BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:adamgibbons/ics METHOD:PUBLISH X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H BEGIN:VEVENT UID:30172@offbeat.amsterdam SUMMARY:CiNEMercator - HAROLD AND MAUDE (Hal Ashby\, 1971) DTSTAMP:20261107T170844Z DTSTART:20261125T190000Z DESCRIPTION:Released in 1971\, at the height of Hollywood’s brief but extra ordinary\nflirtation with the counterculture\, Harold and Maude remains on e of American\ncinema’s most peculiar romantic comedies.\n\nDirected by Ha l Ashby\, whose understated anarchism would become a defining\nfeature of the New Hollywood era\, the film approaches death\, love and social\nconfo rmity with an irreverence that is both mischievous and unexpectedly\nprofo und.\n\nBud Cort plays Harold\, a wealthy\, death-obsessed young man who s tages elaborate\nsuicides to the indifference of his emotionally vacant mo ther. Ruth Gordon is\nMaude\, a 79-year-old eccentric whose appetite for l ife extends to stealing cars\,\nuprooting trees and disregarding most conv entions of respectable society. Their\nunlikely romance reverses the usual assumptions about youth and age: Harold is\nprematurely exhausted by exis tence\, while Maude has acquired\, through\nconsiderable suffering\, an al most radical capacity for joy.\n\nBeneath its eccentric humour lies a prec ise critique of bourgeois\nrespectability\, institutional authority and th e peculiar human talent for\nconfusing propriety with morality. Ashby’s sa tire is sharpest when it is least\nemphatic\; the military\, the church\, psychiatry and the family reveal their\nabsurdities with very little assis tance.\n\nCat Stevens’ songs lend the film a tenderness that occasionally borders on\nsentimentality\, but Ashby’s dry comic timing keeps it largely in check.\n\nInitially misunderstood by critics and audiences\, the film gradually acquired\nits cult status. More than half a century later\, its central provocation remains\nremarkably intact: that the art of living may have less to do with youth\,\nfreedom or happiness than with the courage to take existence seriously without\ntaking its conventions seriously at a ll...\n\nThis film is chosen by Maaike\n[https://www.supermercator.nl/cine mercator/team-cinemercator] URL:https://offbeat.amsterdam/event/cinemercator-harold-and-maude-hal-ashby -1971 GEO:52.3689648;4.8512865 LOCATION:Supermercator - Mercatorplein 3H\, 1057 BX Amsterdam STATUS:CONFIRMED CATEGORIES:comedy,film X-ALT-DESC;FMTTYPE=text/html:

Released in 1971, at the height of Hollywoo d’s brief but extraordinary flirtation with the counterculture, Harold and Maude remains one of American cinema’s most peculiar romantic co medies.

Directed by Hal Ashby, whose understated anarchism would be come a defining feature of the New Hollywood era, the film approaches deat h, love and social conformity with an irreverence that is both mischievous and unexpectedly profound.

Bud Cort plays Harold, a wealthy, death- obsessed young man who stages elaborate suicides to the indifference of hi s emotionally vacant mother. Ruth Gordon is Maude, a 79-year-old eccentric whose appetite for life extends to stealing cars, uprooting trees and dis regarding most conventions of respectable society. Their unlikely romance reverses the usual assumptions about youth and age: Harold is prematurely exhausted by existence, while Maude has acquired, through considerable suf fering, an almost radical capacity for joy.

Beneath its eccentric hu mour lies a precise critique of bourgeois respectability, institutional au thority and the peculiar human talent for confusing propriety with moralit y. Ashby’s satire is sharpest when it is least emphatic; the military, the church, psychiatry and the family reveal their absurdities with very litt le assistance.

Cat Stevens’ songs lend the film a tenderness that oc casionally borders on sentimentality, but Ashby’s dry comic timing keeps i t largely in check.

Initially misunderstood by critics and audiences , the film gradually acquired its cult status. More than half a century la ter, its central provocation remains remarkably intact: that the art of li ving may have less to do with youth, freedom or happiness than with the co urage to take existence seriously without taking its conventions seriously at all...

This film is chosen by Maaike

BEGIN:VALARM ACTION:DISPLAY DESCRIPTION:CiNEMercator - HAROLD AND MAUDE (Hal Ashby, 1971) TRIGGER:-PT1H END:VALARM END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR