As seniors wither under the weight of theses, Weather.com forecasts rain for roughly nine out of the next 10 days, and the trailer for “The Three Musketeers” contains some rather unfortunate images of an earring’d Orlando Bloom that I cannot now un-see, April exhaustion has well and truly arrived on campus. And seriously, that snow-in-April thing over the weekend? Besides demonstrating just how much more sense the South makes over New England, it was incredibly depressing.
However you’re dealing with the cruelest of months–meditation, Facebook stalking, bubble-spinner-induced comas–the Film Series has you covered this week. In the mood for vengeance? Or perhaps a Gogol Bordello-backed love story? Is what you need more instances of Al Pacino yelling? Or maybe you’d prefer to share a lobster with Orson Welles? In any case, Goldsmith awaits (and don’t forget the suggestion boxes around campus for next year’s series).
HEAT
1995. USA. Dir: Michael Mann.
With Al Pacino, Robert De Niro. 170 min.
Pacino/De Niro, Pacino/De Niro. Yes, they are, in fact, both awesome, separately and together here, but would you believe that the film is also graced by Private Practice’s own Amy Brenneman? And a teenage Natalie Portman? (We’ll ignore Ashley Judd.) As much a meditation on the interdependency of cops and robbers as it is full of consummately crafted action showcases, Michael Mann’s gorgeous, grim cinematography and the acute performances by the ensemble cast makes this crime film well worth its run time.
WRISTCUTTERS: A LOVE STORY
2006. USA. Dir: Goran Dukic.
With Patrick Fugit. 88 min.
Really, what else can you ask for when a movie’s got Gogol Bordello’s own Shea Whigham, sporting a dapper cap and a car with a wormhole, and Tom Waits, lying in the middle of the road, looking for a dog named Freddie? The bizarre, bleakly whimsical afterlife—“Everything is the same, only a little bit worse”—that serves as the backdrop for the titular love story fascinates, and the love story itself is appropriately indie sweet. Guest speaker Etgar Keret, the writer of the novella on which the film is based, will also be there to discuss the movie afterwards.
TRUE GRIT
2010. USA. Dir: Ethan & Joel Coen.
With Jeff Bridges, Hailee Steinfeld. 110 min.
The Coen Bros. rich western fairy tale of murder and revenge leans closer to Charles Portis’ book than the 1969 John Wayne picture—a 690 on the verbal SAT is about adequate for the flights and thrusts of the film’s historicized palaver. But touches of the Coen’s typical humor pepper the gorgeously-photographed landscape, while the action, as nasty and sharp as a snakebite, cranks the suspense. Oh, and also? There’s the Dude.
F FOR FAKE.
1973. France/Iran/West Germany.
Dir: Orson Welles. Documentary. 89 min.
If “Citizen Kane” is what happens when Orson Welles paints a portrait on oil canvas, then “F For Fake” is his crazy-amazing sketch done on the back of a bar napkin. Ostensibly a documentary about an art forger, a literary conman, and Howard Hughes, the film is in fact a gleeful indictment/love letter to trickery, artifice, and art. Masterfully constructed—the editing can keep pace with Michael Bay’s—this film essay is one of Welles’ most enjoyable works.
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