Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
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Kaeru-kun the frog (Samuel Goldwyn Films)Kamiura (the misleadingly named Lily Frankie) is a ruthless yakuza boss who seems indescructible—maybe because he’s a vampire. Rivals finally rip his head from his body, but before he dies he hands down his powers to young Kageyama (Hayato Ichihara, who stars in a Japanese TV adaptation of The Brothers Karamazov). The prolific Takashi Miike has directed masterfully unsettling films like Audition, and you can’t fault him for a lack of imagination here; the most vicious killer in the film is the crude muppet pictured to the right. But the frenetic action and cartoonish ultraviolence tries too hard and overwhelms any sense of character, which a movie like this needs to keep you engaged. Still, if blood and cosplay are your thing, this is the movie to see this week.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Angelika Pop-Up.
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Malin Akerman (Straight 6)Three years after an accident killed her mother (Malin Akerman), Max (Tessa Farmiga) reluctantly attends a screening of Camp Bloodbath, the slasher movie that made her mom a semi-famous actress. When a fire breaks out during the screening, the only escape route is through the movie screen@mdash;and into the movie. The 10th annual Spooky Movie Festival opens tonight with this homage to ’80s slashers and The Purple Rose of Cairo. The film works better as a coming-of-age movie than as a horror flick (gore-fans note, this is strictly PG-13), but if you come in not expecting an actual slasher, you’ll find a well-made and surprisingly moving teen dramedy. See the complete Spooky Fest schedule here.
Watch the trailer.
Premieres tonight at 7:30 PM at the AFI Silver; Opens tomorrow at AMC Hoffman.
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Garry Goodrow, Alice Peyton, Christopher Guest, John Belushi, Peter Elbling, Chevy Chase and Tony Hendra (Michael Gold/Magnolia Pictures)Drunk Stoned Brilliant Dead: The Story of the National Lampoon
When this documentary premiered during AFI Docs earlier this year, I wrote, “An Ivy League humor magazine published since the 19th century unwittingly sowed the seeds of modern comedy when editors Douglas Kenney and Henry Beard joined the team in the late ’60s. A recent documentary about the history of Saturday Night Live (whose startup team was made up largely of Lampoon alumni) takes some of the edge off the era, but director Douglas Tirola gleefully reminds the viewer of its thoroughly offensive, racist, sexist, and (sometimes) hilarious material, including what may be the greatest magazine cover in American history. Archive footage and interviews with Lampoon survivors tell the story of what sounds like it the best job in the world, until it fell apart. If, like me, the magazine and its various offshoots helped shaped your sense of humor, you’ll want to see this, even if some of the bits may not be as funny as you remember them.”
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street Cinema.
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Branded to Kill (Courtesy of the Freer)Action, Anarchy, and Audacity: A Seijun Suzuki Retrospective
Seijun Suzuki was a hired hand for Nikkatsu, churning out more than three movies a year during his tenure at the studio. But as the director grew increasingly bored with B-movie formula, he subverted it with startling, surreal touches that eventually got him fired. This weekend the Freer launches Action, Anarchy, and Audacity: A Seijun Suzuki Retrospective in conjunction with film curator Tom Vick’s new book, Time and Place are Nonsense: The Films of Seijun Suzuki. The 1966 yakuza musical Tokyo Drifter (SUnday, October 11 at 1 p.m.) is one of Suzuki’s best films, full of garish colors and wild fight scenes. Also screening this weekend is the film that got Suzuki fired from Nikkatsu. The wide-screen black and white crime drama Branded to Kill (Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m.) stars Jo Shishido as an assassin who gets an erotic charge from the smell of rice cooking. Both these films are must-sees on the big screen, even in the DCP format the gallery will be showing. Vick will sign copies of his new book after Friday night’s screening.
Watch the trailers for Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter.
Branded to Kill screens Friday, October 9 at 7 p.m, followed by a book signing with author-curator Tom Vick; Tokyo Drifter screens Sunday, October 11 at 1 p.m. At the Freer. Free.
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Hawk Jones fights crime in a corrupt city. It’s the conceit of a thousand movies, but this time it’s different: the cast is comprised entirely of kids. Is this a metaphor for the helplessness of urban citizens and the end of innocence? Or a surprisingly well-acted quasi-exploitation movie? The Washington Psychotronic Film Society celebrates the 25th anniversary of this straight-to-VHS classic with a new director’s version that replaces the cartoon balloons that pooped out of the kids guns with real explosions and blood squibs.
Watch the trailer.
Monday, October 12 at 8 p/m. at Acre 121.
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Also opening this week, a public prosecutor goes after Nazis in late ’50s Germany in Labyrinth of Lies. We’ll have a full review tomorrow.
