There’s really going to be something for everyone at the Belcourt this July. The theater has programmed perhaps its most adventurous slate yet since reopening after the pandemic, with a handful of hotly anticipated new releases and repertory screenings that feature some of movie history’s most beloved classics.
First up, the new guys — the Spanish-Argentine show-biz satire Official Competition opens July 1, featuring well-received performances from Antonio Banderas and Penélope Cruz. The coming-of-age documentary/memoir Beba opens at the top of the month, too. It’s the debut feature from Afro-Latina New Yorker Rebeca Huntt.
On July 8, one of the year’s best-reviewed films, A24’s Marcel the Shell With Shoes On, will hit Belcourt screens alongside a run at the area’s multiplexes. The Jenny Slate-voiced talking shell went viral way back in 2010, and the little fella has finally made his way to the big screen. Expect big crowds for the 2021 Telluride Film Festival breakout.
On July 22, the Belcourt will start its run of Jordan Peele’s Nope and will open the 2022 Sundance breakout documentary Fire of Love, about a married pair of volcanologists. Both of those will be musts on the big screen, the former a Peele original and the latter featuring stunning imagery of volcanic action. Also expected in July at the theater, the new Claire Denis film Both Sides of the Blade, the Martin Scorsese-executive produced Croatian film Murina and the dramedy Ali and Ava.
In late July, Music City Mondays will feature a short run of the documentary Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Story, A Song. Just don’t hum too loudly when the titular song comes on. Other Music City Mondays films include D.A. Pennebaker’s festival doc Monterey Pop, the sensory masterwork Koyaanisqatsi and jazz doc Ornette: Made in America on 35 mm.
On the rep side, the theater is throwing haymakers with a combo of Weekend Classics to die for; a Summer at the Movies series with family-friendly hits; a handful of queer classics, some midnight favorites and a David Lynch restoration. The brand-new 4k restoration of Lynch’s Lost Highway will follow June's restored Inland Empire.
For the Weekend Classics block, you’ll get 4K DCP versions of Once Upon a Time in the West and Lawrence of Arabia. Spike Lee’s seminal Malcolm X will screen on 35 mm, and the Texan romance Giant will screen via a newly restored 4K DCP version.
For the Summer at the Movies series, you’ll get the granddaddy of family films, The Wizard of Oz, plus Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Hook, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda (ahead of the fall’s Netflix adaptation of the musical) and Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro. If you can find a way to double up with Marcel the Shell With Shoes On and Totoro, the cuteness may kill you.
The theater’s Queer Qlassics series will run every Wednesday in July, celebrating a selection of LGBTQ+ films: the Wachowskis’ debut Bound, Jamie Babbit’s beloved satire But I’m a Cheerleader, Paul Verhoeven’s then-controversial Basic Instinct, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s 2004 Cannes winner Tropical Malady.
And finally, for the theater’s midnight revue, you’ll get a couple of fan favorites in the Coens’ classic The Big Lebowski and the 2011 Ryan Gosling noir Drive, as well as a 35 mm print of David Arquette's wrestling comedy Ready to Rumble. Go look up the history behind that one — it’s fascinating.
The theater will also bring back its Super Secret Mystery Midnight for another round. April’s first surprise was the cheeseball E.T. rip-off Mac and Me, so expect something similarly outlandish.
The theater will also run its Strong Leads Summer 2022 seminar, the ever-popular CatVideoFest and the 2022 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour.
And exhale. If you are looking for a fun movie night in July, the Belcourt more than has you covered. This exciting slate should satiate even the pickiest film dork (c’mon, dude — Weerasethakul on 35 mm). Be sure to thank your friendly neighborhood Belcourt worker during this stretch, too — it’s shaping up to be a busy July, but with so many great and promising movies on the schedule, we’re not complaining.
Find the schedule and tickets at the theater’s website.
