Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
Last remaining archivist Jeff Roth searches The New York Times morgue (Kino Lorber)
It’s a given that we’ll read remembrances of our most-beloved figures; but would you read obituaries of the lesser-known—for pleasure? You will after you watch Vanessa Gould’s surprisingly engaging documentary about the staff of the New York Times’ obituary department. Obit takes on everything from fact-checking to clip files and the tedium of the creative process, and does it with the flair of a literary action movie. To see Bruce Weber fret over the obituary for William P. WIlson, an aide to John F. Kennedy, may seem no better than watching paint dry; but if you’re a writer, it’s a horrifying reminder of your next deadline. Veteran obituarists like Weber and Margalit Fox are particularly inspired by lives spent in a modest spotlight, like the bass player Marshall Lyte or the typewriter repairman Mason Whitlock. Deftly edited, Obit is a surprisingly entertaining movie about the writing and editing process, and a wonderful movie about life.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark E Street Theater.
Cynthia Nixon and Jennifer Ehle © A Quiet Passion/Hurricane Films/Courtesy of Music Box Films.
The films of director Terence Davies (The Long Day Closes) are revered for their lush visuals and provocative meditations on the past. But they are often turgid, mannered affairs, and his aesthetic may not be the best fit for his latest subject: Emily Dickinson. Cynthia Nixon stars as the celebrated poet, and while her performance is fine, her co-stars (which include a nearly unrecognizable Keith Carradine) too often sound as if they’re spouting polemic (19th century figures clumsily shoehorned into 21st century sensibilities) more than engaging in conversation. Sure, it looks pretty, but is that what you want from an Emily Dickinson biopic?
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at The Avalon Theatre and Cinema Arts Theatre.
(The Criterion Collection)
Last month the Sackler unveiled a long-lost painting by 18th century Japanese artist Kitagawa Utamaro, reuniting a set of three works that depicted the pleasure districts of Edo (now Tokyo). In conjunction with the exhibit Inventing Utamaro: A Japanese Masterpiece Rediscovered, the gallery is programming a series of films, including a 35mm print of director Kenji Mizoguchi’s 1948 masterful biopic. One hopes the gallery comes up with similarly relevant programming for its upcoming exhibit of cats in Egyptian art.
Sunday, May 14 at 2 p.m. at the American History Museum, Warner Bros. Theater. Free.
John Hurt (Cinema.de)
In homage to the late John Hurt, who died on January 25, the Mary Pickford Theatre will screen a 35mm print of this 1998 political thriller that was never released in the United States. Hurt stars as a British cabinet minister who has the chance to redeem his own scandal-plagued career when he learns of a criminal conspiracy. Based on a novel by Stanley Johnson, the film was directed by Dutch filmmaker George Sluizer (The Vanishing).
Thursday, May 18 at 7 p.m. at the Mary Pickford Theatre, third floor of the Madison Building, Library of Congress. Free. Seating is on a first-come first-serve basis. Doors open at 6:30 pm
(Cinefantastique)
If this movie doens’t already have you at “evil cat,” listen to what the Washington Psychotronic Film Society has to say about this 1987 Hong Kong fantasy: “A long time ago, an evil cat ripped and tore up things on Earth. It had incredible powers and didn’t use the litter box. One family stood up to it and imprisoned it within the Earth. The evil feline has resurfaced and the folks that tried to euthanize it before are dead, but their other kin-folk aren’t. They have to wrassle this freak cat out of its 9 lives.”
Watch the trailer.
Monday, May 15 at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel.
