It seems odd to write about movies at a time like this. Our country is caught between the worst natural calamity to hit our shores in nearly a century and an idiotic president who doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. Why didn’t all those people just leave New Orleans? Don’t they have chauffeurs?
And bravo to Kayne West for doing the unthinkable–speaking from the heart on national television. (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, just click here.) I disagree with West on one matter, however: I don’t believe that Bush is a racist. Our President doesn’t judge a man by the color of his skin but by the content of his bank account.
Anyway, if you haven’t donated to the Red Cross yet, please do so.
In happier news, several film festivals are on the way. Before September is over we’ll have the 9th Annual Arab Film Festival, the MadCat Woman’s International Film Festival, the Oakland International Film Festival, the Orinda Film Festival, and resfest. And then, in October, the biggie of the fall season, the Mill Valley Film Festival.
With all those festivals coming up, you better make sure your movie-going muscles are in good shape. Here are a few good workouts:
Recommended: Dr. Strangelove, Randall Museum, Friday evening. We like to look back at earlier decades as simpler, less fearful times, but Stanley Kubrick’s “nightmare comedy” reminds you just how scary things once were. Thank heaven we don’t have idiots like those running the country, now! It’s also very funny. Part of Art & Film’s Cineclub series, this DVD screening is actually intended for teenagers, but anyone willing to take part in the discussion afterwards is welcome.
Noteworthy: The Fall of Otrar, Pacific Film Archive, Friday night. Genghis Khan (not played by John Wayne) destroys the nation of Otrar in this nearly three-hour epic. Made in Kazakhstan just as the Soviet Union was collapsing, it sounds terrific. Part of the Archive’s Films From Along the Silk Road: Central Asian Cinema series.
Recommended: Brazil, Red Vic, Friday and Saturday. If Dr. Strangelove doesn’t convince you that the world is a mess, follow it up with the second greatest black comedy ever filmed, and the best distopian fantasy of them all. This is the second of three masterpieces Terry Gilliam made in the 1980’s, and the only one that isn’t a children’s fantasy at heart.
Recommended: The Big Lebowski, Aquarius, Friday and Saturday, midnight. Critics originally panned this Coen Brothers gem as a disappointing follow-up to the Coen’s previous endeavor, Fargo. Well, it isn’t as good as Fargo, but it’s still one hell of a funny movie.
Noteworthy: Electric Edwardians: The Films of Mitchell & Kenyon, Pacific Film Archive, Sunday afternoon. Early movies didn’t tell stories; they just captured life. As such, they’re a fascinating glimpse into a lost world–or more precisely, a world that, unlike all of those before it, may never be entirely lost. In the case of these recently-discovered films, that world is England at the beginning of the last century. Part of the Archive’s Rediscovering British Silent Cinema series, these shorts will be presented with “live spoken commentary” as well as piano accompaniment by Judith Rosenberg.
Recommended: Ninotchka, Rafael, Sunday evening. Garbo’s first comedy and penultimate film is sweet, charming, romantic, and very funny. It also nails perfectly the absurdities of Communism–still well respected by many Americans in 1939 (“The last mass trials were a great success. There are going to be fewer but better Russians.”). But what else would you expect when Ernst Lubitsch directs a screenplay by Billy Wilder? Part of the Rafael’s Greta Garbo series.
Recommended: Best of Youth Part 1, Red Vic, Sunday and Monday. The first half of the best two-part, six-hour movie since The Godfather. Originally made for Italian television, Best of Youth follows the fortunes of one family, a close circle of their friends, and the Italian people as a whole, from 1966 to 2003. As the story slowly unfolds, you grow to know and love these people as if they were old friends. Part 2 will screen next week.
Recommended: Spirited Away, Red Vic, Tuesday and Wednesday. Hayao Miyazaki’s masterpiece is a beautiful, complex, and occasionally scary tale of a young girl cast into a strange and magical world. The intriguing and imaginative creatures, not to mention the moral dilemmas, are beyond anything that Dorothy never had to deal with in Oz. Spirited Away’s original USA release was dubbed, but the Red Vic will present the original Japanese language version with subtitles; unless you’re bringing a child who is too young to read, this is the better choice.
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