Jonathan Lethem & John Hodgman: “They Live”

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Jonathan Lethem in conversation with John Hodgman for a screening and discussion of John Carpenter’s classic THEY LIVE, in conjunction with the release of Lethem’s new book about the film. Lethem will do a book signing at IFC Center directly following the event.

Lethem’s Deep Focus: THEY LIVE offers a wholly original perspective on Carpenter’s paranoid satire. The pocket-sized collection of freewheeling essays, referencing everything from classic Hollywood cinema to the role of wrestlers in contemporary culture, is the first in a new film criticism series, Deep Focus, on sale now from Soft Skull Press. In THEY LIVE, Lethem explores the film’s mix of deliberate B-movie, sci-fi, horror, anti-Yuppie agitprop, calling Carpenter’s film, “howlingly blatant and obvious on many levels… [yet] marvelously slippery and paradoxical at its depths.”

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.