X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES

(Roger Corman, 1963,​​ 80 min, 35mm)

RSVP 

Roger Corman’s visionary sci-fi classic follows a scientist (Ray Milland) who develops eyedrops that allows him to see beyond the spectrum of visible light, penetrating mysteries of the human body and the deepest reaches of the cosmos. What starts out as a hospital drama about medical ethics takes more than one turn towards the lurid and the hallucinatory—asking profound questions about the limits of vision along the way. This 35mm screening features an introduction by Dr. Catherine Belling, Associate Professor of Medical Education at NU, whose research explores the ways that horror films reflect widely-held fears and uncertainties about our bodies and about the medical profession.

About the speaker:

Catherine Belling is Associate Professor of Medical Education and core faculty of the graduate program in Medical Humanities and Bioethics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her first book, A Condition of Doubt: The Meanings of Hypochondria (Oxford University Press, 2012), won the 2013 Kendrick Book Prize (Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts). She chaired the Modern Language Association division on Medical Humanities & Health Studies, served on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities, and was editor-in-chief of the journal Literature and Medicine (2013 – 2018). She has published in the Journal of Medical Humanities; Literature and Medicine; the UK Journal of Literature and Science; Narrative; Perspectives in Biology and Medicine; the Journal of Clinical Ethics; and Academic Medicine, among others. Her current work explores horror—both the feeling and the genre—in medicine.

About the series:

Science on Screen: Inner and Outer Space

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition The Heart’s Knowledge: Science and Empathy in the Art of Dario Robleto, this series explores representations of the inner workings of the human body and the celestial mechanics of the cosmos throughout the history of cinema. Across our Winter and Spring calendars, Block Cinema will present a range of screenings, from cult classics to silent treasures and contemporary blockbusters, that resonate with the key themes of Dario Robleto’s artwork: the role of new technologies in expanding humanity’s spatial and perceptual reach; the emotional consequences of scientific discovery; the role that art can play in transcending boundaries that separate us.

Supported by the Sloan Foundation and the Coolidge Corner Cinema’s Science on Screen program, each of the screenings in the “Inner and Outer Space” series will feature extended introductions by scientists, historians, and scholars, who will shed light on the themes and histories depicted on screen.

An initiative of the COOLIDGE CORNER THEATRE, with major support from the ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION.

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Tags: Block Museum, Block Museum of Art, Catherine Belling, Cinema, Evanston, Roger Corman, X: THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES