Capital Projections: Dangerous holidays 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.
BEN IS BACK
Holly is bringing her kids back from Christmas Eve Mass when they find a surprise at home: her oldest son Ben (Lucas Hedges), on unexpected break from rehab. Ben swears he’s been clean, and with much reluctance his mother lets him stay, although he’s broken her heart before. Even though his intentions seem good, Ben tells his mother she should never trust an addict. As the opioid epidemic rages in America, it seems like an unlikely topic for a Julia Roberts movie, and I wouldn’t blame anyone from walking away from the movie just on the basis of the stills. But with two strong and watchable leads grounding the action, director Peter Hedges (Lucas’ father) quickly shifts from Lifetime-movie sensationalism to a heartfelt prodigal-son arc and finally to an effective Christmas thriller. Ben Is Back sends its Hollywood mom into the depths of an underworld she’s not prepared for — but that’s how much she wants her son back.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday at the Landmark E Street Cinema, Landmark Bethesda Row and Angelika Mosaic. $12.50.
SHOPLIFTERS
When Osamu (Lily Franky) and his son Shota (Jyo Kairi) go out to the supermarket, it’s not your typical family outing; dad runs interference while junior stuffs his backpack with stolen groceries. In fact, Shota isn’t Osamu’s son at all, but a wastrel he found years ago. They form part of a large makeshift family that operates at the fringes of Tokyo and gets by on petty thievery. But the tenuous dynamic is upset when they take in a little girl whose parents beat her. Director Hirokazu Kore-eda specializes in such heartbreaking family tales as After the Storm. While his previous film, The Third Murder, lost some dramatic power to a police procedural structure, his latest uses similar elements in the service of a much more emotionally involving film, and it paid off — Shoplifters won the Palme D’Or at Cannes. Kore-eda has made more moving films than this, but fans of his work will be happy to see him back on the right track.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday at the Avalon Theatre ($12.50) and Cinema Arts Theatre ($12).
VOX LUX
In this overwrought fable whose provocative ideas seem executed with crayon, teenage sisters Celeste (Raffey Cassidy) and Eleanor (Stacy Martin) survive a school shooting and, after composing a heartfelt ballad for the candlelight memorial service, become pop stars. Writer-director Brady Corbet suggests that with stardom comes a new form of terror; nearly 20 years later, the adult Celeste (played by Natalie Portman) is an alcoholic. Vox Lux is a kind of black funhouse mirror to Bradley Cooper’s A Star Is Born remake. But after a startlingly effective opening scene, this original mess of a movie feels ill-conceived at nearly every turn, and Portman’s thick New York accent makes you feel like you’re watching Popeye in glitter. Still, this is a movie that’s so painfully wrong, it’s an often-fascinating train wreck.
Watch the trailer.
Opens Friday at the Landmark Atlantic Plumbing Cinema, AMC Mazza Gallerie and ArcLight Bethesda. $12.50.
IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE
What if we had never been born? Frank Capra’s 1947 drama is a perennial holiday favorite, but it’s far more than just Christmas fluff. In Spectrum Culture’s survey of the Best Actors of All Time, I wrote, “What’s heartbreaking about Stewart’s performance is that, at whatever age you are when you watch it, you identify with some stage of his character arc; he takes you along for the full nightmarish ride from Bedford Falls to Pottersville. … In a performance for the ages, Stewart [shows you] someone you are or someone you want to be or someone you are afraid to turn into.” The AFI Silver Theatre will be screening a new 4K digital restoration. And come for a special book talk at the 1:45 p.m. screening on Christmas Eve, Dec. 24, with Jeremy Arnold, author of Turner Classic Movies’ Christmas in the Movies: 30 Classics to Celebrate the Season.
Watch the trailer.
Monday, Dec. 17, at 2:30 p.m.; Tuesday, Dec. 18, at 2:30 p.m.; Wednesday, Dec. 19, at 2:30 p.m.; Thursday, Dec. 20, at 1:30 and 6:45 p.m.; Friday, Dec. 21, at 1:50 and 6:45 p.m.; Saturday, Dec. 22, at 1:30 and 7 p.m.; Sunday, Dec. 23, at 1:50 p.m.; and Monday, Dec. 24, at 1:45 and 6:45 p.m. at the AFI Silver Theatre. $13.
L’INNOCENTE
The National Gallery of Art’s Luchino Visconti survey closes this weekend with the Italian director’s final film, adapted from an 1892 novel by Gabriele D’Annunzio. Laura Antonelli stars as Giuliana, who takes on a lover in defiance of her wildly unfaithful husband (Giancarlo Giannini). Slant writes: “Reportedly directing from a wheelchair, the dying Visconti suppresses his penchant for heightened dramaturgy in favor of languid severities that, thanks to expressive sequences such as Tullio and Giuliana’s elegiac visit to the villa where they fell in love, stay on the right side of Merchant-Ivory stodginess.” The National Gallery will be screening a 35mm print.
Watch the trailer.
Sunday, Dec. 16, at 4 p.m. at the National Gallery of Art in the East Building Auditorium. Free.
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