This week, the Movie Gourmet is emerging from a run of film festivals –
- The San Francisco International Film Festival (SFFILM), now underway; here’s my my Preview and Top Picks.
- The recently concluded Cinequest.
- The San Luis Obispo International Film Festival, which I attended for the first time last night. Stay tuned on this one.
I’ve also highlighted two overlooked films to stream: Strawberry Mansion and Oscar Micheaux: Superhero of Black Filmmaking.
CURRENT FILMS
This year’s crop of Oscar films is fading into Old News, but note that Oscar winners CODA, Drive My Car and Belfast are all now available to stream.
The best new film in theaters is hard to find: the insightful and unpredictable dual character study Compartment No. 6.
ON TV
Tomorrow morning (April 30, Turner Classic Movies will air the 1943 masterpiece The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, a remarkably textured portrait of a man over four decades and his struggles to evolve into new eras. Written and directed by the great British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, this is a movie with a sharp message to 1940s audiences about modernity, as well as a subtle exploration of privilege that will resonate today.