Pocketful of Posey

Parker Posey is one of those actors who are so hip, film-goers lose all credibility if they say they’ve not seen that particular film she was in. Indeed, it’s a great risk trying to hold onto your Knowing Parker Well Means You Know The Art Of Film Well cred because she has been in so, so many movies – at last count 60+ films, from 1993’s ‘Dazed And Confused’ to yet another Woody Allen movie currently finishing up in production.

Given the unofficial title of ‘Queen of the Indies’ over two decades ago, it is in independent cinema that Parker shines brightest. Even when a film’s theme is dark as dark can get, she stands out like the genuine gem in the mix.

In 1995’s ‘Party Girl’ she plays a free-spirited all-night raver who is arrested for illegally charging attendies at her own underground house party. In 1997’s ‘Daytrippers’ she makes the most out of one very twisted road trip alongside Liev Schreiber. In a host of Christopher Guest mockumentaries she is either oddly quaint or absurdly eccentric, sometimes shifting between the two personalities in the one scene.

Whatever the film, Parker has injected her own brand of gravitas into the role, so much so that she often had audiences rooting for her odd, leftfield character the most.

Even when she’s playing villain – like Kitty Kowalski in ‘Superman Returns’ – we love her damned-if-I-don’t dastardly ways.

It is with great joy, then, that we announce the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) are putting on a program totally dedicated to the work of this brilliant thespian.

Curated by ACMI Film Programmer Roberta Ciabarra, ‘In Praise of Parker Posey’ is an ode to one of today’s great character actors.

“Parker Posey has matured into a character actress who has graduated beyond kooky to develop into a screen talent to be reckoned with,” says Roberta. “Whatever the genre – rom-com, improvisational spoof documentary or tragicomedy – Posey’s intensely committed approach to performance, wry, spiky wit and emotional fearlessness are trademarks of a disarmingly direct and winning style.”

From 13 to 28 March, ACMI’s spotlight on Posey – who The New Yorker recently named “the greatest character actress of the last few decades” – will take audiences on a celluloid trip through ten of Posey’s best films. These include Noah Baumbach’s directorial debut ‘Kicking And Screaming’, Hal Hartley’s ‘Henry Fool’ trilogy, and the dark romantic flick ‘Broken English’ for which Parker was nominated an Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female.

The program also includes a special event, ‘Talking TV: Parker Posey on the Small Screen’ on 17 March, in which a panel of commentators will examine Parker’s small-screen work (she’s appeared in everything from ‘Futurama’ – her voice at least – to ‘The C Word’ to ‘Inside Amy Schumer’).

If you’re familiar with a great part of this woman’s work, you’ll truly appreciate the program ACMI is putting on.

If you’re not too familiar, you’ll be a fan by last film’s fade-out, I’m betting.  Antonino Tati

The Australian Centre for the Moving Image presents ‘In Praise of Parker Posey’ from Sunday 13 to Monday 28 March 2016.

More information at www.acmi.net.au.