Films This Week 6/18/21

by Gary Palmucci | 18th June 2021 | Gary's Corner

Hello everyone. We’re continuing for another week with our current lineup of Virtual Cinema titles. We’ll be adding at least one new film next week…the acclaimed, multi-award-winning Israeli drama Asia starring charismatic Shira Haas from the Netflix series Unorthodox.

In the meantime, I recommend this Indiewire article from an old friend, art house film buyer turned industry analyst Tom Brueggemann. He reports on the complex set of factors surrounding the box office performance last weekend of In the Heights.

Readers may recall my comments last week that a strong opening for In the Heights might be an important barometer signaling an overall uptick in national theatrical box office as we move toward the second half of the year, when dozens of films aimed at older audiences — some delayed for over a year — will start entering the marketplace.

That didn’t happen, as Tom explains in perceptive detail, but the film (which I saw and enthusiastically recommend) still has surely been — in a phrase he used elsewhere — a “net positive” on our national cinematic scene and for many of us, a “talk about” the moviegoing experience: one we can now sense or at least hope that many other ambitious films will be attempting to deliver…soon.

Gary Palmucci, Film Curator
New Plaza Cinema