This week on The Movie Gourmet – I’m trying to get you thru the movie doldrums with the delightful coming of age story Egghead & Twinkie and the genre-busting reenactment doc Starring Jerry as Himself. May is Asian-American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, and both movies feature Asian American filmmakers and lead characters.
I am looking forward to Matt Wolf’s HBO biodoc Pee Wee Herman as Himself, which begins airing on the weekend after next. The week after, theaters will offer the buzzed-about The Life of Chuck and Caught by the Tides, from the Chinese master filmmaker Jia Zhang-ke and his muse Tao Zhao.
Note: I recommended the highly innovative The Accident after screening it for the 2024 Slamdance, and it’s now streaming on Fandor. The Accident went on to win the Narrative Feature Grand Jury Prize at Slamdance.
REMEMBRANCES
Director Masahiro Shinoda was a groundbreaking auteur, best known for his bracing neo-noir Pale Flower.
Character actor Craig Richard Nelson’s first film role was as a snobby, fastidious preppy in The Paper Chase (1973), and he nailed a similar character in Robert Altman’s A Wedding (1978). In this period, he had small roles in Altman’s 3 Women (1977) and Tony Bill’s My Bodyguard (1980). Even though he worked in TV and film through 1998, his performances were increasingly less memorable.
CURRENT MOVIES
- We Want the Funk: Tear the Roof Off the Sucker. PBS.
- Thank You Very Much: provocateur explained. In theaters, Amazon, AppleTV.
- Art for Everybody: a contradiction revealed. Rolling out in theaters.
- Janis Ian: Breaking Silence: she stepped onto the roller coaster at 16. In arthouse theaters.
- The Trouble with Jessica: a diverting farce. In theaters.
- Sly Lives! (aka The Burden of Black Genius): rise, fall and legacy of a groundbreaking prodigy. Hulu.
- Bob Trevino Likes It: without dad’s encouragement, she’s stuck. In theaters.
ON TV
On May 13, Turner Classic Movies is honoring Gene Hackman by airing Night Moves, along with his better known movies, The French Connection, Hoosiers and Mississippi Burning. In the1975 character-driven neo-noir Night Moves, Hackman plays an LA private eye who follows a trail of evidence to steamy Florida. Hackman shines in the role – the detective is deeply in love with his estranged wife (Susan Clark), but unsuited for marriage. Night Moves also features Melanie Griffith’s breakthrough role as the highly sexualized teen daughter in the Florida family; Griffith was right around eighteen-years-old when this was filmed, and had already been living with Don Johnson for three years. Night Moves features an impressive ensemble of supporting actors: Harris Yulin, James Woods, Edward Binns, Max Gail (Wojo on Barney Miller) and the sui generis Kenneth Mars.