Sundance at The Belcourt, a doc about Motorhead's Lemmy, and more
- Marwencol
At press time, tickets were as elusive as the fearsome Sasquatch for Thursday night's Belcourt screening of Letters from the Big Man, with writer-director Christopher Munch (The Sleepy Time Gal) in attendance direct from Sundance. The naturalistic Bigfoot drama is part of the Sundance Film Festival USA program, taking place simultaneously in nine cities around the country: A theater in each city will show a 2011 Sundance selection, hosted by the filmmaker. Check the theater website to see if more tickets go on sale at www.belcourt.org.
• "They drop a nuclear bomb on this planet, Lemmy and cockroaches is all that survives," says an admirer of indestructible Motörhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister. By the end of Greg Olliver and Wes Orshoski's documentary tribute Lemmy, you'll believe it. The grizzled, leather-clad road dog described in the movie's subtitle as "49 percent motherfucker, 51 percent son-of-a-bitch" lives up to his billing — except that he's hilarious company, an ever-surprising raconteur, and a bottomless well of anecdote material for everyone from Slash to Anthrax's Scott Ian. Not to mention a source of useful information: "The thing with acid is, see, they say it doesn't work two days in a row," he says, recounting exploits scoring drugs for Jimi Hendrix. "But we found out if you double the dose, it does." A headbanger's must-see, it screens Jan. 28-30 at The Belcourt.
• Speaking of which, Lemmy is among the last offerings in the theater's successful "Artist Portraits" documentary series, wrapping up this week in Hillsboro Village. Due to popular demand, the theater has brought back Marwencol, Jeff Malmberg's study of artist Mark Hogencamp — the man who survived a near-death beating in a small-town New York bar, then worked out his tangled emotions by building a 1/6-scale World War II dollhouse town in his backyard. It plays Jan. 28-30 and Feb. 1. Closing the series is The Woodmans, C. Scott Willis' acclaimed study of the late photographer Francesca Woodman, whose 1981 suicide at age 22 ended a brilliant and disturbing career. For more information, see www.belcourt.org.
• It's being shown from DVD, alas, but midnight Saturday at Vanderbilt's Commons MPR marks the first Nashville showing of Wilson Yip's Ip Man, the blockbuster 2008 biopic that launched a virtual genre in Hong Kong devoted to the late Wing Chun master and mentor to Bruce Lee. Donnie Yen of Iron Monkey plays the martial-arts legend; if you miss this version, choreographed by Sammo Hung, you can wait for Wong Kar-wai's later this year (we hope). It's free and open to the public.
• Also screening in Sarratt's International Lens series this week: The 904, Frank B. Goodin II and Bernardo Santana III's documentary inquest into the grim facts behind Jacksonville, Fla.'s status as the murder capital of the state. It shows at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, on DVD at Vanderbilt's Bishop Joseph Johnson Cultural Center, free and open to the public.
• Opening this week: Jason Statham and Ben Foster in the OK remake of the '70s Charles Bronson hitman yarn The Mechanic; Anthony Hopkins in Mikael Hafstrom's exorcism shocker The Rite, which looks like the kind of movie that just screams January. Tuesday's Girls' Night Out at The Belcourt: Rabbit Hole, starring just-announced Oscar nominee Nicole Kidman. The evening features food from our favorite Italian joint, Savarino's; tickets are $25.
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