***CRITIC’S PICK, OBVIOUSLY***
Monday, Sept. 29 through Sunday, Oct. 5: The Milwaukee Film Festival continues
We have a full week of great programming ahead of us at the festival (and some pretty great programming outside of it as well) and Moviegoers will be have our coverage on lock. Look for a recap of Wesley Morris’ “State of Cinema’ address, reviews of films (The Tribe, Wetlands, The Raid 2, Ernest and Celestine) and a recap of the Alloy Orchestra’s performance accompanying Man with a Movie Camera tomorrow. Follow me on Twitter @tjfuchs if you’re looking for daily recommendations.
Wednesday, Oct. 1 and Saturday, Oct. 4: Life After Beth
Oct. 1: 4:15 p.m. & 10/4: 9 p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
Playing as part of the Hollywood Film Series, despite never having made it here previously, Life After Beth makes its Milwaukee bow this week at the Union Theatre with two screenings today and Saturday evening. It’s your standard boy meets girl, boy loses girl (to death), girl resurrects. But this is a different story being told here with gifted young performers Aubrey Plaza and Dane DeHaan playing the leads, and John C. Reilly, Anna Kendrick, Paul Reiser and Molly Shannon all providing support. Word has been mixed on the film. Praise has been given to the fully-committed performance from Plaza which is enough to entice me into seeing it.
Wednesday, Oct. 1: Concerning Violence
7 p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
Also playing Wednesday night at the Union is Göran Olsson’s documentary Concerning Violence. Narrated by Lauryn Hill, the film covers the struggles of the African liberation movement in the ‘60s and ‘70s as they attempted to the shed the yoke of colonial rule. Critics have been unanimously positive in their praise of the film, both of its content and the poetic method by which Olsson manages to make his points. Well worth seeking out mid-week.
***BONUS CRITIC PICK!***
Thursday, Oct. 2: Under the Skin 7 p.m. @ UWM Union Theatre (FREE!)
You’ve already seen me wax rhapsodic about Jonathan Glazer’s haunting movie, and you’re certain to see me talk about it some more come the end of the year (unless 15 incredible films are suddenly released in the next three months), but I highly recommend you take the free opportunity to catch this film one night only at the Union this week. It came and went with no fanfare to Milwaukee and you’ll be kicking yourself if you missed the chance to see it on the big screen. It’s challenging, hypnotic work and a movie that I feel has important things to say with regards to gender roles and how we are indentified by them. It’s one of the best films of the decade, so catch this unsettling masterpiece the way it’s intended to be seen and let it crawl under your skin.
Friday, Oct. 3: The Notebook opens at the Landmark Oriental
Check website for showtimes/pricing
Not McAdams and Gosling telling a love story for the ages, instead this Notebook is a Hungarian drama (their official submission for last year’s Oscars, in fact) set in WW2, following the efforts of two young twin boys to survive the German occupation long enough to be reunited with their family. This is harrowing, bleak stuff – avoiding the bigger picture atrocities of WW2 and instead focusing on the very personal price paid by these two boys in their efforts to inure themselves to the emotional and physical violence that surrounds their day-to-day life in the Hungarian countryside. After you pop out of a festival movie this weekend at the Oriental, sidle over to the ticket window and catch this while you’re there.
Friday, Oct. 3: Annabelle and Gone Girl open in wide release
Check local listings for showtimes/pricing
Two noteworthy wide releases hit this weekend, neither of which has screened for local critics so I won’t be able to speak to their quality. I suspect of the two, Annabelle is going to have the tougher road to sled in terms of achieving its goal, although I’m always excited by the seasonally appropriate release of horror films in October. A prequel spin-off to the remarkably effective haunted house picture The Conjuring, Annabelle tracks the journey of the possessed doll that comprised the opening segment of that picture. What was unsettling in both a small dose and the very capable hands of James Wan may prove harder to stretch into a feature length chiller, but Wan’s cinematographer John R. Leonetti is in charge of this and his work with Wan has been effective, even if his previous directing credits don’t inspire confidence (Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and The Butterfly Effect 2… ) We’re sensing a pattern here, so maybe it will be good or it could possibly be terrible! We’ll have to wait and see.
I’m far more confident in David Fincher’s ability to bring the toxic relationship story Gone Girl to the big screen. Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike both seem expertly cast in this movie of a woman’s disappearance and the media circus that surrounds it, with her husband being suspected of doing the deed. I’m reading the book and can see how this tale of curdled love will play right into Fincher’s wheelhouse. There’s an emotional disconnect at play through the majority of Fincher’s work that should sync perfectly with the story being told here. I’m very excited to finally check this one out!
Friday, Oct. 3 through Sunday, Oct. 5: Stray Dogs and Drugstore Cowboy
Stray Dogs = 10/3: 7 p.m., 10/4: 4:30 & 10/5: 7 p.m. ($6 public /$5 faculty, staff and alums /$4 UWM students)
Drugstore Cowboy = 10/3: 9:30 p.m., 10/4: 2:30 p.m. & 10/5: 5 p.m. (FREE!) @ UWM Union Theatre
Wrapping up the week in non-MFF activities are two great options at UWM’s Union Theatre 25th anniversary screenings of Gus Van Sant’s Drugstore Cowboy and the critically acclaimed Stray Dogs from Tsai Ming-Liang. Drugstore Cowboy needs little introduction, this tale of drug addicts cutting a swath through the Pacific Northwest in an effort to feed their habit introduced Gus Van Sant to the world and is kinetic and well-performed. I would like to shine a light on Stray Dogs, a movie that has garnered unanimous positivity from every critic who has laid eyes on it, a challenging work that is a must-see for local cinephiles. Ming-Liang is from the long-take school of filmmaking, so patience and a willingness to take in something outside the cinematic norm is necessary if you want to tune into the wavelength this story of a father and his children trying their best to exist is operating on. If you’re willing to meet the film halfway, you’re in for a beguiling and powerful experience.
