what's screening in nyc this weekend: oct 26 - 27

plus the BRUTALIST trailer, ANORA opens wide(er), and a surprisingly timely screening of ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN at metrograph

Oct 26, 2024

The Timothee Chalamet lookalike contest is tomorrow (Sunday) afternoon (fun fact — I’m in view of his childhood residence in Hell’s Kitchen as I write this) in Washington Square Park. At the time of writing, 2265 people have RSVP’d “going” and other 618 (ominously biblical?) have selected “maybe.” I’ll be on the ground providing live commentary/investigative reporting/writing the first draft of history. Watch this space etc. etc. etc.
The trailer for the new Brady Corbet film, the Brutalist, starring Adrien Brody released this week, to the delight of many a Brooklyn cinephile/fan of physical media/canister enthusiast.
Catch the brilliant Mati Diop at the IFC today for a Q&A following the 6:30 screening of her new documentary Dahomey.
Looking more and more like we have confirmation of a romance between legends Meryl Streep and Martin Short (what are we calling them? Shreep? Stort? Martyl?). Regardless, Nancy Meyers, pick up that pen!
The Substance is coming to MUBI on Oct 31, ending its unlikely mega run in theaters. (Sidenote: the Celebrity Memoir Book Club ep on Demi Moore’s book is an all-timer. Content warning though, as our girl has suffered.)
And finally — Metrograph is screening All the President’s Men today and Wednesday. Incredible timing.

last great thing I saw

I saw the Tawfiq Saleh’s 1972 film The Dupes at a screening hosted by Writers Against the War on Gaza (WAWOG), followed by a discussion with NYC PhD candidate, professor, and film archivist Nadine Fattaleh. Fattaleh was brilliant, and now I need to get my hands on their translation of Khadijah Habashneh’s book Knights of Cinema: The story of the Palestine Film Unit. Fattaleh also has an exhibition at NYU about collective for struggle for Palestine, with a particular focus on student movements.

join me at:

I’m finally seeing Universal Language, Canada’s entrant to the Academy Award for Best International Film, at Cobble Hill Cinemas at 5 PM. Looks gorgeous — and I can’t wait to see a cinematic rendering of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

new releases to see this weekend:

Anora (2024) - "Anora, a young sex worker from Brooklyn, gets her chance at a Cinderella story when she meets and impulsively marries the son of an oligarch. Once the news reaches Russia, her fairytale is threatened as the parents set out for New York to get the marriage annulled.” - Letterboxd

Where to watch in NYC this weekend: Angelika Film Center, Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Brooklyn, Film at Lincoln Center, BAM

Conclave (2024) - "After the unexpected death of the Pope, Cardinal Lawrence is tasked with managing the covert and ancient ritual of electing a new one. Sequestered in the Vatican with the Catholic Church’s most powerful leaders until the process is complete, Lawrence finds himself at the center of a conspiracy that could lead to its downfall.” - Letterboxd

Where to watch in NYC this weekend: AMC et. al.

Megalopolis (2024) - “Genius artist Cesar Catilina seeks to leap the City of New Rome into a utopian, idealistic future, while his opposition, Mayor Franklyn Cicero, remains committed to a regressive status quo, perpetuating greed, special interests, and partisan warfare. Torn between them is socialite Julia Cicero, the mayor’s daughter, whose love for Cesar has divided her loyalties, forcing her to discover what she truly believes humanity deserves.” - Letterboxd

Where to watch in NYC this weekend: Regal Essex Crossing, Village East by Angelika,

The Apprentice (2024) - “A young Donald Trump, eager to make his name as a hungry scion of a wealthy family in 1970s New York, comes under the spell of Roy Cohn, the cutthroat attorney who would help create the Donald Trump we know today. Cohn sees in Trump the perfect protégé—someone with raw ambition, a hunger for success, and a willingness to do whatever it takes to win.” - Letterboxd

Where to watch in NYC this weekend: AMC Lincoln Square.

The Substance (2024) - "A fading celebrity decides to use a black market drug, a cell-replicating substance that temporarily creates a younger, better version of herself.”

Where to watch in NYC this weekend: Angelika Film Center, Regal, AMC, Alamo Drafthouse

We Live in Time (2024) - “An up-and-coming chef and a recent divorcée find their lives forever changed when a chance encounter brings them together, in a decade-spanning, deeply moving romance.” - Letterboxd

Where to watch in NYC this weekend: AMC, Regal Cinemas

Universal Language (2024) - 2:45 PM, 4:30 PM, 6:15 PM

“Winter. Somewhere between Tehran and Winnipeg. Negin and Nazgol find a sum of money frozen deep within the sidewalk ice and try to find a way to get it out. Massoud leads a group of befuddled tourists upon an increasingly-strange walking tour of Winnipeg historic sites. Matthew leaves his job at the Québec government and embarks upon a mysterious journey to visit his estranged mother.” - Letterboxd

International submission to the Academy Awards from Canada.

Where to watch in NYC this weekend: Cobble Hill Cinemas.

ANGELIKA FILM CENTER

Adrianne & The Castle (2024) - 11 AM, 2:00 PM, 4:55 PM, 8 PM, 10:40 PM

“Alan built a castle in rural Illinois with his late love Adrianne. Facing life alone, he revisits their fantasy through musical reenactments transporting him to the world they shared.” - Letterboxd
Q&A to follow the 2 PM and 8 PM screenings

La Cocina (2024) - 12:30 PM, 3:45 PM, 7 PM, 10:35

“It is the lunchtime rush at The Grill, a New York tourist trap that serves thousands of customers on a regular Friday like today. Money has gone missing from the till and all the workers are being questioned.” - Letterboxd
Q&A to follow the 7 PM screening

Let’s Start a Cult (2024) - 1:15 PM, 3:30 PM, 5:45 PM, 8:45 PM

“Having missed out on his cult’s long awaited ritual suicide, an obnoxious loser teams up with his bogus ex-messiah to rebuild their doomsday commune.” - Letterboxd
Q&A to follow the 8:45 PM screening

Magpie (2024) - 11:15 AM, 2:10 PM, 4:30 PM, 7:40 PM, 10:30 PM

“A couple’s lives are thrown into disarray when their daughter is cast opposite a controversial major star.” - Letterboxd
Q&A to follow 6 PM screening.

Zurawski v Texas (2024) - 12 PM, 2:25 PM, 4:50 PM, 7:15PM, 10:10 PM

“Due to Texas’s abortion laws, which are some of the most restrictive in the country, Amanda Zurawski was refused an emergency procedure during a troubled pregnancy. The collapse of her uterus sent her into life-threatening septic shock, from which she continues to recover. Her tragic story is less rare than you’d think: When Zurawski took the bold step of fighting the laws in court, in a suit led by the attorney Molly Duane, 21 other women, all of whom had suffered devastating health effects from the Texas laws, signed on to support it.” - Letterboxd
Q&A to follow the 7:15 PM screening

ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

EC: Battleship Potemkin (1925) 35 MM - 5 PM

“Eisenstein’s interest in the Freudian father complex drives this psychological scenario in which non-actors step forward to acknowledge the viewer, illustrating Eisenstein’s desire to penetrate to the heart of cinema, sidestepping realism by ‘being real.’ Governmental restrictions made STRIKE the only completed film of a series intended to portray the road to revolution.” - Anthology Film Archives

Twittering Soul (2023) 3D - 6:30 PM, 8:30 PM

“Anthology presents the premiere theatrical engagement of TWITTERING SOUL, the new feature film from acclaimed Lithuanian artist and filmmaker Deimantas Narkevičius. A deeply unsettling, hypnotic, and uncanny work of historical imagination, TWITTERING SOUL was conceived for – and only for – 3D projection, a medium of which it makes truly singular and innovative use.”
Filmmaker in person on October 26 & 28.

The Secret World (2023) (Filmmakers in person!) - 7:30 PM

“An experimental portrait of the New York gallerist and publisher Christine Burgin told through her Borgesian library of strange and visionary books by such eclectic figures as Dinshah Ghadiali, Eva Carrière, Charles Ford, Richard Shaver, and Wilhelm Reich.” - Letterboxd

BAM

Candy Mountain (1987) - 2 PM, 4:30 PM, 7 PM, 9:30 PM

“A mediocre musician goes on the road in search of the world’s greatest guitar maker.” - Letterboxd

FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER

Dahomey (2024) - 1:45 PM, 3:30 PM, 5:15 PM, 7 PM, 8:45 PM

“November 2021. 26 royal treasures of the Kingdom of Dahomey are about to leave Paris to return to their country of origin, the present-day Republic of Benin. Along with thousands of others, these artefacts were plundered by French colonial troops in 1892. But what attitude to adopt to these ancestors’ homecoming in a country that had to forge ahead in their absence? The debate rages among students at the University of Abomey-Calavi.” - Letterboxd
Q&A with director Mati Diop following the 3:30 PM and 5:30 PM shows

Shadows of Forgotten (1965) - 12:15 PM, 2:15 PM, 4:15 PM, 6:15 PM, 8:15 PM

“In the Carpathian Mountains of 19th-century Ukraine, love, hate, life and death among the Hutsul people are as they’ve been since time began. Ivan is drawn to Marichka, the beautiful young daughter of the man who killed his father. But fate tragically decrees that the two lovers will remain apart.” - Letterboxd

FILM FORUM

The Black Box Diaries (2024) - 12:15 PM, 2:30 PM, 4:45 PM, 7 PM

“Journalist Shiori Itō embarks on a courageous investigation of her own sexual assault in an improbable attempt to prosecute her high-profile offender. Her quest becomes a landmark case in Japan, exposing the country’s outdated judicial and societal systems.” - Letterboxd
Q&A with filmmaker/subject Shiori Itō, Co-Presented by the Online News Association to follow 7 PM screening.

The Sacrifice (1986) - 1 PM, 4 PM, 6 PM, 7:10 PM

“Opening with a small group of familiar players in a tense isolated situation, Tarkovsky’s final film unfolds to encompass the director’s cosmic view as faced with nuclear holocaust, a mystic sacrifice must be offered to restore the world — with unforeseen results. Produced in Sweden with a cast headed by Bergman star Erland Josephson and shot by his cinematographer Sven Nykvist. “Unrivaled in the history of cinema in the expression of sheer dread.” – Time Out

The Burmese Harp (1956) - 3 PM, 5:30 PM, 8 PM

“In Burma during the closing days of WWII, a Japanese soldier separated from his unit disguises himself as a Buddhist monk to escape imprisonment as a POW.” - Letterboxd

IFC

Dahomey (2024) - 1 PM, 2:50 PM, 4:40 PM, 6:30 PM, 8:20 PM

Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Mati Diop at 6:30 p.m.

Memoir of a Snail (2024) - 10:40 PM, 12:40 PM, 2:55 PM, 5:10 PM, 7:30 PM, 9:50 PM + several daily screenings throughout the weekend

“In 1970s Australia, Grace’s life is troubled by misfortune and loss. After their mother dies during pregnancy, she and her twin brother, Gilbert, are raised by their paraplegic-alcoholic former juggler father, Percy. Despite a life filled with love, tragedy strikes anew when Percy passes away in his sleep. The siblings are forcibly separated and thrust into separate homes.” - Letterboxd
Post-screening Q&A with filmmaker Adam Elliot at 7:30 PM.

the ROXY

Gummo (1997) 35 MM - 7:15 PM

“Lonely residents of a tornado-stricken Ohio town wander the deserted landscape trying to fulfill their boring, nihilistic lives.” - Roxy Cinema

Blowback Presents: Walker (1987) 35 MM - 5:15 PM

“William Walker and his mercenary corps enter Nicaragua in the middle of the 19th century in order to install a new government by a coup d’etat.”
Introduced by Brendan James and Noah Kulwin 10/21.

Nosferatu with Radiohead: A Silents Synced Film (2024/1922) - 9 PM

Silents Synced pairs classic silent movies with epic rock music. Created by an independent cinema owner for independent cinemas! Silents Synced will be available to book exclusively for independents and drive ins only! The first film will feature Radiohead’s “KID A (2000) / Amnesiac (2001),” paired with Nosferatu (1922).

City Dudes (TBD) - 10:45 PM

City Dudes is the monthly “blindfolded” screening series at the Roxy Cinema New York curated and hosted by the American cinematographer Sean Price Williams and the American writer Nick Pinkerton. Might could be they’ll have the occasional Exciting Guest on-hand as well!

METROGRAPH

ASC Presents: In America with Declan Quinn (2002) 35 MM - 11 AM

“Sheridan’s almost overwhelmingly emotional semi-autobiographical family drama stars Paddy Considine and Samantha Morton as a married Irish couple, Johnny and Sarah Sullivan, who, still reeling from the recent death of their five-year-old son, relocate with their two young daughters to the ramshackle tenements of 1980s Hell’s Kitchen in an attempt to rebuild their lives in a new country.”
Conversation with cinematographer Declain Quinn to follow the screening

Dark Money Preceded by Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr (2018) - 1:15 PM

Dark Money - “‘Dark money’ contributions, made possible by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, flood modern American elections — but Montana is showing Washington D.C. how to solve the problem of unlimited anonymous money in politics.” - Letterboxd
Seat 31: Zooey Zephyr - “When Zooey Zephyr was expelled from the Montana House of Representatives for speaking on a bill banning transgender medical care, she made a nearby bench her “office.” Director Kimberly Reed’s cameras land next to Zooey, capturing shocking, funny, and joyous events.” - Letterboxd
Q&A with director Kimberly Reed, moderated by co-host of WNYC's On the Media, Micah Loewinger on Saturday, October 26th
Part of "Follow the Money: Kimberly Reed Selects"

All the President’s Men (1976) 35 MM - 4 PM

“During the 1972 elections, two reporters’ investigation sheds light on the controversial Watergate scandal that compels President Nixon to resign from his post.” - Letterboxd
Introduction by filmmaker Kimberly Reed
Part of "Follow the Money: Kimberly Reed Selects"

Murdering the Devil (1970) - 8:30 PM

“Comedy with fairy-tale touches, about Kate, who wants to marry, and Mr. Devil, who is not interested in the heart or soul of this passionate and aging lady, but is interested in her good cooking – for Mr. Devil is a glutton.” - Letterboxd
Introduction from Tereza Porybna, Czech Center New York Director
Part of The Phantom of Ester Krumbachová

French Exit (2020) - 6:45 PM

“My plan was to die before the money ran out,” says 60-year-old penniless Manhattan socialite Frances Price, but things didn’t go as planned. Her husband Franklin has been dead for 12 years and with his vast inheritance gone, she cashes in the last of her possessions and resolves to live out her twilight days anonymously in a borrowed apartment in Paris, accompanied by her directionless son Malcolm and a cat named Small Frank—who may or may not embody the spirit of Frances’s dead husband.” - Letterboxd
Introduction and Q&A with director Azazel Jacobs and actor Lucas Hedges at the 6:45 PM showing.