This Week At the Movies

I posted two articles this week, both about the San Francisco International Film Festival (opening as I type this). The first described films I haven’t seen but would like to, and the second offered microreviews of the films I’ve been able to preview.

Grandma’s Boy (1922), Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30. In his second feature, made years after he donned those horn-rimmed glasses, Harold Lloyd finally found the shy, scared, but clever and ambitious character to go with them. Harold is too much of a coward to face the bully or win the girl, but a fairy tale lie from his grandmother helps him find the courage that was always inside. This sweet fable about the power of self-confidence avoids excess sentimentality by the simple (but actually quite difficult) trick of never letting up on the laughs. I’ve seen people almost asphyxiate from laughter during the mothball scene. Five years later he would return to the rural setting, and the theme, for his best film, The Kid Brother. With Jon Mirsalis on the piano.

Sweet Smell &The Hospital, Castro, Tuesday. Another Castro United Artist double bill: The Sweet Smell of Success & The Hospital. It’s been too long since I’ve seen Burt Lancaster’s Broadway noir for me to trust my memory with a wholehearted recommendation. But not by much. Lancaster risked his career by producing this exploration of the seamy side of fame and by playing a truly despicable character. The result, if I recall correctly, is fantastic. Tony Curtis co-stars, from a script by Ernest (North by Northwest) Lehman. On the other hand, I saw The Hospital recently. A day in the life of a hospital moving from one crisis to another, it’s too serious in tone to work as black comedy, and too absurd in plot to work as anything else.

Court Room Double Feature, Castro, Sunday. They were made only four years apart, they’re both about trials, and they were both originally released by United Artists, but Judgment at Nuremberg and Witness for the Prosecution make one weird double-bill. Nuremberg is heavy, serious, and deals with the Holocaust. Witness is a light murder mystery with comic overtones–Agatha Christie as adapted by Billy Wilder. What’s more, the 3-hour+ Judgment at Nuremberg is too long to be on a double bill with anything. On the other hand, they’re both real good. All part of the Castro’s United Artists series.

There Will be Blood, Red Vic, Friday and Saturday. Paul Thomas Anderson’s small, character-driven films feel like epics, so there’s no surprise that he’d eventually try the real thing. Or that he’d get it right. Based on a Upton Sinclair novel called Oil! (the name change makes no sense), There Will be Blood is big, sprawling, and spectacular, and captures not just a moment in history but a 30-year transition. Read my full review.

And now, screenings and events in the San Francisco International Film Festival:

Mike Leigh & Topsy-Turvy, Castro, Wednesday, 7:30. The brilliant British director Mike Leigh receives this year’s Founder’s Directors Award (AKA, the Award that Used to be Named for Akira Kurosawa). At this tribute, we’ll get retrospective clips, Q&A with film critic David D’Arcy, and a screening of his Gilbert and Sullivan biopic, Topsy Turvy.

Errol Morris & Standard Operating Procedure, Kabuki, Tuesday, 7:30. Errol Morris started with documentaries about the unusual and the eccentric, and has moved on to big and serious topics. As the winner of this year’s Golden Gate Persistence of Vision Award, he will be honored with clips, on-stage Q&A, and a screening of his latest work, Standard Operating Procedure. But I doubt anything will happen at the Kabuki to top the 1980 premiere of his first feature at the UC Theater; that’s where Werner Herzog ate his shoe.

I Served the King of England, Kabuki, Wednesday, 6:00. For more than half of its runtime, Jirí Menzel’s clever and entertaining comedy celebrates the joys of serving the filthy rich. We accept this empty and amoral theme because the movie is funny and visually pleasing, but even more because Ivan Barnev is engaging and likeable as the story’s ambitious waiter protagonist. But just the fun and games begin to get tiring (for us, not Jan), the Nazis arrive. Jan falls in love with a German girl, collaborates with the enemy, and shows us just how low he can go. Told mostly in flashbacks, I Served the King of England maintains its light tone throughout. Part of the

Water Lilies. Kabuki, Saturday, April 26, 9:00. Us old folks need to be reminded from time to time just how bad this whole sex thing can be for a teenager, and Céline Sciamma’s teenage drama brings all those horrors back in gruesome emotional detail. Marie and Anne (Pauline Acquart and Louise Blachère) are best friends, with Marie cheering on Anne’s synchronized swimming team. But then Marie goes out of her way, and even humiliates herself, to befriend the beautiful but bitchy team captain Floriane (Adele Haenel). Anne has a major crush on Floriane’s boyfriend, complicating matters. None of the characters behave in the way you’d expect them to–especially if your expectations come from other movies. Part of the San Francisco International Film Festival.