Of all the moviegoing pleasures to be had in Greater Boston, few can match the thrill of seeing a grand epic projected on film against the gigantic screen of the Somerville Theatre’s main house. This week marks the return of the Somerville’s annual 70 mm and Widescreen Festival, an immaculately curated mix of canonized classics and lesser-seen gems, all presented on some of the best and most unusual prints in existence. The series begins and ends with arguably the two greatest achievements of the 70 mm format: Stanley Kubrick’s still mind-blowing “2001: A Space Odyssey” (1968), which screens Thursday, and David Lean’s deathless epic “Lawrence of Arabia” (1962) on Monday. Those are essential titles, of course, which deserve to be seen on the biggest screen possible whenever possible, but diehard cinephiles will go even wilder for the more rarely screened films in between: Friday brings a 35 mm double feature of two certified samurai classics, Masaki Obayashi’s “Harakiri” (1963) and Kihachi Okamoto’s “The Sword of Doom” (1966). The proceedings return to Hollywood on Saturday with two 70 mm screenings of John McTiernan’s “The Hunt for Red October” (1990), arguably the best film adaptation of Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan series, and so purely entertaining you’re willing to forgive the questionable casting of Sean Connery as a Soviet commander. On Sunday, you can catch a pair of swooning big-screen love stories, Ron Howard’s “Far and Away” (1992) – the very first film shot wholly in Panavision Super 70 – and “Always” (1989), one of the more overlooked titles of Steven Spielberg’s career. Streaming is all well and good, but there’s nothing quite like seeing a film in its best possible version on the big screen.
Speaking of rarely screened films, The Brattle Theatre kicks off on Friday an overdue tribute to one of Japan’s most influential and indescribable filmmakers. True to its title, “Japan’s Pop Art Renegade: Nobuhiko Ôbayashi x5” gathers five films by the eccentric director, four of which have never graced The Brattle’s screen. An underground filmmaker who first made a living on TV commercials, Ôbayashi incorporated the unorthodox rhythms of both mediums into a string of idiosyncratic, highly successful features. Ôbayashi is best known on these shores for the gonzo horror comedy “Hausu” (1977), which screens on 35 mm on Friday and Saturday. The remaining titles, all restored in 4K and released for the first time stateside, are presented in themed double features. Saturday and Sunday bring a pair of teen-centric supernatural thrillers, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (1983) and “School in the Crosshairs” (1981), both of which should obviously appeal to “Hausu”-heads. Sunday and Monday, meanwhile, showcase a softer side of Ôbayashi with the tropical romances “The Island Closest to Heaven” (1984) and “His Motorbike, Her Island” (1986). Ôbayashi is one of those filmmakers whose international reputation has been held back by lack of availability; with luck, these rereleases will begin to remedy that.
This week marks the end of one of the most politically fraught Pride Months in recent history. It is apt, then, that The Brattle should close out June with a short series of anarchic late-night screenings brilliantly titled “Pride is Over. Time for Wrath!” On Friday, catch an encore screening of Rose Glass’ instant cult classic “Love Lies Bleeding” (2023), starring Kristen Stewart and Katy O’Brian as a pair of lesbian bodybuilders who find themselves plunged into a world of extreme violence, steroid abuse and exotic beetles. Saturday brings “The Living End” (1992), the breakout feature from New Queer Cinema titan Gregg Araki, a romantic, gleefully snotty road picture about two young HIV-positive men on the run from the law. The series closes Sunday with “How to Survive a Plague” (2012), David France’s documentary about the radical Aids activism of the groups Act Up and Tag. All three films are a vital reminder that now is not a time for complacency – and that queer stories on film can be as wild, funny and angry as any.
The Somerville continues its delightful new “Summer Camp” series next Wednesday with a bona fide camp classic. “Mommie Dearest” (1981), a dramatization of Joan Crawford’s harrowing relationship with her daughter Christine, does not exactly sound like a fun time at the movies (and, to be sure, its depiction of child abuse will absolutely not tickle all viewers). But it is elevated to something close to sublime by Faye Dunaway’s operatic portrayal of the Hollywood legend, one of the most deliriously unhinged performances ever delivered by an A-list movie star. Key scenes, such as Crawford’s commandeering of a Pepsi-Cola boardroom meeting or her infamous screams of “NO WIRE HANGERS!!!” have entered the lexicon of camp and cult movie culture, and the film itself has become something of a secret handshake among those with a sick sense of humor. The film is summed up in a single line of dialogue, as Dunaway-as-Crawford triumphs over her tiny daughter in a swimming race: “I’m bigger and faster, and I will always beat you!”
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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