DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
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Dead End Drive-In
Dead End Drive-In
AFI Silver’s summer-long Ozploitation series wraps up this weekend with two final screenings. Dead End Drive-In is a biting post-apocalyptic satire of the junk food culture of the 80s, where slacker teenagers are lured into the world of anything-goes drive-in movie theaters, where they’re then gated off into teenage concentration camps. When Jimmy and Carmen set out to one of these “dead end” drive-ins, they become trapped in a world of reckless teenage ennui, bad cult films, street violence, and junk food, all set to a blaring New Wave soundtrack. Brian Trenchard-Smith’s uproarious and allegorical celebration of 80s counter-culture is like a big Middle Finger in the vein of films like Repo Man and A Clockwork Orange. Eat it, Reagan.
View the trailer.
Friday, September 6 at 9:45 p.m. and Saturday, September 7 at 7:15 p.m at the AFI Silver Theater
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Ciné-Concert: Abstract Animation Since 1970
The National Gallery of Art is in the last leg of its summer film program with this showcase of experimental animation films dating from 1970 to present. Hand-picked by artist Sharon Louden, this selection of whimsical animation shorts features work by a selection renowned experimental artists and filmmakers, including Stan Brakhage, Paul Glabicki, Sky David, Larry Cuba, Michel Gagné, Chris Casady, David Brody, Adriano Abbado, Amy Yoes, Amelia Winger-Bearskin, Dannielle Tegeder, Phil Docken, and Sharon Louden. Working within the animation medium, these artists break ground in storytelling as their work explores “drawing in space, [narratives] constructed entirely through color, and the arrangement of moments in time.” Live music will accompany the selection of shorts courtesy of composer Andrew Simpson, who will perform some of his new music.
Sunday, September 8 at 4:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium.
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Olivia Wilde and Jake Johnson (Image via Magnolia Pics)
Drinking Buddies
Mumblecore maven Joe Swanberg (kind of) breaks out of his shell with the charming but slight romantic comedy Drinking Buddies. Yes, Swanberg is operating on his biggest budget to date (still less than $1 million, which is very cheap) and employing “Hollywood” actors, but his charm and mumblecore ennui is still very much present this story of two co-workers whose flirtatious relationship causes problems with their own significant others. Jake Johnson and Olivia Wilde are the titular drinking buddies, two 30-somethings who work at a Chicago craft brewery whose love of day drinking is only rivaled by their love of goofing off in the workplace. Wilde is going on month eight with Cool Older Guy Ron Livingston, while Johnson is at the point where he needs to take things to the next level with his longtime girlfriend, played by Anna Kendrick. When Livingston invites them all up for a couples weekend at his cabin in the woods, things go awry, but not as consequential as you’d expect. With Swanberg, there’s never any big reveals, grand character revelations, or Big Romantic Gestures. He’s keen on making his no-budget indie films as authentic and inconsequential as he can, and Drinking Buddies, despite its stellar cast and inflated (again, in Swanberg’s sense) budget, is no exception. Some may find Drinking Buddies a dull affair, but for those who can tune into Swanberg’s exceptional ability to write characters, it’s worth a look. You can check out my full review over at The Week.
View the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street Cinema.
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Pulp Fiction
“What does Marsellus Wallace look like?”
“He… he’s black…”
“Go on…”
“He’s bald”
“Does he look like a bitch?”
Come on, do I really need to explain why you need to see one of the greatest independent films of the 90s this weekend? Didn’t think so.
View the trailer.
Friday, September 6 and Saturday, September 7 at midnight at E Street Cinema
