Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
Luke Treadway and friend (Entertainment in Motion)
James (Luke Treadway) is homeless busker trying to kick the habit and make a living performing on the streets of London. While his own family has given up on him, a social worker (Joanne Froggatt) gives him a shot—and so does a stray ginger who wanders into his life. Based on a true story, Bob is one of at least two movies opening this week with prominent animal reaction shots and a Christmastime setting (see our review of Paul Verhoeven’s Elle on Friday). Unlike your typical heartwarming animal movie, this presents a stark view of homelessness. Director Roger Spottiswoode has veered from Bond spectacle like Tomorrow Never Dies to, well, animal movies like Turner and Hooch, and he handles this furry tearjerker with just enough sandpaper and not too much sap.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday at Landmark West End Cinema.
Setsuko Hara and Chishû Ryû (The Criterion Collection)
TOKYO STORY (35mm)
In conjunction with the AFI, the Freer’s retrospective of actress Setsuko Hara continues this weekend at the Silver with a 35mm print of one of the masterpieces of Japanese cinema. Director Yasujirô Ozu’s 1953 drama follows an elderly couple who visit their children in the city, only to learn that they have little time for their parents. Ozu regular Chishû Ryû famously notes in this film that “life is disappointing.” Bring hankies.
Watch the trailer.
Sunday, November 20 and Tuesday, November 22 at the AFI Silver.
Prince and Ingrid Chavez
My film series Shooting Stars: Bowie and Prince on Film continues with a 35mm print of a Prince movie largely omitted from recent posthumous celebrations. Originally intended as a vehicle for the Time’s Morris Day, Prince’s third fiction feature was so poorly received that one critic wrote that it makes Under the Cherry Moon look like Citizen Kane. Bridge is essentially a series of music videos with a thin narrative about the divide between heaven and Earth. Free tickets are already sold out for the series, but standbys are encouraged to line up starting at 6:30 p.m. as available seats will be released five minutes before show time. For more information, call (202) 707-5502.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, November 18 at 7 p.m. at the Mary Pickford Theatre, third floor of the Madison Building, Library of Congress. Free. Tickets are sold out. but a standby line forms at 6:30 p.m.
Robert Mitchum
Also at the Mary Pickford Theatre this week, an occasional series of preservation prints continues with a film noir double bill on gorgeous black & white 35mm film. In The Big Steal, an early film by Dirty Harry director Don Siegel, Robert Mitchum stars as an Army officer who tries to clear his name of a robbery he didn’t commit. Shown with the 1952 neorealist noir Chicago Calling, with Dan Duryea as a struggling photographer.
Thursday, November 17, 2016 at 6:30 p.m. at the Mary Pickford Theatre, third floor of the Madison Building, Library of Congress. Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis. Doors open at 6 p.m. Free.
John Astin
This week the Washington Psychtronic Film Society raids its vaults for a prime example of a neglected subgenre: the ’70s TV movie. The Addams Family‘s John Astin stars in the title role, a moustachioed Western villain who tries to turn over a new leaf for schoolteacher Pamela Austin. But singing Sheriff Dick Shawn is ready to catch Slade for the slightest transgression. The supporting cast is a who’s who of old school comedy, including Mickey Rooney, Henry Gibson, Dom Deluise, Milton Berle, Pat Morita, John Ritter, Penny Marshall and Ed Begley Jr.
Watch a clip.
Monday, November 21 at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel.
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Also opening this week: Miles Teller stars as a boxer who tries to come back from a crippling accident in Bleed for This; and Isabelle Huppert stars as a woman dealing with the aftermath of sexual assault in Elle, from Showgirls‘ director Paul Verhoeven. We’ll have full reviews on Friday.
