Silent film is the very definition of a lost art: an entire means of expression abandoned and made obsolete virtually overnight with the dawning of the talkies. Just as lost, however, is the art of watching silent films. The necessarily communal experience of watching a silent film in a packed movie house can never truly be re-created via home video or streaming; between the live musical scores and the reactions of the audience, it can be said that no two screenings were ever alike. Luckily, The Brattle Theatre has booked an entire Silent Movie Weekend, allowing you to enjoy a handful of bona fide silent classics as they were meant to be screened. The series kicks off Monday with a new 4k restoration of G.W. Pabst’s “Pandora’s Box” (1929), starring the eternally cool flapper icon Louise Brooks (it screens again Sunday). Sunday and Monday bring a centennial double feature of comedy classics from Buster Keaton, “Sherlock Jr.” and “The Navigator” (both 1924). If you prefer the other titan of silent comedy, you can catch a free screening of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Circus” (1928) on Monday as part of the ongoing Elements of Cinema series.
The jewel of the series, however, comes Saturday. Abel Gance’s intergenerational epic romance “La Roue” (1923), or “The Wheel,” is widely considered one of the masterpieces of the silent era, a feat of editing and cinematography that remains jaw-dropping more than a century after its release. It rarely screens, however, thanks to one simple fact: “La Roue” is a nearly seven-hour film, not including three programmed intermissions (The Brattle estimates that the screening will run from noon to about 8:15 p.m.). What makes this screening even more special is that it will feature a live, improvised score from the great Jeff Rapsis, who will be at his keyboard for the entire duration of the film. The Brattle’s screening of “La Roue” is, simply put, a once-in-a-lifetime moviegoing opportunity, and absolutely not to be missed.
If you’re looking for lighter fare – or if you need a chaser after experiencing “La Roue” – you can head to the Somerville Theatre on Saturday for a midnight screening of the gonzo ’80s cult classic “Miami Connection” (1987). Conceived by taekwondo martial artist Y.K. Kim (who produced, co-directed, wrote the screenplay and stars), “Miami Connection” tells the story of Dragon Sound, a rock band/martial arts collective whose members spend their free time fighting colorfully dressed drug dealers in and around the University of Central Florida campus. “Miami Connection” is not a “good” movie in the conventional sense of the word, but it is a hell of a good time, particularly when watched with a group of like-minded movie freaks; between its corny dialogue, cringe-inducing fashion choices and maddeningly catchy musical numbers, it is a perfect object of vintage ’80s cheese. Mullets will not be required for entry, but are highly recommended.
Harry Smith will forever be known as the curator of “The Anthology of American Folk Music,” the landmark 1952 six-LP compilation that introduced the field recordings of Alan Lomax and his ilk to a new generation of music lovers, setting the stage for the revelatory careers of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and countless others. But the anthology is merely the tip of the iceberg for this legendary New York eccentric: In addition to his work as a musical archivist, Smith was a practicing occultist, an abstract painter and a groundbreaking experimental filmmaker. In conjunction with an exhibition of Smith’s visual works at Harvard’s Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, the Harvard Film Archive presents Fragments of a Faith Forgotten, a retrospective collecting all of Smith’s surviving films. The first program of the series screens Sunday, collecting his earliest – trippy, collagelike affairs that were given numbers rather than official titles, mostly created between 1947 and 1957 – all projected on restored 35 mm or 16 mm prints on loan from the Anthology Film Archive in New York. The series runs intermittently through Dec. 1, which also marks the end of the exhibition.
The Landmark Kendall Square Cinema’s ongoing salute to the films of 1999 continues Tuesday with one of the year’s great horror movies, and arguably one of the most influential films in the genre’s history, “The Blair Witch Project” (1999). Though it was not the first horror movie to use the “found footage” conceit (that distinction probably belongs to the 1976 grindhouse cheapie “Snuff”), it is the film that established the framework that underlies the lucrative subgenre to this day. Much has been written about the revolutionary production of “Blair Witch” – its directors famously sent their cast into the woods to improvise, tracking their movements via GPS and leaving daily notes (as well as springing unexpected scares, creating an unprecedented level of realism in their performances). The horror of “The Blair Witch Project” remains potent, but to me it holds up just as well as an all-too-real fable of the perils of independent filmmaking: If you’ve worked on a low-budget movie, or engaged in any collaborative art, chances are you’ll see yourself in one or all of these doomed characters. Evil witches are scary, but late fees on overdue equipment are terrifying.
In anticipation of the release of Sean Baker’s Palme d’Or-winning romance “Anora,” The Brattle has programmed a quick series of the director’s best-known works, simply titled Sean Baker x4. Over the past 20 years, Baker has made a name for himself with a string of comedies – lively and raunchy, yet surprisingly humane, primarily about sex workers and other marginalized individuals. The series kicks off Tuesday with “Take Out” (2004), Baker’s feature debut (co-directed with Shih-Ching Tsou) about a Chinese restaurant deliverer on a mad dash to pay off his debts. Baker broke out with “Tangerine” (2015, screening Tuesday and Wednesday), an iPhone-shot screwball dramedy following a day in the lives of two transgender sex workers and the people in their orbit. On Wednesday and Thursday you can catch a double feature of Baker’s most recent films, “The Florida Project” (2015), starring an Oscar-nominated Willem Dafoe as a seedy motel manager watching over a destitute mother and daughter in the outskirts of Disney World, and “Red Rocket” (2021), in which Simon Rex plays an unscrupulous, motormouthed ex-porn star. With these films, Baker has proven himself a unique voice in American independent film, and one whose oeuvre promises to only become more vital.
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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