The Best Old Movies on a Big Screen This Week: NYC Repertory Cinema Picks, November 23-29
Gigi (1958)
Directed by Vincente Minnelli
For those still recovering from the results of the election, maybe a film about a young woman groomed to learn the ways of Paris’s patriarchal high society is not an essential watch. But then again, you’ve never met a girl like Gigi. One of the last hurrahs of MGM’s Golden Age, Minnelli’s ornate musical was a critical success in 1958 and remains a visual feast today. Minnelli, a former set designer, fills each frame with the vibrant colors and lavish decorations of the Belle Epoque. But it’s Leslie Caron, as the precocious title character, who lends the film its surprising feminist spirit. Gigi refuses to become just another mistress and, when she ultimately relents and marries the womanizing Gaston, she greets her happily ever after with a weariness rarely seen in Hollywood musicals. A.J. Serrano (November 27, 4:15pm, 9:15pm at BAM’s “That’s Entertainment!: MGM Musicals Part II”)