what's showing in nyc this weekend - jan 17 - 19
"fix your hearts or die" - RIP David Lynch, 1946 - 2025 </3
new releases:
A Complete Unknown — “New York, early 1960s. Against the backdrop of a vibrant music scene and tumultuous cultural upheaval, an enigmatic 19-year-old from Minnesota arrives in the West Village with his guitar and revolutionary talent, destined to change the course of American music.” - Letterboxd
Where to watch in NYC this week.
Better Man — “Follow Robbie Williams’ journey from childhood, to being the youngest member of chart-topping boyband Take That, through to his unparalleled achievements as a record-breaking solo artist – all the while confronting the challenges that stratospheric fame and success can bring.”
Where to watch in NYC this week.
The Brutalist — “Escaping post-war Europe, visionary architect László Tóth arrives in America to rebuild his life, his work, and his marriage to his wife Erzsébet after being forced apart during wartime by shifting borders and regimes. On his own in a strange new country, László settles in Pennsylvania, where the wealthy and prominent industrialist Harrison Lee Van Buren recognizes his talent for building. But power and legacy come at a heavy cost.”
Where to watch in NYC this week.
I’m Still Here — “In the early 1970s, the military dictatorship in Brazil reaches its height. The Paiva family - Rubens, Eunice, and their five children - live in a beachside house in Rio, open to all their friends. One day, Rubens is taken for questioning and does not return.”
Where to watch in NYC this week.
Nickel Boys — “Chronicles the powerful friendship between two young Black teenagers navigating the harrowing trials of reform school together in Florida.”
Where to watch in NYC this week.
Nosferatu — “A gothic tale of obsession between a haunted young woman and the terrifying vampire infatuated with her, causing untold horror in its wake.”
Where to watch in NYC this week.
Soundtrack of a Coup’ d’Etat — “In 1960, United Nations: the Global South ignites a political earthquake, musicians Abbey Lincoln and Max Roach crash the Security Council, Nikita Khrushchev bangs his shoe denouncing America’s color bar, while the U.S. dispatches jazz ambassador Louis Armstrong to the Congo to deflect attention from its first African post-colonial coup.”
Where to watch in NYC this week.
TL;DR
retrospectives & programming:
Check out “Blackout 1973” and Anthology Film Archives
“AI from Metropolis to Ex Machina” continues at Film Forum.
“Donald Sutherland: (Never) the Guy Next Door” continues at IFC
See “All About Altman” at Nitehawk.
Check out “Bye Bye Love: Fujisawa and the Japanese New Wave,” “Amongst Humans,” “Sandhya Suri Selects,” “Delphine Seyrig: Rebel Muse,” all at Metrograph.
New York Jewish Film Festival 2025 opened Thursday at Lincoln Film Center
must reads:
My favorite review of 2024. I read it whenever I’m sad.
My favorite piece of film writing from 2024. (Written by my friend, AJ back in May.)
Noah Kulwin explores The Brutalist’s relationship to Zionism for Screen Slate.1
Adam Nayman is also a Brutalist skeptic but for Other Reasons, mostly pertaining to the film’s obsession with its own importance to the detriment of other more interesting themes or ideas.
Two incredible reviews of Sean Baker’s Anora came out earlier this month — Marla Cruz critiques the film as a “consumer fantasy” for Angel Food,2 and Sam Bodrojan explores what she calls Sean Baker’s “emasculated cruelty” for LA Review of Books.
Chief film critic for IndieWire David Ehrlich finalized his annual countdown of the best films of 2024 with the edit to end all edits.
(Also a huge fan of the 2023 video, which includes “It’s All Coming Back to Me Now,” by Canadian icon Celine Dion.)
And finally, David Lynch, the imitable (though many have tried) writer and director passed away yesterday, seemingly after suffering the effects of poor air quality caused by wildfire smoke. He spent much of his later years at home in Los Angeles, afraid that our cultural ambivalence to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic would exacerbate his emphysema. Members of his family confirmed his death on his Facebook page yesterday afternoon. Eulogies from longtime collaborators, including actor, Kyle Maclachlan, critics, cinephiles, and colleagues alike poured in immediately. (My friend Lex, a self-styled Lynchian scholar, also wrote about his legacy and work’s indelible queerness for Them.) Rest easy, David, (and fuck Netflix).
FRIDAY: ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
Naomi Levine’s “Yes” (1963) - 7 PM
“It is like no other movie you ever saw. The rich sensuousness of her poetry floods the screen. Nobody has ever photographed flowers and children as Naomi did. No man would be able to get her poetry, her movements, her dreams. These are Naomi’s dreams, and they reveal to us beauty which we men were not able to rip out of ourselves – Naomi’s own beauty.” – Jonas Mekas, VILLAGE VOICE
Prick Up Your Ears (1987) - 7:30 PM
“When the young, attractive Joe Orton meets the older, more introverted Kenneth Halliwell at drama school, he befriends the kindred spirit and they start an affair. As Orton becomes more comfortable with his sexuality and starts to find success with his writing, Halliwell becomes increasingly alienated and jealous, ultimately tapping into a dangerous rage.” - Letterboxd
FRIDAY: FILM FORUM
Dr. Strangelove (1964) - 3:10
“After the insane General Jack D. Ripper initiates a nuclear strike on the Soviet Union, a war room full of politicians, generals and a Russian diplomat all frantically try to stop the nuclear strike.” - Letterboxd
The Stepford Wives (2004) - 6 PM
“What does it take to become a Stepford wife, a woman perfect beyond belief? Ask the Stepford husbands, who’ve created this high-tech, terrifying little town.” - Letterboxd
Her (2013) - 8:30
“In the not so distant future, Theodore, a lonely writer, purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user’s every need. To Theodore’s surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.” - Letterboxd
FRIDAY: IFC CENTER
Grand Theft Hamlet (2025) - 1 PM, 5:15 PM, 7:25 PM, 9:40 PM
“With theaters shut during the COVID-19 pandemic, two jobless actors, Sam and Mark, are uncertain about their futures—finding solace in the virtual chaos of Grand Theft Auto Online. Desperate for purpose, they decide to stage Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the ultra-violent world of their favorite game.” - IFC Center
Q&A with directors Penny Grylls and Sam Crane
Girls Town (1996) 90 M - 2:10 PM, 4:25 PM, 6:40 PM
“The death of a friend galvanizes three high school young women to reassess their friendship and their lives.” - Letterboxd
Q&A with director Jim McKay and star Anna Grace.
FRIDAY: MoMA
Rosaura at 10 O’Clock (1958) - 4:30 PM
“Out of the blue, a meek, old painter begins receiving love letters from Rosaura. This intrigues his fellow boarding house tenants, so they involve themselves into his relationship until one day the mysterious Rosaura appears.” - Letterboxd
Bend of the River (1952) - 7 PM
“Two men with questionable pasts, Glyn McLyntock and his friend Cole, lead a wagon-train load of homesteaders from Missouri to the Oregon territory…”
FRIDAY: MUSEUM OF THE MOVING IMAGE
Chisolm ‘72: Unbought & Unbossed (2004) - 5:15 PM
“In 1968, Shirley Chisholm becomes the first black woman elected to Congress. In 1972, she becomes the first black woman to run for president. Shunned by the political establishment, she’s supported by a motley crew of blacks, feminists, and young voters. Their campaign-trail adventures are frenzied, fierce and fundamentally right on!” - Letterboxd
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) - 7 PM
“James Bond tracks his archnemesis, Ernst Blofeld, to a mountaintop retreat in the Swiss alps where he is training an army of beautiful, lethal women. Along the way, Bond falls for Italian contessa Tracy Draco, and marries her in order to get closer to Blofeld.” - Letterboxd
A Different Man (2024) - 7 PM
“Aspiring actor Edward undergoes a radical medical procedure to drastically transform his appearance. But his new dream face quickly turns into a nightmare, as he loses out on the role he was born to play and becomes obsessed with reclaiming what was lost.” - Letterboxd
With director Aaron Schimberg in person.
FRIDAY: ROXY CINEMA NEW YORK
Maria (2024) - 5 PM
“Maria Callas, the world’s greatest opera singer, lives the last days of her life in 1970s Paris, as she confronts her identity and life.” - Letterboxd
Queer (2024) - 7:15 PM
“In 1950s Mexico City, William Lee, an American expat in his late forties, leads a solitary life amidst a small American community. However, the arrival in town of Eugene Allerton, a young student, stirs William into finally establishing a meaningful connection with someone.”
Santa Sangre (1989) - 9:45 PM
“A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his mother – the leader of a strange religious cult – and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name.” - Letterboxd
Presented by El Cine.
SATURDAY: ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES
EC: Georges Méliès Program 2 - 5:15 PM
A Diabolical Tenant, The Cascade of Fire, Voyage Across the Impossible, The Hunchback Fairy
Part of Essential Cinema.
SATURDAY: FILM FORUM
Robocop (1987) - 7:30 PM
“In a violent, near-apocalyptic Detroit, evil corporation Omni Consumer Products wins a contract from the city government to privatize the police force. To test their crime-eradicating cyborgs, the company leads street cop Alex Murphy into an armed confrontation with crime lord Boddicker so they can use his body to support their untested RoboCop prototype. But when RoboCop learns of the company’s nefarious plans, he turns on his masters.” - Letterboxd
SATURDAY: FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Hard Truths (2024) - 12:15 PM, 2:15 PM, 4:15 PM, 6:15 PM, 8:15 PM
“Pansy is a woman tormented by anger and depression, hypersensitive to the slightest possible offence and ever ready to fly off the handle. She criticises her husband and their adult son so relentlessly that neither bothers to argue with her. She picks fights with strangers and sales clerks and enumerates the world’s countless flaws to anyone who will listen, especially her cheerful sister Chantelle, who, despite their clashing temperaments, might be the only person still capable of sympathising with her.” - Letterboxd
Hester Street (1974) - 7 PM
Part of the New York Jewish Film Festival 2025
SATURDAY: IFC CENTER
Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1992) - 12:10 AM
Grant Theft Hamlet (2025) - 1 PM, 5:15 PM, 7:25 PM, 9:40 PM
Q&A with directors Penny Grylls and Sam Crane to follow the 7:25 PM showing.
Girls Town (1996) - 2:10 PM, 4:25 PM, 6:40 PM
Q&A with directors Jim McKay and star Anna Grace.
SATURDAY: MAYSLES CINEMA
Teach-in, Film Screening, Mutual Aid Event + Haiti (Quebec) (1985) - 2 PM
The event is free and open to the public and is hosted under Caribbean Archive and Rasanbleman Pou Ayiti in collaboration with the Maysles Documentary Center.
SATURDAY: METROGRAPH
WR: Mysteries of the Organism (1971) 35 MM - 1:30 PM
“What does the energy harnessed through orgasm have to do with the state of communist Yugoslavia circa 1971? Only counterculture filmmaker extraordinaire Dušan Makavejev has the answers (or the questions). His surreal documentary-fiction collision begins as an investigation into the life and work of controversial psychologist and philosopher Wilhelm Reich and then explodes into a free-form narrative of a beautiful young Slavic girl’s sexual liberation.” - Letterboxd
Post-screening conversation with writer Jonathan Rosenbaum and filmmaker Michael Almereyda.
Giants and Toys (1958) - 4 PM
Post-screening conversation with writer Jonathan Rosenbaum and filmmaker Michael Almereyda.
SATURDAY: MoMA
My Son (1928) - 2 PM
Introduced by Peter Bagrov; Piano accompaniment by Maria Matsumura.
Adventures of Casanova (1948) - 4 PM
“Casanova, a young patriot in 18th-century Sicily, upon learning that his father and sister have been murdered, returns to Palermo and engages in guerilla tactics against the forces of the Governor. Lady Bianca, the Governor’s daughter, is in love with one of the patriots, Lorenzo, and desires to escape from the palace.” - Letterboxd
Gunman’s Walk (1958) - 6:30 PM
“A powerful rancher always protects his wild adult son by paying for damages and bribing witnesses, until his crimes become too serious to rectify.” - Letterboxd
SATURDAY: NITEHAWK CINEMA PROSPECT PARK
Clue (1985) - 11 AM
“Clue finds six colorful dinner guests gathered at the mansion of their host, Mr. Boddy – who turns up dead after his secret is exposed: He was blackmailing all of them. With the killer among them, the guests and Boddy’s chatty butler must suss out the culprit before the body count rises.” - Letterboxd
SATURDAY: ROXY CINEMA NEW YORK
Amadeus (1984) - 2 PM
“Disciplined Italian composer Antonio Salieri becomes consumed by jealousy and resentment towards the hedonistic and remarkably talented young Viennese composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.” - Letterboxd
4K Restoration
Queer (2024) - 5 PM
Heretic (2024) - 7:45 PM
“Two young missionaries are forced to prove their faith when they knock on the wrong door and are greeted by a diabolical Mr. Reed, becoming ensnared in his deadly game of cat-and-mouse.” - Letterboxd
SUNDAY: FILM FORUM
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) - 1 PM
“An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.” - Letterboxd
Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977) - 3 PM
Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) - 5:30 PM
SUNDAY: FILM AT LINCOLN CENTER
Breaking Home Ties (1922) - 12 PM
Post-screening discussion with Lisa Rivo and Sharon Rivo, co-directors of the National Center for Jewish Film
Elie Wiesel: Soul on Fire (2024) - 2:30 PM
Post-screening discussion with director Oren Rudavsky and co-producer Annette Isdorf
Lost City (2024) - 5:30 PM
Post-screening discussion with director Willy Lindsey and producer Emjay Reichsteiner
SUNDAY: METROGRAPH
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) - 11 AM
“In Luis Buñuel’s deliciously satiric masterpiece, an upper-class sextet sits down to dinner but never eats, their attempts continually thwarted by a vaudevillian mixture of events both actual and imagined.” - Letterboxd
The Face of Another (1966) 35 MM - 3:20 PM
“A businessman with a disfigured face obtains a lifelike mask from his doctor, but the mask starts altering his personality.” - Letterboxd
India Song (1975) - 7:40 PM
“Anne-Marie Stretter, the wife of a French diplomat in 1930s India, takes many lovers to relieve the boredom in her life.” - Letterboxd
SUNDAY: MoMA
Broadway (1929) - 1:30 PM
“A naive young dancer in a Broadway show innocently gets involved in backstage bootlegging and murder.” - Letterboxd
Pink Narcissus (1971) - 4 PM
“An outrageous erotic poem focusing on the daydreams of a beautiful boy prostitute who, from the seclusion of his ultra-kitsch apartment, conceives a series of interlinked narcissistic fantasies populated by matadors, dancing boys, slaves, and leather-clad bikers.” - Letterboxd
SUNDAY: NITEHAWK CINEMA WILLIAMSBURG
The Player (1992) - 11 AM
“A Hollywood studio executive is being sent death threats by a writer whose script he rejected - but which one?” - Letterboxd
Toy Story (1995) - 11:15 AM
“Led by Woody, Andy’s toys live happily in his room until Andy’s birthday brings Buzz Lightyear onto the scene. Afraid of losing his place in Andy’s heart, Woody plots against Buzz. But when circumstances separate Buzz and Woody from their owner, the duo eventually learns to put aside their differences.” - Letterboxd
Thieves Like Us (1974) - 12:15 PM
“Three criminals escape from prison and embark on a robbery spree across USA. Along the way, one of them falls in love while they plan a final heist before going their separate ways.” - Letterboxd
SUNDAY: ROXY CINEMA NEW YORK
Peculiar Puppets (in Glorious 16 MM) - 3 PM
“This 90-minute film program features a wide sampling of both charming and bizarre puppet films from the 1920s, through the 1950s on 16mm from the collection of Tommy J. Stathes.” - Screen Slate
Queer (2024) 35 MM - 5:15 PM
Fat City (1972) 35 MM - 8 PM
“Two men, working as professional boxers, come to blows when their careers each begin to take different directions.” - Roxy Cinema
and finally…
This review aligns with my conclusions about the film with near tear precision. To those saying we who are concerned/bewildered by the portrayal of the characters’ off-screen decision to participate in ethnic cleansing “didn't understand the subtext” — did we watch the same film? The film I watched had very little interest in subtext. The film I watched featured a literal rapacious capitalist (who was named Harrison Van Buren, btw. Again, subtly is not a particular concern of Corbet’s). If this film wanted me to know how it felt about Zionism and its failings, it would have done more than have slightly sinister music playing under the “creation of Israel” propaganda video.
Ultimately, however, I don’t really think “Zionism” constitutes a “theme” in The Brutalist. I think it’s more of a plot device to demonstrate the intergenerational impacts of displacement and xenophobia. That seems to be literally all that interests Corbet about the Zionist settler project.
I just don’t think you can blame viewers for finding that unsatisfying or distasteful after giving you 4 hours of their time.
There’s a lot to love in this piece, but I especially appreciate the way Cruz explores Ani/Anora’s use of her “real” name as a performer.