Capital Projections: Growing up 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.
BECOMING ASTRID
Long before Astrid Lindgren wrote Pippi Longstocking, the first of her series of beloved children’s books, the Swedish author had her share of youthful indiscretions — including bearing a child out of wedlock while she was still a teenager. Danish writer-director Pernille Fischer Christensen (A Soap) tells the story of Lindgren’s formative years in a slow-burning biographical drama. The young Astrid (Alba August, daughter of director Bille August) is depicted as a vivacious young woman hemmed in by her conservative family and the mores of small-town Sweden in the 1920s. Like many a biopic about historical figures, the movie spends time showing us how modern she is — just like us! But the film is at its best when it shows us a more timeless and universal side to her character: Astrid’s somber growth from rebellious teen to weary adult. Becoming Astrid begins and ends with the elder author reading fan letters from children, one of whom wonders how Astrid can know so much about children when she’s so old. What her life seems to demonstrate is that the troubles she endured as a young adult helped the artist better appreciate the innocence — and anxieties — of the young.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday at the Landmark E Street Cinema. $12.50.
STYX
Reike (Susanne Wolff) is an accomplished doctor specializing in emergency medicine who takes a sorely needed vacation. For her solo adventure, she plans to sail alone in the South Atlantic to Ascension Island, where Charles Darwin developed an artificial ecosystem. But after a storm sends her off course, Rieke encounters a crowded fishing boat full of refugees, and although she’s well-equipped to provide help to the endangered vessel, the local coast guard orders her to stay out of it. The title’s hellish connotation suggests not just the refugees’ plight but also Rieke’s dilemma. It becomes clear that the coast guard wants her to keep out of it for a reason; anxious refugees start to jump ship when they see Rieke’s yacht, putting them in even more danger. Director Wolfgang Fischer navigates this politically fraught material without getting heavy-handed; we never know the specifics of the refugee crisis Rieke encounters, so this treacherous journey becomes more symbolic — and more powerful. Styx will be screened as part of the AFI Silver Theatre’s 31st annual European Union Film Showcase, which runs from Nov. 30 through Dec. 19. See my DCist roundup of the festival for capsule reviews of seven other titles in this year’s lineup.
Watch the trailer.
Sunday, Dec. 2, at 9 p.m. and Monday, Dec. 3, at 9:35 p.m. $15.
DODES’KA-DEN
Director Akira Kurosawa’s first color feature uses rich, vibrant hues to tell an achingly bittersweet tale about the residents of slums on the outskirts of Tokyo. The film’s title comes from the sound made by a mentally challenged boy who imagines he’s a trolley conductor. Released in 1970, Dodes’ka-den relies on a cast of relatively unknown actors rather than the director’s star repertory company. As a result, the movie isn’t as well-known as masterpieces such as The Seven Samurai and Ran, but it’s one of Kurosawa’s most moving films. The Freer Gallery of Art will be showing a 35mm print as part of its monthly matinee series of Japanese Classics. In conjunction with the exhibit Japan Modern, the title was selected by filmmakers Gloria Katz (who died on Nov. 25) and Willard Huyck, whose photography collection forms the basis of the show. Read my DCist review of the exhibition here.
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, Dec. 5, at 2 p.m. at the Freer Gallery of Art. Free.
SANDRA (VAGHE STELLE DELL’ORSA)
Director Luchino Visconti followed his 1963 masterpiece The Leopard, an epic arc of 19th-century nobility, with an intimate look at Italy in the decades after World War II. Claudia Cardinale stars as the title character, who returns to her childhood village for a somber event: the unveiling of a statue memorializing her father’s death in the Holocaust. The National Gallery of Art will screen a 35mm print of this 1965 drama as part of its VIsconti retrospective, which runs through Dec. 16. The feature will be preceded by the director’s comic segment from Siamo donne (We, the Women), a 1953 portmanteau film. The short work stars Anna Magnani as a woman forced to pay a cab driver a premium to transport her dog.
Watch the trailer.
Saturday, Dec. 1, at 4 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art. Free.
SKATETOWN, U.S.A.
Scott Baio and Flip Wilson get top billing in this 1979 roller-disco product, but watch for The Brady Bunch’s Maureen McCormick and, in his first role, Patrick Swayze, years before Dirty Dancing made him a household name. And what 1970s lowbrow comedy would be complete without cameos from Billy Barty and The Gong Show’s Unknown Comic? The former Marcia Brady later said that the abundance of cocaine on set fed her addiction and made her increasingly unreliable during production. The Washington Psychotronic Film Society warns, “Be afraid. Be very afraid.”
Watch the trailer.
Monday, Dec. 3, at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel. Free.
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