Capital Projections: Tortured artist edition
Capital Projections is The DC Line’s selective and subjective guide to some of the most interesting arthouse and repertory screenings in the coming week.
BLAZE
The late singer-songwriter Blaze Foley may be more famous for the songs written about him than for his own work. Shot and killed in 1989 when he was only 39 years old, Foley inspired his friend Townes Van Zandt’s “Blaze’s Blues” and Lucinda Williams’ “Drunken Angel,” but even posthumous success has eluded him. In what is clearly a labor of love, Ethan Hawke gets behind the camera to direct and co-write (with Foley’s widow Sybil Rosen) a rambling biopic that hopes to reintroduce the world to this tortured soul. The music is convincing, and the film’s loose structure provides an intimate and evocative look at Foley’s life, but its characters never take shape. It’s not the actors’ fault; musician Ben Dickey, who like Foley was born in Arkansas, makes his acting debut as the doomed singer, with Alia Shawkat as his patient wife. When Hawke lets music and images tell the story, his movie, with the soft focus and warm hues of Steve Cosens’ cinematography, has a somber authenticity. But the leading couple never seem to speak like real people. Austin musician Charlie Sexton is particularly strong as Van Zandt, but “Blaze” rarely catches fire.
Watch the trailer.
Opens today at Landmark E Street Cinema and Landmark Bethesda Row.
LIZZIE
The story of Lizzie Borden, who allegedly killed her father and stepmother with an ax one hot August day in 1892, has fueled our lurid imaginations for more than a century. But whoever tries to turn this true-crime staple into a good movie seems doomed to failure. Despite injecting a salacious angle into this Grand Guignol tragedy, the latest attempt — from director Craig William Macneill (The Boy) — doesn’t break that curse. Chloë Sevigny stars as Lizzie Borden, who in this period piece turns violent due to her father’s abuse — not to mention his disapproval of her love affair with Irish maid Bridget Sullivan (Kristen Stewart). The casting makes some sense. Stewart has graduated from the megacommercial Twilight franchise to become one of the favored muses of arthouse directors, who have put her affectlessness to great use in such movies as Certain Women and Personal Shopper. And longtime indie darling Sevigny has the quirky looks to hide the seething rage of a killer. But the script by Bryce Kass makes the all-too-common mistake of clumsily shoehorning historical figures into modern mores — which might be forgivable if this forbidden love story and gory double murder weren’t such a snooze.
Watch the trailer.
Opens today at Landmark E Street Cinema, AMC Georgetown, Landmark Bethesda Row, AMC Shirlington, AMC Hoffman Center, Fairfax Town Center and Majestic Silver Spring.
THE GREAT BUDDHA+
From Sept. 21 through 30, the Freer Gallery of Art’s Views From Taiwan series will showcase new films by Taiwanese directors. The festival begins tonight with this impressive first feature from director Huang Hsin-yao. Pickle, a security guard, and his friend Belly Button, a trash collector, are bored with their menial jobs, so they start watching footage from their rich boss’ dashboard cam. But what they see is not all late-night trysts. Photographed in rich black and white — except for the colorful dashboard-cam footage — this unusual satire is Taiwan’s selection for next year’s foreign language Oscar race. While it’s not the kind of crowd-pleasing movie that the Academy tends to recognize, its bold vision and dry humor should make it a cult favorite.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Freer Gallery of Art. Free.
TIME SHARE
The AFI Silver’s 29th annual Latin American Film Festival, which runs through Oct. 3, continues this weekend with this dark comedy from Mexican director Sebastian Hofmann. The movie observes the misadventures of Pedro, a tightly wound man on a tropical vacation with his wife and young child. Dreams of a quiet holiday are shattered when Pedro learns that his time share has been overbooked, and he’s forced to share a villa with the boorish Abel and his family of five. This first-world problem is paralleled by the story of Andres, who works at the resort with his wife and can only dream of such a thwarted vacation. It’s easy to imagine an American remake starring, say, Alec Baldwin and Adam Sandler, but it probably wouldn’t be as unsettling as this slow burn of an anxiety dream. Hofmann will appear for a Q&A following the Sept. 22 screening.
Watch the trailer.
Saturday, Sept. 22, at 7:30 p.m. and Tuesday, Sept. 25, at 7:15 p.m. at the AFI Silver. $15.
LITTLE MISS BROADWAY
To celebrate its 80th anniversary, the Old Greenbelt Theatre is throwing a theme party and screening a 35mm print of the film that opened the venue on Sept. 21, 1938. Shirley Temple stars as an orphan, naturally, who’s adopted by the manager of a hotel favored by entertainers (which may explain the ventriloquist dummy in the picture above). Co-stars include JImmy Durante and George Murphy. The movie will be preceded by a singalong, and refreshments, including cake and Shirley Temple drinks, will be served, all for the timely price of $19.38.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, Sept. 21, at 7 p.m. at the Old Greenbelt Theatre. $19.38.
CASQUE D’OR
The National Gallery of Art’s Jacques Becker series continues this weekend with a 35mm print of one of the French director’s best-known films. Released in 1952, this belle epoque crime drama stars Simone Signoret (Diabolique) as a working woman caught in a love triangle with her gangster boyfriend (William Sabatier) and an ex-con trying to make good (singer Serge Reggiani). Director François Truffaut, who admired Becker, wrote of the film: “If you’re at all interested in how stories are constructed, you cannot fail to admire the ingenuity of the plot.”
Watch the trailer.
Saturday, Sept. 22, at 2 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art. Free.
REAL GENIUS
The Smithsonian’s Totally ‘80s Film Festival, which runs through Sept. 30, continues this weekend with a 35mm print of this 1985 comedy that features Animal House-style hijinks not at the typical frat house, but among the nerds at a science and technology university. With a sensitive eye, director Martha Coolidge (Valley Girl) navigates the growing pains of the geeky smart set, and thanks to master cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond, it looks better than your typical ‘80s teen product.
Watch the trailer.
Sunday, Sept. 23, at 6:55 p.m. at the National Museum of American History’s Warner Bros. Theater. $15.
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