Friday is Juneteenth, and the Brattle Theatre celebrates with one of cinema’s great African American epics. Spike Lee’s “Malcolm X” (1992) casts Denzel Washington as the legendary civil rights activist, following his life from his birth in Nebraska to his emergence as one of the most influential and outspoken figures in 20th century America. “Malcolm X” is arguably the greatest film to come from the decades-long collaboration between Lee and Washington, and certainly ranks among each man’s finest work individually. It also represents the best-case scenario of the Hollywood biopic as a medium, a sweeping masterpiece that portrays both its subject’s considerable achievements and his warts-and-all humanity. “Malcolm X” screens Friday and Saturday on a print on loan from RISD’s Joel Freedman and Michael Fink 35mm collection and is absolutely not to be missed on the big screen.
Also opening Friday at the Brattle and screening through Monday is a new 4k restoration of Giuseppe De Santis’s “Bitter Rice” (1949), a true gem of classic Italian cinema. American actress Doris Dowling plays Francesca, the girlfriend and unwilling accomplice of a two-bit jewel thief, who seeks cover among the women toiling in the rice fields of the Province of Vercelli. “Rice” is something of a genre hybrid, combining the class consciousness of Italian neorealism (with a particular eye toward the rivalry between the unionized contract workers and the so-called “illegals” desperate to join them) and the pulp thrills of film noir. Sitting at the crossroads is Silvana Mangano, who all but steals the film as the vampy queen bee of the camp. Perhaps because of this, Rice” is occasionally overlooked in studies of either field, but it has lost none of its punch in the decades since its release.
On Saturday, the Somerville Theatre’s Midnight Special celebrates the 30th anniversary of the debut film from one of our greatest working filmmakers. Wes Anderson’s “Bottle Rocket” (1996) casts Luke and Owen Wilson (both making their screen debuts, the latter sharing screenwriting credit with Anderson) as a pair of slacker best friends doing their damnedest to break into a life of crime. “Bottle Rocket” is a far looser film than Anderson’s later work, its dingy apartments and fleabag motels a far cry from the “Grand Budapest.” Still, even at this stage in his career, the director’s flair for quirky characters, loopy dialogue, and unexpected belts of pathos is unmistakable. Anderson’s filmography would go on to span the globe, but it was never more intimate than when he was simply shooting on the side streets of Texas with his friends.
From Tuesday through Thursday, the good folx at Wicked Queer take residence at the Brattle with a bevy of repertory selections for Pride. Tuesday features a double feature of classic lesbian romances, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the United States release of Donna Deitch’s “Desert Hearts” (1985) and the 30th of Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s “Bound” (1996). Wednesday brings a 30th anniversary 35mm screening of Hettie Macdonald’s “Beautiful Thing” (1996), as well as the series’ centerpiece: the premiere of a brand new 4k restoration of Lino Brocka’s groundbreaking “Macho Dancer” (1988), long censored in its native Philippines and presented here in its full, uncut glory. The series closes Thursday with a 25th-anniversary screening of John Cameron Mitchell’s cult classic “Hedwig and the Angry Inch” (2001), a dazzling postmodern musical about a gender-fluid glam-rock superstar. As is to be expected from the minds behind one of the country’s longest-running queer film festivals, it’s an expertly curated trove of much-loved classics, and truly worthy of the word Pride.
The Somerville’s Thirsty Thursdays repertory series closes out this week with one of the screen’s all-time great English pubs. In Edgar Wright’s “Shaun of the Dead” (2004), Simon Pegg’s eponymous slacker hero is dumped by his long-suffering girlfriend because all he wants to do is hang out with his mates at the Winchester Pub. When London society is upended by a zombie apocalypse, Shaun gathers his friends and loved ones to hole up in the safest and most familiar place he knows — which, of course, just so happens to have unlimited pints on tap. Wright’s film is a true marvel of genre filmmaking, a laugh-a-second comedy which is also perfectly functional as an unironic horror thriller. Its central location is the icing on the cake, as fully realized and lived-in as any bar portrayed in movie history. You know what you have to do: Go to the Somerville, have a nice cold pint (or at least a large popcorn), and wait for all of this to blow over.
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