Thursday, August 18, 2011
Film Attack the Block, World on a Wire, Alloy Orchestra Highlight Belcourt Calendar
Posted by Jim Ridley on Thu, Aug 18, 2011 at 10:44 AM
Here's proof you don't have to live in a coastal megalopolis to enjoy the cultural benefits of one. The Belcourt has just released its September/October calendar, and it's a slate of films any arthouse in the country would envy — a mix of sharp new releases, cool cult movies, restored or re-released classics, obscurities by established masters, and a couple of items sure to have local cinephiles salivating.
Chief among these has to be Oct. 9's screening of Dziga Vertov's 1929 kino-eye wonder Man with a Movie Camera, with the amazing Alloy Orchestra returning to Nashville to perform its famous original score live. Those who saw Alloy perform its score to Fritz Lang's restored Metropolis at The Belcourt two years ago are still talking about it: imagine Lang's dazzling futuristic visuals given a rocket boost of energy and electricity by live musicians. If anything, Man with a Movie Camera should be even better: it's a city symphony rendered in a joyous try-everything blizzard of film tricks — jump cuts, backward footage, mirrored images, even stop-motion animation — and Alloy's score could outrace a runaway train.
It's followed Oct. 14-16 by one of the film events of the year, Rainer Werner Fassbinder's rediscovered 1973 science-fiction epic World on a Wire, said to anticipate Blade Runner and The Matrix in its dystopian concerns. It's news here for another reason: Nashville graphic designer Sam Smith did the gorgeous movie poster for its national tour.
Of the first-run titles, The Belcourt's coup is scoring Attack the Block (opening Sept. 9), the British sci-fi comedy from director Joe Cornish and executive producer Edgar Wright (who together penned Steven Spielberg's year-end extravaganza The Adventures of Tintin). It's already looming as a cult fave, as is Evan Glodell's souped-up B movie Bellflower (Sept. 16), whose customized fire-spewing car was the conversation piece of this year's Nashville Film Festival. Of special note is Mysteries of Lisbon (Sept. 11, 13-15), Raul Ruiz's sweeping four-and-a-half-hour 19th century literary adaptation.
Weekend classics include new or restored prints of John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath (Sept. 10-11), Francois Truffaut's adultery melodrama The Soft Skin (Sept. 17-18), Andrei Tarkovsky's hypnotic science-fiction mood piece Stalker (Sept. 24-25), the re-release of Nicolas Roeg's David Bowie alien saga The Man Who Fell to Earth (Sept. 30-Oct. 6), Eric Rohmer's Le Rayon Vert (Oct. 8-10), and the pairing of Michelangelo Antonioni's color-saturated The Red Desert and his early 1955 drama Le Amiche (Oct. 21-24).
Midnight movies include Kathryn Bigelow's terrific vampire shocker Near Dark (Sept. 2-3), followed by her Keanu Reeves-Patrick Swayze action thriller Point Break (Sept. 16-17). We're already hearing strong buzz about Eli Craig's splatter farce Tucker and Dale vs. Evil (Sept. 30-Oct. 1), in which hillbillies Tyler Labine and Alan Tudyk cross paths with an expendable cast of obnoxious coeds.
Below, the whole schedule.
FIRST RUN
Opening Sept 9 ATTACK THE BLOCK
Sept 9-12 PROJECT NIM
Sept 11, 13-15 MYSTERIES OF LISBON
Opening Sept 16 THE INTERRUPTERS
Opening Sept 16 BELLFLOWER
Opening Sept 23 CIRCUMSTANCE
Opening Sept 23 or 30 GAINSBOURG
MIDNIGHTS
Sept 2-3 NEAR DARK
Sept 16-17 POINT BREAK
Sept 30-Oct 1 TUCKER AND DALE VS. EVIL
Oct 14-15 THE MONSTER SQUAD
Oct 28-29 ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW w/ cast Little Morals
WEEKEND CLASSICS
Sat-Sun, Sept 10-11
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
Presented in a new 35mm print.
Sat-Sun, Sept 17-18
THE SOFT SKIN
Presented in a restored 35mm print.
Sat-Sun, Sept 24-25
STALKER
Presented in a touring 35mm print
Fri-Thu, Sept 30 — Oct 6
One Full Week!
THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH
Presented in a new 35mm print.
Sat-Mon, Oct 8-10
LE RAYON VERT (SUMMER)
Presented in a new 35mm print.
Sun, Oct 9 at 7pm
MAN WITH A MOVIE CAMERA
With live score performed by the Alloy Orchestra
Fri-Sun, Oct 14-16
WORLD ON A WIRE
Presented in a new 35mm print
2x Antonioni
RED DESERT Fri-Sun, Oct 21-23
Presented in a new 35mm print.
LE AMICHE Sat, Oct 22 and Mon, Oct 24
Presented in a restored 35mm print.
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