Popcorn & Candy is DCist’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting movies playing around town in the coming week.
(Magnolia Pictures)
Neasa Ní Chianáin and David Rane’s charming documentary follows a school year in the life at Ireland’s only surviving preparatory boarding school. But this isn’t just about the now precocious, now awkward students who are trying to find their voice—particularly in the school’s rock band.The movie is framed by veteran teachers John and Amanda, a husband and wife who have spent more than 40 years at the school and are beginning to imagine a life in which they are no longer guiding unformed minds. School Life is a gently observed, real world coming-of-age film.
Watch the trailer.
Opens tomorrow at Landmark West End Cinema
(WJFF)
The Washington Jewish Film Festival continues its homage to those who have passed in the Hebrew calendar year 5777 with a screening of actor Martin Landau’s final film role. Landau stars as an aging psychiatrist who moves into a nursing home and makes an unlikely friend in gambler Paul Sorvino. Paste writes that”age has only made Landau’s lean expressions leaner, more noticeably chosen and thought-out.” And while “there’s still definition of self through sexual achievement, The Last Poker Game clings to these ideas in a much sadder, more nuanced way than in [Robert] De Niro boner joke movies.”
Watch Martin Landau talk about his role in the film.
Saturday, September 16 at 6:45 p.m. and Sunday, September 17 at 5:00 p.m. at Edlavitch DCJCC, 1529 16th Street NW. Sunday, September 17 screening will be followed by a Skype Q&A with Director Howard L. Weiner.
(Academy Film Archive)
The National Gallery of Art’s series, From Vault to Screen: Recent Restorations from the Academy Film Archive continues with a 35mm print of director Joseph Strick’s 1963 adaptation of the Jean Genet play. Street photographer Helen Levitt served as assistant director on the production, which stars Shelley Winters as the madame of a brothel and Peter Falk as a police chief who is one of her regular customers.
Watch a clip.
Saturday, September 16 at 2:30 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art, East Building Auditorium. Free.
(Dr. Macro)
The Mary Pickford Theatre at the Library of Congress continues its monthly repertory programming with a 35mm Technicolor print of this 1952 comedy starring Bob Hope, Jane Russell, and Roy Rogers. A sequel to the 1948 comedy The Paleface, this western rumpus adds the antic talents of Frank Tashlin, who cut his teeth making Looney Tunes and went on to become one of Hollywood’s most inventive comedic directors, helming Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin vehicles and the early rock ‘n’ roll classic The Girl Can’t Help It! Shown with the 1937 Looney Tunes short, “Porky’s Romance,” which was supervised by Tashlin.
Watch a clip.
Thursday, September 21 at 7 p.m. at 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.
(Horrorpedia)
In 1978, Korean dictator Kim Jong Il kidnapped a pair of filmmakers, their story told in the documentary The Lovers and the Despot. One of the results of that forced creative union was this 1985 Godzilla rip-off. I’ll let the Washington Psychotronic Film Society describe the film: “Peasant farmers rebel against their ruthless king. An imprisoned blacksmith molds a tiny dragon out of rice, which later comes to life and eats up all the iron and steel that it can, growing into a hulking, horned beast that joins the rebels in their effort to overthrow the evil monarchy. Take that, Western pig!”
Monday, September 18 at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel.
—
Also opening this week, the Korean action thriller Villainess. We’ll have a full review tomorrow. And don’t miss our coverage of the AFI’s Latin American Film Festival.
