The Weekend Warrior June 3, 2022
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE, WATCHER, EIFFEL, FIRE ISLAND, HUSTLE, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN, THE PASSENGER, MIRACLE, MAIKA, and More
And just like that, we’re into Month 2 of the summer box office season, and we have another bit of a down weekend in between blockbusters, just because that’s just the way things have been going all year, so far.
Fortunately, there are two decent genre films, both which look to be released in just over 500 theaters, although they’re both likely to appeal to a very similar audience.
CRIMES OF THE FUTURE (NEON)
Filmmaker David Cronenberg returns with another bizarre science fiction premise, this one involving a future where there’s no pain or infection, so voluntary surgery has left the hospitals and operating rooms and is in the hands of the people. What could possibly go wrong? Well, first of all, you have Viggo Mortensen as Saul, a performance artist whose body is able to grow alien mutant organs that his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux) extracts from him via surgery in front of admiring spectators. Saul’s abilities have gained the interest of a number of people including the bureau that register unusual organs, as presented by Kristen Stewart and Don McKellar, as well as Scott Speedman’s black market dealer who wants Caprice to perform an autopsy on his dead son.
Yup, it’s a Cronenberg movie, and many people have been very excited about its potential since it was announced to premiere at Cannes. (Even more interesting and possibly exciting is that Cronenberg wrote this movie almost 20 years ago, and it has the same title as a little-seen movie he made in 1970.) I posted my review of Cronenberg’s latest last week and it generally has been received well with 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. It’s a pretty big movie for Cronenberg, not just since he’s reuniting with Mortensen for the duo’s fourth movie together but also since Stewart obviously has a pretty big fanbase, even if her movie Spencer only made $7 million, also released by NEON.
The movie is only opening in between 500 and 600 theaters this weekend, which might not allow it to make that much of an impact at the box office, although it should have an open enough market to pull in around $2 million or slightly more this weekend, which should be enough to get into bottom half of the top 10.
WATCHER (IFC Midnight)
Also opening in roughly 500 theaters before going to VOD on June 21 is Chloe Okuno’s directorial debut, an amazing horror-thriller starring Maika Monroe (It Follows) as Julia, a woman who moves to Romania with her husband (Karl Glusman) only to have a man across the street watching her from his window and possibly following her. Oh, yeah, and there’s a serial killer who enjoys decapitations on the loose.
The movie debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival where it got relatively decent reviews (about 83% on Rotten Tomatoes, similar to Crimes of the Future) although I saw it a few months ago. It’s a pretty decent thriller and Monroe is a fantastic actor who I keep hoping would break it big, but other than Independence Day: Resurgence, she just hasn’t gotten that many opportunities. (I really liked this indie thriller Villains, which came out a couple years ago.)
This is going to be an interesting experiment for IFC since this may be their widest and highest-profile release in quite some time, almost two years after the distributor managed to crack the drive-in business and be the only studio releasing movies. Since then, they’ve shifted over to a limited release combined with VOD and none of their 2021 releases made more than $575k (that was Werewolves Within) and this year hasn’t been much better.
Watcher is being supported by a number of theater chains like AMC, as well as playing at the IFC Center in New York as per usual. Even though the movie is opening in a similar number of theaters as Crimes of the Future, that one seems like more of a draw, and because of that, I think this one will probably end up closer to $1 million this weekend, which might also be enough to get into the top 10.
Mini-Review: The premise for this movie sounds so high-concept and so derivative of Hitchcock’s Rear Window I was a little worried we were getting another Woman in the Window, but thankfully, Chloe Okuno is a fine filmmaker and she has a great vessel in Maika Monroe. Monroe’s character Julia is already dealing with the feelings of being an outside and not feeling like she belongs in Romania, when she comes across a number of disconcerting events including a murder in the neighborhood. And as the movie’s title might suggest, a lot of those events involve her stalker who she keeps running into, but also, she starts doing her own investigation when the police don’t want to believe her.
Obviously, this kind of thriller — and it really is more of a thriller than horror since it doesn’t involve the supernatural or excessive gore – is going to feel very Hitchcockian, but Okuno wears that influence on her sleeve while also making it feel unique due to the film’s Romanian center. (I’ve been to Romania and it really is a very unique place to set an American movie.) Part of why that setting works is since it allows the film to contend with the fact that Julia feels out of place since she can’t speak or understand Romanian like her husband.
One of the reasons the movie works as well as it does is because it showcases one of Monroe’s finest performances, as she really carries every scene, although she has some particularly good scenes with Burn Gorman as her stalker. This leads to many tense situations but none greater than when she finally confronts Gorman’s character on a train, which
It’s also mildly amusing that there is almost an identical scene and line in this as there was in Alex Garland’s Men, but it’s clearly a coincidence, even if there’s a similar theme of a woman being terrorized while in an unfamiliar place.
Okuno is just a fantastic filmmaker with a great eye for cinema – even having Julia go see the classic Charade in a movie theater was pretty fun – but that eye and talent is fully on display in her seriously disturbing feature debut.
Rating: 8/10
THE CHART:
Top Gun will win a second weekend with ease, and the two new wide releases are likely to end up in the bottom half of the Top 10.
1. Top Gun: Maverick (Paramount) - $60 million -53%
2. Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (Marvel/Disney) - $8.3 million -48%
3. The Bob’s Burgers Movie (20th Century/Disney) - $5.6 million -55%
4. Downton Abbey: A New Era (Focus Features) - $3.4 million -41%
5. The Bad Guys (DreamWorks Animation/Universal) - $2.8 million -35%
6. Crimes of the Future (NEON) - $2.2 million N/A
7. Everything Everywhere All at Once (A24) - $1.5 million -29%
8. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (Paramount) - $1.4 million -43%
9. Watcher (IFC Midnight) - $1.3 million N/A
10. The Lost City (Paramount) - $1.1 million -40%
Gonna skip “The Chosen One” this week, because one of my favorites of the week is on streaming (see below), and another… is still under embargo. (Waugh, waugh…)
MIRACLE (Film Movement)
From Romania comes this intriguing crime-thriller from Bogdan George Apetri, which will have its exclusive premiere at the Film Forum in New York this Friday. In the movie, Ioana Bugarin plays Cristina, a young novice who sneaks away from her convent to get an abortion but something horrible happens on her cab ride back that sends an easy-to-anger police detective Marius Preda (Emanuel Parvu) on the hunt for answers to what happened to her.
This is a really fascinating film that threw a few money-wrenches on my opinion of what Romanian cinema can be about. The thing is that it starts and ends like a typical Romanian film, but there’s a number of fantastic twists that give it very much its own identity. But it takes almost an hour before we get there as we follow Ioana Bugarin’s novice on her trip to the hospital with an obnoxious cab driver, who at least get her where she’s going. I don’t want to spoil what happens after her hospital visit because it’s quite a shocker if you’re not expecting it, especially since that’s also when the film shifts focus to a police investigation with a detective who will plant evidence or do whatever it takes to keep his suspect in jail.
I was fairly intrigued by Ioana Bugarin as the film’s lead, even if she only really takes that role for roughly half the movie, and Emanuel Parvu gives an equally riveting presence that makes this quite a contrast to other Romanian police films I’ve seen. I don’t have a lot more to say about this film, only because I would hope that people will want to discover for themselves rather than having everything handed to them on a platter. What makes Miracle so worthwhile is how Apetri tells this story that’s as faithful to Romanian life and film as it is original in terms of exploring genre in a new way.
Rating: 8/10
(Apparently, this is the second part of a series of films that follows Preda, after Apetri’s previous film, Unidentified, which will be shown at Film Forum on Thursday, June 9 at 8pm.)
EIFFEL (Blue Fox Entertainment)
This French biopic directed by Martin Bourboulon looks at the life of Gustave Eiffel, as played by Romain Duris, and the period around the time when he was designing and building the Eiffel Tower in the late 19th Century, but it also deals with his long-term romance with Adrienne Bourgés (Emma Mackey from Murder on the Nile), which ends when her parents disapprove of their marriage, but they reunite just as the tower is being built.
I was a little nervous about this one, but it certainly wasn’t due to the presence of Romain Duris, who is in my opinion, one of France’s finest and most consistent actors, always finding compelling material for himself. As this one begins, it feels like it might be a bit dry and stuff and also more of a comedy and a drama, but it just takes its time to really find its footing, and once it does, it’s a fine historic drama with a nice ongoing romantic subplot.
Not that I was that interested in the building of the Eiffel Tower (at least not that I thought) to really be excited about the movie but what Bourboulon has done with what might have been a typical biopic ends up being something relatively novel and unique. We meet Eiffel shortly after he has received a medal as an honorary American for his work creating the structure for the Statue of Liberty. It might take a little while to adjust to the non-linear nature of the story where the film jumps back in time to when Eiffel is designing and building a bridge. That’s when he first meets Emma Mackey’s Adrienne who is just gorgeous and bubbly, and we watch the early days of their love affair. From there, the film jumps back and forth in time to all the pitfalls surrounding the design and building of the Tower, and we also slowly begin to learn why things didn’t work out and why they never got married.
Duris is just fantastic in this role, and I was pretty excited to see that he had reunited with Bourboulon for couple Three Musketeers movies with Duris playing Aramis, and the movie also starring Eva Green, Vicky Krieps, Louis Garrel, Vincent Cassel, and more. Eiffel gives you a better idea of what a visual filmmaker Bourbolon is, since the film looks absolutely fantastic. The movie partially reminded me of The Current War, the movie starring Benedict Cumberbatch
I’m not sure how much of this movie is based on reality, but it’s still an awe-inspiring movie to watch, especially once it gets to the Eiffel Tower being built, and it takes what could have been an absolutely heartbreaking story and turns it into something quite majestic. Eiffel ends up being a far better film than anything I was expecting, particularly due to its two main leads but also since it finds an intriguing way into what could have been another by-the-books biopic.
Rating: 7.5/10
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPEN (Sony Classics)
Oscar winner Mark Rylance stars in this biopic from Craig Roberts of Submarine fame, playing Maurice Flitcroft, a British dockworker who in 1976 got the crazy idea that he could play golf in the British Open Golf Championship, which began a crazy quest that led to Maurice getting the worst score in British Open history. Despite protests from his wife Jean (Sally Hawkins), he keeps trying even after being banned for life by the Open and having to return in disguises.
I actually saw this movie a little over a month ago, so not if I have a ton to say about it, but it was quite pleasant and enjoyable that’s driven very much by the performance by Rylance, as well as Hawkins giving such a solid supporting performance. It’s a pretty strange premise and story, because it’s hard to believe that someone like Maurice was able to crash the British Open not once or twice but a number of times and wearing different disguises.
Possibly my biggest issue with the movie was the fact that the 62-year-old Rylance is playing much younger versions of Maurice including in his 30s, and it just doesn’t fly — it reminded me of Kevin Spacey playing Bobby Darin in his movie Beyond the Sea, which is now doubly problematic. Hawkins is much more suited to playing a range of ages, since she’s younger, but they’re both decent in this. It was also fun seeing Rhys Ifans as Keith McKenzie, the head of the British Open who becomes Maurice’s main rival and the antagonist of the film.
Phantom of the Open is a suitably fun and entertaining movie –a nice companion to the recent The Duke, also released by Sony Classics – and you don’t necessarily need to enjoy golf or know anything about the sport to enjoy Maurice’s (sometimes outrageous) exploits.
Rating: 7.5/10
HUSTLE (Netflix)
Hitting select theaters including New York’s Paris Theater this Friday is the latest from Adam Sandler, in which he plays Stanley Sugarman, a baseball scout who discovers an amazing street basketball player in Spain and decides that he needs to get him to the States to get him into the NBA. I haven’t seen the movie at this very moment and reviews are embargoed until Thursday night, so you’ll just have to check back then, but it’s directed by Jeremiah Zagar of We the Animals.
Mini-Review: Back in 1995, Billy Crystal made Forget Paris, a movie in which he played an NBA ref (co-written by the writers of Mr. Saturday Night, one of my favorite movies that is currently on Broadway as a musical). I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to get into all the basketball stuff because I’m just not really much of a sports or basketball fan, except that Crystal was on a roll and Crystal’s presence and personality helped me get into all the basketball stuff.
There’s so much basketball stuff in Hustle that it’s impossible to ignore it. In the end credits, we’re even reminded how many basketball players and others were basically playing themselves. None of that really impressed me, but what did jump out at me about Sandler’s latest is that he seems to be going back into “serious actor” mode, which we’ve only really seen from him maybe a half dozen times over the past couple decades. In other words, if you’re looking for all sorts of funny voices, being hit in the nuts and that sort of thing, this is not that Adam Sandler.
Here, he plays Stanley Sugarman, a talent scout for the Philadelphia 76ers who is sick of travelling and wants to go back to coaching. Just as he’s about to get that opportunity, the team owner (Robert Duvall) dies, leaving his son Vince (Ben Foster), who Stanley doesn’t get along with, in charge. Stanley had been hoping to stay home with his wife (Queen Latifah) and teen daughter Alex (Jordan Hull), but Vince is an asshole who wants Stanley back on the road to find the 76ers the next piece of the puzzle.
While in Spain to look at one candidate, Stanley sees a street ball game where one player, Bo Cruz (Juancho Hernangomez — who apparently plays for the Utah Jazz), really jumps out, because no one can touch him or get a shot off him. Stanley thinks he’s found the next big thing for the 6ers, but when he gets pushback from Vince, he decides to bring Bo to the States on his own dime.
That’s the general gist of a story that feels a lot like that Billy Crystal movie I mentioned earlier, but for all the basketball playing and talk about basketball in the movie – there are a few scenes that reminded me of Moneyball – there’s also a very human story of this young guy from Spain who just wants to take care of his mother and young daughter, but who clearly has the talent to play in the NBA.
I certainly wouldn’t think of Jeremiah Zagar capable of directing this kind of movie after seeing his earlier film, We the Animals, but he really excels not just in the fast-paced basketball games, but also just in keeping the various storylines in the air without losing focus on the relationship between Stanley and Bo. I generally liked all the characters, including the rivalry created between Bo and the #2 draft pick “Kermit.” Sure, there are some aspects that are predictable, but there’s just as much that’s just really wonderful.
Hustle is just a fantastic sports drama as well as one of Sandler’s best movies (and performances) in over a decade. It consistently pulls you into the excitement that basketball fans must feel while watching a great game with well-rounded characters in a pitch perfect comeback story.
Rating: 8.5/10
THE PASSENGER (LA PASAJERA) (Dark Star Pictures)
Raúl Cerezo and Fernando González Gómez’s Spanish horror-comedy film, which premiered at Sites in Spain last October, will hit theaters on Friday and be on demand and DVD starting June 28. It involves a group of dysfunctional strangers being driven across country when the boisterous driver Blasco (Ramiro Blas) hits a woman with his van, and things just spiral out of control from there.
I was kind of intrigued by this one, just because there’s been some decent Spanish horror films in recent years and also the fact that the Metrograph is doing a Spanish horror series starting this week that’s completely unrelated to this film. This is a pretty decent creature feature that actually benefits from having a pretty funny script and a fairly small cast of characters to keep you interested in what happens.
Ramiro Blas’ Blasco is quite a character, foul-mouthed, sexist and always telling stories to entertain his passengers, in this case being two women, and one of the women’s teen daughter Marta (Paula Gallego). Even though Blasco is a bit of a character and quite out of touch with what’s PC, he and Marta bond immediately even as they begin encountering odd phenomenon on the journey.
Oddly, the movie doesn’t spend too much time explaining exactly what is happening, whether there’s been some spaceship that’s brought aliens to earth that are taking over human bodies, but that’s generally the gist of the movie’s horror aspects. At first, I was a little concerned about the practical gore FX since they seemed to be a little underwhelming, but like everything else with this movie, they do grow on you, mainly because the two main characters are so likeable and entertaining you’re immediately rooting for them, which isn’t always the case with these types of movies.
The Passenger shows off some decently proficient filmmaking with a script and character work tends to elevate the material above merely being a gorefest. In many ways, it works better as a comedy than as horror, but it generally grows on you, because we’re seeing quite a talent bunch of filmmakers and actors, who haven’t really made a mark here in the States.
Rating: 7/10
MAIKA: THE GIRL FROM ANOTHER GALAXY (Well Go USA)
The Vietnamese fantasy-adventure written and directed Ham Tran is a sci-fi fantasy adventure about an 8-year-old boy named Hung who lives with his widower father after the death of his mother from cancer. He’s pretty lonely until he encounters a mysterious girl named Maika, who is looking for her lost friend and has amazing powers she uses to help Hung with his problems.
I generally like films from Asia and especially getting to see new genre films from places like Vietnam, from where we don’t really get a ton of films released here in the first place. Unfortunately, I was generally underwhelmed by Maika, because it’s a cute kids’ movie that’s strange and quirky but it’s more cute than it is particularly good, and that made this hard to enjoy.
It’s not that I’m against movies with kid protagonists, and this has a number of fun supporting characters but it’s just too silly and cutesy to be taken very seriously, and the visual effects are just so bad at times that it can’t even wow the viewer with that sort of thing Parts of the movie makes it feel like filmmaker Ham Tran was influenced by the great Stephen Chow, but a lot of this movie reminded me of his 2008 movie CJ7, which in my opinion, is one of Chow’s worst movies to date.
There are a few touching moments to counterbalance so much of the silliness, but this is so derivative of so many better movies, and what it comes down to is that there’s a lot of yelling and some pretty annoying kids, which makes it hard to really enjoy what the filmmaker may have been trying to achieve.
Rating: 5.5/10
BENEDICTION (Roadside Attractions)
Filmmaker Terrence Davies returns with his drama about 20th Century war poet Siegfried Sassoon, as played by Jack Lowden (when younger) and Peter Capaldi (when older). The film starts in London 1914, and I know almost immediately – as with Davies’ other work – that the movie wasn’t going to be for me since it seemed very haughty and pretentious, but hey, if you’re a fan of Davies’ work then maybe you’ll like this more than I did, but I won’t be reviewing since I didn’t watch the whole movie. (There just isn’t enough time in the week to watch and review every movie as best as I try.)
FREAKSCENE: THE STORY OF DINOSAUR JR. (Utopia)
The title says it all, and this doc from Philipp Virus is about as comprehensive about the Massachusetts-born band formed by J. Mascis, Lou Barlow, and drummer Murph in the ‘80s as a movie can get. It probably took me a few albums to get into Dinosaur myself, and I’ve had a bit of a love-like-hate relationship with them despite having seem them maybe a half dozen tims over the years. I definitely feel like fans of the band will want to check this out, though I’m not sure it will hold much interest for anyone else. Freakscene had a theatrical event release this past Tuesday but it will hit digital on June 3, plus you can also see it at the Roxy Cinema in NYC if you want to see it on the screen.
DASHCAM (Blumhouse/Momentum)
I saw Rob Savage’s horror-thriller when it played at Toronto as part of the Midnight Madness section last September although I didn’t review it, didn’t take notes, and oddly, didn’t even rate it, so I can’t even remember if I liked it or not. I think I did, but it follows musician Annie Hardy (played by actual musician Annie Hardy) who has been interacting with her fans via a livestream but who runs off with her bandmate Stretch’s car to make deliveries only to be asked to protect an elderly woman and deliver her to a safe place out of town. Annie and Stretch soon find themselves caught up within nefarious circumstances, because this is a horror film. I probably should have watched this again to write a proper review, but hey, if you like horror, you can catch this in select theaters and on VOD Friday.
PRITHVIRAJ (Yash Raj Films)
The latest from India is a new action-adventure from Dr. Chandraprakash Dwivedi, which will be released in Hindi, Tamil, and Telugu and tells the story of Indian king and hero Samrat Prithviraj Chauhan, as played by Akshay Kumar. I really don’t know much about this historical story or about the movie (you can watch the trailer here) but honestly, it looks like a great action epic to see after you finally watch RRR. I actually want to see this but don’t even think it’s playing in New York City proper.
Streaming…
FIRE ISLAND (Searchlight/Hulu)
Joel Kim Booster writes, produces and stars in this rom-com which hits the streamer this Friday Directed by Andrew Ahn (Spa Night), Booster plays Noah, who annually goes to Fire Island with his close friends to party and hook up with strangers. His best friend is Bowen Yang’s Howie, who never hooks up while there, so Noah makes it his mission to be Howie’s wingman and get him laid. Howie actually meets a guy named Charlie (James Scully) who he really likes, but he’s looking more for romance than just a quick fuck, and Charlie has a number of obnoxious rich friends who don’t care for Noah and his group.
I really wasn’t sure what to expect from this movie. Oddly, I’ve never seen any of Andrew Ahn’s previous movies, but I expect they were very indie compared to Fire Island, which is a fairly commercial and mainstream rom-com that actually would have played great as a theatrical release. I was lucky enough to watch it with an audience, mainly comprised of gay guys, but honestly, this movie is so good, it would have worked just as well if I watched on my own at home, because Booster has done an absolutely amazing job putting this together. (He’s also the main producer on the film.)
While a lot of the plot involves Noah and Howie’s friendship and the former trying to get the latter to have fun, Booster uses that simple premise to explore a lot of different aspects of being gay, but also about being Asian, and the culture gap between the wealthier gays on Fire Island with Noah and his friends. There are some nice surprises like seeing Margaret Cho in a full-on acting role as the matriarch of sorts to Noah and his friends, a lesbian who lets them stay at her place on the island, although that may be coming to an end soon, making this the last summer for Noah and his friend to meet on Fire Island.
Fire Island showcases an all-around great cast, but it’s really Booster’s movie to shine, not just as an actor, but also having delivered such a fantastic screenplay, and Ahn certainly has stepped up his own game to helm what is a surprisingly mainstream rom-com. Fire Island delivers so many great laughs, and doesn’t merely rely on the raunchiness inherent in some of the activities, but this is a great get for Hulu in a similar way as Palm Springs a few years back. I expect this will find its audience of fans and become a well-deserved cult hit, and I personally can’t wait to see what Booster does next, because Fire Island is quite an impressive calling card.
Rating: 8.5/10
Also hitting Netflix on Friday is Matthew Reilly’s directorial debut Interceptor, starring Elsa Pataky (she plays Elena in the “Fast and Furious” series) as Captain JJ Collins, who is put in charge of a nuclear missile interceptor base in the middle of the Pacific after being bumped from her dream job at the Pentagon. She then finds herself having to defend the base from a coordinated attack by Luke Bracey’s Alexander Kessel, a former US military intelligence officer.
Also, the third or fourth season of The Boys will debut on Amazon Prime this Friday. I’m so behind on everything that I think I’ve only watched a few episodes of the first season.
A few odds and ends…
I have never attended the OVERLOOK FILM FESTIVAL, but I’ve heard so many great things from those who have, and this year’s festival is taking place from June 2 through June 5 in New Orleans. It’s opening with Ana Lily Amirpour’s new movie, Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon (which I hadn’t even heard was coming out), and it closes with Blumhouse’s The Black Phone, which has been playing so many festivals since Fantastic Fest last year, but it’s finally coming out next month. The Centrepiece is the freaky Resurrection, starring Rebecca Hall, which I saw at Sundance. They’re also showing Peter Strickland’s Flux Gourmet, which I’ve been dying to see, and a lot of other cool movies. Someday I hope to be able to afford to go.
Repertory stuff….
The Metrograph continues to premiere so many interesting things like this week’s 4k digital restoration of Sarah Maldoror’s 1972 adaptation of José Luandino Vieira’s novella, SAMBIZANGA (Janus Fims), about an Angolan worker named Domingo who is suddenly taken to the Portugese prison in the capital of Luanda, leaving his wife Maria trying to find him.
The new series starting Friday is “Fantaterror Español” (in theater and at home), programmed by Nick Pinkerton, and while I don’t know a lot about Spanish horror, it looks like a fairly robust series with a couple of “secret screenings” this Saturday, June 4, and then another next Thursday. I’m kinda interested in the two Amando de Ossorio films, Tombs of the Blind Dead (1972) and Night of the Seagulls (1975), but this will definitely be a discovery series for me. If you’re not in New York, you can still see Jesus Franco’s The Awful Dr. Orloff (1962) via the digital platform, which is just $5 a month.
“Late Night: Hong Kong Goes International” continues with screenings this weekend of Romeo Must Die, The Man with the Iron Fists, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and its sequel, which were a co-production with Hong Kong’s Golden Harvest. “Metrograph Presents A to Z” is screening Yasujiro Ozu’s Equinox Flower (1958), John Ford’s Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), and Barbara Loden’s Wanda (1970). “Playtime: Studio Ghibli” shows Miyazaki’s My Neighbor Totoro (1988) through the weekend with Saturday being subtitled and Sunday being dubbed. “Alexandra Smith Selects” takes a short break after screenings on Thursday (today) of The Color of Pomegranates, Killer of Sheep, and Barry Jenkins’ Oscar-winning Moonlight. You can also watch the animated The Belladonna of Sadness (1973) tonight as part of “All Them Witches,” which is just wrapping up.
In case you missed this section last week, FilmLinc’s comprehensive Mike Leigh retrospective “Human Conditions: The Films of Mike Leigh” continues through the weekend and until Tuesday, June 8. I’ve been catching up on a few of Mr. Leigh’s films I haven’t seen yet, and some of the rarities screening this weekend include Bleak Moments, High Hopes, and Career Girls.
On Friday, Film Forum begins a two-week retrospective on actor Montgomery Clift, in celebration of what would have been his 100th birthday, which includes 16 of his films, including A Place in the Sun (1951), From Here to Eternity (1953) and the 2018 doc Making Montgomery Clift by Robert Anderson Clift (his nephew) and Hillary Demmon, who will appear after both screenings on Saturday, June 4 and Monday, June 6. Michael Roemer’s Vengeance is Mine (1984) will continue to run through the weekend.
The Quad is beginning a “Pride Rewind: Queer Cinematic Landmarks and Breakthroughs” this Friday with screenings of But I’m a Cheerleader, Brokeback Mountain, The Kids Are All Right, and many more over the next couple weeks.
Continuing its run of David Cronenberg movies in 35mm with 1993’s M. Butterfly playing Thursday and Sunday, plus David Lynch’s Wild At Heart (1990) is playing in 35mm on Saturday.
“How It’s Done: The Cinema of James Wong Howe” continues this weekend with screenings of Pursued, King’s Row, They Made Me a Criminal, and Go, Man, Go, all shot by the legendary cinematographer. “Mann to Mann: The Manly Melodramas of Michael Mann” continues this weekend with screenings of Collateral and Heat, two crime classics!
This weekend, there are screenings of Gaspar Noé’s Enter the Void, David Lynch’s Mulholland Dr. and Inland Empire, as well as Satoshi Kon’s Paprika and Perfect Blue.
“Forgotten Filmmakers of the French New Wave” continues through the weekend.
ETC…
DEEP IN THE FOREST (Saban Films)
WHITE ELEPHANT (RLJEfilms)
AFTER BLUE (DIRTY PARADISE) (Altered Innocense)
NEPTUNE FROST (Kino Lorber)
THE SCORE (Gravitas Ventures)
Next week… one of my most anticipated movies of the year, JURASSIC WORLD: DOMINION!
Box office data provided by The-Numbers.com.