Weekend Suggestions - Got Any Plans?
Friday, May 22, 2015 at 10:46AM 
Some people plan weeks in advance but if you're a 'what shall we do this weekend?' last minute type like, my, uh, friend... who never has any firm plans until the last second even on holiday weekends... Here are some suggestions depending on where you live!
NEW YORK CITY
This weekend the Walter Reade has an Italian film program. You can see the Alain Deloin (mmmm) drama The Professor (1972) tonight and I personally don't plan to miss Sophia Loren's Oscar winning Two Women (1961) on Sunday (two showings) since that one is very difficult to find a good print DVD of and it's a rare chance to see it on the big screen. The Maysles Cinema in Harlem is showing Iris (2015), Albert Maysles' last film, all week long with a few Q&As scheduled. The Museum of the Moving image has a Masaki Kobayashi retrospective starting this weekend and you can see the Oscar nominated Kwaidan (1964) on Sunday. Make sure to time your visit so that you can see MoMI's great expansive Mad Men exhibit. I already want to go back to it.
If you're not in the cinema mood (gasp), see one of the Tony nominees. Several of them are super expensive / sold out but you can still get discount tickets for arguable Best Play frontrunner The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, and the gorgeous dance musical An American in Paris (reviewed). The cheapest discount tickets that are 100% worthwhile are Chita Rivera in The Visit (the music is gorgeous and it may well be your last chance to see this legend live - she's 82!) and the exuberant funny On the Town (reviewed) but I apologize in advance should you become greatly obsessed with Tony Yazbeck; It can't be helped really, you will. Great sources for discounts are Today's Tix and TDF.
CHICAGO
Tonight at 7:45 PM TFE favorite David Dastmalchian will be at the Gene Siskel Film Center to discuss his new film Animals, a tough but teary romantic drama about two small time grifters / addicts. So buy a ticket, won't you? I personally love it when actors create their own work to show Hollywood that they're more than just whatever they've been typecast as.
LOS ANGELES
Always the perfect weather there, right? And they make use of it with several outdoor screenings. This weekend Almost Famous, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Rear Window, and Dazed and Confused at various locations.
SAN FRANCISCO
The Roxie theater has a double feature of The Talented Mr Ripley (1999) and The American Friend (1977) as part of their "copy & paste" series on remakes and reimaginings. That could be fun. The Castro has a 85th birthday celebration for Harvey Milk with a screening and fireside chat of The Times of Harvey Milk (1984), the Oscar winning documentary that is one of the greatest documentaries I've personally ever seen. Selling fast apparently so if you're free tonight.
LONDON
There's a "Bollywood Fever" festival at the OXO Tower Wharf today through Monday with 15 different films, a few of which are sold out already.
I freely admit that if I were anywhere near London I wouldn't rest till I'd seen Imelda Staunton doing "Mama Rose" in Gypsy (extended through November!)
EVERYWHERE
Movies available to rent or download from iTunes that are also in theaters OR skipped them altogether are the aforementioned Animals from friend of TFE Dastmalchian and a movie you might not have heard of called Ask Me Anything. I haven't seen it yet but full disclosure, I know people involved: a friend of mine produced it and it won Best Actress at the Nashville Film Festival last year (which I've attended as a jury member a couple of times)! Put it in your curiousity pile if you enjoy Britt Robertson. She's already headlined a few small pictures before her mainstream breakthrough-bid this year (Tomorrowland and The Longest Ride) and this one, about a girl between high school and college chronicling her life on an anonymous blog, is the most recent of them. It was even cited by Taste of Cinema as one of the ten most underappreciated indies of recent year.
Reader Comments (14)
Ha! I like how Bollywood choreography has only about six signature moves, with a wind machine, on endless repeat. (Reminds me of the Red Nose Day version of Mamma Mia "Scrub the Floor, Wipe the Windows, Dry Your Hands" ) But I never get tired of watching these clips.
Maybe now my weekend plans will be rewatching the Red Nose Day "Mamma Mia" spoof on a loop. So good, so absolutely brutal to Phyllida Lloyd.
Yes! That Mamma Mia parody is brilliant. Poor Phyllida Lloyd. Though not a titan in film, she is a highly acclaimed theatrical director.
OMG Masaki Kobayashi!
Samurai Rebellion and Seppuku are masterpieces!
@Pam, so true lol! Bollywood had a great tradition of classically trained (in dance) actresses. Now that tradition is all but lost. Now it is all about leggy models turning to movies.
Queen, one of the festival titles, is available on Netflix instant. It was a big winner at Indian Oscars this year. It is not your typical Bollywood movie, yet still retains the charm.
The following song clip from Devdas starring Madhuri Dixit (one of the most enduring modern Indian stars) and Aishwariya Rai (Cannes fixture) is a great representation of Bollywood at its best. It starts at 20 second mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jbn39j-xa-k
Incidentally, Devdas was screened at Cannes in 2002, paving the way for bigger Bollywood representation at Cannes.
Happy Memorial Day, Nathaniel.! Thanks for the Chitown tip. Show Tunes at Side Track on Sunday is the only thing on my calendar so far. Gonna try to squeeze in a few Jennifer Jones films on DVD, possibly a One Life To Live marathon.
Nat: Really? But The American Friend is based on Ripley's Game, if loosely, not The Talented Mr. Ripley, so shouldn't it be shown back to back with Liliana Cavani's adaptation of that novel instead of Minghella's adaptation of The Talented Mr. Ripley?
I live in the Bay Area, but, magically, Slow West opened, so I'll be seeing that!
And YouTube works anywhere with internet, so for anyone who needs a laugh this weekend, here's a link to my latest "cinematic" endeavor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJKwXqG3308 - Enjoy!
DEVIN -- that is hilarious. well done.
watched Agora - loved it;
finished The Price of Salt - really good book;
started reading A Game of Thrones
Seattle: SIFF is going on currently. Don't know what I'm gonna see yet, but I'm gonna see something!
Chris K - I'll be seeing the doc 'Fassbinder: To Love Without Demands' at SIFF. I already saw 'Spy' , 'Tab Hunter Confidential', with the man himself there for a Q&A, and 'Me and Earl and the Dying Girl'.
Tonight is reserved for the biggest television event in Europe - the European Song Contest! Haven't seen the semi-finales, so it will be full of surprises
If you're lucky, maybe Gypsy will transfer to Broadway, along with Staunton?