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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Taraneh Alidoosti and Hediyeh Tehrani (Grasshopper Film)Rouhi (Taraneh Alidoosti) is a excited bride-to-be in Tehran. A week before her wedding, she takes on a job as a maid for a married couple (Hamid Farokhnezhad and Hediyeh Tehrani) who show her a volatile side of domestic life. This 2006 film from director Asghar Farhadi (About Elly) is only now getting U.S. distribution, but the delay is not an indicator of lesser quality. This powerful drama immerses the viewer in an unfamiliar situation where, much like its wide-eyed bride, we’re forced to suss out motivations—including Rouhi’s, when she starts to play the bickering couple against each other. Rawer and perhaps less complex than Farhadi’s masterful A Separation, Fireworks Wednesday is a strong early work from an astute observer of messy and tragic human relationships.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street Cinema.
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Salma Hayek (IFC Films)The Queen of Longtrellis (Salma Hayek) is desperate for a child, and is told that if she eats a sea monster’s heart cooked by a virgin, she will become pregnant. If the image at right intrigues you, then you know this movie is for you. Based on fairytales by Giambattista Basile, director Matteo Garrone’s film may seem a long way from his 2008 crime drama breakthrough Gomorrah and his 2012 reality show satire Reality. But this fantastical, all-star setting finds Garrone in the familiar territory of desperate people going to any lengths to satisfy their desires. With sweeping camerawork, lush art direction, and ravenous appetites, this is a movie you should see on the big screen.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Angelika Pop-up.
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Kristin Scott Thomas and Prince Rogers NelsonThe AFI Silver pays homage to Prince with a 35mm screening of his most infamous cinematic flop. The Purple One stars and directs this unusual musical about two Miami con-men who swindle money from rich women (including a young Kristin Scott Thomas) in the Mediterranean. Cinematographer Michael Ballhaus (Goodfellas) gives the film its fantastic black and white look. While the film was almost universally dismissed upon its release, it found an unlikely defender in critic J. Hoberman. In his Village Voice review, he wrote, “There hasn’t been a Hollywood comedy with an attitude like Under the Cherry Moon‘s since I’m No Angel, and the bluenoses are already rising to the bait. The flaming creature who calls himself Prince may be the wittiest heterosexual clown since Mae West; black as well as campy, he’s even more threatening.”
Watch the trailer.
Friday, April 29-Saturday, April 30 and Thursday, May 5 at the AFI Silver.
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Friday night, a special Screen on the Green event at Kramer Middle School in Southeast presents this 2015 documentary. Director Betsy Cox contacted British filmmaker Peter Forbes, who worked on a documentary about D.C. that was never made—and left behind 60 hours of footage that languished in a Portuguese basement. Southeast 67 follows a program that promised to send 67 Anacostia seventh-graders to college, and combines 20-year-old footage with present-day interviews of the students and coordinators involved in the program. Read Clinton Yates’ Washington Post article about the film here. The screening is hosted by the office of the Deputy Mayor for Greater Economic Opportunity, DC Film, and the March on Washington Film Festival.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, April 29 at 6:30 p.m. at Kramer Middle School, 1700 Q Street SE. The event will be moved indoors if the rain persists. RSVP for your free ticket here.
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Klaus KinskiNext week the Washington Psychotronic Film Society shows one of the best worst movies in the long career of Klaus “I’ll Do Anything” Kinski. Harvey Keitel stars as a knight with a thick Brooklyn accent who’s charged with rescuing a princess from a dragon. As the WPFS notes, “Turns out this dragon is a UFO! Not only that, but the princess has space fever for mute, telepathic alien Miguel Bosé (Suspiria)! A flying goat, a glowing black cat, and inept knight guarding a bridge all show up, while alchemist Klaus Kinski and priest Fernando Rey vie for the favor of the king and the secrets of the dragon.”
Watch the trailer.
Monday, May 2 at Smoke and Barrel, 2471 18th St. NW,
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Also opening this week, Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele will stop at nothing to retrieve a kitten from vicious drug dealers in Keanu. We’ll have a full review tomorrow.
