Two of a Kind

Take Two: Film and Its Inspirations, a new series starting tonight at the Denver Art Museum, has an inspiration of its own: Inspiring Impressionism, currently on display at the DAM. "The concept of Inspiring Impressionism is to show the influence of Old Master portraits and landscapes on the great Impressionist works," explains Tom Delapa, the museum's film curator. “So I did a little riff on that so we can see how classic film influenced more contemporary film."

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• Tom Delapa
• Denver Art Museum
• The Maltese Falcon
• Visual Arts
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

First up is 1941's The Maltese Falcon, which "influenced film noir and the detective film in general," Delapa notes. Then, on April 11, series-goers will get a chance to eyeball 1974's Chinatown, a noir homage with a twist. In Delapa's view, "Chinatown's story presents stark, ironic contrasts to Falcon and other films like it." The same can be said of future juxtapositions: 1956's The Searchers and 1976's Taxi Driver; 1945's Detour and 1984's Blood Simple; and 1953's Tokyo Story and 1985's Stranger Than Paradise. Delapa hopes the effect will be inspiring in every sense of the word.

The Maltese Falcon screens at 7 p.m. at the museum, 100 West 14th Avenue Parkway. Admission is $8, $7 for museum members, and series passes are available. Get the details at 720-913-0105 or www.denverartmuseum.org.
Fri., April 4, 2008