What’s Screening: June 9 – 15

~ Lincoln Spector

There’s a lot of comedy in Bay Area movie theaters this week. Along with the Marx Brothers, there’s Wes Anderson, Ernst Lubitsch, Mike Nichols, and Stanley Kubrick’s only comedy Dr. Strangelove (and it’s a masterpiece). There’s even the crazy animation of Roger Rabbit. Also, the most famous porn film ever made – with the worst comic timing ever.

Festivals & Series

Might be interesting

Lynch/Oz, Rafael, Roxie, click the theaters for dates and times

How do the films of David Lynch connect with The Wizard of Oz? Director Alexandre O. Phillippe tries to figure it out. “Phillippe presents a stimulating sextet of video essays that draw fascinating parallels between Dorothy and David’s fantastical journeys. Pop on those ruby slippers, the answers might just be waiting at the end of the yellow brick road.”

New films opening theatrically

A Town Destroyer (2022), BAMPFA, Saturday, 4:30pm

This local and very short documentary (55 minutes) does something rare in today’s political docs: The filmmakers look at both sides of the controversy. Remember the debate over destroying or saving Victor Arnautoff’s mural, The Life of Washington. The painting was at San Francisco’s Washington High School. Is it an insult to indigenous people, or an attack on our first president? Aside from the mural, the film looks at other works of public art that no longer seem appropriate. The directors will be in attendance.

A Dalíland, Opera Plaza, Rafael, opens Friday

You can call this film Ben Kingsley as Salvador Dalí. But the film is too fascinating, too thoughtful, and too entertaining to throw away with a glib line. This is Dali in his old age (it’s mostly set in the 1970s). The story is mostly seen through the eyes of an exceptionally good-looking young man new to Dali’s entourage. The early scenes, set in New York, are fun and wild. But when they return to France, Dali becomes more difficult. You won’t see any of his paintings, but you’ll see a lot of nudity.

B+ Blue Jean, Opera Plaza, opens Friday

Margaret Thatcher didn’t just hate poor people. The Prime Minister also hated gays and lesbians. In that atmosphere, a girls’ basketball coach could lose her job because she’s in a relationship with another woman. Things get problematic when one of her students pops up in a lesbian pub. Jean must try to keep her British upper lip stiff.

New films streaming

A Living, streaming on Netflix and other sources

I’m posting this review because it’s a brilliant film that didn’t get a proper theatrical run. Here’s a remake that contains almost everything in the original. And that original is Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Ikura. An aging bureaucrat, emotionally dead and cut-off emotionally from both his job and his family, discovers that he has only months to live. He has scarcely time to make his empty life meaningful. He tries wine, women, and song, and that doesn’t help. This new English-speaking film closely follows the original Japanese screenplay, and yet, it feels very British. After all, this is the country of the stiff upper lip. Warning: You may cry.

Promising events

? Deep Throat (1972), New Parkway, Sunday, 7:00pm

I saw the first famous porn flick when I was just old enough to be let into the theater. But the thing I remember most was a very good joke ruined by horrible timing. There have been countless discussions about the movie since then, and that’s probably why there will be a post-film discussion.

Another chance to see (theatrically)

A- The Grand Budapest Hotel
(2014), 4-Star
֍ Saturday, 7:30pm
֍ Sunday, 4:30pm

Wes Anderson is playing with us, and what fun it is to be played. In this story within a story within a story, the concierge of a magnificent European hotel (Ralph Fiennes) takes a young bellhop under his wing and teaches him about hostelry and life, while also trying to save his own skin from some very well-connected thugs. All quite silly, except that I think there’s a message about the rise of Fascism in there somewhere (the innermost story is set in the early ’30s). The hotel, which sits on a high mountain peak, is one of those places that you want to visit but could only exist in a movie.

Theatrical revivals

A+ The Third Man (1949), Balboa, Friday, 7:30pm

16mm! Writer Graham Greene and director Carol Reed created an intriguing mystery inside post-war Vienna – a world so dark and disillusioned that American noir seems bright by comparison. The victorious powers have divided the city into sections, and it’s controlled by a not-always-collaborating group of Russians, French, American, and British soldiers. Then, when the movie is two thirds over, Orson Welles comes onscreen to steal everything but the sprocket holes. See my A+ article.

A+ Duck Soup (1933), Balboa
֍ Tuesday, 7:00pm
֍ Wednesday, 8:30pm

16mm! The Marx Brothers’ masterpiece takes place high in the government of the mythical country of Freedonia. Could there be a better setting for attacking the self-important and pompous? The film has no romance, little exposition, and even lacks the piano and harp solos in every other Marx Brothers movie. I won’t go into details on this one. I’ve already written about it.

B+ Monkey Bussiness (1930), Balboa
֍ Tuesday, 8:30pm
֍ Wednesday, 7:00pm

16mm! The first Marx Brother film not based on a stage play starts off as one of their best. The Brothers play stowaways on an ocean liner. Groucho and Chico break into the captain’s cabin to eat the Captain’s lunch while insulting him. A gangster is ready to kill Groucho for flirting with his wife (Thelma Todd) “Young lady, you’re making history. In fact, you’re making me, and I wish you’d keep my hands to yourself.” Even Zeppo gets to romance a girl. But the last act falls apart.

A+ Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, (1964), Balboa
֍ Saturday, 5:00pm & 7:30pm
֍ Sunday, 4:30pm & 7:00pm

Here’s a deeply dark, hilarious comedy about the end of the world. General Jack D. Ripper (Sterling Hayden) orders his men to bomb the USSR and start World War III. But have no fear! The men responsible for avoiding Armageddon (three of them played by Peter Sellers) are almost as competent as Laurel and Hardy. Stanley Kubrick’s “nightmare comedy” reminds you just how scary things were back in the ’60s. Read my Blu-ray review.

A The Leopard (1963), BAMPFA, Sunday, 7:00pm

For a three-hour film where almost nothing happens, Luchino Visconti’s 1963 epic is remarkably spell-binding. The sumptuous Technirama photography helps. Aristocrats led by patriarch Burt Lancaster (with his dialog dubbed into Italian) live through a revolution that rocks Italy’s government, but leaves their lives hardly changed. Visconti shows considerable nostalgia for the days of fancy balls and peasants who knew their place, but also understands why this society must die. Graceful in design, it shows great sympathy for its flawed characters. Read my longer report. Part of the series Claudia Cardinale Once Upon a Time.

A- Dazed and Confused, (1993), Vogue, Wednesday & Thursday, 7:30

Think American Graffiti set in the stoned ’70s. As the school year ends in a small Texas town, students and recent alumni head out looking for pot, parties, and sex. Some of them find it. Since Richard Linklater isn’t George Lucas (thank God), Dazed and Confused finds depths in the many characters. The young, largely unknown cast includes such future stars as Milla Jovovich, Ben Affleck, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey.

B+ So This Is Paris (1926), Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30pm

Piano accompaniment by Bruce Loeb. One of Ernst Lubitsch’s earliest American films, and a very funny one – from the early kinky foreplay to a question about who belongs in prison. This story of two couples dipping their toes into the water of adultery is hysterically funny at the beginning and end, even if the middle sags a bit, but not bad enough to ruin the movie’s pleasure. A delightful concoction of what would come to be known as The Lubitsch Touch. With three silent shorts.

B+ The Birdcage (1996), Balboa, 7:30pm

The American movie version of La Cage Aux Folles is warm and loving entertainment. And when it’s appropriate, it’s side-splittingly hilarious. A middle-aged, very gay couple must pretend they’re not only straight but culturally conservative (Robin Williams and Nathan Lane). Gene Hackman and Dianne Wiest play the conservatives they must trick. Directed by Mike Nichols from a screenplay by the amazing Elaine May.

B+ The Wizard of Oz, Roxie
֍ Saturday, 4:15pm
֍ Sunday, 3:45pm

35mm! It’s an entertaining movie, with clever songs, lush Technicolor photography, and two great performances: Judy Garland’s Dorothy and Bert Lahr’s Cowardly Lion. When you think about it, the movie is pretty strange for a children’s flick. A seemingly nice “wizard” (Frank Morgan) sends a child to murder a powerful psychopath. And when Dorothy finally gets home, her dog is still going to be put to sleep.

B+ Mulholland Dr. (2001), Roxie
֍ Saturday, 9:05pm
֍ Wednesday, 8:50pm

The plot is both extremely conventional and almost non-existent, and I’m not even going to try to explain it. And yet almost every individual scene seems to feel like a masterpiece. As you would expect from writer/director David Lynch, it’s heavy on atmosphere, complexity, and erotica. You can almost reach out and touch the weirdness. Naomi Watts is just amazing. Even Ann Miller of the old MGM musicals plays a part.

B+ Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), Castro, Saturday, 7:00pm

This exceptionally clever comic fantasy puts animated characters and flesh-and-blood people living side by side in late 1940’s Hollywood. Mere mortal Bob Hoskins must deal with Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, Betty Boop, and other famous pen-and-ink characters who, unlike him, can be hit over the head with an anvil and just shake it off. Funny, outrageous, and delightful for anyone who loves old cartoons. The special effects – based on pencil, ink, and an optical printer – were cutting edge for their day and still impress. There will be three shorts along with the feature.

C+ Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Sunday, Monday, Wednesday, various theaters

Japan’s Studio Ghibli doesn’t always make great movies. This one, set in a very quaint and fantasized Europe, isn’t all that much. A young witch moves to the big city, makes friends, and loses her powers. But then, her only powers are flying with a broom and having two-way conversations with her cat. Of course, a big disaster gives our protagonist a chance to become a heroine. Not much.

C But I’m a Cheerleader (1999), New Mission
֍ Friday, 10:35pm
֍ Monday, 11:40am
֍ Wednesday, 12:00 noon

This very broad satire of homophobia and gay conversion therapy has its heart in the right place. But that’s not enough. Jamie Babbit’s heavy-handed direction ensures that most jokes miss the funny bone. Even the usually hilarious Cathy Moriarty can only seldom provoke laughter. And when the heroine finally gets a chance to save the day with her cheerleading skills, it’s obvious that star Natasha Lyonne didn’t train enough for the part.

Continuing engagements

Frequently-revived classics

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Published by Lincoln Spector

Lincoln Spector writes about cinema, technology, and cinema technology. From 1986 through 2008, he wrote Gigglebytes, the first technology-oriented humor column. From 1977 through 2016, he wrote PC World's Answer Line column and blog.