Harvard Square is filled with cultural institutions, from Club Passim and Grolier Poetry Book Shop to (of course) our beloved Brattle Theatre. But one of the square’s unsung crown jewels lies in its very heart, its windows at ankle level: The Million Year Picnic, one of the oldest comic book shops in the country. To celebrate the Picnic’s 50th anniversary, The Brattle has programmed a slate of some of the finest comic book films ever made. The series kicks off Friday with a double feature of very different works by comic-publisher-turned-director Terry Zwigoff – the award-winning documentary “Crumb” (1994), about the controversial king of underground comix, and “Ghost World” (2000), Zwigoff’s adaptation of Daniel Clowes’ beloved coming-of-age graphic novel.
The centerpiece of the program, appropriately enough, will be Saturday’s Boston premiere of animator Vincent-louis Apruzzese’s brand-new documentary “The Picnic,” detailing the full story of the shop’s storied existence. Following that, cartoonist Sara Vachon will be on hand to introduce a screening of last year’s Oscar-nominated “Robot Dreams” (2023), director Pablo Berger’s adaptation of her own graphic novel. Other highlights include Edgar Wright’s hyperkinetic cult classic “Scott Pilgrim vs. the World” (2010, based on the series by Bryan Lee O’Malley) on Saturday; “Persepolis” (2007), Marjane Satrapi’s animated adaptation of her own autobiographical graphic novel about growing up in Iran, screening Sunday; and even “Black Panther” (2017), easily the best and most enduring entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, also on Sunday. The best part? Million Year Picnic is only a block from The Brattle, so you can walk straight from the movies and dive into the original source material.
Those looking for a different definition of “comic action” can head to the Somerville Theatre on Saturday and Sunday for a brand-new 4K restoration of the British comedy classic “The Lavender Hill Mob” (1951). Produced by the legendary Ealing Studios and directed by Charles Crichton (who would go on to an Oscar nomination for “A Fish Called Wanda” in 1989), “Lavender Hill” stars the great Sir Alec Guinness as Henry “Dutch” Holland, the straight-laced watchman for a gold bullion refinery. Dutch breaks bad when he meets tchotchke maven Alfred Pendlebury (Stanley Holloway) and the pair hatch a scheme to pilfer a truckload of gold bars and reconstitute them as innocent Eiffel Tower souvenirs. It is, of course, always a treat to watch Guinness flex his considerable comedy chops, particularly for those familiar only with his work with George Lucas or David Lean. But “Lavender Hill” is a comedic gem in its own right, with a wild climactic car chase to rival “The Blues Brothers.” If all that’s not enough, watch for a cameo from a pre-stardom Audrey Hepburn!
The Brattle’s celebration of the musicals of Columbia Pictures enters the rock ’n’ roll ’50s on Monday. “Rock Around the Clock” (1956) is a perfect snapshot of rock at its infancy: It’s a vehicle for Bill Haley and the Comets (whose rendition of the title song has a reasonable claim at being the first rock ’n’ roll single) and features a significant supporting role by pioneering DJ Alan Freed (who played a major role in popularizing both the genre and the term itself). The plot is incidental, of course, but who cares when you’ve got prime performance footage of the Comets, the Platters and Freddie Bell and his Bellboys?
On Tuesday, you can jump to rock’s (arguable) demise by heading to the Landmark Kendall Square Cinema for the notorious musical boondoggle “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1978). Contrary to its title, this “Sgt. Pepper” is not a vehicle for the Beatles; rather, it stars the Bee Gees (as the title band) and Peter Frampton (as Billy Shears) performing the songs of the Fab Four, along with such oh-so-’70s mainstays as Alice Cooper (crooning “Because”), Steve Martin (hamming his way through “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”), and Aerosmith (whose cover of “Come Together” remains the film’s most lasting legacy). The “Sgt. Pepper” movie isn’t “good” in any conventional sense (and certainly should not be mentioned in the same sentence as the eponymous album), but it’s an irresistible guilty pleasure for connoisseurs of ’70s cheese.
The Somerville Theatre and Independent Film Festival Boston continue their “Hot Summer Nights” series with more of the steamiest classics the 1980s had to offer. Monday sees the immortal “Risky Business” (1986), the film that made America fall in love with Tom Cruise, Bob Seger, and socks. Tuesday brings “Body Double” (1984), arguably the apotheosis of director Brian De Palma’s case of Hitchcockmania, paired with the Jeff Bridges-Glenn Close legal thriller “Jagged Edge” (1985). Close returns Thursday for one of the most famous (or perhaps infamous) erotic thrillers of all time: Adrian Lyne’s “Fatal Attraction” (1987). Bring a date – just be sure to lock up your rabbit first.
On Wednesday, The Brattle kicks off its “Summer of Sofia” series, a complete retrospective of the films of Sofia Coppola. Long the subject of “nepo-baby” accusations (as well as a good deal of frankly misogynistic backlash), Coppola is finally being appreciated as a master in her own right; her films represent a uniquely wistful viewpoint, deeply melancholic but never without style or humor. The weekly series will run in reverse chronological order, beginning with a double feature of her two most recent films. Last year’s “Priscilla” (2023) is the latest of Coppola’s examinations of the aching frustrations of privileged female youth, with Cailee Spaeny’s Priscilla Presley confined by her rock-god husband like a bouffanted canary in a lavish, neon-pink cage.
“Priscilla” is paired with the underrated (or at least underseen) screwball comedy “On the Rocks” (2020), about the fraught relationship between a career woman (Rashida Jones) and her eccentric, larger-than-life father (Bill Murray). “On the Rocks” is fizzier than most of Coppola’s movies, but its freewheeling plot is as effervescent and delightful as the chemistry between its leads. It’s probably not a stretch to imagine that it’s at least in part about Coppola’s own extravagant dad (to say nothing of Jones, the daughter of pop mega-producer Quincy). It’s a hangout movie with more going on under the hood than the typical comedy, and feels more than a little like spending a giddy night on the town with Murray himself.
Oscar Goff is a writer and film critic based in Somerville. He is film editor and senior critic for the Boston Hassle and his work has appeared in the monthly Boston Compass newspaper and publications such as WBUR’s The ARTery and iHeartNoise. He is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Boston Online Film Critics Association, and the Online Film Critics Society.
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