Reel DC: Dystopian edition
Reel DC is The DCLine’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting arthouse and repertory screenings in the coming week.
PLANET OF THE APES
One of the most enduring science fiction franchises in cinema celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, and the AFI SIlver is marking the occasion with screenings of the movie that started it all. Adapted from the novel by Pierre Boulle and with a screenplay co-written by The Twilight Zone’s Rod Serling, the movie follows an astronaut (Charlton Heston) stranded on a planet where he is captured and examined by apes (Roddy McDowall and Kim Hunter among them). The movie has become a bit dated and occasionally falters under Serling’s heavy-handed preachy inclinations, but the dystopian spectacle still packs a punch.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, July 20, at 9:45 p.m.; Saturday, July 21, at 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, July 22, at 9:30 p.m.; Tuesday, July 23, at 9:15 p.m.; Wednesday, July 24, at 9:15 p.m.; and Thursday, July 25, at 9:!5 p.m. at the AFI Silver. $13.
CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON
Area residents of a certain age fondly remember Channel 20’s Count Gore De Vol (Dick Dyszel). While the days of the regional TV horror host are long gone, Dyszel regularly hosts programs at the AFI Silver, with interactive games, prizes and more. This weekend’s creature feature is director Jack Arnold’s classic 3D monster movie from 1954 co-starring Julie Adams, who went on to a long career that included an irregular stint on Murder, She Wrote.
Watch the trailer.
Saturday, July 21, at 7:30 p.m. at the AFI Silver. $15.
THIRST (THREE STRANGE LOVES)
The National Gallery of Art’s Ingmar Bergman celebration continues with this rarely screened 1949 drama adapted from short stories by Birgit Tengroth (who stars in the film). Thirst is one of the director’s first, fraught observations of failed marriage. David Blakeslee writes on Criterioncast that the movie “marks a definite advance in narrative bravery and confidence for Bergman” where “he began extending the length of takes to several minutes per shot, allowing the actors to fully inhabit their roles and drawing viewers into exchanges that, for all their dramatic heft, feel very life-like and believable.” Shown with Bergman’s 1949 drama Prison.
Sunday, July 22, at 4 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium. Free.
CONCERTO OF THE BULLY
The Freer’s 23rd annual Made in Hong Kong Film Festival, which runs through Aug. 12, continues with a comedy that may appeal to moviegoers looking for a musical alternative to Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again! The movie follows a street punk (Ronald Cheng, whose career began with the 1997 Hong Kong classic A Chinese Ghost Story) who kidnaps a woman. He thinks she is just a pop star’s girlfriend (Hong Kong singer Cherry Ngan), but she turns out to be an internet singing sensation. Directed by Fung Chih-Chiang, who wrote screenplays for such hit comedies as Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle.
Watch the trailer.
Sunday, July 22, at 2 p.m. at the Freer Gallery of Art. Free.
SHELTER
Next week the Avalon Theatre’s monthly Reel Israel DC series screens this thriller about an Israeli Mossad agent (Neta Riskin) charged with protecting a Lebanese informant (Golshifteh Farahani, of Paterson and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales) recovering from plastic surgery undergone to protect her identity. Unfortunately, while the premise is intriguing, the Los Angeles Times writes that the movie “never ignites.”
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, July 25, at 8 p.m. at the Avalon. $12.50.
THE WILD EAST
After the breakup of the Soviet Union, a group of dwarves leaves the circus only to be harassed by a gang of bikers. This 1993 action picture from Kazakhstan may sound like mere exploitation, but remember that the Washington Psychotronic Film Society, which is screening this unusual thriller, is quite selective about its B-movie programming; The Wild East takes its cue from none other than Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai — with more than a touch of The Road Warrior.
Watch the trailer.
Monday, July 23, at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel. Free.
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