This week on The Movie Gourmet – two of my favorite film festivals are opening today:
- Slamdance: You read that name correctly -vit’s an alternative to Sundance. Whenever I cover a film festival, I’m on the lookout for first films and world premieres – and here’s a festival essentially entirely made up of first films and world premieres. Alumni incude Christopher Nolan (Oppenheimer) and many other bigtime filmmakers. It’s in Utah AND online. Here’s my Slamdance preview with recommended movies.
- Noir City: Noir City is the annual festival of the Film Noir Foundation, spearheaded by its founder and president Eddie Muller. This year’s program for each night (or matinee) will present a double bill – one classic film noir from the US or UK, matched with one from Argentina, Mexico, France, Italy, Egypt, Japan or South Korea. It’s in Oakland’s Grand Lake Theater, and I’ll be attending two of the days. Here’s my Noir City preview with recommended movies.
And, coming up on TV, besides Babette’s Feast (described below in today’s post), I’m highlighting Jane Fonda’s first Oscar-winning performance in the now 53-year-old thriller Klute.
One of the year’s best films, Killers of the Flower Moon, is now available for free with an AppleTV subscription (or for $19.99 everywhere else).
CURRENT MOVIES
- Anatomy of a Fall: family history, with life or death stakes. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Killers of the Flower Moon: an epic tale of epic betrayal. AppleTV (subscription), Amazon.
- The Holdovers: three souls must evolve beyond their losses. In theaters, Amazon.
- Poor Things: brazen, dazzling, feminist and very funny. In theaters.
- Dream Scenario: but it can’t be my fault, can it? In theaters.
- Ferrari: his racecars are easy, his women are not. In theaters.
- The Boys in the Boat: underdogs soar. In theaters.
- Driving Madeleine: still spirited at 92. In arthouse theaters.
- Rustin: greatness, overlooked. Netflix.
- Fallen Leaves: two lonely people amid the driest of humor. In arthouse theaters.
- Maestro: not what she bargained for. Netflix.
- The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial: just what, not who, is on trial here? Showtime/Paramount+.
- The Crime Is Mine: better after Huppert shows up. In arthouse theaters.
- Cypher: the year’s most original movie? Hulu.
- Desperate Souls, Dark City and the Legend of Midnight Cowboy: a movie and its time. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Killer: interior monologue. Netflix.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- The Gift: three people revealed. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- Inez & Doug & Kira: the tangle of love, friendship and bipolar disorder. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- The Handmaiden: gorgeous, erotic and a helluva plot. Amazon, Vudu.
- Run & Jump: a romance, a family drama and a promising first feature. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Victoria: a thrill ride filmed in one shot. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, KinoNow.
- Youth: a glorious cinematic meditation on life. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Me and Earl and the Dying Girl: a Must See, perched on the knife edge between comedy and tragedy. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
ON TV
On January 21, Turner Classic Movies will present Babette’s Feast (1987), one of my Best Foodie Movies. Two aged 19th century Danish spinster sisters have taken in a French refugee as their housekeeper. The sisters carry on their father’s severe religious sect, which rejects earthly pleasures. After fourteen years, the housekeeper wins the lottery and, in gratitude, spends all her winnings on the ingredients for a banquet that she prepares for the sisters and their friends. As the dinner builds, the colors of the film become warmer and brighter, reflecting the sheer carnality of the repast. The smugly ascetic and humorless guests become less and less able to resist pleasure of the epicurean delights. The feast’s visual highlights are Caille en Sarcophage avec Sauce Perigourdine (quail in puff pastry shell with foie gras and truffle sauce) and Savarin au Rhum avec des Figues et Fruit Glacée (rum sponge cake with figs and glacéed fruits). This was the first Danish film to win Best Foreign Language Oscar.