Cinema of the Dam'd presents: ONE LAST JOB

Cinema of the Dam’d is about to go on holiday for the summer, but first we have one last job—a pair of films on criminals who risk everything for that final payday.

Admission is FREE.

***

RIFIFI @ 19:00

Fresh out of prison, career criminal Tony (Jean Servais) discovers that his old flame has hooked up with a sleazy nightclub owner. Determined to win her back, Tony takes one last job, joining three other thieves in a plan to steal millions in diamonds from a high security Paris jewelry store. But their brilliant heist goes awry when greed, jealousy and deception threaten to tear the men apart. Jules Dassin’s classic crime thriller is a brutal and brilliant tale of honor among thieves. Dassin, who honed his craft in Hollywood before finding himself on the Blacklist, fled to Europe, to make this pessimistic noir masterwork. The film’s legendary centerpiece is the heist itself—unspooling over the course of an unbearably tense, wordless 30 minutes. Though it was based on an actual robbery in Marseilles in 1899, RIFIFI's methodical staging of the heist has been an influence on filmmakers (and criminals) ever since.

Directed by Jules Dassin, 1956, France, 122 minutes. Screened in French, Italian & English w/ English subtitles.

SEXY BEAST @ 21:15

Retired safecracker Gal (Ray Winstone) has left behind a life of crime to live with his wife Deedee (Amanda Redman) in a secluded Spanish villa. Gal’s poolside idyll is disturbed by the sudden arrival of Don Logan (Ben Kingsley), a fearsome former associate hell bent on recruiting Gal for one last job in London. Renouncing his criminal past, Gal faces off with this tightly-wound, foul mouthed sociopath in an unsettling and hilarious battle of wills. SEXY BEAST is the debut feature by Jonathan Glazer, who began as a director of music videos and went on to make 2014’s chilly sci-fi masterpiece UNDER THE SKIN. Glazer brings an audacious visual style to this eccentric take on the crime genre, while Kingsley (iconic for playing Gandhi) takes a wrecking ball to his genteel screen image. Though the inevitable heist is inventive and thrillingly-staged, this film’s heart is in the messy art of the deal.

Directed by Jonathan Glazer, 2000, UK/Spain, 91 minutes. Screened in English w/ English subtitles.