Your weekly LA 35mm film screenings list is here! (Includes some digital screenings.)
This is just what's on my personal radar. You
can browse the LA Film Calendars links on my side bar to find even more! → → →
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Sometimes these choices are tonight, FYI, and
not necessarily listed first.
Downtown
Independent
On the Beach at Night Alone (2017, Hong Sang-soo)
Fri.
(tonight) Nov. 24 8:00 pm
Where are today’s current auteurs, the
Fellinis, Antonionis and French New Wave directors of today? They’re here, in
the body of Hong Sang-soo, an amazing director. Okay there are others, but this
is a big director you really should be watching if you care about art cinema
anymore. My favorite film of his is The
Turning Gate, also known as On the
Occasion of Remembering the Turning Gate (what a great long title!), and he
also directed a nice one with Isabelle Huppert, In Another Country. Lead actress Kim Min-hee won the Silver Bear at
the Berlin International Film Festival this year for her performance. This is
his latest and looks like it’s appearing just twice here in LA. Screw the
foreign language film Oscars, this is what you should really be seeing. No idea
why actual art films are shunned at Oscar time. Go see the real shit.
(Presumably shot and screened digital.)
New
Beverly
Prison on Fire
(1987, Ringo Lam)
and
Victim
(1999, Ringo Lam)
Tue.
Nov. 28 7:30 pm/9:40 pm
I was a huge fan of the Prison on Fire films and really almost anything Chow Yun-Fat was in
once I first came across him in the ’90s. Very interested to see how this film
has aged. It had a sequel, Prison on Fire
II (1991), not showing here. But instead we have a 1999 Ringo Lam film, Victim, starring a very awesome Hong
Kong actor, Lau Ching-Wan. I can’t recall if I ever watched this movie or not.
A lot of post-handover Hong Kong films just weren’t as good (the hand-over of
sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China in 1997). The highly endearing
lower-budget attempts to exceed Hollywood excess just weren’t there anymore and
the films, perhaps unrelated to the handover, were trying to get more
respectable. See Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon for more evidence. Anyway, so you’re seeing a gap bridged here, the
before and after. Prime excess ’80s Hong Kong awesomeness vs. ’90s, with the
same director even. Although given that this is Grindhouse night, the second
film definitely shouldn’t be too respectable! See if you notice a difference. Plus
Chow Yun-Fat is the most charismatic actor in a generation, the reincarnation
of Cary Grant, definitely see that film!
Echo
Park Film Center
Renaldo and Clara (1978, Bob Dylan)
Sat.
Nov. 25 8:00 pm
Four-hour-long film directed by Bob Dylan,
with some scenes written by Sam Shepard. Here it is being shown on a VHS
recording of a 4-hour broadcast. Hmm, well, depends how badly you want to see
this, I guess, although it is in a lovely friendly and communal atmosphere. If
it’s up your alley, definitely check this unique event out.
Egyptian
Theatre
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968, Stanley Kubrick) in 70mm!
Fri.
(tonight) Nov. 24 7:30 pm
Sat.
Nov. 25 7:30 pm
What can I tell you, this plays all the
fricking time. But it was shot on 70mm and is being screened on 70mm. As
opposed to seeing some 35mm film blown up to 70mm, this is the real deal, and
there’s a big difference. So, if you haven’t seen it, really this is the ideal
way! It has some slowness to modern audiences in certain sections by taking too
much time showing off special effects that were brand-new at the time, and the
closed-off behaviors of the lead astronauts may seem a bit obtuse at times, but
by the end, you’ll be deep in thought contemplating the ideas it brings up on
such a wondrous journey, and in the thrall of A.I.'s biggest star of them all,
Hal 9000. Your only excuse not to go? If you have already seen it more than
once on 70mm, otherwise, you better go.
New
Beverly
West Side Story
(1961, Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins)
Sat.
Nov. 25 11:59 pm
A midnight screening of West Side Story?!? Methinks you misjudge your audience for this
film! But it’s a great, fun film. Well worth seeing. Especially in 35mm.
Aero
Theatre
Singing in the Rain (1952, Gene Kelly, Stanley Donen)
Fri.
(tonight) Nov. 24 7:30 pm
Played recently, but it’s back again. Oh,
darn, it’s in DCP. Well, still great! Always enjoyed seeing a musical on the
big screen at the Aero.
Coming Next Week
New Beverly
The
Meyerowitz Stories (2017, Noah Baumbach)
Begins Fri. Dec. 1, through Dec. 7 various
showtimes
I love me some
Baumbach, haven’t actually seen his recent films, but loved Kicking and Screaming (1995). This film
was shot on Super 16mm Kodak (according to IMDB at least), which is a superb
format that translates to 35mm extremely well as the modernization of film
stocks took a leap forward about a decade or so ago (or maybe just five years
ago). I’ve seen many films shot Super 16mm and blown up. The Walking Dead, on TV, is another notable example (it’s definitely
16mm, and I’m guessing Super 16). Super 16 is still 16mm, it’s just the way you
expose it to favor the aspect ratio, and actually you expose a larger surface
area by eliminating one side of sprockets, making the blow-up great. Okay, lot
of babbling there, long story short, this should look amazing! Go help
support a modern filmmaker shooting on film and projecting on film, yay!
NEW BEVERLY MAIN CALENDAR (Browse their full calendar for multiple
showtimes.)
UCLA Film & TV Archive
Contra
la corriente (1936, Ramón Novarro)
and
La
virgin que forjó una patria (1942, Julio
Bracho)
Sun. Dec. 3 7:00 pm
It’s a Ramón Novarro
Spanish-language double feature. He was a major Hollywood silent film
star (Ben-Hur [1925], Scaramouche [1924], The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse [1921]), so this is quite intriguing for fans of his. The first is a U.S.
production he directed, a romantic comedy set in Los Angeles, but in Spanish! The
second film is extra intriguing (to me at least) because of its historical
scope, religious subject (portrays the witness to Our Lady of Guadalupe) and
being billed here as a mega-production, ’cause I kind of love large-scale
history films. It navigates the history of Mexico from 1531 to the nation’s
fight for freedom in 1810. While this is screening in 16mm, it sounds rare,
plus that would match the correct aspect ratio anyway. And the first film is
35mm.
NuArt Theatre
The
Other Side of Hope (2017, Aki Kaurismäki)
Starting Fri. Dec. 1, showing all week
The new film from
Aki Kaurismäki (The Man Without a Past,
Le Havre, Leningrad Cowboys Go America), generally worth a look in a
theater, as he is kind of a well-known “auteur.” In this one a Finnish
traveling salesman and a Syrian refugee cross paths. Be prepared, though, as this
director makes Wes Anderson look like he doesn’t know what deadpan even is. (Presumably
shot and screened digitally.)
LACMA
Phantom
Lady (1944, Robert Siodmak)
Tue. Dec. 5 1:00 pm
I feel fairly sure I
saw this a long time ago and it was good! While I guess a vague memory is not
much to solidly recommend a film, it is 35mm, a film noir, and has a stellar
cast! Franchot Tone, Ella Raines, plus character actors extraordinaire Elisha
Cook Jr. and Thomas Gomez. For only $4 at this matinee screening in 35mm!
Echo Park Film Center
Il
Viadante – The Wayfarer (Jean-Marie
Straub, Danièle Huillet, 2001, 5 min)
The
Rabbit Hunters (Pedro Costa, 2007, 23 min.)
The
Amazing Transparent Man (Edgar Ulmer,
1960, 58 min.)
Fri. Dec. 1 8:00 pm
Presented by Kino
Slang, here is an excellent selection of rarely screened items. Straub-Huillet
films are always difficult to see, this one is just a short. I always adore
Edgar Ulmer, so it’s great to see in a theater. Ulmer was the genius of
bringing artistry to B-movie pictures and especially a deceptive look of high
production values while operating on a woeful budget. He was a true talent.
This film center is a bit like a classroom with couches, so make sure you’re up
for that type of vibe. One other short is showing: The Singing Street (The Teachers of Norton Park School, Edinburgh,
1951,17 min) which sounds very interesting too. (Screening format of films not indicated.)
Arclight Hollywood
Die
Hard (1988, John McTiernan)
Tue. Dec. 5 8:30 pm
Some people live to
see this in a theater, so this is a pretty good opportunity. (This screening
DCP.)
Egyptian Theatre
National
Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989, Jeremiah
S. Chechik)
and
Scrooged
(1988, Richard Donner)
Fri. Dec. 1 8:00 pm
Just ’cause it’s
Christmas, maybe you’ll want to see these. Could be fun!
(This screening DCP)
Arclight Hollywood
Planes,
Trains and Automobiles (1987, John Hughes)
Mon. Dec. 4 8:15 pm
Some people like to
see this one in a theater, so this is a pretty good opportunity at the holidays.
(This screening DCP.)
Arclight Pasadena/Santa Monica
Love
Actually (2003, Richard Curtis)
Tue. Dec. 5 7:00 pm (Pasadena)/ 7:15 pm (Santa
Monica)
What, you don’t cry
during this?! Who are you!? I like British stuff, sue me. (This screening DCP.)
Arclight Sherman Oaks
Scrooged
(1988, Richard Donner)
Tue. Dec. 5 7:00 pm
Also playing this
week at the Egyptian (see above), here’s one more opportunity to see this in a
theater. (This screening also DCP.)
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