POP UP CINEMA BRIGHTON
White Wall Cinema x It Is Still 1985 presents
​​​THURSDAY MARCH 19TH
IT IS STILL 1985 & WHITE WALL CINEMA PRESENT
AMERICAN GIGOLO
4K REMASTER
DIRECTOR: Paul Schrader
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STARRING: Richard Gere, & Lauren Hutton​
It Is Still 1985 Brighton's legendary 80s party (every Saturday at Green Door Store) turns 18 this year. To celebrate the night 'coming of age' White Wall Cinema are collaborating with 1985 for a new season of films called 'Sex in the 80s' starting with this Paul Schrader classic.​
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From writer–director Paul Schrader (screenwriter of Taxi Driver and Raging Bull, and director of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters and First Reformed) comes a defining landmark of American style. Not only the key influence on American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis, American Gigolo was the film that made Giorgio Armani and Richard Gere household names in the United States. Gere models a sensational array of Armani suits throughout, except when he doesn’t, as the film was also one of the first mainstream Hollywood productions to feature frontal male nudity from its leading man. Featuring an effortlessly cool score by electronic disco legend Giorgio Moroder and the No. 1 soundtrack hit “Call Me” by Blondie, this 1980 masterpiece was a game-changer that set the tone for an entire decade.
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Living in his minimalist Los Angeles apartment (before minimalism was even a thing) Julian Kaye (Gere) is the embodiment of cultivated taste: impeccably dressed, fluent in several languages, and devoted to the finer things in life. A high-class escort Julian finances his lavish lifestyle catering to a roster of wealthy women, and cultivates a carefully maintained sense of emotional detachment. But when he begins a relationship with the wife of a powerful senator and is framed for a murder he did not commit, his meticulously controlled world begins to unravel.
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Slick yet substantive, Schrader never allows the high design and neon glow of the 1980s to overshadow the film’s European art-house sensibility or the moral gravity of its subject. Sophisticated and coolly detached yet charged with undercurrents of passion, American Gigolo is a tautly restrained melodrama and is one of the defining films of its era as well as an enduring icon of 80s style. Beautifully restored in 4K for the first time, it remains a ravishing work that radiates understated opulence from every frame and demands big screen viewing.
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​​​​​For more info It Is Still 1985's weekly Saturday events visit itisstill1985.com
DOORS: 7.10pm*
START TIME: 7.40pm*
RUN TIME: 117 mins
CERT: 18
LOCATION: Wagner Hall (Regency Road, Brighton)
*Please note - doors open at 7.10pm in advance of screening time in order to give patrons extra time to purchase food & drink, visit our beer garden, look at our archive movie store and to allow gradual entry to your seats in a safe and easy way. Please try to allow extra time to get seated prior to the performance start time of 7.40pm. There will usually be no admittance from 20 minutes after the films stated start time. No hot food or alcohol from outside the premises is allowed. All alcoholic drinks consumed on the premises must be purchased from the bar as per the conditions of the venue's licence. For more information about screenings and the venue please visit our Venue & Screenings Info page.