Fleischer’s THE NARROW MARGIN + Abbas Kiarostami’s TICKETS

Genevieve Yue presents: Richard Fleischer’s THE NARROW MARGIN (1952) + Abbas Kiarostami’s TICKETS (2005). On the occasion of the publication of film scholar and critic Genevieve Yue’s new book Trains—part of Fordham Press’s Cutaways series, in which writers trace a single device or theme across an idiosyncratic selection of films—we present a short-and-feature pairing curated and introduced by Yue, preceded by a book signing. Post-screening reception brought to you by L.A. Material. Copies of Trains will be available for purchase courtesy of Stories Books. ∆ THE NARROW MARGIN directed by Richard Fleischer 1952, 71m, U.S., DCP In this taut, white-knuckle thriller from master journeyman Richard Fleischer, an LAPD officer (Charles McGraw) is assigned to protect a witness (Marie Windsor) from gangsters on a cramped, fast-moving train from Chicago to Los Angeles. Shot guerilla-style without permits at Union Station, the film was infamously shelved for two years by Howard Hughes (then the head of RKO Pictures) who wanted to remake it with A-list actors; yet the film is an ideal example of a gritty genre movie with raw, hardboiled chemistry between its then-unknown two leads. “A nearly perfect B picture.” -Jonathan Rosenbaum preceded by: TICKETS (excerpt, 2005) directed by Abbas Kiarostami 2005, 30m, Italy/Austria, digital Abbas Kiarostami collaborated with Ermanno Olmi and Ken Loach on the little-seen 2005 anthology film Tickets, with each filmmaker contributing a short film about European passengers on the same train from Innsbruck to Rome. Kiarostami’s deceptively simple segment follows several conversations between strangers across various social and class divisions, including a man who insists that a stranger is calling on his cell-phone without his permission, and two men who insist on being seated in their reserved seats occupied by other passengers. Special thanks to Adam Piron, Pauline Kraatz, ellie sunlight moon and Alexandra Jade.