The Birdcage (1996)
A remake of Édouard Molinaro’s 1978 film La Cage Aux Folles, The Birdcage is set in what The New York Times’ Janet Maslin described as “a tame, AIDS-free universe where homosexuality simply means wacky fashion sense”. Maslin’s skepticism represented a minority opinion, however; critics like Roger Ebert lauded Robin Williams’s performance — “in a role that seems written as a license for flamboyance, he’s more restrained than in anything he’s done” — and Elaine May’s “wicked screenplay,” which she adapted from the French film, itself an adaptation of a 1973 play.
Although The Birdcage has had its detractors over the years, critics at the time were largely won over by its deft mixture of silly screwball and carefully calibrated commentary. Variety’s Todd McCarthy summed up the critical consensus when he gushed, “Perhaps this story of a middle-aged gay couple’s comic encounter with a self-righteously straight and conservative family would have its place in any era, but it particularly feels like a breath of fresh air right now, in an election year when moral issues are being brandished with such pretentious and, no doubt, hypocritical ponderousness.”
Dir. Mike Nichols, USA, 1996, 117 min.
Both Friday, June 13 screenings will be introduced by Fran Hoepfner, a writer and critic whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, The New York Times, and Bright Wall/Dark Room.
Special thanks to Chris Chouinard at Park Circus
All sales are final and tickets are nonrefundable.
A remake of Édouard Molinaro’s 1978 film La Cage Aux Folles, The Birdcage is set in what The New York Times’ Janet Maslin described as “a tame, AIDS-free universe where homosexuality simply means wacky fashion sense”. Maslin’s skepticism represented a minority opinion, however; critics like Roger Ebert lauded Robin Williams’s performance — “in a role that seems written as a license for flamboyance, he’s more restrained than in anything he’s done” — and Elaine May’s “wicked screenplay,” which she adapted from the French film, itself an adaptation of a 1973 play.
Although The Birdcage has had its detractors over the years, critics at the time were largely won over by its deft mixture of silly screwball and carefully calibrated commentary. Variety’s Todd McCarthy summed up the critical consensus when he gushed, “Perhaps this story of a middle-aged gay couple’s comic encounter with a self-righteously straight and conservative family would have its place in any era, but it particularly feels like a breath of fresh air right now, in an election year when moral issues are being brandished with such pretentious and, no doubt, hypocritical ponderousness.”
Dir. Mike Nichols, USA, 1996, 117 min.
Both Friday, June 13 screenings will be introduced by Fran Hoepfner, a writer and critic whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, The New York Times, and Bright Wall/Dark Room.
Special thanks to Chris Chouinard at Park Circus
All sales are final and tickets are nonrefundable.
A remake of Édouard Molinaro’s 1978 film La Cage Aux Folles, The Birdcage is set in what The New York Times’ Janet Maslin described as “a tame, AIDS-free universe where homosexuality simply means wacky fashion sense”. Maslin’s skepticism represented a minority opinion, however; critics like Roger Ebert lauded Robin Williams’s performance — “in a role that seems written as a license for flamboyance, he’s more restrained than in anything he’s done” — and Elaine May’s “wicked screenplay,” which she adapted from the French film, itself an adaptation of a 1973 play.
Although The Birdcage has had its detractors over the years, critics at the time were largely won over by its deft mixture of silly screwball and carefully calibrated commentary. Variety’s Todd McCarthy summed up the critical consensus when he gushed, “Perhaps this story of a middle-aged gay couple’s comic encounter with a self-righteously straight and conservative family would have its place in any era, but it particularly feels like a breath of fresh air right now, in an election year when moral issues are being brandished with such pretentious and, no doubt, hypocritical ponderousness.”
Dir. Mike Nichols, USA, 1996, 117 min.
Both Friday, June 13 screenings will be introduced by Fran Hoepfner, a writer and critic whose work has appeared in New York Magazine, The New York Times, and Bright Wall/Dark Room.
Special thanks to Chris Chouinard at Park Circus
All sales are final and tickets are nonrefundable.