DCist's highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.

Beauty and the Beast

It's odd to think that most people's first association with this title is a Disney film, considering how singular and striking Jean Cocteau's 1946 film version is. I guess that's what a singing candelabra will do for you. The story of Beauty and the Beast should be familiar by now regardless of the source material. A young woman agrees to be held captive by a horrific but gentle monster in order to save her father from certain death, and lo and behold, love grows between them. Cocteau's was the first filmed rendering of the story, which was likely viewed as too difficult to put onscreen due to its magical and fantastical aspects and the limitations of special effects technology. Cocteau's techniques were technically ingenious, but more importantly, were so subtle that they never took the viewer out of the story. Modern filmmakers who like to use effects just to show what they can accomplish would do well to learn the lesson that the story comes first. Beauty and the Beast is mesmerizing, a film born in a trance and viewed as a dream. The opportunity to see this on a big screen at the AFI is not to be missed. Their screening is part of a Montgomery College educational series, so students get in at a discount, and the film will be followed by a discussion. I envy the student assigned to go watch this for class credit.

View the trailer.
Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the AFI.

---

Indian Visions Film Festival and Brazilian Film Week

Two brief national film festivals kick off tonight, and go through Sunday. One is the Indian Visions Film Festival, which has just over a dozen features, plus a number of programs of shorts, and which includes both new films (many of which are D.C. premieres) and old (going back as far as A Throw of Dice, a 1929 silent film). The other is Brazilian Film Week, a series sponsored by the Embassy of Brazil, with six recent features over the next four evenings, each to be preceded by a short subject, plus one children's program on Sunday afternoon.

Both series run from tonight through Sunday. Indian Visions screenings $10 each, and are at the Phoenix Theaters at Union Station. Schedule.
Brazilian Film Week screenings are all free, and are at the Greenberg Theater at 4200 Wisconsin Avenue, NW. Schedule.

---

Ocean Film Classics at the Museum of Natural History

Intrigue, action, and thrills on the high seas! The Museum of Natural History's new Sant Ocean Hall has been receiving high marks, and they're extending their love for all things oceanic to a quartet of classic watery tales this weekend. For the giant squid-obsessed among you (admit it, you were rapt through the recent Discovery Channel special), there's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, in which Kirk Douglas and James Mason do battle with one of the beasties (as well as each other) while on board a submarine. With Thanksgiving coming up, Swiss Family Robinson reminds us that it could always be worse: instead of being stuck with your dysfunctional relatives for a day or a long weekend, you could be shipwrecked and stuck together on a desert island. Mutiny on the Bounty has had four film adaptations, but our favorite is still the 1935 version (pictured) with Clark Gable and Charles Laughton as Fletcher Christian and Captain Bligh. And finally, there's Gregory Peck as Captain Ahab in Moby Dick, which you might as well watch, because you know you're never really going to get around to reading the novel, no matter how much you mean to.

View the trailers for 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Mutiny on the Bounty, and Moby Dick (Sunday at 3 p.m.).
See the Natural History Museum website for times and locations on Saturday and Sunday. Free.

---

Moving Midway

The Avalon is launching a new series called "In Focus" tonight, in which they'll screen local premieres of documentary and independent films for one night only, with discussions and Q&A sessions afterwards. These are films that often will never get any kind of theatrical release in D.C. The first program in the series is Moving Midway, a very personal documentary by Godfrey Cheshire about his cousin's attempt to move the family's ancestral home, a large plantation house in North Carolina, to a new location in order to move it away from approaching urban sprawl. With that as a starting point, the director examines the lasting impacts of slavery and plantation life on the ancestors of its residents a century and a half later. Cheshire, along with NYU's Associate Director of Africana Studies Robert Hinton, will be in attendance for a post-film discussion.

View the trailer.
Tonight at 8 p.m. at the Avalon. Tickets are $12, or $10 for Avalon Members.

---

Quantum of Solace

I hear you what you're saying. All that high-minded classic, foreign, and independent filmmaking just isn't what you're in the mood for at the moment. You're still venting all that pent-up election season tension, and just want to watch some eye candy with lots of stuff blowing up. Lucky for you, there's a new Bond film opening. The title may be rather inscrutable, but from the looks of the trailers, this will continue in the dark vein of its predecessor. In fact, this is the first Bond film in history that is a true sequel, picking up right where the last one left off with a heartbroken Bond still pretty cranky over the betrayal and subsequent death of his lady love at the end of Casino Royale. Bond producers continue to try to step away from formula and expectations, as it's reported that Quantum of Solace lacks both a "Bond, James Bond" moment, as well as any mention of a shaken, not stirred, martini. Daniel Craig's first outing as the secret agent man was a welcome shot in the arm for the franchise; hopefully Solace will continue the trend.

View the trailer.
Opens at theaters all over the area tomorrow, including the Uptown, which we tend to think of as the perfect venue for this kind flick.

---

We also highly recommend Slumdog Millionaire, which we reviewed yesterday, and don't forget that on Saturday, Bruce Campbell will be in town to appear at the evening screenings of his latest, My Name is Bruce, at E Street Cinema.

---

And one final special note.

Are you the type of person who simply can never watch enough movies, and who likes being the one to see films before everyone else? Have a powerful affinity for documentary film on top of that? SILVERDOCS may have just the job volunteer position for you. The rising documentary film festival has put out a call for people to help them do the initial screening of the hundreds and hundreds of films submitted to the festival. What do they want out of you? According to their press release, "Potential Screeners should have a critical eye and knowledge of film, and be able to write articulate and concise evaluations of the films they review. Screeners must have a DVD player, reliable Internet access, and a qualified point-of-view." You'll be expected to watch at least 40 films (shorts and features) between your selection and next spring, and report back with 250 word reviews of what you've seen. These reviews form the basis of what films move on to the next round on their way to becoming part of the festival.

The benefits? You'll get an all-access pass for the festival itself, as well as invitations to special event screenings at the AFI throughout the year. Plus, how many people do you know who can say they helped shape the content of the most prestigious documentary film festival in the United States? On the down side, that's a lot of movies, and let's face it: to have the profile of SILVERDOCS and programming as strong as they do every year, they probably turn away quite a lot of mediocre to awful films. Films that you'll be watching and reporting on. We've known folks who've been involved in this in the past, and general consensus is that it's a lot of work, but well worth it. If you're interested, here's what you'll need to do:

Send an email to Programming@SILVERDOCS.com with the following:

* RESUME - highlighting any film experience/expertise/interest you may have;
* COVER LETTER - detailing your interest in the Screener position, and your knowledge of documentary film in general and of SILVERDOCS in particular;
* TWO FILM EVALUATIONS ­ 250 words each ­ of any two films that you've seen in the past six months. This will give us insight into your writing style and critical perspective;
* TOP TEN LIST of favorite films of all time, with a particular emphasis on documentaries.

They're accepting Screener applications from now through December 19th, with an orientation to follow in January for those selected. You'll need to watch and report back on all your movies by late March.

If you have any questions about the application process, contact SILVERDOCS' Programming Coordinator, Sarah Bilodeau at SBilodeau@AFI.com.