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 at the official site links.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Raw (2016): After a hazing prank, a vegetarian at veterinary school develops a taste for meat. It sounds more transgressive/disturbing than weird, but the red-blooded segment of our readership will crave a taste of this. Raw official site.
SCREENINGS – (New York City, Film Society of Lincoln Center, Mar. 10-16):
Who’s Crazy? (1966): Insane asylum inmates escape and set up camp at an abandoned farmhouse. This nearly-lost avant-garde Belgian feature film sounds a bit like Even Dwarfs Started Small without the little-people gimmick, but with a dissonant free-jazz score by Ornette Coleman. Sponsored by Kino-Lorber, so a home video release seems likely. Who’s Crazy? at Lincoln Center.
FILM FESTIVALS – South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) (Austin, TX, Mar. 10-19):
If you can’t get your indie film into Sundance, the massive SXSW festival in Austin, Texas is your next best bet. With the continued mainstreaming of Sundance, and the increasingly homogenized “indie” product spotlighted there, if your movie’s a bit on the weirder side, SWSX may even be a better fit. There are a few repeats from other festivals, like the documentary David Lynch: The Art Life.There are also a ton of Virtual Reality installations, which are becoming more and more of a “thing” at film festivals, but… no matter how strange or psychedelic they promise to be, we’re not covering them… we already have enough on our plates right now. Here are some of this year’s weirder movie offerings:
- “American Gods” – Sneak-peek of the premiere episode of a TV series about an ex-con who gets caught up in the struggle between the Old and New Gods. This adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novel screens Mar. 11.
- The Disaster Artist – a fictional account of the making of the notorious disaster The Room, starring James Franco as Tommy Wiseau. “In-progress” screening Mar. 12. To refresh your memory, the original Room screens Mar. 10.
- Meatball Machine Kodoku – Looks like a straightforward remake of 2005’s Meatball Machine, directed by Yoshihiro Nishimura. Mar. 11, 12 & 16.
- The Relationtrip – Comedy about two young people who refuse to commit to adult relationships but go on a trip together that turns “really, really weird.” Screen Mar. 11, 13 & 15.
- Sylvio – The story of a small-town gorilla stuck in a debt collection job, who dreams of starting a puppet show. Mar 11, 13, & 15.
NEW ON DVD:
The Brand New Testament (2015): Read our review. God is a jerk, Catherine Deneuve is in love with a gorilla, and all is weird in the world. Buy The Brand New Testament
Notfilm (2015): A documentary about the making of Film (see description in Blu-ray below) which, at 130 minutes, is almost six times the length of its subject. Includes outtakes from Film and lots of archival extras that didn’t make it into the documentary proper. Buy Notfilm
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Aria (1987): Read Alfred Eaker’s review. Ten directors—including Certified Weird laureates Jean-Luc Godard, Robert Altman, Nicolas Roeg and Ken Russell—direct a favorite opera aria, music-video style, now upgraded to Blu-ray. Buy Aria [Blu-ray].
The Brand New Testament (2015): See description in DVD above. Buy The Brand New Testament [Blu-ray]
Film (1965): Read Alfred Eaker’s review. Absurdist playwright Samuel Beckett‘s only experiment in film, made with, of all people, silent clown Buster Keaton. Buy Film [Blu-ray]
Notfilm (2015): See description in DVD above. Buy Notfilm [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.
Raw looks enormously promising to me. Plus, while it’s probably a coincidence, its appearance alongside Carnage might mean there’s a slight trend of vegetarian-themed films starting up. That might be interesting.