Now Playing
Bolts of bedevilment 'round you now sweep that fall you in Morphean sleep!
Movie pals! I started a LetterBoxd to keep track of all the movies in Staff Picks. I had to use WatchThisPDX2 for….reasons. Oops. I will slowly be adding things there.
Pick of the Week:
Golden Eighties (1991). Directed by Chantal Akerman. Starring Delphine Seyrig Myriam Boyer Fanny Cottençon.
Playing at the Hollywood on June 6th. We don’t get a lot of the post Dielman Akerman films and I haven’t seen this so don’t throw anything at me if it stinks! It’s a musical romantic comedy that takes place in a mall, so in many ways it’s like Mallrats. Vincent Canby (another noted crank) called it “an unpretentious, absolutely charming romantic comedy-with-music, the small scale of which perfectly suits the passions of its characters.” He also called Mallrats a “Laugh riot” and said it was “Smith at his finest. The most promising young filmmaker since King Vidor!”
Also Playing:
The Trap (1970). Directed by Jacques Baratier. Starring Bernadette Lafont Bulle Ogier, Jean-Baptiste Thiérrée.
Playing at the Clinton from Church of Film on June 10th. Well, I will be there for this:
“Arsene is a young man obsessed with being robbed, so he sets traps in his crumbling mansion. He lures a pair of kleptomaniac young women (counterculture icons Bulle Ogier and Bernadette Lafont) inside as a test, but unwittingly becomes the agent of his own destruction. Jacques Baratier’s The Trap is a strange and chaotic piece of cinema from the Zanzibar Group, a radical film collective that emerged from the revolutionary zeal of May’68. A nightmarish Daisies that prefigures France’s growing, punk-inflected feminist culture, it also features an experimental score by François Tusques and an appearance by surrealist Fernando Arrabal. This will be screened with Diourka Medveczky’s Jeanne and the Motorbike, as it was in its original release.”
This Week:
This was supposed to happen back in April but here it is on June 8th. I have written about Yeast and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You here before. Yeast, a masterpiece of 2000s low-fi indie film making about the most annoying person in the world (me), and the latter about a woman whose head is exploding and only Conan O’Brien can help her. I haven’t seen the short film but will on the 8th! If you ask her a question please say, “This is more of a question than a comment but WatchThisPDX is great and you should read it.” I will be respectfully listening, I also might leave early because I do not enjoy Q&As, but I will only leave if I can do so discreetly because MANNERS ARE IMPORTANT. Also, I am available to moderate Q&As if anyone needs it. I am very good at shutting down people who are rude or only give comments.
At 5th Ave: they are playing Climax this weekend. I do not like Gaspar Noé movies. I haven’t seen this but since the programming has been great at 5th Ave I will give them the benefit of the doubt. Climax is about a dance troupe rehearsing and doing drugs.
At the Academy:
Mama mia, here we go again! It’sa me Fellini and I am telling you that 8 1/2 can’t stop playing in Portland Oregon. Not only do you have the deadly Hantavirus but you have the Fellini Flu! And the only cure is never not playing 8 1/2. Listen, I am dead and in Hell but every time you play it I get a drop of water so it’s good you keep playing it. It keeps me moist in Hell! It’s opening for a run this week even though it has played many times this year. “Also featured is Fellini’s rarely seen first film for television, Fellini: A Director’s Notebook (1969). Produced by Peter Goldfarb, this “imagined documentary” of Fellini on Fellini is a kaleidoscope of unfinished projects, all of which provide a fascinating and candid window into the director’s unique creative process.” This is WatchThisPDX here. Wow. That’s crazy. I didn’t know Fellini reads this! Now, I know it’s not fair to compare any of our theaters to Lincoln Center but look at what they have going for an Italian film festival. Has a Portland theater played a Visconti movie in the last three years? There is also more than one film by a woman!
The Muppet Movie opens for a run. I may be a crank but I have the good sense to not say anything disparaging about the Muppets because Portlanders would kill me. Anyway, here is a great quiz from Buzzfeed that not only will tell you what kind of Muppet you are but will almost certainly take all of your personal data but very ethically. I got the Swedish Chef! Bork bork bork! Hahahah. I love him.
D.E.B.S. opens for a run. It’s the fun, and campy, early 2000s comedy about college co-eds who become spies. But more importantly: Waking Up From a Nap on a Long Day of Doing Nothing, the new locally-made short film by Thom Hilton plays on June 10th before it. If you see me there I will be wearing my Swedish Chef shirt.
Boathouse Cinema: “Jesse Malmed, former Poetlandian residing in the Great Lakes, returns with a program of video and performance. And then karaoke.”
At Cinema 21:
Trainspotting plays this weekend. It’s about trains or something. It’s also playing at the Laurelhurst.
A personal favorite: The King of Comedy plays on June 6th. I once kidnapped Chevy Chase when he hosted his talk show and no one noticed! This would be a great joke for The Critic.
At Cinemagic: Outside of nothing but horror movies they are playing Koyaanisqatsi this week. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen it! The Cinemagic website lists Ed Asner, Pat Benatar, Johnny Carson as being in this and I’m going to say I don’t remember them being in there. Is there footage of them in it? Are they part of things falling apart?
At Cinema Cartopia: Big Business plays on June 11th. Bette Midler and Lily Tomlin each play a set of identical twins mismatched at birth. Like one Bette and Lily went to the county and one went to the city. I mean. How do you not want to watch this?
At the Clinton:
The Portland Horror Film Festival plays this weekend for all you ghouls and goblins.
Breaking Dawn Part Two plays on June 11th. Look, I don’t have funny things to say about this anymore.
Twin Peaks season two episodes 1 - 5 play on June 5th with Deputy Andy in attendance. I have a friend who somehow knows nothing about Twin Peaks and I started watching it with him. Like, he didn’t know that it was a murder mystery of sorts. He might read this newsletter but honestly most of my friends find me insufferable. If you can imagine!
The Serpent’s Skin plays on June 8th. “After escaping her transphobic hometown, Anna meets goth tattoo artist Gen. They bond over shared supernatural abilities, but Gen’s tattoo work accidentally conjures a demon before their romance can bloom.”
The Strike plays on June 9th. “Join OJRC to witness a story of the power of protest led by people in prison. Weaving together testimonies from hunger strikers as well gaining unprecedented access to state prison officials and never-before-seen footage from inside Pelican Bay prison in Northern California, this documentary goes beyond simply making a case against solitary confinement and illuminates how prisoner-led resistance grew from a whisper inside the halls of Pelican Bay to a colossal feat across California prisons that involved 30,000 incarcerated people.”
At Detour Cinema: Yosujiro Ozu’s Late Spring plays on June 6th. I don’t think any theater has played an Ozu movie in the three years I have been doing this, which is SHOCKING. Yasujirō Ozu is a towering figure of cinema who started in the silent era and ended in the 60s (he died, it happens). This is one of his most beloved films and is about a young woman caring for her father.
Film School: check out their instagram for what’s next! I “hear” that we are getting Shampoo soon and a Warren Beatty summer. Rumor has it they are playing Dick Tracy Zooms In and by rumor I mean I am saying it because it’s a wonderfully deranged short that Beatty made that I could spend hours talking about. Did you know that he’s made two short films playing Dick Tracy just so he could keep the rights? Also Ben Mankiewicz and Leonard Maltin are there. And Dick Tracy and Warren Beatty are separate characters. Also he appears over Zoom. I…guess that covers that.
From Below: This week: The Legend of the Suram Fortress directed by Sergei Parajanov. The Color of Pomegranates seems to be the only film by Sergei that usually plays here. I haven’t seen this but man his movies are something.
At the Hollywood:
A Very Brady Sequel plays on June 6th. Here’s a pull quote for you. “It’s not terrible and you will laugh at least five times.” Look, it’s not terrible and you will laugh at least five times. After the last two weeks of Hollywood programming I welcome the bold experimentation of The Brady Bunch sequel.
Some Like it Hot plays again on June 7th. It’s great and I guess they want you to dress up. Might I suggest going as Jack Lemmon’s grave?
Bringing up Baby plays this weekend. It’s, of course, the great screwball comedy.
Invincible Shaolin plays on June 9th with an only known 35mm print of the movie. I have made a lot of jokes about the only known print, and rare print, etc. copy that torments me on the Hollywood website and have a fill in the blank for you here to make fun of it. If you are at the Cinephile level of Hollywood Theater membership you will get to __________________ on the print! Best responses get you banned from the Hollywood (like me).
Breaking Away plays on June 10th. It’s the famous (and award winning) coming of age story about a bunch of mid-western boys that has been referenced and parodied in a bunch of places. Our pal Ebert said, it’s “a wonderfully sunny, funny, goofy, intelligent movie that makes you feel about as good as any movie in a long time. It is, in fact, a treasure... Movies like this are hardly ever made at all; when they're made this well, they're precious cinematic miracles.”
Clash of the Titans plays on June 11th in 35mm. It’s very scary because it has skeletons come alive.
“Be as experimental as possible.” Jokes come in threes so I have to leave this here one more time. Is it petty to do this one more time? It’s all I have.
At Joy: Weird Wednesday—plays secret movies. Maybe you’ll get Purple Noon.
At the Kiggins—they continue playing the most obvious movies from the 90s with Clueless this week. It’s a fun movie! It plays a lot!
NW Doc: has started a new screening series. Check out their Instagram for updates but I think they are every Thursday at 7? NO ONE in town has a regular documentary series.
Outer Space Micro Cinema: Check out their Instagram for what’s next! They might be on hiatus.
Spectrum Between: Check out their Instagram for what’s next. These are experimental films that don’t play much outside of places like Anthology Film Archives or good museums, which sadly we don’t have.
Word Virus Books: I don’t see any films now, but that often changes.
At the Tomorrow Theater (the Hub for Cultural Snackers)—please bug them if you haven’t. Keep bugging them if you have.
Mubi, who has recently come under fire for taking Sequoia Capital investment money, has been partnering with the Tomorrow Theater and they are doing another screening in October. Sequoia has ties to the Israeli army. Mubi has released a bunch of mealy mouthed statements. Filmmakers are urging Mubi to cut ties. If the Los Angeles Festival of Movies can cut ties with Mubi so can PAM. You can contact the Tomorrow Theater here through this link and let them know that they should’t partner with organizations like this.
Again, if the Tomorrow Theater working with a company that has direct ties to the Israeli military bothers you please let them know.
Please do not let the bastards win. Let them know you care about genocide.
We’re not talking chump change for the Sequoia investment: $100 million.
There was a good article about Mubi in Vulture recently behind their paywall.
The tip jar is open if you would like to support this thing. If you don’t want to support this thing you can request that I send you money, I guess. If you do I think I have to honor it. It’s in the bloggers code of ethics that I signed.