DCist’s highly subjective and hardly comprehensive guide to the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
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The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music in 35mm
What it is: Support celluloid on the big screen while you still can.
Why you want to see it: I plug the area’s repertory theaters when I can, and with the exception of the WPFS, steer clear of venues that only project video. Given the choice, I’d rather watch a scratchy print than a projected DVD. The tonal quality of light through celluloid just can’t be beat, and even when quality is compromised by fading, there is still a certain romance to the experience (cf. a faded, blotchy print of Abba: The Movie I once saw, its color shift a built-in commentary on time’s winged chariot). Major studios are threatening to shut down 35mm repertory distribution, which would be curtains for series like the AFI’s annual Noir City series, which prides itself on showcasing films not available on DVD. While the AFI doesn’t always show prints (Francis Ford Coppola, the traitor, recently asked the theater to show a Blu-ray of Apocalypse Now instead of a print), the Silver (along with the National Gallery and other museum programs) is the best place in town to see 35mm. This weekend, the AFI is screening 35mm prints of two all-time classics, The Wizard of Oz and The Sound of Music. I don’t need to tell you what they are. But if you care about seeing movies the way they were meant to be seen, go forth at 24 frames per second my child, read this Onion A.V. Club piece on the imminent death of film, and stay tuned for Ian Buckwalter’s relevant review of Hugo, an homage to celluloid from one of its masters.
View the trailer for The Wizard of Oz.
The Wizard of Oz screens Friday-Sunday, 11/25-11/27, and Wednesday 11/30; The Sound of Music screens Saturday and Sunday, 11/26-11/27. At the AFI Silver. Check theater for showtimes.
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I see … a fading career. More Muppets, Music & Magic: Jim Henson’s Legacy
What it is: In conjunction with Muppets 2.0 (and the ensuing local Muppet Madness), a look back at the originals.
Why you want to see it: This AFI retrospective of the late Jim Henson’s Muppet work spans film and television prgrams, and begins tonight with The Dark Crystal. Also on tap this weekend are the cringeworthy David Bowie vehicle Labyrinth, and Jim Henson and Friends: Inside the Sesame Street Vault, an hour and a half of series highlights as well as rare clips from specials and other guest Muppet appearances.
View the trailer for The Dark Crystal.
November 23-December 22 at the AFI. See the theatre for showtimes.
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What it is: The National Gallery looks at Spanish identity through the eyes of Hollywood and a native.
Why you want to see it: The cinematic allure of Spain plays out in four very different films at the National Gallery this weekend. The Barefoot Contessa (1954) casts one of the great screen beauties, North Carolina-born Ava Gardner, as Maria Vargas, a “tragic and untamed gypsy dancer” discovered by down-on his luck movie director (Humphry Bogart) in a Madrid nightclub. Hollywood fame and the inevitable pitfalls ensue. Shown Saturday with Behold a Pale Horse (1964), directed by Fred Zinneman (High Noon), a look at the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War starring Gregory Peck as a Spanish anarchist and Anthony Quinn as a Captain fixing to get his outlaw. On Sunday, the gallery screens The Devil is a Woman (1935), one of the storied collaborations between director Josef von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich, here playing a Spanish temptress. If this Spanish otherness and chauvinism is too much for you, the weekend ends with Spanish director Carlos Saura’s flamenco masterpiece El Amor Brujo (1986), preceded by a live flamenco performance in the NGA Auditorium. For futher research, consult the first film in Saura’s flamenco trilogy, the 1981 film Blood Wedding, his passionate, exquisite adaptation of Federico Garcia Lorca’s play.
View the trailer for The Barefoot Contessa.
The Barefoot Contessa, followed by Behold a Pale Horse, screens Saturday at 2. The Devil is a Woman screens Sunday at 2. El Amor Brujo screens Sunday at 4. At the National Gallery of Art. Free.
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Marketa Irglova and Glen Hansard. Courtesy Seventh Art ReleasingWhat it is: The second chapter of the hit indie romantic musical Once.
Why you want to see it: I’ve seen more DVDs than film projected at the West End Cinema, but that’s largely due to the changing distribution patterns of documentaries, one of their strong points. Whatever they’re projecting, the theater features titles may not have gotten a commercial run in Washington. But today’s opening doc is a likely crowd pleaser. Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova began their musical collaboration before they started working on a film project in 2008. That film, the John Carney-directed Once, was made for a measly $160 grand but grossed $10 million worldwide, and launched the duo on a new album and a successful tour. The pair had a tangible chemistry both musically and romantically — you can hear their voices learning to harmonize and their hearts learn to sing as one from their first scene together in Carney’s film. But did their commercial success lead to a lasting collaboration, or did it end as bittersweetly as the film? The new documentary The Swell Season, directed by Nick August-Perna, Chris Dapkins, and Carlo Mirabella-Davis, answers these questions as fiction becomes reality. If you loved Once you’ll probably enjoy spending another 90 minutes to see their next step.
View the trailer.
Opens today at West End Cinema.
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What it is: If David Carradine in drag isn’t enough to drag you to McFadden’s Monday night, nothing is.
Why you want to see it: I’m sure the WPFS would show this on celluloid if they could, and the danger of broken frames and projector burn from a print that’s been through the grindhouse and back would only add to the excitement. Exploitation Retrospect quotes Leonard Maltin on this film from the director of Baby Luv: “Repulsive, socially unredeemable waste of celluloid…Filmed for no apparent reason except to offend and appall.” Carradine stars as “Ma,” and Mork and Mindy‘s Conrad Janis, who first made his name as jazz trombonist, stars as a doctor, disbarred for experimenting with monkeys. Happy Thanksgiving!
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On the horizon: Tickets are on sale now for the Washington Jewish Film Festival, opening night December 1st. Check back next week for program highlights. Next week, Chipotle is sponsoring a free screening of the documentary American Meat, which “takes an even-handed look at animal husbandry in this country from the evolution of our current industrial system to the growing revolution on family farms across the US,” at E Street December 1st at 7:00 pm. The screening will be followed by by a panel discussion with director Graham Meriwhether; National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Executive Director Susan Prolman; Chipotle Mid-Atlantic Regional Director Phil Petrilli; Arcadia Center for Sustainable Food & Agriculture Farm Director Maureen Moodie.
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Also opening this week: Martin Scorsese’s 3-D homage to celluloid, Hugo. We’ll have a full review this afternoon.
