Capital Projections: Rockers and monsters 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.
THE QUIET ONE
The life of the archivist, dutifully filing away all manner of ephemera for future historians, may not be the most exciting subject for a feature-length documentary — even if that diligent pack rat is the bass player for the world’s greatest band. Yet The Quiet One, with its mellow tone at odds with most rock documentaries, is well worth seeing. Born William George Perks, Bill Wyman (with the help of a more celebrated Stone, drummer Charlie Watts) held down the rhythmic foundation for the chart-toppers from 1962 through 1993. But the film’s very title admits that Wyman is not the most charismatic figure, especially with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards vying for attention. Director Oliver Murray, making his feature documentary debut, surveys Wyman’s fairly quiet life, from a working-class upbringing in South London to a more glamorous lifestyle as a self-effacing rocker. It’s appropriate that the biggest hit of his solo career was the ironically titled 1981 single “Je Suis un Rock Star,” a reminder — to himself perhaps as much as to fans — that he was one. Wyman, who seems like a nice guy, didn’t seem to partake in sex and drugs nearly as much as his mates did, so the film doesn’t entice the audience with the usual sordid tale of rock ‘n’ roll excesses. More crucial than even concert recordings is footage of Wyman silently at work among the shelves of his multimedia collection, preserving artifacts for the generations who will want to learn all about what his friends accomplished.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday, July 5, at E Street Landmark Cinema. $12.50.
THE SEVEN SAMURAI
To provide yet another aspect to the sprawling, must-see exhibition The Life of Animals in Japanese Art, the National Gallery of Art has put together the fascinating film series Animals in Japanese Cinema, which runs through Sunday, July 28. In addition to such feline-centric titles as Kon Ichikawa’s 1975 comedy I Am a Cat (Friday, July 12, at noon) and Kaneto Shindō’s 1968 horror classic Black Cat (July 12 at 2:30 p.m.), the program also features this 1954 masterpiece from director Akira Kurosawa. Why would a samurai classic keep company with animal movies? Because the armor worn by these warriors was inspired by ferocious beasts and their power to intimidate. Set in 16th-century Japan, but clearly addressing 1950s-era tension between tradition and modern sensibilities, The Seven Samurai tells the story of seven warriors who team up to protect poor farmers from vicious bandits. The movie’s influence extends far beyond the 1960 remake The Magnificent Seven; it arguably set the stage for vigilante thrillers from Death Wish to The A-Team. And a large part of its continued appeal is thanks to the charismatic Toshiro Mifune as Kikuchiyo, an undisciplined, unpredictable soldier who may be the most invaluable samurai of all. In one of the roles that made him an international star, Mifune may have invented the kind of crazed law enforcer personified by Clint Eastwood and Mel Gibson (you might even blame Jim Carrey’s elastic ham on this performance). Running 3.5 hours, this epic immerses you in an old world that passes on its wisdom through sheer entertainment. The National Gallery of Art is screening a 35-mm print.
Watch the trailer.
Sunday, July 7, at 4 p.m. in the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium. Free.
GODZILLA
Also screening in Animals in Japanese Cinema is the monster movie that launched dozens of fire-breathing sequels and copies. Released the same year as The Seven Samurai, this sci-fi classic from director Ishirô Honda is a fascinating parallel to that feudal-era tale. While the warrior class comes to the defense of hard-working farmers in Kurosawa’s masterpiece, here the people of Tokyo are frankly helpless before a more formidable enemy — one that emerged from the kind of nuclear testing that devastated Japan in World War II. This is a far cry from Godzilla, King of the Monsters!, the heavily re-edited version of the film released for American audiences in 1956. The U.S. production company that bought international rights to the film removed its references to nuclear testing, but Honda’s vision makes it clear that the beast is nature’s horrifying revenge on the arrogance of man. The National Gallery of Art will be showing a digital version of Godzilla, but celluloid purists will be happy to hear that it will be followed by a screening of Honda’s much-loved 1961 sequel Mothra (Friday, July 5, at 3:30 p.m.) in a 35-mm print.
Watch the trailer for Godzilla.
Godzilla screens on Friday, July 5, at 1 p.m. in the National Gallery of Art’s East Building Auditorium. Free.
WAR AND PEACE
The Cold War led the world’s two superpowers to harness their movie industries as a way to show off their political and cultural power. The Kremlin must have winced indeed at Hollywood’s vision of one of their literary masterpieces. In response to King Vidor’s 1956 Tolstoy adaptation, which starred Audrey Hepburn and Henry Fonda, Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk took charge of a 422-minute extravaganza that was released in four parts in 1966 and 1967. And this War and Peace may well have won the cinematic conflict. Critic Ella Taylor, in an essay on the film for the Criterion Collection, writes: “One can only marvel at the technical virtuosity of the special effects, mounted with aerial and crane shots, split screens, dissolves, and slow pans across hundreds of corpses strewn bent and twisted on the battlefield.” The film will be released on home video later this month, but this kind of spectacle should be seen on the big screen. The AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center is showing a new digital restoration in two parts.
Watch the trailer.
Part 1 screens Friday, July 5, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.; Saturday, July 6, at 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.; and Sunday, July 7, at 1 p.m. Part 2 screens Friday, July 5, at 8 p.m.; Saturday, July 6, at 8 p.m.; and Sunday, July 7, at 6 p.m. Separate admission is required for each part. At the AFI Silver Theatre and Cultural Center. $10 (matinee) and $13 (evening).
VIRGIN BEASTS
Any given week in the Washington area, one of the region’s repertory theaters is likely to screen a universally well-regarded masterpiece of cinema, while the programmers at the Washington Psychotronic Film Society (WPFS) serves up a bizarre curio from the fringes of motion picture entertainment. Next week, the WPFS screens an Australian animated comedy released in 1992, and I’ll let the programmers describe the plot in their distinctive grindhouse imagery: “As a nasty, powerful, old arms dealer lusts for immortality on his deathbed, his devious lawyers arrange for him to receive the healthy heart of an aboriginal convict. Thus begins his odyssey via animated dolphin-soul to the Underworld and a poisoned future to rescue The Cup That Heals all Wounds from the Last Supper table of a mutant’s bacchanal. But will he be foiled by a beautiful female emissary from Out There?”
Watch the trailer.
Monday, July 8, at 8 p.m. at Smoke and Barrel. Free.
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