Five unforgettable films from a master

‘Mike Nichols: Remembered’ rekindles work of a revolutionary

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Mike Nichols was a rare one. He began in comedy, moved to the stage and then made his way to Hollywood, where he forever changed the face of cinema. Sandwiched between the French New Wave and the New American Cinema, Nichols helped bring movies back into the adult realm. His movies were not pornography of the loins, but of the mind.

Nichols died earlier this year, on Nov. 19, 13 days after his 83rd birthday. Moviegoers reflected on the work the man made in his roughly 40-year career — not to mention his award-winning work on the stage and comedy routines with Elaine May. But the screen is where America met Nichols and it will be on the silver screens of the Sie Film Center where they can relive the classics.

From Dec. 18 to Dec. 21, the Sie Film Center will program five of Nichols’ most important works: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), The Graduate (1967), Catch-22 (1970), The Birdcage (1996) and Closer (2004). Covering four decades, five genres and starring no fewer than a dozen sensational performances, “Mike Nichols: Remembered” showcases the talent and range of the dynamo director.

The retrospective opens with The Graduate, easily the most well-known of Nichols’ work, and for good reason. The Graduate was Nichols’ second film, and he was in such high demand that he got to call the shots, including casting Dustin Hoffman (Benjamin Braddock), Anne Bancroft (Mrs. Robinson) and Katherine Ross (Elaine), decisions the studio was not fond of. Lucky for us, Nichols knew better.

My personal favorite is also an adaptation from one of my favorite Joseph Heller novels, Catch-22, playing Dec. 19. Yossarian (Alan Arkin) is a sane man in an insane war trying to prove that he is insane and unfit for combat. But, if a sane man pretends to be insane to save his own hide, then he is by definition, sane and fit for battle. Nichols captures the humor and the horrific truth found in Heller’s novel and manages to coax Arkin’s best performance out of him along the way.

Nichols had style, but it is how he worked with actors to give their all that is most impressive and on Dec. 20, The Birdcage — an an out-and-out comedy — Robin Williams lets loose, calls his shot and swings for the fences.

The retrospective concludes Dec. 21 with Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and Closer. Virginia Woolf was Nichols’ debut and what a debut it was. Not only did he shoot it with a highly stylized eye, he stood toe-to-toe with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton at the height of their popularity and pulled out some of their most emotional performances. Not bad for a 35-year-old first-timer.

Closer was Nichols’ penultimate project. In a way, it was a return to the start. Using sex and sexuality to explore the roles people take to function in society, Closer returns to the subject matter found in The Graduate and that silent question proposed in the final scene on the bus: Can anyone truly be happy?

Not many people can claim to have changed the course of history, but when it comes to movies, Nichols is at the top of the list. His passing earlier this year is a grim reminder of how far we are removed from that revolutionary period. Thankfully, the work is still here and still being shown for the next batch of rabble-rousers. Watch and learn, and heed that one important piece of advice: Plastics.

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