A pair of music documentaries and a live concert from Jin of BTS on his first solo tour join indie animation, a searing look at Sudan, a serial killer horror and Kristin Scott Thomas’ directorial debut at the specialty box office as independents spot another window with fewer new studio releases. Roman Polanski’s 2019 historical drama on the Dreyfus Affair opens in New York.
The widest this weekend is Roadside Attractions’ horror-thriller Strange Harvest written and directed by Stuart Ortiz on 771 screens. Detectives are thrust into a chilling hunt for “Mr. Shiny,” a sadistic serial killer from the past whose return marks the beginning of a new wave of grotesque, otherworldly crimes tied to a dark cosmic force. Stars Peter Zizzo, Terri Apple, Andy Lauer, Matthew Peschio, Janna Cardia, Travis Wolfe Sr., Christina Helene Braa. This is t 94% with critics off 32 reviews This is at 94% with critics on Rotten Tomatoes off 32 reviews.
Vertical is out with comedy-drama My Mother’s Wedding, the directorial debut of Kristin Scott Thomas, on 402 screens. Thomas also co-wrote the screenplay with her husband John Micklethwait and stars with Scarlett Johansson, Sienna Miller and Emily Beecham. Logline: Three sisters (Johansson, Miller and Beecham) return to their childhood home for the third wedding of their mother (Thomas), navigating family drama with help from a colorful group of unexpected wedding guests.
Magnolia Pictures opens It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, Oscar-nominated filmmaker Amy Berg’s portrait of the late musician who developed an adoring fan base before his untimely death, at 120 theaters. At 96% with RT critics off 24 reviews. Told through never-before-seen footage from Buckley’s archives and intimate accounts from his mother Mary Guibert, former partners Rebecca Moore and Joan Wasser, bandmates including Michael Tighe and Parker Kindred and luminaries like Ben Harper and Aimee Mann. The doc illuminates one of modern music’s most influential and enigmatic figure whose only studio album, Grace, was released to astounding reviews and challenged conventional ideas of genre and gender. Buckley drowned in the Wolf River in Memphis in 1997 at age 30 leaving behind an unfinished second album and a legion of devastated family, friends and fans.
Greenwich Entertainment debuts AngelHeaded Hipster: The Songs of Marc Bolan and T. Rex on the glam rock powerhouse behind Bang a Gong (Get it On), Children of the Revolution and other iconic songs. The BMG production, the directorial debut of filmmaker Ethan Silverman, premiered at Tribeca Festival. Opens at Roxy Cinemas in New York, Lumiere Music Hall in LA, Regent Theatre in Boston and Zinema 2 in Duluth, MN. Silverman explores the complex and revolutionary music and lyrics of the ultra-charismatic Bolan and his band T. Rex, whose popularity in the UK from 1970 to 1973 was on par with The Beatles. Bolan died in a car crash in 1977 at 29. The doc features archival performances and interviews with Elton John, Ringo Starr and David Bowie and musical interpretations by Nick Cave, John Cameron Mitchell, Joan Jett, Macy Gray, U2 and Father John Misty.
Trafalgar Releasing, Hybe and Bighit Music will broadcast #Runkseokjin_EP.TOUR in Amsterdam: Live Viewing from the Ziggo Dome globally on August 9. This is BTS member Jin’s first-ever solo tour. Some later playdates to accommodate international time zones and encore screenings in some regions. This is a spin-off of Jin’s beloved variety content series Run Jin on BTS’ official YouTube channel. At 588 U.S. and 38 Canadian cinemas with multiple showings at many cinemas.
Roman Polanski’s historical thriller An Officer And A Spy, released in France in 2019, opens Stateside at the Film Forum in NYC. Polanski’s take on The Dreyfus Affair in 1895 that divided France for years. Jewish Army Captain Alfred Dreyfus (Louis Garrel) is stripped of his status and sentenced to life on a penal colony for passing secrets to Germany. Officer George Picquart (Jean Dujardin), head of military counter-intelligence, discovers that the mole is still at large. It won the Grand Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 2019 Venice Film Festival and received twelve César nominations, winning for Best Adaptation, Best Costume Design and Best Director. Based on the book by Robert Harris, who wrote the screenplay with Polanski.
The director fled the U.S. in 1978 after pleading guilty to unlawful sex with a minor. A programming note on the Film Forum website says, “We recognize that, in light of Roman Polanski’s sexual assault case and allegations, the showing of this film may generate strong reactions. We respect our audience’s diverging opinions, and we acknowledge the complicated debate surrounding the presentation of work by artists with controversial or problematic histories. We also feel that this film is a well-crafted, dramatic depiction of the Dreyfus Affair — a landmark case of institutional corruption, antisemitism, and resistance to both, and a timely reminder of the perils of being a whistleblower. It is thus an important contribution to cinema’s crucial role in historical storytelling. We have programmed the film in keeping with our commitment to presenting compelling world cinema to NYC audiences.”
Boys Go To Jupiter, Julian Glander’s surreal animated coming-of-age comedy, opens in New York at IFC Center. Adds LA’s Laemmle Glendale next week with a limited expansion to follow. The film from Cartuna and Irony Point Productions stars NPRs Planet Money host Jack Corbett as Billy 5000, a teenager in suburban Florida desperately trying to make $5,000 when his winter break is turned upside down by the arrival of a bizarre creature from another world.
The voice cast includes Janeane Garofalo (Reality Bites), Elsie Fisher (Eighth Grade), Tavi Gevinson (Gossip Girl), GraceKuhlenschmidt (The Daily Show), Joe Pera (Joe Pera Talks With You), Julio Torres (Problemista), Sarah Sherman (Saturday Night Live), Tony Award-winner Cole Escola (Oh, Mary!), Eva Victor (Sorry, Baby), River L. Ramirez (Los Espookys), Max Wittert (High Maintenance), J.R. Phillips (Summer Camp Island), Chris Fleming (Hell), and comedy
At 91% on Rotten Tomatoes off 23 reviews, this is the first theatrical release by Cartuna, the Brooklyn-based production company founded byJames Belfer and Adam Belfer in 2015. In March, it acquired domestic rights with Dweck Productions to Sundance-SXSW premiering Dead Lover, set for the closing night film of TIFF’s Midnight Madness.
Watermelon Pictures’ Sudan, Remember Us by Hind Meddeb open in NYC and Toronto at DCTV’s Firehouse Cinema and Hot Docs. Adds the Laemmle Royal in LA next week.
In 2019, journalist and filmmaker Meddab flew to Sudan to film a sit-in protest at the Army headquarters in Khartoum. The people of Sudan were assembling, demanding reform after decades of military dictatorship. There she met a selection of young activists that she would continue to film over the course of four years, from the swell of hope and accomplishment following dictator Omar al-Bashir’s fall to the oppression of the military crackdown and subsequent civil war, which today, leaves Sudan in ruins. The French-born Meddeb, who is also of Moroccan, Tunisian and Algerian heritage, spent close to a decade documenting the youth-led, pro-democracy movements that swept Morocco, Tunisia, Sudan and Egypt in the 2010s. At 100% with RT critics off 19 reviews.
Level 33 Entertainment presents kids animated Hola Frida about the artist as a child by André Kadi and Karinre Vézina at circa 40 locations. Based on the celebrated animated series and book Frida, c’est moi, Hola Frida tells a playful and heartfelt story of Frida’s childhood. Set in vibrant Coyoacán, Mexico, young Frida finds refuge in her imagination as she faces illness—revealing the earliest sparks of the artist she would become. Written by Anne Bryan, Sophia Faucher, Emilie Gabrielled and Kadi.
