Films 6/17 – 6/20/2022
by Gary Palmucci | 17th June 2022 | Gary's Corner
This long weekend observance of the Juneteenth federal holiday affords New Plaza Cinema the opportunity to present an unusually eclectic batch of films at the West End Theatre. In addition to hold-over screenings of Fanny: the Right to Rock, Petite Maman, West Side Story (2021), and of course The Automat, whose ebullient director Lisa Hurwitz will once again join us, consider these films.
Crimes of the Future — As usual, in her Critic’s Pick review the NYT’s Manohla Dargis nailed it:
“Few filmmakers slither under the skin and directly into the head as mercilessly as David Cronenberg. For decades, he has been unsettling audiences, derailing genre expectations and expanding the limits of big-screen entertainment with exploding heads, gasping wounds and desiring, suffering, metamorphosing bodies.”
His first new film in eight years — direct from last month’s Cannes premiere — features Viggo Mortensen, Lea Seydoux and Kristen Stewart as travelers in a stygian underworld where, as more than one character intones, “surgery is the new sex.” More plot detail here is just unnecessary — prepare to be immersed in the unique vision of a master filmmaker.
Two important Middle Eastern filmmakers are also showcased this weekend. Iran’s Mohammad Rasoulof has been examining corruption and repression in that nation for nearly two decades, often at the cost of his own personal freedom. New Plaza Cinema viewers may recall his recent, award-winning There Is No Evil from our virtual cinema program. In A Man of Integrity he delves deeper into those issues, depicting a former university professor, now a struggling fish farmer confronted with threats of bribery and intimidation. Check out the review in the June 17th NY Times.
Turkey’s Nuri Bilge Ceylan broke through on the international film scene with his 2003 Cannes-prize-winner Distant, which has been restored for theatrical reissue. I was fortunate to attend the festival that year and vividly recall the film, which was recently revisited by J. Hoberman in the NY Times.
“The miracle of Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Distant is that it is continually absorbing, even when not much is happening…a master of existential angst and transfigured dailiness whose movies invite contemplation.”
We’ll also be screening an unusual documentary on the Monday-holiday: The Book Keepers, chronicling a father and son’s attempts to memorialize their wife and mother’s book, the popular Mister Owita’s Guide to Gardening, whose successful publication she did not live to see. The NY Times’ book review tells us the full background story, and the film journeys from there. (Scroll down on the NY Times page to read that particular book’s review.)
Director Terence Davies has compiled a rich filmography including The Long Day Closes, The House of Mirth, and the Emily Dickinson biopic A Quiet Passion. In his new Benediction he immerses us in the life of British poet Siegfried Sassoon, his shattering World War I experiences and their poignant aftermath. My colleague and film historian Max Alvarez will join us for an after-talk following Monday afternoon’s screening.
And an ambitious young American filmmaker, Robert Eggers, (The Witch, The Lighthouse) recently worked on his biggest, most turbulent canvas to date in The Northman, a 12th century Viking saga that will spill over our big screen on Saturday and Monday evenings. In his recent Deadline review my friend Todd McCarthy described it as “an intense labor of love…an enthralling immersion in a forbidding time and place…,” with a remarkable cast – Alexander Skarsgard, Nicole Kidman, Ethan Hawke – and “long takes (that) appear tremendously complicated and demanding, involving long, hand-held shots that encompass massive amounts of chaotic action with significant numbers of people, animals, weapons and inevitable chance occurrences that depend on precision for their dramatic impact.”
In other words, the kind of visceral excitement that only the big-screen cinema experience can deliver.
Join us!
Gary Palmucci, Film Curator
New Plaza Cinema