Capital Projections: It’s showtime 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.
RAZZIA
In this 2017 drama, French-Moroccan director Nabil Ayouch looks at the Arab Spring from the eyes of five different Moroccan characters from different social and religious backgrounds. The film is a far cry from Hollywood depictions of the country such as Casablanca, although that classic comes into play here when a character imagines himself a part of that soundstage fantasy. Another character, however, gets inspiration not from “As Time Goes By” but from Queen’s thematically apt “I Want to Break Free.” Paste writes that Razzia is “an intricately and dexterously crafted drama” and “a powerful and engaged work of art.”
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 7:30 p.m. at the Landmark E Street Cinema. $13.50
ALL THAT JAZZ
On Thursdays in January the Mary Pickford Theater hosts Fraudway, which I curated for the Music Division at the Library of Congress, where I work. Inspired by the outrageous production numbers in such ‘80s films as The Fan and Stayin’ Alive (which screens Jan. 24), the series takes a look at Hollywood’s sometimes strange relationship with Broadway. The screenings are presented as part of the 2018-19 concert season at the Library of Congress, and as I wrote in the season brochure, “This series celebrates the often bizarre and always dazzling cinematic spectacles that imagine a Great White Way that [can only exist on film]. … With a selection of much-loved classics and seldom-revived flops, we explore the breadth of the Library’s vast film holdings to give audiences something beyond the usual repertory fare.” Next week’s program brings a 35mm print of Bob Fosse’s semi-autobiographical 1979 classic, with Roy Scheider starring as a thinly disguised version of Fosse himself.
Watch the trailer.
Thursday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Mary Pickford Theater, third floor of the Madison Building, Library of Congress. Free advance tickets are available via Eventbrite. Doors open 30 minutes before screening. Seating is very limited, but standbys are encouraged to line up starting at 6:30 p.m. In the likely event of a sellout, unclaimed seats will be released to standbys five minutes before show time. For information, call 202-707-5502. Learn more about the Library of Congress’ concert season here.
LOGAN’S RUN
Landmark’s weekly Capital Classic series continues next week with this look at the future as imagined by the filmmakers of 1976. Michael York stars as Logan, who resides in a utopian society in the 23rd century. Life in this world seems idyllic — except for the fact that nobody is allowed to live more than 30 years. Logan escapes with Jessica (Jenny Agutter) and in the process discovers what is supposed to be an abandoned Washington, DC, whose lone survivor (Peter Ustinov) has lived to a ripe age far older than 30. Roger Ebert wrote that “the movie’s ending is unabashed cornball utopian. But Logan’s Run has wit enough to work on such a level; even while we’re chuckling at such an audacious use of cliche, we’re having fun.”
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 1:30 p.m., 4:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Landmark West End Cinema. $10 to $12.50.
PROPHECY
The films of director John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) aren’t typically fodder for the eccentric tastes of the Washington Psychotronic Film Society. But this 1979 ecological thriller about a giant killer bear monster is tailor-made for the intrepid curators. Robert Foxworth stars as a doctor who rails against the bad practices of an evil logging company whose toxic waste leads to the rise of horrible mutants. The New York Times’ Vincent Canby complained of “the obligatory decapitation and the strong suggestion that one fellow is bitten in half at the waist,” yet such gore may well be what lures the target audience.
Watch the trailer.
Monday, Jan. 7, at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel. Free.
ROAR
The only feature film credit by director Noel Marshall was this 1981 eco-thriller, long forgotten until Drafthouse Films rescued it from obscurity. Yet the wildlife adventure film was buried for a reason; while the filmmakers promised that no animals were harmed during filming, the same could not be said for the cast and crew, nearly all of whom were injured during production. When Roar was making the midnight movie rounds a few years ago, I wrote this: “The plot, as it were, turns on wildlife preservationist (Marshall) and his real-life family, then-wife Tippi Hedren, stepdaughter Melanie Griffith, and his sons John and Jerry. Marshall’s family pays him a surprise visit in Africa (though the film was largely shot in a California location that is now the Shambala wildlife sanctuary). The film strikes an odd balance between a gory nature video and an extended Benny Hill sketch in which his entire family runs for their lives. At one point, Marshall was hospitalized for six months; Hedren developed gangrene; Griffith required facial reconstructive surgery after being mauled; both Marshall sons suffered concussions; and cinematographer Jan De Bont (who went on to direct Speed) required 220 stitches after a lion tried to carry him by his scalp. Nobody really has to act here, and they don’t. But Marshall, in his only acting credit, has a strange charisma, like a deranged hippie woodsman set loose in the jungle with gorgeous wildcats as his untrained menagerie. … [In its] terrible way, it’s essential filmmaking.”
Watch the trailer.
Wednesday, Jan. 9, at 8 p.m. at Suns Cinema. $7.
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