E18 film} fall arts preview
KLMNO
For searchable listings, go to
washingtonpost.com/fallarts.
All opening dates are subject to change.
SEPTEMBER
12 — DC Shorts Film Festival, a gaggle of quick hits under 20 minutes, is still in progress at Landmark’s E Street Cinema and the U.S. Navy Memorial, through Sept. 16.
13 — Afrodeutsche: Afro-Germans in Film, a series about the immigrant and native black experience in Germany, gets underway at the Goethe-Institut. Through Oct. 25.
17 — “Alpha and Omega” might be the “Midnight Run” of the family animated comedy world. Justin Long voices Humphrey, an Omega wolf, who with Alpha wolf Kate (Hayden Panettiere) takes a long-distance road trip thanks to some wildlife rangers.
17 — “Easy A” stars Emma Stone (“Zombieland”) as a squeaky-clean high-schooler whose life increasingly resembles Hester Prynne’s when a favor to a friend backfires.
COLUMBIA TRISTAR ROM-COM:Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd star in James L. Brooks’s “How Do You Know,” some of which was filmed in the District.
From action to art-house, there’s something for everyone
narrow-minded after all by Ann Hornaday
I
t’s easy to imagine Holly- wood as a big product facto- ry, its wheels grinding out homogenized movies geared toward smaller and smaller audiences. Desperate to woo viewers away from the comforts of their home entertainment cen- ters, studios seem increasingly prone to pandering to whatever demographic group is still willing to shell out bucks — preferably more than once — to see a movie in an actual multiplex. Polls in- dicate that boys between 121
⁄2 and
13 go over and over again to any- thing involving World of War- craft, Dwayne “The Rock” John- son and 3-D. Conventional wisdom holds
that fewer and fewer movies are being made for the rest of us — non-action fans, or women, or grown-ups. But every year, espe- cially around this time, that as- sumption proves cheeringly false. Admittedly, the lineup of movies opening throughout the rest of this year and in early 2011 fea- tures the requisite amount of ac-
Fall releases suggest Hollywood is not so
tion (“Buried,” “Unstoppable”), horror (“Devil,” “Let Me In,” “My Soul to Take”), sequels (“Paranor- mal Activity 2,” “Tron Legacy”) and animated family films (“Al- pha and Omega,” “Megamind,” “Tangled”) that define Holly- wood’s most reliable output. And yes, dear reader, you will be see- ing ads for “Jackass” and “Saw” sequels, both in 3-D. But those laser-targeted demo-
graphic pleasers claim space on an otherwise diverse-looking slate of movies, inviting the cau- tiously optimistic impression that, for the next few months at least, there really will be some- thing for everybody at the cine- plex. Fans of art-house fare can look
forward to films that have made their way from Sundance to South by Southwest to Tribeca and finally here, including actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s direc- torial debut, “Jack Goes Boating”; Sam Taylor-Wood’s biopic about John Lennon, “Nowhere Boy”; Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s “It’s Kind of a Funny Story”; and Der- ek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine,” in which Michelle Williams and Ryan Gosling star as a couple con- fronting an unraveling marriage. Also playing in art houses will be a bumper crop of documenta- ries, including “A Film Unfin- ished,” “Marwencol,” “Freako-
Following the success of last year’s sold–out festival, join us for this showcase of dance from D.C. and around the world!
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nomics” and “Waiting for ‘Super- man,’ ” all of which played to enthusiastic audiences at this year’s Silverdocs film festival in June. The fall will also feature two of the season’s most highly anticipated titles — Charles Fer- guson’s “Inside Job,” about the economic meltdown, and Alex Gibney’s film about Eliot Spitzer, “Client 9” — as well as two prom- ising essays on different forms of power: Jeff Reichert’s “Gerry- mandering” and Don Hahn’s “Waking Sleeping Beauty,” about corporate machinations at Dis- ney in the 1980s.
If the aging-but-agile action comedy “Red” has too many things that go “Boom!” for some tastes, there’s the prospect of the romantic comedy “How Do You Know,” with Reese Witherspoon and Paul Rudd and from roman- tic-comedy maestro James L. Brooks. Or “Due Date,” a poten- tially raunchy-but-fun road com- edy starring Robert Downey Jr. and Zach Galifianakis. As ever, the fall season includes its share of literary adaptations, and not just of the “Harry Potter” variety. Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley star in “Never Let Me Go,” Mark Ro- manek’s eggshell-delicate adapta- tion of the popular Kazuo Ishigu- ro novel. “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest,” which wraps
TCircleMirror
up the Stieg Larsson trilogy, will give fans of that series their last chance to see Noomi Rapace in the role of Lisbeth Salander be- fore the Americans take over in David Fincher’s planned adapta- tion.
ransformation BY ANNIE BAKER. DIRECTED BY DAVID MUSE.
Fincher has a film coming out this fall — “The Social Network,” about the founding of Facebook — and he joins a roster of highly regarded directors who will be bringing out new films. (Terrence Malick, alas, will not be among them, his long-gestating “The Tree of Life” apparently needing even more time in editing.) No less than Woody Allen (“You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger”), Oli- ver Stone (“Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps”), Darren Aronofsky (“Black Swan”) and Julian Schna- bel (“Miral”) will have new re- leases, as well as Danny Boyle (“127 Hours”), Ben Affleck (“The Town”) and Clint Eastwood (“Hereafter”). Eastwood’s film, about three people dealing with death whose lives intersect in unexpected ways, is part of the fall season’s most cheering trend: the resur- rection of the endangered cin- ematic species known as the Adult Drama. Along with “Here- after,” “Wall Street 2” and “The Social Network,” several films di- rected at grown-ups are in the pipeline, including “Stone,” “Con- viction,” “Fair Game” and “Secre- tariat,” which appeals to so many interest groups (Sports fans! Nos- talgic boomers! Horse lovers! Fans of feel-good, come-from-be- hind drama!) that it stands a strong chance of breaking out to become the one movie every member of the family can see to- gether and actually enjoy. Hey, there’s a concept for Holly- wood to start tinkering with. In the meantime, somehow the wheels keep spinning.
hornadaya@washpost.com
PREMIERESONSTAGE AT SIGNATURE FROM THE WRITER OF LEND MEATENOR
17 — “Devil” posits that everyday situation when a group trapped in an elevator realizes that the Devil is among them. (Hint: He’s the one who didn’t push the “door open” button. You know, with the horns and the tail.)
» »
17 — “The Town” finds Ben Affleck in the director’s chair again after his promising debut with “Gone Baby Gone.” He directs himself — along with Rebecca Hall, Jeremy Renner and Jon Hamm — in a story about a Boston bank robber whose relationship to his gang gets complicated when he revisits a crime from his recent past.
17 — “Heartbreaker” stars yummy French actor Romain Duris (“The Beat That My Heart
Skipped”) in Pascal Chaumeil’s comedy about a designated Lothario hired as a romantic hit man to break up unwanted romances. With Vanessa Paradis.
17 — “The Other City,” based on a series of articles by former Washington Post reporter Jose Antonio Vargas, chronicles Washington’s devastating HIV/AIDS epidemic, which decimated communities through bureaucratic inertia and denial.
17 — “Last Train Home,” a documentary by Lixin Fan, chronicles the trek that hundreds of millions of Chinese peasants take from their city jobs to their families in China’s annual interior migration.
17 — “A Woman, a Gun and a Noodle Shop” blends chilly film noir with satire in a rare foray into comedy by the venerated Chinese auteur Zhan Yimou (“Red Sorghum,” “House of Flying Daggers”).
17 — “The Virginity Hit,” by Will Ferrell discoveries Andrew Gurland and Huck Botko, chronicles four guys’ experience with a time-honored rite of passage.
21 — The AFI Latin American Film Festival showcases the best films from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Highlights this year include “Revolution,” a collection of short films by Mexico’s top 10 directors; Walter Salles’s “Linha de Passe,” “Hiroshima” and Sundance award winner “Southern District.” At AFI through Oct. 13.
24 — “You Again,” billed by its studio as a “femme comedy” (whatever that is), stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristen Bell as a mother and daughter who find themselves being terrorized by their dreaded high school mean girls. With Sigourney Weaver (who, you must admit, really knows how to play a mean girl).
24 — “Catfish,” by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, follows Ariel’s
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 2010
Critic’s recommendations are indicated by arrows
»
abandoned Nazi propaganda film depicting life in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942, whose footage offers profound implications for finding truth even amid reality at its most distorted.
»
24 — “Jack Goes Boating” stars Philip Seymour Hoffman in his directorial debut about a limo driver, a blind date and the loves and travails of two New York couples.
24 — “Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child” documents the life and career of the 1980s art star, whose meteoric rise was cut short by his death in 1988.
24 — “Never Let Me Go” stars Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield in Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s speculative novel about a group of young people in 1970s Britain brought together by a strangely dire fate.
OCTOBER
TBD — “Howl” stars James Franco as Allen Ginsberg in Rob Epstein and Jeffrey Friedman’s dramatization of the Beat poet’s life and his creation of the poem that defined a generation.
» »
TBD — “Gerrymandering,” by Jeff Reichert, examines the process of defining electoral districts throughout the country, and its implications for manipulating the political system. You’ll laugh! You’ll cry! (But you’ll mostly cry.)
1 — “The Social Network” stars Jesse Eisenberg as Facebook founder Mark
Zuckerberg in this dramatization of the start-up of the social network. From director David Fincher, working from a script by Aaron Sorkin.
1— “Buried” features Ryan Reynolds in this claustrophobic thriller about a truck driver who not only must escape after being buried alive but also needs to figure out: Why the heck is he buried alive?! Score an aisle seat for this one, and breathe.
1— “Let Me In” stars Chloe Moretz (Hit Girl from “Kick-Ass”) in an American remake of the highly regarded Swedish teen vampire drama “Let the Right One In.” Richard Jenkins co-stars in this welcome alternative to “Twilight” (not to mention “Vampires Suck”).
1 — “Waiting for ‘Superman’ ” is Davis Guggenheim’s documentary about the state of education in America, focusing in part on Washington’s SEED school as an
» DIRECTED BY JOHN RANDO OCTOBER12-NOVEMBER14
FEATURING JEFF MCCARTHY, HOLLY TWYFORD & ANDREW LONG
STARRING SHERRI L. EDELEN & NANCY ROBINETTE
PREMIER SPONSOR 2010 WOLF TRAP SUMMER SEASON
JACKSON BROWNE WITH DAVID LINDLEY
“Doctor My Eyes” and “Running on Empty”
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film continued on E19
1— “The Sicilian Girl” dramatizes the true story of a teenage Italian girl who in 1991 cooperated with an anti-Mafia judge, betraying the organization that ruled Sicily with unchallenged ruthlessness.
brother Nev in this family documentary that becomes a reality thriller about the Web and its many lures and snares.
24 — “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps” catches up with hedge fund con artist
Gordon Gekko as he’s just getting out of jail, rehabilitated and no longer thinking greed is so good. Or maybe ...? Shia LaBeouf and Carey Mulligan co-star in Oliver Stone’s kicky sequel to his 1987 cautionary tale.
24 — “Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole” is the animated adaptation of the popular book series about a mythic band of owls on a mission to save their feathered brethren. Zack Snyder directs, and he’d better not “Watchmen” this one.
24 — “A Film Unfinished” is Yael Hersonski’s haunting documentary about an
PHOTO OF FLORENCE LACEY BY CHRIS MUELLER.
Photo of EDGEWORKS. STUDIOTHEATRE.ORG 202-332-3300
NOW PLAYING!
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