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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Orson Welles (Janus Films)Orson Welles’s masterful 1965 adaptation of the Henry IV saga has been entangled in legal issues for decades, but ahead of a long-awaited Criterion Collection release, a newly restored DCP is getting a welcome commercial release. Readers of this column may well know that I am a devoted film purist, but the circulating prints of this film have always seemed compromised by a washed-out tonal range and the kind of awkwardly recorded dialogue typical of this era of Welles. Although I have only seen the entire restoration in an online screener, from the looks of the film’s new trailer, this digital version restores deep blacks and bright whites for a full tonal range, and it looks gorgeous. Part historical drama, part coming-of-age tale, Chimes at Midnight quite doesn’t have the visual pyrotechnics of Welles’ early masterpieces. But he was born to play Falstaff, and this autumnal work is one of his greatest films. With Jeanne Moreau as Doll Tearsheet, John Gielgud as King Henry IV and local Shakespeare Theater regular Keith Baxter as Hal.
Watch the trailer.
Opens today at Landmark E Street Cinema
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Jean Marais and Josette Day (Criterion Collection)The AFI Silver’s repertory calendar starts up on February 19, which means couples looking for an old romantic movie can’t opt for their Screen Valentines series. Fortunately, the E Street Landmark is bringing back a no-brainer in the form of that most romantic of subgenres, the fairy tale hostage crisis. A merchant is taken prisoner by a hirsute creature (Jean Marais) who condemns him to death for stealing a rose. But the beast makes a deal with the merchant: bring me one of your daughters to take your place. Belle (Josette Day) sacrifices herself to the hot-breathing manimal, and finds that his animal bloodlust and hideous shell hides a poetic soul. Greta Garbo famously quipped “Giff me back my beast” at the film’s ending, but director Jean Cocteau’s masterpiece is still on many lists of the most romantic movies ever made. Wander the most enchanted of castles, with a magic mirror, living candelabra and statuary whose eyes gracefully follow your every move.
Watch the trailer.
Opens today at E Street Landmark Cinema.
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Mihai Comānoiu and Alberto Dinache (Big World Pictures)In 19th century Romania, two men hunt down a runaway slave. This period piece from director Rada Jude debuted at the AFI’s European Union Film Showcase last fall, and Angelika Pop-up is giving it a welcome commercial run. But don’t expect your typically polite costume drama. The characters of Aferim! are ribald and politically incorrect in a way that makes the film come off as if a horny Archie Bunker rode on horseback into an Andrei Tarkovsky film. Hilarious and brutal, this obviously isn’t for everyone. But the stark black and white photography should be seen on the big screen to be appreciated.
Watch the trailer.
Opens today at Angelika Pop-Up
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Michael Moore and Ducati CEO Claudio Domenicali (Dog Eat Dog FIlms)In Michael Moore’s new documentary, the director of Roger and Me continues his signature method of injecting himself into the narrative. Moore literally takes up the flag to invade other countries and bring back polices that he hopes would help an increasingly broken American system. Few may object to more paid vacation and maternity leave (Italy), better school lunches (France) and a free college education (Slovenia), but Moore can be disingenuous, and worse, insufferably self-righteous, as he “plants” an American flag in each country he invades. Even if you sympathize with the movie’s ideals, its swelling, manipulative score bolsters the attention-hungry showman at its center, not the subjects it hopes to elevate.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at E Street Landmark Cinema and the AFI Silver.
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(Netflix)Winter on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
One of this year’s Oscar nominees for Best Documentary, director Evgeny Afineevsky’s film follows the civil rights movement that emerged in Ukraine in 2013 and 2014. I haven’t had a chance to preview it, but the buzz is fairly unanimous, the film earning a 95 percent rating on the Tomatometer. The Washington Post’s Michael O’Sullivna writes that Winter on Fire “plays out like a harrowingly bloody, real-life Les Miserables.”
Watch the trailer.
Opens today at Angelika Pop-Up.
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Also opening this week: reclusive male model Ben Stiller comes out of retirement in Zoolander 2. We’ll have a full review this afternoon.
