On Friday, the Brattle Theatre kicks off a weekend-long run of one of the most disquieting — and prescient — indie films of the ’90s. In Todd Haynes’ “Safe” (1995), Julianne Moore (in her breakout role) plays Carol White, a well-to-do housewife in 1980s Los Angeles. Following a home renovation, Carol develops a wide array of seemingly inexplicable symptoms, ranging from coughing fits to panic attacks to nosebleeds. Unsure how to treat her undiagnosable “environmental illness,” let alone explain it to her pig-headed husband, Carol eventually signs up for a plot in a cult-like community for fellow sufferers. Haynes filters a host of very ’80s-’90s issues– misogyny, consumerism, environmentalism, the dark side of “new age” movements — through his obsession with classic Hollywood “women’s picture” melodrama, creating a richly ambiguous take on modern life. The film is also strikingly prophetic of our modern age, in which so-called “wellness” content frequently serves as a front for sinister agendas. “Safe” screens in a brand new 4k restoration all weekend long, from Friday through Sunday.
The Harvard Film Archive continues its “From the Collection” series this weekend with more gems from the Italian maestros. On Friday, the HFA screens Michelangelo Antonioni’s haunting “Red Desert” (1964), with a special introduction by Harvard collections archivist Amy Sloper. Antonioni muse Monica Vitti plays the wife of a chemical plant manager, beset with illness and teetering on the verge of a nervous breakdown following a traumatic car accident (she’d have a lot to talk about with Carol White). “Desert” was Antonioni’s first Technicolor film, but he primarily uses the format to accentuate the vast, white expanses of the film’s bleak, postindustrial landscapes. Saturday brings a pair of biting political thrillers from Bernardo Bertolucci. In “The Spider’s Stratagem” (1970), a young man (Julio Borgi) returns to his hometown to solve the decades-earlier murder of his father, an anti-fascist crusader who plotted to assassinate Mussolini. “Partner” (1968), meanwhile, is a radical, heavily improvised reworking of Dostoevsky’s “The Double” as seen through the lens of the May ’68 protests. All three films are presented on original 35mm prints from the HFA’s legendary collection.
On Monday, the HFA’s Complete Stanley Kubrick retrospective continues with arguably the director’s first truly great film. In “The Killing” (1956), tough-guy actor extraordinaire Sterling Hayden plays Johnny Clay, an ex-con who assembles a team to pull off a multi-million-dollar racetrack heist. Superficially, “The Killing” resembles the low-budget noir of “Killer’s Kiss” (1955, screening in encore on Sunday), but it is miles ahead in nearly every respect, from its stellar cast (which also includes such great character actors as Timothy Carey and Elisha Cook, Jr.) to its audacious, non-linear structure, which replays certain events from multiple characters’ perspectives. The influence of “The Killing” on decades of crime pictures is incalculable, particularly on the similarly loopy films of Quentin Tarantino. If Kubrick’s career had ended here, he would likely still be remembered today. As we will see in the coming weeks of the program, however, his power would only increase.
The Somerville Cine-Club returns to the Somerville Public Library’s Central Branch Tuesday with perhaps their most ambitious presentation yet. For their free screening of Sidney Poitier’s 1973 romance “A Warm December,” the Cine-Club has sourced an actual 16mm print, making this the group’s first all-film screening. Per the Cine-Club’s Instagram, the print can charitably be described as “well-loved,” so be prepared for a certain amount of grain, scratches, and discoloration (though these might be said to add to the uniqueness of the presentation). As a bonus, the screening will be introduced by Odie Henderson, Boston Globe film critic and author of the book “Black Caesars and Foxy Cleopatras: A History of Blaxpoitation Cinema.” As digital screening becomes the norm, there’s more and more to be said of the tactile pleasures which can only come from film on film.
Among local moviegoers, little introduction is needed for the Boston Scifi Film Festival; the longest-running genre film festival in America, Boston Scifi is something of a community unto itself, attracting devotees from around the country to the Somerville Theatre every February for its reliably eclectic lineup of innovative new features, short films, and, of course, the climactic 24-hour classic movie marathon. On Wednesday, Boston Scifi kicks off its 51st (!!) installment with a preview screening of Gore Verbinski’s bonkers new time-travel comedy “Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die” (2026). Thursday brings the US premier of Austrian filmmaker Daniel Limmer’s surreal “Dream Theatre” (2025), about a young woman who attempts to unravel the mysteries of her nightmares via new technology which projects them onto a screen, and the East Coast premiere of Moonika Siimets’ gleefully absurd “The Black Hole” (2024). Peppered in between are multiple programs of short films from up-and-coming directors. The fest continues next week with even more strange and wonderful surprises; for the full schedule and ticket/pass info, check out Boston Scifi’s website.
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.