Film at Lincoln Center announces “Elaine May,” a special look back at the comedian, actress, writer, and director’s incomparable career behind the camera, running from June 26 through July 2. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the release of May’s emotionally potent Mikey and Nicky, May and producer Julian Schlossberg will be in person at FLC to present a 4K restoration of the film, which May supervised herself. In addition to the revival run of Mikey and Nicky, the series includes screenings of May’s seminal directorial debut A New Leaf in a new 4K restoration and her fourth feature as a director, Ishtar.

Elaine May’s third feature stands apart from the rest of her oeuvre in a number of ways, not least of which is the fact that it finds her working with another paradigm-shifting actor/director in John Cassavetes. Here Cassavetes plays opposite his frequent collaborator Peter Falk, the former playing a Philly gangster who has run afoul of his boss and gone underground due to a fresh contract on his life; the latter playing his childhood friend who—unbeknownst to him—is helping with the assassination plot. Set entirely across one anxious night, Mikey and Nicky remains an eminently potent, emotionally tremulous portrait of male friendship (and male betrayal) that crackles with the raw energy of three of the era’s most indelible and uncompromising American film artists working together. A Muscle Distribution/Hollywood Entertainment release.
Friday, June 26 at 6:00pm – Q&A with Elaine May and producer Julian Schlossberg (co-presented by Muscle Distribution and Hollywood Entertainment)