What’s Screening: January 5 – 11

~ Lincoln Spector

Want to discover a great new auteur from Estonia? Or maybe you can watch Anthony Hopkins playing Sigmund Freud. Then there’s musicals from Singin’ in the Rain to Springtime for Hitler. There’s also Harold Lloyd and David Bowie – although they probably didn’t know each other. All of these are on big screens in the Bay Area.

Something I haven’t seen yet

? Animation Celebration! Part 6!, Roxie, Wednesday, 6:30pm

A hundred minutes of animation from the ’30s, ’40s and the ’50s. I don’t know most of these cartoons, but I suspect that most of them will be very entertaining.

New films opening theatrically

A Smoke Sauna Sisterhood (2023), Roxie, opens Friday

This powerful film from Estonia isn’t like any other film I’ve seen. Over the years, a group of women build and use saunas in the woods where they talk about their difficult lives. One gets an abortion when her boyfriend doesn’t want to have a child. Another was raped, and the rapist was in the police force. Cinematographer Ants Tammik created beautiful and powerful visuals.

B+ Freud’s Last Session (2023), various theaters

Here’s another very well-made film starring a great actor playing a famous dead person. This time, it’s Anthony Hopkins playing Sigmund Freud. World War II is coming to Freud’s doorstep. He knows his death will come soon; and it will happen away from his own country. His two daughters love their father more than they should. Desperately, he takes drugs to quell the pain of his jaw cancer. Although he is an atheist, he enjoys discussions with a very religious Christian.

Theatrical revivals

A+ Singin’ In The Rain (1952), 4-Star, Sunday, 2:00pm & 7:00pm

In 1952, the late twenties seemed like a fond memory of an innocent time, and nostalgia was a large part of Singin’ in the Rain ‘s original appeal. The nostalgia is long gone, so we can clearly see this movie for what it is: the greatest musical ever filmed, and perhaps the best work of pure escapist entertainment to ever come out of Hollywood. Take out the songs, which are easily the best part of the movie, and you still have one of the best comedies of the 1950′s. It’s also the funniest movie Hollywood ever made about itself. Read my A+ appreciation.

A The Producers (1967, original version), Lark
֍ Sunday, 3:00pm
֍ Monday, 9:30am
֍ Monday, 7:00pm

A long, long time ago, before digital cinema and even Dolby Stereo, Mel Brooks was actually funny. And he was never funnier than in his directorial debut. Both Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder (in his breakout performance) play comedy to the hilt as a desperate pair scheming to make a fortune off a very bad Broadway musical called Springtime for Hitler. A gorgeous, laugh-inducing gem. Read my report.

A-Run Lola Run (1998), New Mission, Saturday, 3:25pm

This German noir is like nothing else you’ve ever seen. First, Franka Potente runs like the wind, like a flash to save her lover (yes, they’re criminals). Watching her running through Berlin is a joy. In motion, she’s beautiful like an arrow going to her target. She seemingly never gets tired. The basic, simple story is shown three times, but always different. I’m not the first person to say this but Run Lola Run is like a video game.

B+ Speedy, Niles Essanay Silent Film Museum, Saturday, 7:30pm

Set and partially shot in New York, Harold Lloyd’s last silent movie provides plenty of laughs, even if it isn’t amongst his best. The story involves his struggle to help his girlfriend’s father keep his small streetcar line, but that’s just an excuse to do Lloyd routines in Big Apple locations. We get a sequence in Coney Island, a cameo with Babe Ruth, and (of course), a great streetcar race. Read my Blu-ray review. Preceded by the shorts Steamboat Willie (the one that made Mickey Mouse famous) and The Life and Death of 9413, a Hollywood Extra. Piano accompaniment by Frederick Hodges.

B+ The Iron Giant, New Mission
֍ Friday, 3:15pm
֍ Sunday, 3:20pm

The young hero of Brad Bird’s first feature befriends a massively-huge robot from outer space. The robot seems friendly enough, even though there’s good reason to believe he was built as a weapon of mass destruction. Using old-fashioned, hand-drawn animation with plenty of sharp angles, Bird creates a stylized view of small-town American life circa 1958. The result straddles between satire and nostalgia and treats most of its inhabitants with warmth and affection. A good movie for all but the youngest kids.

B+ The Man Who Fell to Earth, New Parkway, Sunday, 3:00pm

Movies were pretty weird in the ’70s, and they didn’t get much weirder than this—at least with a major director (Nicolas Roeg). David Bowie plays an alien who comes to Earth in search of water. Instead, he discovers capitalism, TV, alcohol, and human sex. It’s not entirely clear how he will bring enough water to his home planet. But the movie isn’t about the plot. The central characters are puzzles that cry out to be solved, and the sex scenes are hot. If for no other reason, see it to rediscover how strange science fiction films could be in the time between 2001 and Star Wars.

B- The Young Girls of Rochefort, 4-Star, Sunday, 4:30pm

Jacques Demy’s follow-up to The Umbrellas of Cherbourg doesn’t match his first musical. It’s lighter, following various stories about people not quite recognizing their true loves…until the movie provides multiple happy endings. The dancing is much more elaborate, but it’s derivative of West Side Story and An American in Paris. It even has George Chakiris and Gene Kelly in supporting roles. There’s also an off-screen murder subplot that just feels pointless.

Continuing engagements

Movies I can’t review

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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.