ONGOING: Having a European Union film festival isn't exactly progressive. You're not showcasing oppressed populations or views that rarely get heard in the Western world. But here's the secret: as long as the films are excellent, nothing else matters.
And the films will be excellent. We're excited for the adaptation of the novel "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," a Swedish import. You'll probably be most interested in "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," otheriwse known as Heath Ledger's last, unfinished film — which also stars Johnny Depp and Jude Law.
» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through Nov. 24; 301-495-6700. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy AFI Silver Theatre
THE EUROPEANS are invading, but don't worry -- they're here only to entertain us.
This year's European Union Film Showcase comes to AFI Silver for almost three weeks of comedies, dramas, documentaries, classics and fresh work from some of the greatest established and upcoming directors in the EU.
Thursday night's kick-off film is Swedish writer-director Lukas Moodysson's English-language "Mammoth," starring Gael Garcia Bernal and Michelle Williams.
Continue Reading "The Euro Increases in Value: EU Film Showcase" »
THIS WEEK: Halloween is over, but nobody told the AFI. If you're already missing the horror movie atmosphere that gripped the world these last two weeks of October, extend it with AFI's Halloween On Screen Festival, which doesn't end until Wednesday. Monday night, you can see a documentary about horror TV host Count Gore de Vol, "Every Other Day Is Halloween." Yeah, every day except November 2, guys.
» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; Mon., Nov. 2, 7 p.m., $6-$10; 301-495-6700. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy Spooky Movie Festival
FRIDAY: Special effects are overrated. Some of the coolest horror movies are the old classics, like "Nosferatu," which showed vampires for what they really are — horrifying, ugly villains — long before Bella met Edward.
The AFI Silver Theatre is showing "Nosferatu" for one night only on Friday, just in time for Halloween. The Silent Orchestra — oh, right, the movie is silent — will be playing along with the "Dracula" adaptation.
It's the perfect way to get yourself in the mood for Halloween weekend.
» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; Fri., Oct. 30, $6-$10; 301-495-6700. (Silver Spring)
Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
Photo courtesy Kino International
LEARNING THE HARD WAY
Lauded at film festivals and finally opening in D.C., "An Education" is a sneakily smart coming-of-age story. Girl on the brink Jenny (Carey Mulligan) perhaps wittingly invites chaos and dark maturity into her life in the form of David (Peter Sarsgaard) in early-'60s London. Written by Nick Hornby, director Lone Scherfig's film explores themes of forking paths, class distinctions and individuation, and Mulligan's performance has already made her an actress to watch.
» Landmark Bethesda Row Cinema, 7235 Woodmont Ave., Bethesda; opens Fri., Oct. 30; 301-652-7273, Landmarktheatres.com. (Bethesda)
» E Street Cinema, 555 11th St. NW; opens Fri., Oct. 30, 202-452-7672, Landmarktheatres.com. (Metro Center)
Continue Reading "Indies & Arties: Coming of Age and Death" »
ONGOING: "Angels in America," Tony Kushner's saga of gay life in the 1980s, is so long that it has to be presented in two parts.
Forum Theater opened part one ("Millennium Approaches") a few weeks ago, and part two ("Perestroika") opens tonight. We recommend seeing both: The play is long, complex and demanding, but it's also profound and well worth the time it takes to figure out.
» Round House Silver Spring, 8641 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through Nov. 22, $25; 240-644-1100. (Silver Spring)
Photo by Melissa Blackall
THIS ONGOING: It was a dark and stormy night, or at least it will be for the rest of the month with Noir City D.C. at the AFI Silver Theater.
The film festival that began in San Francisco and L.A. came to D.C. last year and is back with some newly-discovered classics of the noir genre. Check out films like "Alias Nick Beal" and "Gun Crazy," which is essentially an early "Bonnie and Clyde."
If you're strapped for cash, there's a double feature on November 2 where the AFI will be playing two movies — "Shakedown" and "Night Editor" — for the price of one.
» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through Nov. 4; 301-495-6700. (Silver Spring)
Written by Express' Sarah Mimms
"ANGELS IN AMERICA" is one of the few plays of the last 20 years that is already acknowledged as a classic. It is sprawling and difficult, potentially revelatory, massively ambitious.
When one, albeit two-part, play attempts to cover what it means to be gay in America, to be Jewish in America, the terror of the onset of AIDS and the meaning of love, that's ambition, and that ambition, that bravery, is what allows this truthful yet fanciful play to be truly great.
Forum Theatre's production of "Angels in America" is missing several key elements — many key performances just don't land, and the play seems to be just keeping its head above water with the difficult material rather than making it sparkle as it should. But it has heart — and it has Karl Miller, whose performance as Prior Walter, a young man dying of AIDS, is the highlight of the evening. It will probably be the highlight of your week.
"HALLOWEEN ON SCREEN" slithers into AFI Silver once again for a festival of blood-curdling cinema and freaktastic film. This weekend kicks off in style with two horror-comedy cult classics: John Landis' 1981 "American Werewolf in London" (Fri. Oct. 23, 7 p.m.; Sat. Oct. 24, midnight; Tues. Oct. 27, and Thurs. Oct. 29, 9:30 p.m.) and Edgar Wright's 2004 zombie satire "Shaun of the Dead" (Sun. Oct. 25, 8 p.m.; Mon. Oct. 26, 8:45 p.m.). The festival is a little werewolf-centric this year, so fans of the hairy monsters will particularly enjoy the lineup.
» AFI Silver, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; through Nov. 4; 301-495-6700, afi.com/silver. (Silver Spring)
Photo courtesy Rogue Pictures
TUESDAY: The Internet has provided us with a whole new universe, in which we can be whatever we want to be. You can learn all about it in "Second Skin," a documentary about the online worlds we create and inhabit, and all the wacky antics regular people get up to when playing World of Warcraft or Second Life — they fall in love! They stop caring about anything outside the game! They are killed by mysterious Internet ghosts!
OK, not the last one.
» AFI Silver Theatre, 8633 Colesville Road, Silver Spring; 7 p.m., $6-$10; 301-495-6700, Afi.com. (Silver Spring)
Photo by Pepper Laxness/Linden Research Inc.
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