Capital Projections: Fists of neon 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.
MASTER Z: IP MAN LEGACY
In this spinoff from the popular Ip Man films, martial arts master Cheung Tin Chi (Max Zhang) is trying to lead a quiet life, having left fighting behind after a bitter defeat at the hands of his rival. He’s happy to run a grocery store and take care of his young son. Unfortunately, he’s pulled back into action when Kit (Kevin Cheng), a volatile drug dealer, makes trouble in his neighborhood. Soon Cheung has to deal with a former triad leader (Michelle Yeoh) who’s trying to go legit — and happens to be Kit’s sister. With its deep family ties and highly saturated colors, this martial arts showcase — directed by legendary stunt coordinator Yuen Woo-Ping, whose career goes back to the 1978 Jackie Chan vehicle Snake in the Eagle’s Shadow — has the look and emotional beats of a classic melodrama. But elaborate sets that re-create a neon-drenched 1960s Hong Kong make the movie look like someone took Francis Ford Coppola’s candy-colored musical flop One From the Heart and turned it into a kung fu thriller — which means you must see this on the big screen. Master Z may lack the star power of franchise regular Donnie Yen (Rogue One), who only appears in flashbacks, but Zhang (The Grandmaster) is still a lot of fun to watch. Better still, this is a welcome showcase for Yeoh, whose recent appearance in Crazy Rich Asians barely hinted at her action-star past. Watch for Guardians of the Galaxy star and Arlington native Dave Bautista in his first Chinese production.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday, April 12, at Regal Gallery Place, AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center, Magic Johnson Capital Center 12, Regal Rockville and AMC Hoffman. $12.50 to $15.
THE BURIAL OF KOJO
Brooklyn-based musician Samuel “Blitz” Bazawule, aka Blitz the Ambassador, makes an impressive directorial debut with this stylish drama, a ghost story that addresses the crisis of workers who risk their lives in illegal mines in Ghana. The fate of the doomed, eponymous Kojo (Joseph Otisman) is set in motion by a car crash that kills his brother Kwabena (Kobina Amissah-Sam) and his new bride. Kojo survives the collision, but his brother seeks vengeance — from the grave. Kojo was a highlight of last month’s New African Films Festival, and did so well that the AFI has brought it back for a one-week run. As I wrote in my Washington City Paper preview of the festival, the film “is based on the gruesome true story of miners who were buried alive in [shafts] operated by outsiders who exploited local workers and the land’s natural resources. Cinematographer Michael Fernandez crafts gorgeous, dream-like images that recall the fireworks of Beasts of the Southern Wild. But even when his characters get lost in a delirious swirl, Bazawule never loses sight of their very real struggle.”
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday, April 12, at the AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center. $13.
MARY MAGDALENE
Australian director Garth Davis (Lion) turns to the Bible with this somewhat unorthodox (theologically speaking) story of a woman who witnessed Jesus’ death and resurrection. Rooney Mara (Carol) stars in this long-delayed drama as the disciple who, according to the script by Helen Edmundson and Philippa Goslett, comforted Jesus (Joaquin Phoenix) and at times seemed more steadfast than his apostles. Perhaps the film’s greatest sin is that Mara, delivering her lines with a breathy reverence, never fully makes her character come alive. Mary’s faith seems more driven by a dramatic soundtrack than her inner strength. This feminist angle on scripture is perhaps ironically overshadowed by a male figure; even though he looks older than 33, Phoenix plays Jesus as an intense visionary with far more charisma than the title character.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday, April 12, at Angelika Pop-up. $8.50 to $11.50.
THEM!
The Mary Pickford Theatre at the Library of Congress continues its Atomic April with a 1954 creature feature that, along with Godzilla, was one of the first horror films to tap a peculiar mid-century anxiety: that nuclear testing would create mammoth beasts. Here, in the wake of A-bomb tests in New Mexico, giant ants with industrial-grade mandibles emerge to wreak havoc across the nation. Director Gordon Douglas, who worked on Little Rascals shorts, shifts from the diminutive to the gargantuan in this horror classic starring James Whitmore (The Shawshank Redemption) as a police sergeant and Edmund Gwenn (Kris Kringle in Miracle on 34th Street) as a doctor who tries to save mankind. Watch for Leonard Nimoy in an uncredited role as an Army sergeant. The Library of Congress is screening a 35-mm print. (Disclosure: I work at the Library of Congress but did not work on this program.)
Watch the trailer.
Thursday, April 18, at 7 p.m. in the Mary Pickford Theater on the third floor of the Madison Building at the Library of Congress, 101 Independence Ave. SE. Free. Seating is first-come, first-served. For the best seating options, patrons are encouraged to arrive 15 to 30 minutes before the scheduled start time.
THE CLAIRVOYANT
With the AFI’s new slate of intriguing first-run movies alongside an especially deep repertory dive, moviegoers might as well camp out in Silver Spring next week. The Silver’s retrospective of Hollywood power couple Fay Wray and Robert Riskin continues this weekend with a 35-mm print of this rarely screened thriller. Claude Rains (Casablanca) stars as Maximus, a touring vaudeville psychic who, with the help of his wife (Wray), fakes his visions — that is, until a perceptive audience member (Jane Baxter) inspires him to truly see into the future. It’s kind of ridiculous, especially in a climactic trial scene, but Rains and Wray make it enjoyable. Other 35-mm screenings at the AFI in the coming week include three double features: two silent films from 1928, Feel my Pulse and Bare Knees (Friday, April 12, at 7:15 p.m.); a pair of Fay Wray westerns from 1930, The Texan and The Border Legion (Saturday, April 13, at 11 a.m.); and the musicals Time Out for Rhythm (1941) and Rockin’ in the Rockies (1945), the first feature film showcase for the Three Stooges (Saturday, April 13, at 2:30 p.m.).
Watch a clip from The Clairvoyant.
Friday, April 12, at 5:15 p.m. and Sunday, April 14, at 8:45 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center.
DRAGNET GIRL
The Freer and Sackler galleries continue their celebration of the National Cherry Blossom Festival with a silent gangster movie from a director who may be one of the last people you’d associate with gritty crime thrillers. Yasujiro Ozu was best known for domestic dramas such as Tokyo Story that generate a quiet and often heartbreaking power. This 1933 film, on the other hand, traces the love triangle that forms when a gang leader casts aside his favored moll for a new, younger edition. The Criterion Collection site says: “With effortlessly cool performances and visual inventiveness, Dragnet Girl is a bravura work.” The musical group Coupler will perform a live musical score to accompany the film, which will be screened in a 35-mm print.
Watch the trailer.
Friday, April 12, at 7:30 p.m. at the Freer Gallery of Art’s Meyer Auditorium. Free.
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