Critic's Pick — Music City Mondays & Ken Russell x4: 'Lisztomania'

Ken Russell was truly in zero-fucks mode when he followed up his 1975 smash adaptation of The Who’s rock opera Tommy the same year with Lisztomania, which is basically Tommy’s bizarro-world counterpart. Russell reunites with Who frontman/Tommy star Roger Daltrey, who plays 19th-century composer (as Romantic-era rock star) Franz Liszt in this anarchic/anachronistic musical biopic. Russell uses the pianist’s years as a classical superstar to spin a balls-to-the-wall, horny-as-hell satire about what happens when the rock ’n’ roll life turns a celebrated artist into a desperate hack. Keep in mind, this comes from the same man who helmed the recently revitalized The Devils, so you know you’re gonna get some wild stuff. We’re talking naked ladies, a giant phallus, child Nazis (in Superman outfits!), a vampiric Richard Wagner, Ringo Starr as the freakin’ Pope! Like most films in Russell’s filmography, Lisztomania is a high-and-lowbrow provocation/spectacle that’ll have you either digging the outrageousness or wondering what kind of shit he was on back then. Either way, it’ll be shown in glorious 35 mm!

8 p.m. at the Belcourt

2102 Belcourt Ave.