Hello Film Lovers!
A few new indie releases debut this week, and for those of you who I gave an advanced preview of Chlotrudis Monday Night Movies, there has been a change! The reason for this change will come in the form of a little rant a little further down the page. Join us on Monday, August 9 for the 6:30 screening of Spike Lee’s latest joint, SHE HATE ME, at the Kendall Square Theatre. Already dividing critics, SHE HATE ME features Chlotrudis buddy Kerry Washington in her first role to hit the big screen since her appearance here at the 10th Annual Chlotrudis Awards. We love Kerry, and we’re looking forward to seeing her in another indie film. Due to the early start time of the film, we will be meeting for dinner pretty early, but if anyone would like to join us at the Cambridge Brewery at 5:00 p.m., let me know.
Whistle-blower Jack (Anthony Mackie) gets fired after he causes an investigation into his bosses’ business dealings. Broke, his ex-girlfriend (Kerry Washington), now a lesbian, offers him $10,000 to impregnate her and her girlfriend (Dania Ramirez). Jack is ready to make “easy” money and as word spreads, rich lesbians with a desire for motherhood are lining up. But between his former employers seeking to frame him for fraud and his dubious fathering activities, Jack finds his life growing very complicated. Co-starring Monica Bellucci, Ellen Barkin, John Turturro and Brian Dennehy. Directed and co-written by Spike Lee. Official Web Site
Director: Spike Lee
Cast: Anthony Mackie, Kerry Washington, Ellen Barkin, Monica Bellucci, Jim Brown, Reynaldo Rosales, Jamel Debbouze, Brian Dennehy, Woody Harrelson, Ling Bai, Q-Tip, Dania Ramirez, John Turturro
Now, as many of you know, the originally planned Chlotrudis Monday Night Movie of the Week was the Philippine documentary IMELDA. We will not be seeing IMELDA on Monday, and here the reason why not is a result of Landmark Theatre’s corporate mentality. As many of you also know, the Kendall Square Theatre has instituted a calendar screen at their theatre. This means they program a single low-profile indie film in advance to run for a single week. The idea behind this is if the film performs well in its opening week, Landmark has the option of extending its run. For this reason, distributors of these films book their product with Landmark, EVEN THOUGH THEY WOULD BE BETTER SUITED BOOKING THIS TYPE OF FILM AT AN INDEPENDENT THEATRE LIKE THE BRATTLE, in the hopes of getting a longer run, something that The Brattle is unable to offer. Now, since the Kendall instituted their Calendar schedule in January of 2004, they have extended a single film’s run beyond the initial week. Many of these films would have done better at the Brattle, but because of the hope being dangled before distributors, or a potentially longer run at the Kendall, these films have passed by the Brattle. In the case of poor IMELDA, not only is this film being shown at a venue ill-suited for its audience, THEY ARE LIMITING IT TO A SINGLE SCREENING EACH DAY, in this case, 5:05 p.m., making it impossible for most people to attend, and thus, insuring very few people will catch it. Good going Kendall.
SHAOLIN SOCCER is a Hong Kong film that has been in the can for quite a while. In fact, Miramax’s pathetic distribution plans has kept one of the country’s biggest films of 2001 languishing for three years. Almost makes me start another rant, but instead, let’s go see this film at the Brattle on Saturday, August 7 at 7:30 p.m. Here’s what the Brattle has to say about SHAOLIN SOCCER: “Let ‘s just put it out there ‘ Stephen Chow is hilarious!! He is one of the biggest comedy stars of Hong Kong and China ‘ if pressed one could describe him to the uninitiated as a bizarre combination of Jim Carrey, Bruce Lee, and Charlie Chaplin who often stars in Zucker-Brothers-level spoofs of popular genre films. His best-known film in the States is the kung-fu cooking flick, GOD OF COOKERY, which took the Iron Chef concept (already popular in Asia) to its ludicrously extended conclusion with master chefs competing in literal cooking battles. SHAOLIN SOCCER continues on a similar premise, but transplants the action to the soccer field. Chow plays Sing, a Shaolin monk who is trying to find a way to spread the word about kung fu. After meeting an embittered ex-player (known as The Golden Leg), he becomes convinced that the best way to do this is to become a soccer star and he dutifully gathers his Shaolin brothers to his side to form his team. Chow seamlessly melds together the silly conventions of not only the sports saga and martial arts epic but also the Spaghetti Western, WWII battlefield films and Jerry Lewis comedies, and applies them to a comic coming-of-age story. As with all of the best spoofs, SHAOLIN SOCCER both pokes fun at and pays homage to its sources ‘ what could be a better validation of the seemingly hokey story than to see in the uproarious final scene that the entire world has been gripped by kung fu fever!”
A couple other new releases this week include Zach Braff’s (TV’s “Scrubs”) GARDEN STATE, French fave Patrice Leconte’s INTIMATE STRANGERS, and the chilling OPEN WATER. I’m hoping to catch GARDEN STATE in the coming weeks. A couple of noteworthy films from past weeks are still hanging around, and you should definitely think about catching MARIA FULL OF GRACE and A HOME AT THE END OF THE WORLD. I’m amazed that METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER is leaving theatres (like the Kendall) after a single week but this fascinating documentary is still playing at Loew’s Copley Square Theatre and the suburbs too! Don’t miss it. And for those of you who still haven’t caught Guy Maddin’s quirky and delightful THE SADDEST MUSIC IN THE WORLD, The Brattle brings it back for their RECENT RAVES series on Wednesday, August 11. Remember, Wednesday is Chlotrudis Day at the Brattle! Show your membership card and get a discount!
Finally, for all of you who like to party in movie theatres (and who doesn’t) be sure to come to TRAILER TREATS at the Brattle on Thursday, August 5. Enjoy some beer and barbecue, while grooving to live music! Then catch a reel of some vintage and wacky movie trailers! It’s the perfect way to spend a hot summer night. Dress in your best trailer trash couture! Check out Brattle Executive Directors (and Chlotrudis members) Ned and Ivy at last year’s Trailer Treats in a photo taken by Brandon Constant. The festivities start at 9:30 p.m.!
See you at the movies!
Playing this week, August 5 – 11.
Brattle Theatre, Cambridge
Trailer Treats!
The Art of Samurai Cinema
Takeshi Kitano’s Zatoichi (Thu.)
Exclusive Area Premiere
Shaolin Soccer (Fri. – Sun.)
Midnight Cult Classics
Shaolin Soccer (Fri. & Sat.)
Orson Welles: Rogue Genius
Macbeth (Mon.)
Modern Musicals
Lagaan (Tue.)
Recent Raves
The Saddest Music in the World (Wed.)
Coolidge Corner Theatre, Brookline
Maria Full of Grace
Fahrenheit 9/11
The Hunting of the President
Zoolander (Fri. & Sat)
Kung Fu
Rudy Rae Moore is Dolomite (Sat.)
A Tribute to Marlon Brando
The Wild One (Mon.)
Teens on Screen
Rebel Without a Cause (Mon.)
Dead Poets Society (Tue.)
Dogtown & Z-Boys (Wed.)
Harvard Film Archive, Cambridge
S if for Stamp
Billy Budd (Thu.)
The Hit (Thu.)
Trailers, Trailers, Trailers (Fri.)
U is for University Professors
Wild Strawberries (Sat. & Sun.)
The Declnie of the American Empire (Sat. & Sun.)
V is for Vietnam Revisited
Boat People (Mon.)
Who’ll Stop the Rain (Mon.)
W is for World War I Silents
Nosferatu the Vampyre (Tue.)
Matewan (Tue.)
Hollywood Hits Theatre, Danvers
The Door in the Floor
Before Sunset
Napoleon Dynamite
Landmark Theatres
Kendall Square, Cambridge
Intimate Strangers (starts Fri.)
She Hate Me (starts Fri.)
Open Water (starts Fri.)
Imelda (starts Fri.)
Garden State (starts Fri.)
Maria Full of Grace
A Home at the End of the World (starts Fri.)
The Corporation
Napoleon Dynamite
Control Room (Thu.)
The Door in the Floor (Thu.)
Broadway: The Golden Age (Thu.)
The Clay Bird (Thu.)
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (Thu.)
Embassy Cinema, Waltham
Garden State (starts Fri.)
A Home at the End of the World
Before Sunset
Napoleon Dynamite
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster (Thu.)
The Corporation (Thu.)
Seducing Doctor Lewis (Thu.)
Loews Theatres Copley Place, Boston
Intimate Strangers (starts Fri.)
Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
Before Sunset
De-Lovely
The Door in the Floor
Napoleon Dynamite
Harvard Square, Cambridge
Before Sunset
Fahrenheit 9/11
The Clearing (Thu.)
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
New England Film Artists Presents
The Pursuit of Pleasure (Thu. & Sat.)
Pre-Release Screening
Seeing Other People (Thu.)
Korean Cinema
Oasis (Thu. – Sun.)
Art on Film
Rivers and Tides: Andy Goldsworthy Working with Time (Thu.)
My Architect (Thu & Fri.)
Russian Cinema
The Return (Sat. & Sun.)
The Newburyport Screening Room, Newburyport
The Control Room (Thu.)
Bukowski: Born Into This (starts Fri.)
Boston Jewish Film Festival Events
Another Chance to see…
My Architect at the Museum of Fine Arts (Thu. & Fri.)
Michael R. Colford
Chlotrudis Society for Independent Film, President