This week on The Movie Gourmet – a new review of La Chimera and continuing coverage of both the SFFILM and the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, both underway now. Here’s my latest festival coverage:
REMEMBRANCE
Eleanor Coppola was the wife of director Francis Ford Coppola and the mother of director Sophia Coppola. Eleanor Coppola herself directed perhaps the best ever documentary film about the making of a movie, Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.
CURRENT MOVIES
- La Chimera: six genres for the price of one. In arthouse theaters.
- Matter of Mind: My Parkinson’s: real, uplifting, essential. On PBS and the PBS App.
- Monkey Man: a massacre, one bad guy at a time. In theaters.
- The Taste of Things: two passions – culinary and romantic. Amazon, AppleTV.
- Golden Years: when dreams diverge. Amazon, Vudu, YouTube.
WATCH AT HOME
The most eclectic watch-at-home recommendations you’ll find ANYWHERE:
- Locke: a thriller about responsibility. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Ma Belle, My Beauty: a simmering romantic reunion. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube. redbox, KinoNow.
- Summer of Soul (…O When the Revolution Could Not Be televised): concert with context. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Charley Varrick: his wits vs. the mob. Netflix, Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Driveways: authentic, brilliant, heartfelt. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- Lucky: Harry Dean Stanton and the meaning of life Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube, redbox.
- They Shall Not Grow Old: technology transforms film and ressurects a generation. Amazon, AppleTV, Vudu, YouTube.
- He Walked by Night: nerd hunt. Amazon, Vudu.
ON TV
On April 29, Turner Classic Movies presents Peter Weir’s 1982 political thriller The Year of Living Dangerously, starring Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver. In the exotic setting of Sukarno’s Indonesia, this film has gripping intrigue, romance and a neo-noir ending.
The stars were each coming off their first major feature, Weaver’s Eyewitness with William Hurt and Gibson with the original Mad Max. The Year of Living Dangerously made them both solid A-list movie stars. Linda Hunt won an Oscar for her gender- and race-crossing performance as the local fixer.
Weir had made the fine Australian films Picnic at Hanging Rock, The Last Wave and Gallipoli. This major MGM release brought him success in his first Hollywood picture and empowered Weir to follow with Witness, Dead Poets Society, The Truman Show and Master and Commander.
