Whether video killed the radio star or merely maimed it, the deed was not done solely on MTV. Across the country in the wild-and-woolly ’80s were countless local programs and channels devoted to the nascent music video format that, while lower in budget, had far more authentic rock ’n’ roll attitude and spirit than their corporate cable counterpart. In Boston, the reigning champion of music television was V66, a scrappy UHF station with its finger on the pulse of the city’s thriving scene, showcasing local legends from Aerosmith and The Cars to Aimee Mann and the Del Fuegos. On Thursday, director Eric Green will be on hand at the Somerville Theatre for a 10th anniversary screening of his documentary “Life on the V: The Story of V66” (2015), complete with a postfilm Q&A with some of the legendary channel’s VJs (“video jockeys,” for you YouTube kids). Some revolutions, it turns out, were televised.
This Sunday sees the broadcast of the 97th Academy Awards, bringing to a close a particularly chaotic awards season. When it comes to the Oscars, tumult is generally the rule rather than the exception; in the history of Hollywood, only three films have ever swept all five of the top categories (Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Original or Adapted Screenplay). This weekend, The Brattle Theatre brings together all three, projected onto the big screen where they belong. The series kicks off with Miloš Forman’s generation-defining “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” (1975, screening Friday and Saturday), in which Jack Nicholson’s rebellious mental patient Randall McMurphy squares off against Louise Fletcher’s icy Nurse Ratched. We descend further into the psych ward for Jonathan Demme’s controversial thriller “The Silence of the Lambs” (1991, running Friday through Sunday), for which Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins took home hardware for their iconic roles as FBI agent Clarice Starling and serial killer Hannibal Lecter. On a sunnier note, we travel back to 1934 for Frank Capra’s screwball classic “It Happened One Night” (playing Saturday and Sunday), in which the chemistry between Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert tested the limits of local censor boards. No film this year is poised to join these storied ranks (regrettably, Dennis Quaid was overlooked for his role in “The Substance”), meaning these films remain a trifecta for at least one more year.
As befits an artist of his stature, the late David Lynch will be felt more often than not for this column’s foreseeable future. This weekend, the Harvard Film Archive pays its respects with a short but intriguing series titled “David Lynch, New Dimensions.” Friday sees a vintage 35 mm print of Lynch’s midnight-movie debut “Eraserhead” (1977), which remains as potently nightmarish and surreally funny as when it was released. Unfortunately, this screening’s planned guest, Lynch biographer Kristine McKenna, will be unable to attend due to scheduling issues. In her stead will be Lynch’s longtime producer, Sabrina Sutherland, with an added attraction in the director’s aptly titled road romance “Wild at Heart” (1990) – the only Lynch film unavailable via digital or streaming. Sutherland returns Saturday for a screening of “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me” (1992), the viscerally affecting prequel film to Lynch’s cult-classic TV series. (Note: These screenings are already sold out at the time of this writing, but there will be a rush line at the door for any tickets unclaimed by showtime. If you missed out, camp out early!)
The Mahoning Drive-In in Lehighton, Pennsylvania, has become something of a mecca for cult film aficionados; far from the usual second-run features and hoary crowdpleasers, the open-air theater screens an annual selection of immaculately curated genre films on vintage 35 mm, frequently with special guests and all-night marathons. Of course, drive-ins don’t do much business in the winter, so the theater’s programmers are on tour with the Mahoning Drive-In Road Show, which touches down at the Somerville on Saturday with a triple feature of top-shelf schlock. First up is the truly jaw-dropping zombie epic “Shock Waves” (1977), in which Peter Cushing does battle with a brigade of undead, waterlogged Nazi stormtroopers who goose-step from the depths to an uncharted desert isle. Next is Tobe Hooper’s unhinged slasher classic “The Funhouse” (1981), in which a gaggle of expendable teens are picked off by a masked stranger in an appropriately dingy carnival. Finally, at midnight, catch the self-explanatory creature feature “Alligator” (1980), from a script by a pre-art-house-fame John Sayles. It’s all the fun of the drive-in without having to watched from the confines of your family car.
On Monday, acclaimed filmmaker Mati Diop returns to the HFA with one of last year’s most intriguing documentaries. In 2021, a museum in Paris agreed to repatriate more than two dozen priceless artifacts plundered from the Kingdom of Dahomey (present-day Benin). In “Dahomey” (2024), Diop follows these treasures on their journey home, narrating in voiceover from the point of view of the artifacts themselves, before shifting perspective to the residents of Benin to show what the return of these works means to their national identity. It’s a haunting film but never a difficult watch, with Diop suffusing the proceedings with a wry playfulness while never losing track of the vital questions of appropriation and cultural heritage. For those who, understandably, would like to unpack the film after watching, Diop will be present for a postfilm Q&A.
If one were to make a short list of greatest filmmakers living and working today, Boston-born documentarian Frederick Wiseman would almost certainly be in the conversation. In a career spanning more than 60 years (and counting!), the 95-year-old filmmaker has directed nearly 50 feature films, almost all of them meticulous cinéma vérité studies of institutions or communities. To celebrate this astounding body of work, The Brattle teams with a who’s-who of local cinemas (including the Somerville, the Coolidge Corner and the MFA) for “Frederick Wiseman: A Retrospective,” showcasing new 4K restorations of some of the director’s greatest works. The Brattle focuses on Wiseman’s early films, which screen Mondays throughout March. The series begins with a double feature of “Hospital” (1970), set in the confines of New York’s Metropolitan Hospital Center, and “Essene” (1972), about daily life in St. Gregory’s Abbey, a Benedictine monastery in Three Rivers, Michigan. It’s an overdue look at one of cinema’s most remarkable careers – one that, even more remarkably, continues to unfold.
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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