is less savage, just as bracing and even more optimistic. This is the first major retrospective to focus on his work, showing 11 of his films, including the New York premiere of Yippee: A Journey to Jewish Joy. Paul Mazursky will appear in person at many of the screenings to introduce and answer questions from the audience ~ those shows are indicated by an asterisk (*) in the Program Overview. Other guests are also expected.
Brooklyn-born Paul Mazursky has made films since the late 1960s. He has appeared in many of them, written or co-written the scripts, and produced and directed more than half a dozen that bear his distinctive sense of play. He’s the kid in the candy store who makes sure everybody gets some. Few filmmakers have depicted both New Yorkers and Hollywood denizens with more zest and humor, and the human condition has rarely looked as loony as when he gets his hands on it.
In a 1975 Film Comment article , Richard Corliss pointed out that most of Mazursky’s films were not so much about sex, drugs, or hippy-dippy gals and dudes, but essentially about love: the search for it, the towering belief in it. It may be this obsession that makes Mazursky a true American original, with an ability to mix reality with a certain kind of idealism that is most welcome in these cynical times.
Read the March/April 1975 Film Comment article on Paul Mazursky by Richard Corliss as well as two articles from the March/April 1978 issue: an interview with Mazursky by Terry Curtis Fox done at the time of An Unmarried Woman and a review of the film by Roger Ebert.
For a listing of the films in the series go to Program Overview.
Click on
Calendar to view the schedule, film descriptions and, to purchase tickets online.
Special thanks to the Blanche and Irving Laurie Foundation for its generous support of this program.
Grateful thanks also go to Jeff Kanew, Elvis Mitchell, John Cocchi, the John Kobal Collection, Ray Regis/University of Miami Film Collection and Sharon Rivo/The National Center for Jewish Film at Brandeis University.
