Clarinet player and health food store owner Miles (Woody Allen) is accidentally frozen in a cryogenic device. Two centuries later, he is awakened by rebel fighters who are trying to overthrow an authoritarian regime. They need Miles’s help to infiltrate the government because he is the only person without biometric identification. Writer-actor-director Allen takes aim at the absurdity of politics and pays tribute to comedy legends of the silent era.

Designed by I. M. Pei, the Mesa Laboratory of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado serves as an outdoor location for this futuristic comedy.

The documentary short I. M. Pei Essays: Modern Building Material (1970) will be shown prior to screening with introductory remarks by M+ Curatorial Assistant, Design & Architecture, Naomi Altman. In this film, Pei expounds on the virtues of reinforced concrete as the leading building material in the modern age.

Woody Allen (b. 1935, United States) is a New York filmmaker who started out as a television writer and stand-up comedian. The critical and commercial success of Annie Hall (1977) led him to the upper echelon of American cinema. The black-and-white classic Manhattan (1978) has been lauded as the quintessential New York film, yet the film’s love story between a middle-aged protagonist and a high school student has been proven prophetic for Allen in real life. As sexual abuse allegations continue to dog the American auteur, he has since shifted his focus onto the European market.