Repertory watch/Curzon Soho

Antonioni's Zabriskie Point

Looking for something different at the weekend? Then head for the Curzon Soho on Sunday, 10 July. At 12noon, there's a double bill of Antonioni's Zabriskie Point and the Mick Jagger-starred seminal 60s London film Performance. Zabriskie Point was to be Antonioni's statement on American culture and Western society. Financed by MGM, which, like other major studios at the time, were dying to cash in on the counter culture, or simply hoping that European arthouse directors would hit gold again after doing so with their low-budet films (Visconti's Death in Venice was financed by Hollywood for that reason as well). However, Antonioni's hippie road movie turned out to be a disaster. Panned by contemporary critics, it was a box-office flop and a major blow to his career. But time has been kind to the film and it has become a cult item after more favourable critical reassessments. Like all time-capsule films, see it for yourself./// Moving from a California to a London time capsule you'll find Performance (directed by Donald Cammell), a glimpse at London gangsterland of the 1960s. Mick Jagger stars as washed-up rock star while James Fox plays a ruthless criminal. The film took two years to be released (it was shot in 1968 and premiered in 1970) because it was, as the cliché goes, ahead of its time.///Later in the evening the Curzon will show Isaac Julien's Young Soul Rebels. Julien is one of the most prominent black British film-makers, and in this film he also deals with black gay sexuality. He is probably better known as a Turner Prize nominee and glossy video artist, so expect a visually stunning film. (see links for details)