Cinemaniacs: THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE

Name: Cinemaniacs: THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE
Start: 2025-02-02T18:00:00-06:00
Location: 2009 West Gray St, Houston, TX, United States, Texas 77019

Schedule

Sun, 02 Feb, 2025 at 06:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

2009 West Gray St, Houston, TX, United States, Texas 77019 | Houston, TX

Part of Paranoia, the Destroyer: American Political Thrillers with Chris Vognar, a series of political thriller films programmed by Chris Vogner (New York Times, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone). Chris will introduce each screening and host a post-screen talkback.
We finish in the old school. A Russian puppet installed as U.S. president. Crazy, right? The genius of the movie, based on Richard Condon’s somewhat more satirical novel, is how nonchalant it makes the whole process seem. A little Communist brainwashing, a conniving mom-from-hell (Angela Landsbury), a henpecked mama’s boy (Laurence Harvey), and just like that, democracy is ready to tumble.
But that nonchalance happens to carry the power of a fever dream, from that very first garden party spell-casting. It remains propulsive and thrillingly modern. It is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful movie I’ve ever known in my life. Not really. But it’s pretty damn good, and you can find its DNA in every political or paranoid thriller that followed. (Chris Vogner)