Anyone with more than a passing interest in film knows the uncomfortable twinge when a classic has aged poorly; plenty of cinematic landmarks, undeniably great though they may be, contain attitudes regarding race, sex or other social issues that cause bristles when viewed through the lens of 2024. Perhaps rarer, though no less fascinating, are those films that now play better than when they were released. Such is the case of Sidney Lumet’s 1975 masterpiece “Dog Day Afternoon,” which screens at The Brattle Theatre on Thursday as part of its continuing “Cruel Summer” series. “Dog Day” is a charter member of the 1970s’ “New Hollywood” pantheon, its protagonist – Al Pacino’s loudmouthed bank robber Sonny Wortzik – among the most iconic antiheroes in movie history. Indeed, the film has become so ubiquitous in pop culture that contemporary viewers might be startled to learn the motivation for Sonny’s robbery: He wants to pay for gender-affirming surgery for his trans wife (played by a very young Chris Sarandon). The representation in “Dog Day” is, while not perfect, remarkably progressive for a nearly 50-year-old film, and a vivid reminder of the ways in which the art of the past is in constant communication with the issues of the present.
Tuesday marks the 125th anniversary of the birth of one of the undisputed titans of cinema: master of suspense Sir Alfred Hitchcock. To celebrate, The Brattle is running a weekendlong celebration titled “Hitchcock in 4K,” presenting new restorations of some of the master’s best-loved works. The series kicks off on Friday with two of Hitch’s lesser-screened films: 1940’s gothic masterpiece “Rebecca” (the only Hitchcock film to win the Oscar for Best Picture) and the 1942 espionage classic “Saboteur.” Saturday brings the psychosexual masterpiece “Vertigo” (1958) alongside the massively entertaining wrong-man thriller “North by Northwest” (1959), which also screens Sunday. The series rounds out Sunday with “To Catch a Thief” (1955), which brings together Cary Grant from “North” and Grace Kelly from “Vertigo.” Any one of these screenings promises to be a … good evening.
IFFBoston’s “Hot Summer Nights” series returns to the Somerville Theatre for the conclusion of the “Erotic ’80s” portion of the program. On Monday, you can learn the forbidden dance with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey in “Dirty Dancing” (1987), with a live introduction from filmmaker Amy Geller (“The Rabbi Goes West”). Tuesday brings “No Way Out” (1987), the hit political potboiler starring Kevin Costner, Gene Hackman and perennial ’80s femme fatale Sean Young. The Erotic ’80s end, appropriately enough, with Steven Soderbergh’s “sex, lies, and videotape” (1989), the film that set the stage for the indie film boom of the 1990s; it screens Wednesday with an intro by film critic Andrew Crump. And if you’re sad to see this series end, fret not, next week sees the beginning of the “Erotic ’90s” series, which we will cover in next week’s column.
The Landmark Kendall Square Cinema continues its tribute to the films of 1999 on Tuesday with Guy Ritchie’s feature debut “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels” (which was technically released in the U.K. in 1998, but didn’t hit American shores until ’99). Ritchie has, of course, since become known for such slick studio entertainment as the Robert Downey Jr. “Sherlock Holmes” pictures and this year’s “The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” At the outset of his career, however, Ritchie was a sort of an Anglophile answer to Quentin Tarantino, turning out smart, scrappy independent crime comedies with a decidedly cockney bent. “Lock, Stock” tells a shaggy dog story about assorted cons and double crosses among an underworld of small-time thugs, but the real pleasure is in watching its irresistible cast (including former footballer Vinnie Jones and future action hero Jason Statham, both making screen debuts of their own) hurling profane, occasionally unintelligible banter at each other. Ritchie may have gone on to bigger things, but it’s arguable he’s never been better than he was at the start.
Of all the films directed thus far by the great Sofia Coppola, few have seen such a dramatic reappraisal as “Marie Antoinette” (2006), which screens on 35 mm Wednesday as part of The Brattle Theatre’s continuing “Summer of Sofia.” Flush with the success of 2003’s “Lost in Translation” (which screens next week in the reverse-chronological retrospective), “Marie Antoinette” is the director’s most ambitious film by a wide margin, a sprawling, lightly revisionist biography of the French queen shot within the actual walls of the Chateau de Versailles. Audiences at the time of its release were perplexed by the film’s mix of opulence, melancholy and playful anachronisms (the members of Marie Antoinette’s court probably never danced to New Order or Siouxsie and the Banshees, and they certainly never wore Chuck Taylors). But time has been kind to “Marie Antoinette,” which stands as its director’s most visually stunning film and perhaps the clearest articulation of her fascination with feminine ennui in the face of wealth and privilege. Today, “Marie Antoinette” rivals “Translation” in the eyes of critics and fans, and may yet prove itself to be Coppola’s masterpiece. The real Marie Antoinette may never have said “Let them eat cake,” but the cinematic “Marie Antoinette” is an unrivaled confection.
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.
A stronger
Please consider making a financial contribution to maintain, expand and improve Cambridge Day.
We are now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax deductible.
Please consider a recurring contribution.