Films this week 4/3/2026 to 4/9/26
by Gary Palmucci | 3rd April 2026 | Gary's Corner
I’m back from some salutary travels in lands Down Under, where among many other wonders I visited a ‘distant relation’ of New Plaza Cinema, the Classic Cinema in Melbourne, courtesy of its gracious owners Eddie and Lindy Tamir. This beautifully designed TEN-screen complex offers many of the same films we’ve been playing, and other things we can currently only dream about: some commercial fare like Project Hail Mary (in 70mm!), full-service bar and concessions, a cozy jazz club, and a thriving rooftop screen (it’s now summer in Australia) hosting a long run of Marty Supreme. Not incidentally, the theatre also features an illustrated exhibit on the city’s once-flourishing Yiddish theatre scene.
The last leg of the trip was Fiji, where I had hoped to visit the Dateline 180 Meridian Cinema, which over two decades ago my American friend John Pierson and his family had taken over and run for a year, chronicling their experiences in the documentary Reel Paradise, possibly still viewable online. Sadly, a 2018 article in the Fiji Times revealed that the cinema – the only one in the world where you could conceivably cross to a new day if you changed seats – then stood “in ruins, casting a dismal shadow on the bustling shopping centre of Taveuni,” Fiji’s third-largest of its nearly 300, mostly smaller islands. My partner Kathy and I had to settle for a few days of searing heat, swimming, snorkeling and juice from freshly-macheted coconuts -“Nature’s Gatorade” – on the main island of Viti Levu.
But now, it’s back to reality this weekend at New Plaza Cinema: two films new to our program and five other holdovers and reprises. Last fall my colleague Abbe Harris and I attended an advance screening of Israeli director Nadav Lapid’s sprawling, uber-provocative new film YES, which I immediately dubbed ‘Israeli Satyricon’ and knew that we had to play upon its release. Lapid specializes in fearless portraits of Israel and its restless, diverse citizens (we played his previous feature Ahed’s Knee at NPC W 86 St), now more than ever, in this new work. Here’s the NYT’s Manohla Dargis in a passage from her Critic’s Pick review:
“Every work of art is autobiographical and “Yes” is at once both a portrait of a country and of artists in times of war. This personal approach is in keeping with Lapid’s previous features, each of which grapple with personal and national identity — as an artist, an Israeli and as an expat (he lives in France) — with degrees of analytic cool and narrative experimentation.”
YES is a headlong, kaleidoscopic account of a jazz musician and his dancer wife who offer their talents to help the nation after the October 7, 2023 attacks, with the husband tasked with composing a new national anthem.
You don’t need to know too much more than that; just prepare to immerse yourself in the vision of an undaunted. of-the-moment artist.
Also new this weekend: A Magnificent Life from French animator Sylvain Chomet, whose Triplets of Belleville delighted us a couple of decades ago. His latest, hand-drawn opus chronicles the life of Marseille-born novelist, playwright and filmmaker (the Marius-Cesar-Fanny trilogy, among others) Marcel Pagnol, looking back late in life on his work and beginning-to-fade memories. This will have maximum impact on a theatre screen…
Reprising this weekend : the recent Oscar winner for Best Documentary Feature, Mr Nobody Versus Putin; SHTTL, now approaching the final screenings of a six month run; the crowd pleaser Calle Malaga, with another Q&A at Saturday’s show from NPC film historian Dan Cahill; and from opposite corners of the Middle East, the period dramas Palestine 36 and The President’s Cake.
And please take note for next weekend — two films whose tickets are now on sale are already approaching ‘sellout’ territory: Letters From Baghdad, one of the last documentaries to play the still-late /lamented Lincoln Plaza, with its filmmakers present; and not surprisingly, Rebel With a Clause, hosted by filmmaker Brandt Johnson and his leading lady, ‘Athena of the adjunct,’ Ellen Jovin.