Tuesday, Nov. 4: THE STRANGE LITTLE CAT
7 p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
As part of UWM’s ‘Experimental Tuesdays’ programming, the German film The Strange Little Cat is screening. Taking place entirely in a suburban home in the lead-up to and execution of a family dinner, the film had been lauded by critics for the unique perspective through which it grounds what in other hands could be purely banal. Consistently off-kilter and unwilling to compromise, this is the type of movie that would vanish into the ether that is the festival circuit if not for this special screening so go check it out!
Wednesday, Nov. 5 & Saturday, Nov. 8: THE FAULT IN OUR STARS
11/5 – 4:30 p.m. & 11/8 – 9 p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
I didn’t get a chance to catch this adaptation of John Green’s rock solid weepie of a teen novel during its initial release, but I’m being given a chance to rectify that this week/weekend when UWM has two free showings of the picture. Shailene Woodley is one of our most talented young performers, and I have no doubt she brings all of her talent to bear on the substantial role that is young cancer patient Hazel Grace Lancaster. I’ll bring sure to bring some tissues along.
***CRITIC’S CHOICE***
Thursday, Nov. 6 & Saturday, Nov. 8: 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
6:30 p.m. @ The Milwaukee Public Museum’s Daniel M. Soref Dome Theater and Planetarium (Purchase tickets here!)
I don’t really have to sell you on this, do I? This is one of the best movies ever made being screened in one of the most unique (and uniquely appropriate in this case) screening destinations our city has to offer.
Thursday, Nov. 6 through Sunday, Nov. 9: UWM presents the American Indian Film Festival
11/6 @ 7 p.m., 11/7 @ 7 p.m., 11/8 @ 3/5/7 p.m. & 11/9 @ 5/7 p.m. (All screenings are FREE!)
Yet another opportunity to catch a whole corner of the cinematic world that doesn’t often receive the attention it deserves comes to the Union Theater this week, with the American Indian Film Festival. A variety of perspectives and stories will be told over the course of the seven screenings, and I’ll point to the Friday evening screening of Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner in particular. This 2001 film was the first ever written, directed and acted entirely in Inuktitut retelling a legend passed down through the oral tradition. I was spellbound by this picture when I first saw it over a decade ago at the Oriental and highly recommend you take the opportunity to see it. And don’t stop there, avail yourself of all of these free screenings and treat yourself to a sorely underserved perspective in the filmmaking world.
Friday, Nov.7: BIG HERO 6, INTERSTELLAR, LAGGIES & CITIZENFOUR all open locally
Check local listings for showtimes and pricing.
There’s a genuine diversity of options hitting you at the multiplex this upcoming weekend with an indie rom-com, a searing documentary, a charming animated children’s picture, and a massive space epic all hitting local screens.
Big Hero 6 is another win for Disney’s animation studio in their continuing renaissance after so many had assumed Pixar had put the final nail in their coffin. It’s a very charming story between young Hiro and his brother’s robotic invention Baymax and their blossoming relationship in the aftermath of a tragic accident. Given that it’s based off of an obscure Marvel comic book title there’s a lot of slam-bang and gee-whiz going on in the action department as they join forces with a group of friends to combat evil, and while that stuff is very cool-looking and entertaining, kids are going to go bonkers for the relationship that forms the movie’s heart between Hiro and Baymax – a puffy white cloud of a robot with a gentle demeanor (he was built as a medical assistant) – Baymax absolutely runs away with the movie and you might as well preemptively pick up a plush version to head off your kid’s requests this Christmas.
Interstellar was on my list of the most anticipated movies to come out this year and that hasn’t changed. Christopher Nolan might make work that strikes me as thuddingly literal from time to time (Inception works brilliantly for me, but long stretches of his Batman pictures feel like I’m having the themes being dictated to me instead of performed within the body of the story), but we’ve never really seen him make a movie so concerned with humanity before. There’s often a cold, antiseptic sort of disconnect at work in his films, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here with Anne Hathaway and Matthew McConaughey traveling beyond our solar system to find a new home for humanity after we’ve ravaged the one we already have. I know little beyond that and am excited to let this massive vision unfurl in front of me this weekend.
Director Lynn Shelton is someone whose work I will always catch, no questions asked. Whether it’s Humpday, Your Sister’s Sister or Touchy Feely, she’s providing a perspective and dimensionality to her characters that many films don’t bother with these days. Laggies finds Keira Knightley struggling with a 1/3rd-life crisis as she feels rudderless and stagnant (still dating and about to be engaged to marry her high school boyfriend). A strange opportunity presents itself for her to sneak away for a week to the home of high school-aged acquaintance Annika (Chloe Grace Moretz) in an effort to get herself straightened out. Upon meeting Annika’s divorced father Craig (the always sublime Sam Rockwell) she finds her life thrown even further into disarray. The film is packed with empathetic direction and winning performances, and is a definite antidote to the general cleanliness and dishonesty at the heart of most movie rom-coms.
And finally this week, the acclaimed documentary Citizenfour. Having been granted unparalleled access to whistleblower Edward Snowden, documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras brings us along as she captures history unfolding before our very eyes as Snowden decides to leak evidence that the NSA has been running illegal covert surveillance on the U.S. population. Startlingly necessary, this documentary has been having acclaim heaped upon it since its first screening and I can’t wait to have the chance to see it when it finally opens up locally this weekend.
Saturday, Nov. 8: S.O.S. PACIFIC
7 p.m. @ The Church in the City, 2648 N. Hackett Ave. ($3)
A flying boat is forced to land in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, stranding the pilot, crew and small group of passengers on a nearby island. This disparate group of characters slowly realize that something is quite amiss with this island, and to say anymore would be spoiling a delightful reveal. This is an under-seen drama that is well-worth checking out this weekend, especially for us film aficionados who are always on the lookout for the rarely screened.
