The Belcourt is joining independent theaters across the country this week in celebrating all that is grim, gloomy, dark, desolate and hopeless with Bleak Week. Our local arthouse, in partnership with L.A.-based nonprofit American Cinematheque, has dialed up some of the most brutal cinematic experiences — many of which you can read about in this week’s Critics’ Picks section. As someone who loves a bleak ending and an oppressive, almost suffocating atmosphere, I’m looking forward to a screening of David Fincher’s first of several serial killer thrillers, 1995’s Seven. They don’t make pop art this gross, unflinching and downright devastating anymore. It’s a shame, because given American society’s obsession with serial killers and police procedurals, you’d think we could get more propulsive, well-crafted horror-crime mash-ups than whatever fanfic that Ryan Murphy is belching out on Netflix. If you’ve never seen it before, and somehow have never had the iconically bleak ending spoiled for you, now is your chance to see it on the big screen.
8 p.m. at the Belcourt
2102 Belcourt Ave.
