Five new movies this week, plus a seminal neo-noir on TV.
IN THEATERS
Ma Belle, My Beauty: This simmering romantic drama is a gorgeous, sexy, character-driven film. I screened Ma Belle, My Beauty at the 2021 SFFILM.
Respect: Jennifer Hudson is up to the challenge of portraying Aretha Franklin in this revealing biopic, especially her struggles to wrest command of her own creativity from both well-intentioned and ill-intentioned men. A little too long, but then there’s I Never Loved a Man (Like the Way I Love You), Respect, Think, Natural Woman and Amazing Grace.
The Lost Leonardo: This documentary peels back the onion on an ever surprising tale of discovery, scholarship, fraud, commerce and politics in the refined and pretentious art world. Is a rediscovered Renaissance masterpiece authentic, and does it matter?
Searching for Mr. Rugoff: The story of a now-unknown giant in independent cinema – a guy with the best possible movie taste and the most elevated artistic sensibilities who was personally a barbarian. Will also be streaming from the Roxie.
Also in theaters:
- CODA: a thought-provoking audience-pleaser. Also streaming on AppleTV.
- The Green Knight: more of a test than a quest
- Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain: Bad ass romantic. Best Movies of 2021 – So Far.
- Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised): concert with context. In theaters and streaming on Hulu. Best Movies of 2021 – So Far. Still in theaters, but getting harder to find.
- Annette: opening and closing sparks, but tiresome and creepy in between
- Zola: the road trip is not what it seems, (and neither is this movie). Still in theaters, but getting harder to find.
ON VIDEO
Curiosa: This French romantic drama is set in the Belle Epoque, when the Eiffel Tower was new and sexual liberation was burgeoning among literati. It would be more erotic if we cared about the characters. Laemmle.
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Riders of Justice: Thriller, comedy and much, much more. It’s the year’s best movie so far. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu and YouTube. #1 on my Best Movies of 2021 – So Far
- Dirt Music: a gorgeous bodice-ripper with a WTF ending. Amazon, AppleTV, YouTube.
- No Sudden Move: Steven Soderbergh’s neo-noir thriller has even more double-crosses than movie stars – and it has plenty of movie stars. HBO Max.
- Neutral Ground: the supremacist legacy of old statues. PBS.
- Mama Weed: it’s always fun when Huppert gets outrageous. Laemmle.
- Summertime: no longer invisible and unheard, giving voice through verse. Roxie and Laemmle.
- Truman and Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation: Two gay Southern geniuses, revealing themselves. Roxie and Laemmle.
- The Dry: a mystery as psychological as it is procedural. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On August 28, Turner Classic Movies presents the seminal 1960s neo-noir Point Blank, starring Lee Marvin. Marvin stars as Walker, a heist man who is shot and left for dead by his partner Reese (John Vernon, Animal House’s Dean Wormer), who absconded with Walker’s share of the loot and Walker’s wife. When Walker recovers, he is hellbent on revenge, aided by his sister-in-law Chris (Angie Dickinson).
It turns out that Walker needs to trace the money through a cavalcade of Mr. Bigs (Lloyd Bochner, Keenan Wynn, Carroll O’Connor). There’s a great set piece where Walker invades a highrise penthouse, despite the heavily guarded elevator being the only entrance. It all ends in a thrilling nighttime finale at Fort Point.
Walker is a very uncomplicated character, all he wants is to kill Reese and reclaim his $93,000. Anyone in Walker’s situation would be pissed off, but Lee Marvin plays Walker in a constant state of cold rage. Lee Marvin’s unique charisma animates this relentless killing machine.
Marvin, just coming off The Dirty Dozen and having won an Oscar for Cat Ballou, was at the peak of his stardom. Marvin’s other contribution to the film was handpicking the then unheralded John Boorman to direct; (this was five years before Boorman’s masterpiece Deliverance). Boorman intentionally delivered a morally bleak story in the most deserted of locations: empty parking lots, the Los Angeles River channel. and San Francisco’s two icons of abandonment – Alcatraz and Fort Point.
If you’re wondering why Angie Dickinson was a movie star, Point Blank is for you. Angie was ballsy, sexy and always unashamedly very direct, and she rocked midcentury fashion. (She plays one unforgettable scene in a dress with bold horizontal stripes in the colors of Denny’s restaurants.)
Watch for James B. Sikking as the professional sniper; Sikking became well-known as the supercilious SWAT team commander Lt. Howard Hunter in Hill Street Blues. Future horror icon Sid Haig pops up as the security guard in the penthouse lobby.
