The students aren’t the only ones returning to Harvard this week. Following a three-month closure for much-needed restorations, the Harvard Film Archive reopens its doors Friday for a brand-new season of rare screenings and expert curation. The first series out of the gate is the wonderfully titled “The Cold Heart Is More Precious than Diamonds: The Cinema of Graham Greene.” Greene one of the most celebrated novelists of the 20th centuries, was also a prolific film critic and screenwriter, both of original screenplays and adaptations of his own work. The series begins Friday with a pair of typically dark Greene adaptations: “The Fallen Idol” (1948), directed by frequent Greene collaborator Carol Reed, and the terrifyingly bleak gangster picture “Brighton Rock” (1948). Saturday brings Fritz Lang’s adaptation of Greene’s “Ministry of Fear” (1944), as well as “This Gun for Hire” (1942), featuring Veronica Lake at the peak of her powers and a star-making turn from Alan Ladd. The series’ first weekend closes out with a pair of children’s shorts which Greene praised as a critic, Jean Vigo’s “Zéro de Conduite” (1933) and the Disney classic “Mickey’s Grand Opera” (1936). “The Cold Heart” continues to beat through late September, with more treasures from Greene’s storied career.
Earlier this year we lost one of the screen’s funniest actors in Catherine O’Hara. To celebrate the life and work of this brilliant comedienne, the Somerville Theatre has lined up a full weekend of her most celebrated works, all projected lovingly on 35mm. The series begins Friday with a role which has served as many viewers introduction to O’Hara’s comic talents: that of flighty stepmom Delia Deetz in Tim Burton’s classic horror comedy “Beetlejuice” (1988). Less remembered, but no less brilliant, is O’Hara’s turn as a vindictive ice cream vendor in Martin Scorsese’s jet-black comedy “After Hours” (1985), screening Sunday.
But O’Hara was arguably never better than when working in the mockumentary comedies of Christopher Guest, of which three are lined up: “Waiting for Guffman” (1996) on Saturday, and “Best in Show” (2000) and “A Mighty Wind” (2003) on Sunday. In addition to showcasing both her knack for improvisation and her bona fide chops as an actress, Guest’s films paired O’Hara with her longtime friend Eugene Levy. The two started collaborating in the classic sketch show “SCTV” in the late 1970s and were on air together in the streaming favorite “Schitt’s Creek” in the 2010s. Want to do more than watch and laugh? Each night’s programming will be followed by an after party at the Crystal Ballroom, complete with costume contests, themed cocktails, and “scene karaoke,” in which partygoers are invited to reenact O’Hara’s greatest onscreen moments.
Elsewhere on Friday, Yeon Sang-ho’s global phenomenon “Train to Busan” (2016) has a 10th anniversary celebration at the Brattle Theatre, featuring a brand-new 4k restoration of. A staple of both the burgeoning world of Korean horror and the 21st century zombie canon, “Busan” stars Gong Yoo as an emotionally distant father who takes his daughter on a bullet train that becomes ground zero for a zombie-virus epidemic. In just a decade, “Busan” has cemented its status as a modern horror classic, its hordes of overpowering flesh-eaters as nightmare-inducing as anything in the films of George A. Romero or Danny Boyle. And if you find yourself hungering for more (so to speak), don’t worry: Yeon’s new film “Colony” opens in theaters later this month!
On Wednesday, the Brattle’s “TV Goes to the Movies” series turns to a chillingly prescient political thriller: Elia Kazan’s “A Face in the Crowd” (1957). The movie features a pre-TV Andy Griffith as Lonesome Rhodes, a singing cowboy who is discovered in a drunk tank by enterprising TV reporter Marcia Jeffries (Patricia Neal). Realizing they have a potential star on their hands, Jeffries’ producers give Rhodes his own show. His folksy charisma instantly makes him a national star – only for the singer to become a mouthpiece for increasingly radical right-wing politics. In the decades since the film’s release, the parallels between Lonesome Rhodes and any number of real-life political figures (including more than a few currently holding office) have been unmistakable, and the screenplay, penned by the great Budd Schulberg, has lost none of its scabrous wit. “A Face in the Crowd” is paired with a similarly dark media satire, Dan Gilroy’s “Nightcrawler” (2014), proving the more things change, the more they stay the same.
On the new release front, this week brings a pair of fascinating features in limited runs. From Friday through Thursday, the Brattle presents the local premiere run of Kent Jones’ “Late Fame” (2026), starring Willem Dafoe as a retired poet who finds himself the subject of much-delayed praise. Then, from Monday through Wednesday, the Somerville has an exclusive run of Tommy Jay Dwyer’s “Burnin’ Down the House” (2026), a documentary shining a light on the underreported crises of funding and health (both mental and physical) faced by Massachusetts’ firefighters. Both are about the overlooked heroes in our midst and are well worth your while.
A stronger
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