What’s Screening: February 3 – 9

Beauty and the French Connection Looking Through a Glass Onion.

The Mostly British Film Festival continues through the week and IndieFest opens Thursday.

A Beauty and the Beast (1946 version), Castro, Thursday. I’d be hard-pressed to think of another film that’s anything like Jean Cocteau’s post-war fantasy. It’s a fairytale, told with a charming and often naïve innocence, and contains absolutely no objectionable-for-children content. It’s also a supremely atmospheric motion picture, and one that takes its magical story seriously. But its slow pace and quiet magic never panders to unsophisticated viewers. And yet, I once saw a very young audience sit enraptured by it. See my Blu-ray review. On a double bill with No Such Thing.

Looking Through A Glass Onion: Deconstructing The Beatles White Album, Balboa, Monday, 7:30. Beatles expert Scott Freiman will use recordings and video clips as he discusses what may easily be the Beatles’ weirdest album.

A The French Connection, Castro, Friday. Perhaps the grittiest, filthiest, most realistic contemporary drama to ever win the Best Picture Oscar (and only two years after Midnight Cowboy, the other contender for that honor). A mystery and a character study about a foul-mouthed, violent, and borderline racist police detective (Gene Hackman in the best performance of his career), The French Connection sinks you into a dirty business and the people who have to do it. It also includes one of the best car chases in movie history. On a double bill with Year of the Dragon.

A A Separation, Albany Twin, Guild, opens Friday. Writer/director Asghar Farhadi demonstrates how good people can turn against each other in this harrowing tale from Iran about divorce, family responsibilities, and courtroom drama. A middle-class couple break up over an irreconcilable difference. He hires a housekeeper to care for his senile father. That housekeeper—poor, pregnant, with a young daughter in tow and a husband who doesn’t know she’s working—is clearly not up for the task. When disaster strikes, everyone ends up in court, where people are soon doubting their own words. This one will stick with you. See my full review.

Film Arts Forum: Digital Distribution Now, Roxie, Tuesday, 7:30. Judging from the description, this isn’t about DCP projection, but Internet streaming as a business model. “The Film Society’s latest Film Arts Forum will assemble a panel to debate, demystify, and debunk online distribution in all its varying forms."

Super Bowl, Balboa, Lark, Roxie, Sunday afternoon (check individual theaters for times). Why watch the big game at home when you see it on the theater screen with a large audience. The Balboa screening is free. The Roxie version, titled Superbowl XlVI: Men in Tights, promises the “Mystery Science Theater treatment” and is a benefit for SF IndieFest and the Roxie.

B A Night at the Opera, Stanford, Tuesday through Thursday. The Marx Brothers moved up in the world when they left Paramount for MGM—bigger budgets and bigger grosses. But the need to be more commercial cost them a lot of their bite. Their first MGM extravaganza has some of their best routines (“The party of the first part,” the overcrowded stateroom), but you have to sit through a dumb romantic plot, very unmarxist sentimentality, and insipid love songs. On a double bill with the Greta Garbo version of Camille, which is not an opera. If someone can explain to me the logic of this double bill, please do so.

MASH, Castro, Saturday, 5:00. I never cared much for what everyone else seems to consider an important comedy. Even in 1970, when it was new and I was right smack in the middle of its demographic, I found it only a moderately funny military comedy with pretensions of significance. I saw it again about ten years later, and felt that age had only turned it into a misogynistic, moderately funny military comedy with pretensions of significance. This may sound sacrilegious, but I preferred the TV show. I’m not giving it a grade because it has been a very long time since I’ve seen it. Elliott Gould, Sally Kellerman and Kathryn Altman will appear in person for this Sketchfest event.

A All About Eve, Stanford, Friday through Monday. Here’s your chance to explore the sordid ambition behind Broadway’s (and by implication, Hollywood’s) glamour. Anne Baxter plays the title character, an apparently sweet and innocent actress whom aging diva Bette Davis takes under her wing. But Eve isn’t anywhere near as innocent as she appears. Fasten your seatbelts; it’s going to be a bumpy ride. On a double bill with something called Orchestra Wives.

B Best In Show, Castro, Saturday, 2:00. Christopher Guest’s dog-show mockumentary has more than its share of hilarious moments. The rest of it is pretty funny, too. This Sketchfest event will include  Q&A with Fred Willard and Michael Hitchcock.