The Wiz: Sidney Lumet Retrospective Comes to Film Forum

Film Forum launches its Sidney Lumet retrospective tonight, kicking off its three-week series of the renowned 83-year-old director’s films with screenings of his 1976 TV news satire, Network. In all, 22 of Mr. Lumet’s 44 features will be shown, including his “canonical five-borough stories” like Serpico and Dog Day Afternoon. Mr. Lumet will appear in person the evening on Monday, Feb. 11, for a discussion moderated by the film historian Foster Hirsch. More from the The New York Sun:

And yet Mr. Lumet's directorial hallmarks—a keen sensitivity to the storytelling voodoo of lens choices and lighting, and an almost supernatural flair for casting roles and cultivating performances, have graced more than two dozen features set in such pointedly non-New York locales as Istanbul ("Murder on the Orient Express") and Boston ("The Verdict"). Further, though he is renowned for his gritty treatment of headline-based source material, the 22 films selected by Film Forum's programmer, Bruce Goldstein, encompass adaptations of revered 20th-century theater works by Anton Chekhov, Tennessee Williams, Eugene O'Neill, and Arthur Miller. And though Mr. Lumet's name is synonymous with Al Pacino's non-"Godfather" acting triumphs of the 1970s, he has worked twice as many times with Sean Connery. Film Forum's retrospective is a reminder that the director's career has been long, fruitful, and varied.