It’s been a cruel summer indeed for Cambridge’s more adventurous cinephiles: The Harvard Film Archive, one of the most unique cinematic institutions in the country, had to close its doors in May to accommodate emergency electrical renovations. Thankfully, the HFA makes a long-awaited return Friday, and it’s coming out swinging. Friday marks the beginning of the Archive’s new “Psychedelic Cinema” repertory series, which offers two solid months of history’s most mind-expanding movies. The series opens, appropriately enough, with two films featuring New Hollywood’s psychedelic poster child, Dennis Hopper: Roger Corman’s lovably goofy “The Trip” (1967), written by a young Jack Nicholson(!!!) and starring Hopper alongside a prefame Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern, and “The Last Movie” (1971), Hopper’s ill-starred directorial follow-up to “Easy Rider.” The series continues Saturday with Monte Hellman’s revisionist western “The Shooting” (1966) and Robert Altman’s great psychodrama “3 Women” (1977), starring Sissy Spacek and the late Shelley Duvall. On Sunday, the HFA’s long-awaited “Melville et cie.” series begins in earnest with Jean-Pierre Melville’s “Le Deuxième Soufflé” (1966) and Robert Bresson’s “A Man Escaped” (1956). On Monday, the HFA presents a unique program titled “Figures of Absence: The Films of Dore O.,” a retrospective of experimental shorts from the groundbreaking German feminist filmmaker, hosted by film historian Masha Matzke. The sheer diversity of these films packed into a four-day period is a perfect illustration of what makes the HFA so wonderful – and how lucky we are to have it in our backyard.
Of course, not all legendary movie houses are built to last; some burn briefly and brightly, yet their memory remain as a secret handshake among those who passed through their seats. From Friday through Monday, The Brattle Theatre (an institution in its own right, to be sure) hosts the local theatrical premiere of “Scala!!!” (2024), about one of London’s most beloved – and infamous – repertory theaters. A former and future rock club (the cover photos for Lou Reed’s “Transformer” and Iggy and the Stooges’ “Raw Power” were shot there in a single, legendary night in 1972), the Scala spent the 1980s as a cinematic temple to London’s thriving counterculture. Co-directed by Jane Giles (who spent several years as the Scala’s programming director) and Ali Catterall (who, as a teenage dropout, was one of its best customers), “Scala!!!” lovingly tells the story of this wildest and woolliest of arthouse theaters, told by the punks, movie lovers and general reprobates who called it a second home.
If watching the documentary leaves you wishing you could have experienced the Scala in its heyday, you’re in luck: The Brattle has programmed an accompanying sidebar titled “On Screen at the Scala,” compiling some of that theater’s greatest hits. The series begins Sunday with “King Kong” (1933), the first film to screen at the Scala (in honor of the venue’s peculiar original incarnation as a Victorian-era monkeyhouse). The series continues Monday with “Withnail & I” (1987), the veddy British cult classic that so perfectly captured the flavor of Thatcher-era rebellion. Tuesday sees a transgressive double feature of Kathryn Bigelow’s “The Loveless” and Abel Ferrara’s “Ms. 45” (both 1981). Thursday brings together the warring gangs of “The Warriors” (1979) and “A Clockwork Orange” (1971), the latter of which the Scala screened in defiance of director Stanley Kubrick (who ordered the film withdrawn from U.K. distribution after reports of droog-related gang violence), ultimately leading to the theater’s bankruptcy and closing.
The Scala may be gone, but its spirit of cinematic rebellion lives on in maverick-minded filmmakers and moviegoers around the world. As if to prove the point, this week offers a number of chances to see new work by cutting-edge local and world filmmakers on the big screen. On Thursday, The Brattle hosts the latest installment of Grrl Haus Cinema, the long-running, Cambridge-founded showcase for women, trans, nonbinary and genderqueer filmmakers in the underground sphere. On Friday, Danvers’ own cult favorite filmmaker and musician Matt Farley hosts the U.S. premiere of his latest gonzo horror comedy, “Local Legends: Bloodbath!” (2024), in the Somerville Theatre’s Microcinema (a truly tiny space, so be sure to check Farley’s website, Motern Media, for ticket availability). Then, on Monday, filmmakers Pamela Yates and Paco de Onís attend the Somerville for a screening of their documentary “Borderland: The Line Within” (2024), a harrowing and compassionate look at the lives and plights of immigrants at the southern U.S. border. Each of these events promises to be a very different night at the movies, but all provide ample evidence that independent film is far from dead.
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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