Guest post by Barbara Grassia, IU Cinema Technical Director.
On November 9th, IU Cinema will screen a rare 35mm print of The Simple-Minded Murderer, my choice for the series Staff Selects. The last time I saw this film was in 1984, which was my first year as projectionist at the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco.
During the early eighties, arthouse cinemas in major cities across the U.S. were struggling to keep their doors open amidst competition from a new phenomenon: video rental stores. Patrons had to be lured back into the cinematic experience by innovative programming which included new and highly acclaimed international films.
The Simple-Minded Murderer premiered at the 32nd Berlin International Film Festival where it received the Silver Bear for Best Actor for Stellan Skarsgård. In its home country of Sweden, it was recognized at the 18th annual Guldbagge Awards for Best Director (Hans Alfredson) and Best Actor (Skarsgård). The film premiered in the U.S. at the Chicago Film Festival. At the 1984 San Francisco Film Festival, programmer Peter Scarlett made an impassioned plea for someone to pick up the film’s distribution in the U.S. The call was answered by Bill Banning, co-owner of the Roxie Theatre. The Simple-Minded Murderer was the first title to be distributed by what would later become Roxie Releasing. Banning proved to have both the talent to spot a worthy film and the chutzpah to gain distribution rights. The success of Roxie Releasing’s distribution and revenue from its films premiering at the Roxie is one of the reasons why the Theatre is still alive and thriving today.
The Simple-Minded Murderer proved to be a favorite with both the Roxie Theatre staff and San Francisco audiences alike. This was due mainly to the debut performance of the young Stellan Skarsgård. His portrayal of the character Sven disarmed with his clowning and charmed with his integrity while drawing the audience into a sympathetic experience of the hero’s tale.
The film blurs reality and time into a fable-like quality by providing our hero Sven with the support of three Archangels accompanied by the stirring strains of Verdi’s Requiem. The story’s villain is played by none other than director Hans Alfredson, who was previously known in Sweden primarily as a comedian. The story and main characters are based on actual people and events in Alfredson’s life. The renowned Swedish film director Ingmar Bergman praised the film as “a deep indignation, turned into a powerful fairy-tale. Hasse Alfredson’s resources seem unlimited and my admiration for his creativity and the wealth of his ideas are absolute.”
Through all my years in cinema presentation, The Simple-Minded Murderer has remained a strong favorite. Though its narrative does not flinch from portraying the evils of tyranny, neither does it forget to reflect the inherent goodness of common humanity. One memory still lingers from my days as projectionist during the film’s original 1984 Roxie screenings. The screenings had been extended to a third week and the third run of posters had come out for distribution on telephone poles across the city of San Francisco. Our concessions staffer, Tori, saw the poster (which pictured Skarsgård) and with a loving sigh exclaimed, “Awe! It’s Sven!”
I look forward to the opportunity of experiencing this film again in the incomparable atmosphere of Indiana University Cinema on Thursday, November 9th at 7 pm. Please join me!
The Simple-Minded Murderer is the last film of this semester’s Staff Selects, a series where members of the IU Cinema’s full- and part-time staff pick a film to be screened. The other movies for this semester were Slap Shot, Design and Marketing Manager Kyle Calvert’s pick, and Slumdog Millionaire, the choice of House Manager Gabe Donnelly.
Barbara Grassia began her career in film presentation as a 35mm and 16mm projectionist at the Roxie Theatre in 1984. In the past 20 years she has travelled in the U.S. and abroad as projectionist and presentation supervisor for numerous film festivals including Telluride, Bermuda, Turner Classic Movies, Dubai, Traverse City, Tribeca, Sundance, and the Dominican Republic.