DCist’s subjective and selective guide to some of the most interesting movies in area theaters during the coming heat wave and beyond.

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Jean Harlow and Clark Gable in Red Dust.

The New AFI Calendar is Here!

From 80s crowd pleasers to rarely screened titles starring platinum blonde bombshell Jean Harlow, the AFI Silver’s new program guide (download the pdf here) has something for the most discerning cinephile: you! Several major series begin this weekend: Spy Cinema kicks off with one of Alfred Hitchock’s greatest and most entertaining movies, North By Northwest (June 29—July 1 and 7), and the iconic Greta Garbo as the ur-she spy Mata Hari (July 1 and 2). The all too brief career of MGM starlet Jean Harlow, who died in 1937 at the age of 26 from a kidney ailment, is showcased in two of her defining pre-code roles: alongside Clark Gable in Red Dust (June 30 and July 3 and 4) and with “It” girl Clara Bow in Bombshell (Jun 30 and July 2-4). 2001: A Space Odyssey (June 29 and 30, July 1 and 4) inaugurates series of both 70mm prints and Stanley Kubrick. And if it’s summer it must mean Totally Awesome 6: Great Films of the 1980s, which starts this weekend with Explorers (June 29 and July 4), Withnail and I (Jun 29—30 and July 5) and E.T. (Jun 30 and July 4). And today, June 28, for one day only, advanced tickets for the 80s series are available online and in person for half-off. I’m ordering tickets for one of the movies to which I’m most looking forward: the unfairly maligned musical comedy Ishtar (August 24 and 27), with Warren Beatty and Dustin Hoffman as struggling songwriters performing deliberately bad and hilarious songs written by Paul Williams.

View the trailer for Ishtar.
All Summer long at the AFI Silver.

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A Cat in Paris

Zoe is a mute girl whose police officer father was killed in action, while her police officer mother is distracted with finding his killer. Directors Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gagnol surround Zoe with adults drawn with long faces out of Modigliani. But the most expressive character may be the cat, who communicates volumes in growls and arched anatomy. The titular feline is the girl’s best confidant and happens to lead a secret life as accomplice to a cat burglar. What makes this a compelling animated tale is the feline acrobatics that inspire breathtaking chase scenes across the rooftops of Paris. The English version of this Oscar-nominated film features the voice talents of Anjelica Huston, Marcia Gay Harden and Matthew Modine.

View the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at E Street.

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Pina Bausch during a rehearsal for Café Müller (picture-alliance/dpa)

Pina and Beyond: Contemporary Dance in Film

The Goethe-Institut presents a summer series dedicated to the late choreographer who was the subject of one of the year’s best films and one of the best uses of 3D movie technology to date. If you missed the commercial run of Wim Wenders’ Pina, which I reviewed here, you can see it in 3D at the Goethe on July 16. Next week you can see a pair of shorter works, including a more conventional documentary made in 2006, and Café Müller, a 1985 film documenting one of Bausch’s signature works.

View Café Müller.
Monday, July 2 at 6:30 pm at the Goethe-Institut. $7

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A Simple Life

Made in Hong Kong Film Festival

The Freer’s 17th annual survey of Hong Kong cinema kicks off this weekend with director Ann Hui’s domestic drama A Simple Life, which pays respect to the elderly and those who care for them. Ah Tao (Deanie Yip, who won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival for her performance) has served as a maid to a wealthy family for decades. The only remaining member of the family is movie producer Roger (Andy Lau), and after Ah Tao suffers a stroke, their lives change dramatically. Hui gives props to her generation of Hong Kong filmmakers with cameos from Tsui Hark, Sammo Hung, and Anthony Wong, playing against his Hong Kong villain type as the owner of a nursing home. Not that he couldn’t be both.

View the trailer.
Friday, June 29 at 7:00 pm and Sunday, July 1 at 1:00 pm at the Freer. Free.

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Bare Knuckles

A bounty hunter (Robert Viharo) seeks a serial killer who terrorizes the women of L.A. with deadly kung-fu in this blaxploitation classic brought to you by the Washington Psychotronic Film Society — and for some insight into what Psychotronic film is, see author Colson Whitehead’s recent New Yorker essay about the movies that shaped his sensibility. Director Don Edmonds began his career as an actor in such innocuous fare as The Donna Reed Show and My Three Sons, but ended up behind the lens of B-movies like Ilsa: She-wolf of the SS and later co-produced True Romance.

View the trailer.
Monday, July 2 at 8:00 pm at McFadden’s. Free, suggested donation $5.

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Also opening this week, new work from two comedic auteurs: Woody Allen’s To Rome With Love and Seth MacFarlane’s Ted. We’ll have full reviews tomorrow.