Films This Week 05/28/21

by Gary Palmucci | 28th May 2021 | Gary's Corner

Hello everyone. The double-Oscar-nominated Collective was withdrawn this week from virtual cinema release but another Romanian film, the dark comedy Two Lottery Tickets, passed across our radar via a smart, scrappy new distributor, Dekanalog, so we’re giving it a shot.

In a “Critic’s Pick” last weekend, the NY Times reviewer wrote that this twisted tale of a down-on-his-luck mechanic whose jackpot lottery ticket is apparently stolen “comes to life when (he and his) friends start interrogating the colorful characters at an apartment complex, including fortune tellers, sex workers and a group of stoners — all ripe for hilarious vignettes driven by misunderstanding. Director Paul Negoescu… gives the film fresh zest with droll observations and pitifully endearing characters — all while poking meta fun at the austere Romanian New Wave film movement (Four Weeks, Three Months, Two Days) he works within, and works to dismantle.”

Next week New Plaza will be adding a recent German family drama, When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit from Caroline Link, director of the Oscar-winning Nowhere in Africa.

Limited-capacity art house screenings of both new and repertory films continue to draw “full-houses” in Manhattan and Brooklyn. So far this month I’ve attended two shows where the “Sold Out” sign was posted:Truffle Hunters at Park Slope’s Nitehawk and the 1971 classic Two-Lane Blacktop at the renovated Paris on W. 58 St. Film Forum downtown has had similar results with 60s Euro-classics The Swimming Pool and Fellini’s 8 1/2.

This holiday weekend some new Hollywood commercial films will debut on a wider scale than we’ve seen in some time, and we may get a better idea of whether American moviegoing is really resuscitating…

Gary Palmucci, Film Curator
New Plaza Cinema