Our weekly look at what’s weird in theaters, on hot-off-the-presses DVDs, and on more distant horizons…
Trailers of new release movies are generally available on the official site links.
SCREENINGS – (Cinefamily, Los Angeles, CA., Feb. 5):
“Sid Laverents, Amateur Auteur”: Screening of the short (and long) films of Sid Laverents, a retired vaudevillian who made a suite of elaborate, low-tech experimental home movies starting in the 1960s. In the YouTube age Sid would have been a star; his movies are important enough to have been saved by the UCLA Film & Television Archives and the National Film Preservation Foundation (his “Multiple SIDosis” is in the National Film Registry). This late-night screening sponsored by the Lost & Found Film Club includes four short films and Laverent’s feature length opus, The Sid Saga. “Sid Laverents, Amateur Auteur” at Cinefamily.
IN DEVELOPMENT:
The Man Who Killed Don Quixote (est. 2014-2015): Terry Gilliam may not have found a distributor for his latest film, The Zero Theorem, yet, but the 74-year old director is pushing ahead with his long planned Quixote movie. He told an Italian newspaper that he already has a location—the Canary Islands—and a date to start shooting (October 3). Gilliam’s Quioxte includes a time-traveling advertising executive subbing for sidekick Sancho Panza. Gilliam began the project in 1998 and shot footage in 2000 with Johnny Depp as the fake Sancho. Funding fell through and the project was canceled. He tried to shoot it again in 2008 with Robert Duvall as Quixote (and Depp returning), and again the money ran out. A 2002 documentary, Lost in La Mancha, documents the first film’s failure. Orson Welles also tried, and also failed, to make a feature film adaptation of Don Quixote. Merriam-Webster defines the word “quixotic” as “foolishly impractical especially in the pursuit of ideals; especially : marked by rash lofty romantic ideas…” The irony is lost on no one. IndieWire has the story, and links to the original Italian article and a Gilliam interview.
Words with Gods (releases 2014): An omnibus movie of films about individuals relationship (or lack of same) to God. Although there’s no telling how strange this might be, the lineup of directors is promising enough to mention: Alex de la Iglesia, Amos Gitai, Emir Kusturica, and Hideo (Ringu) Nakata are the bigger, weirder names. This is the first in a planned anthology of anthologies called “the Heartbeat of the World”; future installments will be themed around sex, politics and drugs. No official site or trailer yet but Film Affinity has some basic info.
NEW ON DVD:
Metallica: Through the Never (2013): A 3-D mix of a Metallica concert film with some sort of post-apocalyptic roadie road trip. Fans will eat up the headbanging stuff, but the narrative part looks pretty headscratching; Kontrol’s Nimród Antal directs. Buy Metallica: Through the Never.
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Metallica: Through the Never (2013): See description in DVD above. Buy Metallica: Through the Never [Blu-ray].
What are you looking forward to? If you have any weird movie leads that I have overlooked, feel free to leave them in the COMMENTS section.