A 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.
IN THEATERS (LIMITED RELEASE):
Dogtooth [Kynodontas] (2009): A pair of children are sequestered away from the world in a mansion and taught bizarre life lessons by their dictatorial parents in this Greek film that won the “Un Certain Regarde” competition at Cannes last year. It appears to be only screening in New York City this week; future play dates are uncertain. We have been waiting for what seems like forever for this one to show up on these shores; hopefully a DVD will be available soon. Dogtooth official site.
Wild Grass [Les herbes folles] (2009): The latest from now 88-year old Alain (Last Year in Marienbad) Resnais is about a possible romance between a man who finds a red wallet and it’s female owner. Critics have described it as “fiercely odd” and “wonderfully eccentric,” which sounds just short of weird to us. In New York this week, Los Angeles starting July 2, and hopefully more cities thereafter. Wild Grass official site.
NEW ON DVD:
Red Desert [Il deserto rosso] (1964): Michelangelo (Blow Up) Antonini’s first color film is another alienation epic, apparently more concerned with painting a portrait of modern industrial society as hell on earth than with telling a story. From the Criterion Collection, of course. Buy Red Desert (Criterion Collection)
NEW ON BLU-RAY:
Death Race 2000 (1975): Those who only know of the mediocre, generic 2008 remake may be surprised to find out that the original Death Race 2000 was an ahead-of-its-time black comedy about a future in which cartoonish gladiatorial drivers mow down pedestrians to entertain the masses. It’s also in our reader-suggested review queue. With David Carradine, Sylvester Stallone and Mary Woronov. Part of the “Roger Corman’s Cult Classics” series. Buy Death Race 2000 [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.