METROPOLIS W/ LIVE MUSICAL SCORE BY JEFF RAPSIS

JANUARY 29

Fritz Lang’s Sci-Fi Masterpiece: with 25 Minutes of Restored Footage screened here in a restoration by Kino Lorber.

"One of the most celebrated movies in cinema history...For the first time, Lang’s vision... which has influenced contemporary films like “Blade Runner” and “Star Wars,” seems complete." — The New York Times

Incorporating more than 25 minutes of newly discovered footage, this 2010 restoration of METROPOLIS is the definitive edition of Fritz Lang’s science fiction masterpiece. Backed by a mesmerizing, live-improvised score by Jeff Rapsis playing the synth-piano, the film’s dazzling visual design and special effects are more striking than ever. And the integration of scenes and subplots long considered lost endows METROPOLIS with even greater tension and emotional resonance, as it dramatizes the conflict between wealthy über-capitalists and rebellious subterranean laborers—orchestrated by a diabolical scientist capable of destroying them both. Experience this film as it was shown 99 years ago (at this very theater) and meant to be witnessed- with a musical score performed live amidst a full audience of people!

Plot Synopsis: A beautiful and cultured Utopia exists above a bleak underworld populated by mistreated workers. When the privileged youth Freder discovers the grim scene under the highly stylized futuristic city, he becomes intent on helping the workers.

Jeff Rapsis is a celebrated musician, live-accompanist, and historian for Silent Film renowned throughout New England and the country for his special film-performances and perspectives- he's a JPT audience favorite! Jeff will introduce the film and conduct an audience Q&A after.

"A MASTERPIECE OF VISIONARY SILENT CINEMA... one of the strangest, most fascinating films ever made, a futuristic nightmare that is both sublime in its grandeur and remarkably intimate in its emotions. Just about every science-fiction movie you can think of pays tribute to its influence, but to date none has matched its strangeness or its prophetic power."
- A.O. Scott, The New York Times

"The greatest of all pulp fantasies! Lang’s profligate hallucination of a future city is a movie whose every detail is subsumed to the overall effect."
- J. Hoberman, The Village Voice

"The plutonium template for sci-fi moviemaking... Remains one of the most inspirational and influential movies of any genre."
- John Anderson, Newsday

ACTION/ADVENTURE