TONI

(1934, Jean Renoir) Neo-Realism before Neo-Realism, as Charles Blavette’s Italian immigrant Toni falls for Celia Montalván, but when he loses her to a brutal Belgian foreman, marries his landlady — and then things get complicated. Renoir took his story from police files and filmed on the actual locations. Approx. 81 min. 35mm.
3:00, 5:30, 8:00

"A startling anticipation of neo-realism"
– Dave Kehr, The New York Times

“Renoir invests it with a sense of character and place that gives it an unusually blunt and sensual impact… Stark and gentle, as well as sexy.”
– Time Out (London)

A DAY IN THE COUNTRY

(1936, Jean Renoir) During a Sunday picnic, a mother and daughter find extracurricular solace from their boorish men. Renoir’s adaptation of a Maupassant story became a classic in spite of itself when production was abandoned due to endless rain, with the footage only assembled a decade later. Approx. 40 min. 35mm.
4:35, 7:05, 9:35

"The imagery shimmers with references to [Renoir's] father, who used to paint in the same region, and the result brims with languor and pagan zest. The ending is tragedy in miniature, but it is flicked away, like a cigarette, and life drifts on."
– Anthony Lane, The New Yorker

"A PASTORAL MASTERPIECE."
– Time Out New York

“Witty and sensuous, it's pure magic.”
– Geoff Andrew, Time Out (London)

“Intense lyrical simplicity underlaid with an aching irony.”
– Richard Winnington

"The charm of the film seems almost too easily won, but Renoir's real brilliance emerges in the way the light tone is subtly modulated into the profound sadness and regret of the conclusion." 
– David Kehr