Just days ago Lois Smith received this year’s Golden Key Award for Career Achievement at the Key West Film Festival. Now comes word that the industry vet will be honored at New York City’s Quad Cinema. Four of her career highlights will be screened: “East of Eden,” “Five Easy Pieces,” “Foxes,” and “Marjorie Prime.” Released earlier this year, the latter sees Smith playing a former violinist in the middle stages of dementia. She maintains a close relationship with her late husband who exists in the form of a holographic projection (Jon Hamm, “Mad Men”). Smith received excellent reviews for the sci-fi flick.
“Enjoying her seventh decade onscreen, actress par excellence Lois Smith was recently on view at the Quad recreating her stage triumph with her beautiful multifaceted performance in ‘Marjorie Prime’ — and now she’s back in theaters with ‘Lady Bird,’” an announcement from The Quad reads. “Whether flinty or flustered, sweet or steely, imperious or meek, Smith is memorable each time she materializes as part of the fabric of a film, play, or TV show. To cap off her prime 2017, we’ve gathered together four movies from the first half of her career to which she made valuable contributions, plus a reprise of ‘Marjorie Prime.’”
Smith will be attending the events, which run from December 12–14.
“Grace and Frankie,” “True Blood,” and “ER” are among Smith’s TV credits. She’s worked extensively in theater and received Tony nods for her roles in “The Grapes of Wrath” and “Buried Child.”
Check out more details about the event and plot synopses below, courtesy of The Quad.
East of Eden
Elia Kazan, 1955, U.S., 118m, 35mm
Caught up in the whirlwind that was James Dean, Smith played affectingly opposite the nascent icon as they both made their feature debuts for Elia Kazan. Based on the John Steinbeck novel and set in 1917 California, the emotional story of disconnect and longing in a fracturing family circles back to an absent mother (Oscar-winning Jo Van Fleet, also in her first film), a madam in whose bordello Smith makes her living. With Raymond Massey, Burl Ives, Richard Davalos, and Julie Harris.
Tue December 12, 6.30pm — with Lois Smith in person
Five Easy Pieces
Bob Rafelson, 1970, U.S., 98m, DCP
The screenplay by Adrien Joyce (aka Carole Eastman) serves up poignant anomie and bitterly funny humor for a cast masterfully orchestrated by Bob Rafelson in this Best Picture Oscar nominee. Oil rig worker Jack Nicholson has long since forsaken his upper-class family for the lower depths, but a reunion with classical pianist sister Smith — named Best Supporting Actress by the National Society of Film Critics — cues an uneasy visit home.
Wed December 13, 6.30pm — with Lois Smith in person
Thurs December 14, 9.10pm
Foxes
Adrian Lyne, 1980, U.S., 106m, 35mm
One of the first R-rated female coming-of-age dramas released by a major studio, Lyne’s directorial debut showed his flair for visual sheen and a vital soundtrack. In the San Fernando Valley, Jodie Foster, Marilyn Kagan, Kandice Stroh, and (Runaways singer-turned-actress) Cherie Currie are a quartet of teens grappling with parents, substance abuse, and the opposite sex — to the dismay of Smith, as Kagan’s mother.
Wed December 13, 9.05pm — with Lois Smith in person
Marjorie Prime
Michael Almereyda, 2017, U.S., 97m, DCP
A philosophical deep dive into the emotional mechanics of memory and the role of technology, this poignant adaptation of the Pulitzer-shortlisted play stars Smith as Marjorie, whose dementia is slowed by the company of a digital avatar of her deceased husband (Jon Hamm). His sentient authenticity hinges on knowledge of their shared past — but divergent accounts from Marjorie, daughter Geena Davis, and son-in-law Tim Robbins, quickly reveal deep familial rifts.
Thurs December 14, 6.30pm — with Lois Smith in person
Next Stop, Greenwich Village
Paul Mazursky, 1976, U.S., 111m, DCP
Writer/director Mazursky mined his own past for this warm comedy/drama set in the Village circa 1953, when it was a bohemian mecca for self-invention. Aspiring actor Lenny Baker arrives from Brooklyn, though mom Shelley Winters’ apron strings have a long reach even as he encounters a cast of characters including gay Antonio Fargas, ladies’ man Christopher Walken, potential love of his life Ellen Greene, and Smith as a manic-depressive painter.
Tue December 12, 9.15pm — with Lois Smith in person
