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A parable of power, the slickly entertaining Javier Bardem film THE GOOD BOSS opens August 26.

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One of the most magnetic movie stars in cinema, Javier Bardem’s new workplace comedy-drama The Good Boss starts August 26 at the Royal. We’ll expand it to our other theaters in the subsequent weeks. The film is about Básculas Blanco, a Spanish company producing industrial scales in a provincial Spanish town, as it awaits the imminent visit from a committee which holds the firm’s fate in their hands: will they honor Básculas with a local Business Excellence award? Everything has to be perfect for the visit. Working against the clock, the company’s proprietor, Blanco (Bardem) pulls out all the stops to address and resolve issues with his employees, crossing every imaginable line in the process.

“Reminiscent of the Coen brothers’ trademark cinematic sarcasm… slickly entertaining.” ~ Jordan Mintzer, Hollywood Reporter

“It’s Javier Bardem’s show as he reunites with Fernando Leon de Aranoa for this parable of power.” ~ Jonathan Holland, Screen International

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“Javier Bardem gives a powerhouse performance.” ~ David Stratton, The Australian

Here’s a clip from the film:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmdsIHGhiL8&feature=youtu.be

“This movie is great on whatever-sized screen you watch, but it’s next-level in a full theater with a rabid audience.” The spectacular RRR, back in theaters by popular demand.

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If you haven’t experienced the Indian blockbuster RRR in a theater, good news, we are bringing it back! The movie is an exhilarating, action-packed spectacular mythologizing two real-life freedom fighters who helped lead India’s fight for independence from the British Raj, Komaram Bheem (N.T Rama Rao Jr., aka Jr NTR) and Alluri Sitarama Raju (Ram Charan). Set in the 1920s, before their fight for India’s independence began, RRR imagines a fictional meeting between the two, set into motion when a young Gond girl is stolen from her village by British soldiers. With a powerful message, staggeringly choreographed action sequences, and an all-timer of a musical number, RRR is sheer big-screen joy from start to finish, and it is something best experienced with an audience to fully appreciate big and loud, as intended.

Catch RRR starting August 26 at the Monica Film Center and Town Center and a week or two after that at the Claremont and Newhall. All are venues where we have not previously screened the film.

The New York Times recently published a story about the RRR phenomenon headlined “How the Indian Action Spectacular RRR Became a Smash in America.” Among the U.S. exhibitors quoted about helping making the film a cross-over hit is Laemmle Theatres president Greg Laemmle:
“Gregory Laemmle, the president of the West Coast theater chain that bears his name, attended the Seattle screening after booking RRR at three of the Laemmle Theaters’ California locations. (RRR has since gone on to play at five Laemmle theaters.) Laemmle was already a believer, sight unseen, thanks partly to Marchetti’s recommendation and partly to enthusiastic social media responses from the initial release. Ticket sales at Laemmle theaters were high enough to warrant a weeklong engagement, which began June 3. “But after seeing the movie, I knew that I would need to clear space for that run to play” longer, Laemmle said.

“Cristina Cacioppo programmed RRR at the Nitehawk Prospect Park in Brooklyn, where it drew enthusiastic moviegoers in the 20-to-30 age range, most from outside the Indian diaspora. “There was an overall wave of joy throughout,” Cacioppo said by email, adding later. “You could feel the room smiling, the jaws dropping.”

“Jake Isgar at the Alamo Drafthouse chain said there were at least 10 rounds of spontaneous applause from a packed screening in San Francisco. “This movie is great on whatever-sized screen you watch, but it’s next-level in a full theater with a rabid audience,” he added.”
L.A. Times lead film critic Justin Chang included RRR on his list of 10 best films for the first half of 2022:

“The longest feature on my list runs more than three hours and earns every supercharged minute. Already the second-highest-grossing Indian film of all time in America (it’s grossed more than $140 million worldwide), S.S. Rajamouli’s Telugu-language sensation is a hellaciously entertaining mash-up of history and legend, politics and romance, hyperviolent action and song-and-dance musical, venomous snakes and throat-mauling tigers. As the two mighty warriors whose tender bromance becomes a truly infernal affair, N.T. Rama Rao Jr. and Ram Charan are forces of nature.”

(Side note: even though Justin included the film in his Top 10, the film still hasn’t actually had a full review in the Times. Yet another example of good films not getting reviewed by the tragically thin Times film section.)

Finally, Variety just published a story headlined “How India’s Action Epic RRR Could Bring the Country’s First Oscar Nom in 21 Years.”

“A movie with the action sensibilities of James Cameron and the ambitious scope of George Miller has to be considered a definitive Oscar contender, right? Not without the proper backing by a studio or, in this case, a country that will submit your film for the Academy’s best international feature award.

“Enter RRR, a film directed by S. S. Rajamouli, who wrote the script with V. Vijayendra Prasad. The three-hour action epic follows two patriotic but philosophically opposed men (Ram Charan and N.T. Rama Rao Jr.), who team up to rescue a girl from British colonial officials in 1920s Delhi.

“When the 94th Oscar nominations were announced back in January 2022, India’s official submission “Pebbles” was not among the films recognized for international feature. It marked exactly 20 years since India’s last nom in the category.

“In fact, only three Indian films in total —Mother India (1957), Salaam Bombay! (1988) and Lagaan (2001) — have been nominated for the award. The last of which lost to No Man’s Land from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“The skyrocketing success of RRR has been the undercover Cinderella story of the year. A global smash with huge box office receipts, the film found a pathway to the American cultural zeitgeist with consumers discovering it on Netflix. It was distributed theatrically by Variance Films in the U.S., and a current trend by the Academy to embrace non-English language features in the last few years offers an alternative pathway to awards recognition if India decides to look elsewhere. But why would they?”

Read the rest of the piece here.

https://vimeo.com/709590385/a79303822a

A LOVE STORY: Veteran character actor Dale Dickey shines in the role of her career.

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     One of the finest screen performances last year was delivered by Ann Dowd in the drama Mass. Though she did not make it into the Oscar race, she was nominated for Critic’s Choice and BAFTA awards. Most moviegoers would be forgiven, however, if they didn’t know about the film or Ms. Dowd’s performance. The film did not do well when it opened in October and it was in and out of theatres before it could develop crucial word-of-mouth publicity.
     We bring this up because we fear that history is repeating itself with the film A Love Song and the amazing performance by the veteran character actress, Dale Dickey.
     She has been a very busy working actor for more than 25 years, racking up 131 credits on IMDB (which does not include her theater work). Like Dowd, Stephen Root and M. Emmet Walsh, she is one of those gifted character actors whose face any movie or TV fan immediately recognizes, though most people don’t know her name. She is usually cast in supporting roles but has the lead role in A Love Song, and she is brilliant. Her performance is easily one of the best of 2022, beautifully complemented by Wes Studi, but will people see it? The film is being released by a small independent distributor without a large publicity and advertising budget. What’s more, it’s a low-key love story about working class people, the kind of subject matter that doesn’t get much attention.

“Like a coy, concise short story you might remember having read years ago, A Love Song is the simplest of tales, but there’s a complex universe of longing contained within it.” ~ Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture

“It’s well-photographed, unobtrusively edited, full of wondrous sights, and acted by a couple of masters of warm underplaying.” ~ Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com

     “A Love Song has the narrative economy and the sneaky emotional power of a well-crafted short story, plus a feel for isolation and rootlessness that harks back to some of the great drifter portraits of American independent cinema.” ~ Justin Chang, Los Angeles Times
     So, people. Cinephiles! Please come out, enjoy and support A Love Song in a theater while you still can. We open it this Friday at the Royal, and we will add theatres on August 19. We will keep it playing as long as possible. If moviegoers show even a little support, that will go a long way toward keeping it in theatres, and help create greater awareness for the film and the two wonderful actors featured in the film.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NysYn89m5y4&t=3s

#BringBackMovieReviews: Marketplace on Nashville’s Belcourt Theatre

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The journalists at the American Public Media business and economic news radio program Marketplace do in-depth reporting by repeatedly profiling and interviewing people, establishing long-term relationships they return their listeners to. One such person is Stephanie Silverman, executive director of the Belcourt Theatre, a non-profit movie theater in Nashville. Kai Ryssdal, the host and senior editor of Marketplace, recently spoke with Silverman again about adjusting to the pandemic and streaming. She is an extremely articulate advocate for the theatrical experience and what she said in the interview —  “studios are understanding that the long tail for their movie happens when it starts in exhibition…it needs the word-of-mouth energy that only exhibition spaces can give it” — relates directly to what we’ve been advocating for recently in regards to the L.A. Times film section. Traditionally, talented, knowledgeable film critics guide moviegoers to culturally and artistically important films they might have otherwise missed. Filmmakers and film lovers alike rely on the critics for this and the film critics rely on big platforms like the Times. It is a crucial step in the process that makes unique, fine films and their L.A. theatrical exhibition possible. If the paper of record in the movie capital of the world abdicates its role, film culture suffers. We run the risk of a monoculture consisting of superheroes and sequels. #BringBackMovieReviews

 

 

“An exotic and brilliant hothouse flower of a film,” Buñuel’s ‘The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie’ is back in theaters this Friday.

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We are thrilled to open the new 50th anniversary 4K restoration of Luis Buñuel’s The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972) this Friday at our Royal, Claremont, Glendale and Town Center theaters. The 1973 Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Film and 1974 BAFTA Award winner for Best Actress and Best Screenplay, Discreet Charm is one of surrealist master Buñuel’s late career triumphs, now fully restored and ready to meet a new audience craving the director’s particular flair for the anarchic skewering of ruling elites.

An ambassador and his bourgeois pals try to dine together again and again as circumstances, carnal and otherwise, intervene. Starring major French actors and Buñuel stalwarts Fernando Rey, Jean-Pierre Cassel, Stéphane Audran, Paul Frankeur, and Delphine Seyrig, with a screenplay written by Buñuel and long-time collaborator Jean-Claude Carrière (Diary of a Chambermaid, La Piscine), Discreet Charm brims with humorous satire and incisive criticism expressed in ways that can only be described as “Buñuelian.”

“Frightening, funny, profound, and mysterious…Luis Buñuel’s 1972 comic masterpiece, about three well-to-do couples who try and fail to have a meal together, is perhaps the most perfectly achieved and executed of all his late French films.” ~ Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

   

“Extraordinarily funny and perfectly acted.” ~ Vincent Canby, The New York Times

“Buñuel’s art is as insolent as ever. The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie is a deeply funny movie, as a viewing experience it’s like walking across a perilous, sway little bridge whose guide rails periodically snatched away.” ~ David Denby, The Atlantic

“I had forgotten just how spooky the dream scenes are; Buñuel could have been a master of horror, or a great farceur. As it was, he was simply Bunuel, which is cause enough for celebration.” ~ Anthony Lane, The Independent

“Dreams nest within other dreams like so many Chinese puzzle boxes, while no dream belongs exclusively to a single dreamer, as though Bunuel were toying with the Jungian notion of the collective unconscious.” ~ Budd Wilkins, Slant Magazine

“An exotic and brilliant hothouse flower of a film.” ~ Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian

“Manages to be totally surreal yet totally approachable. Quite amazing.” ~ David Jenkins, Little White Lies

“Take a look again at its dream sequences, especially the nocturnal one involving the young man in the side street, and you will see a master disturber still at work.” ~ Peter Rainer, New York Magazine/Vulture

“An absurdly comic assault on the meaningless social rituals and polite hypocrisies of the upper middle class.” ~ Gary Dowell, Dallas Morning News

“This has to be one of the most completely realized comedies ever made, and, in its odd way, one of the most civilized.” ~ Charles Taylor, Salon.com

“Strange, wacky, funny, and tragic — and, on an incidental personal note, Discreet Charm is the movie that made me realize I was in love with movies.” ~ Marjorie Baumgarten, Austin Chronicle

“It combines a masterful command of the medium with a mischievous, anarchic sense of imaginative freedom.” ~ A.O. Scott,  New York Times

“Boasts one of the best titles in movie history and a cast to match.” ~ J. Hoberman, Village Voice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A3bnal75aY

Promote the general welfare: mask against COVID.

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From Laemmle Theatres President Greg Laemmle:

     As we are going to press with this week’s eNews, we don’t know what, if anything, will be mandated by the L.A. County Department of Public Health.  But we believe in the rule of law. And if the agency that is charged with protecting and promoting health in this county determines that indoor masking is required under the current circumstances, we hope that you will join us in respecting their knowledge and experience in the field of epidemiology, and comply with the regulations. Scientists aren’t infallible. But they know more about the subject at hand than some clown with a podcast.
     But beyond the question of mandates and their effectiveness as implemented in this country, let’s just consider some basic science about the spread of airborne viruses.
     We believe that wearing a proper-fitting mask does provide protection. Protection for the wearer. And ,perhaps more importantly, protection for others in the auditorium if the wearer is unknowingly infected.
     When I’m in a crowded theatre, I wear one. Ditto for when I’m on a plane or a bus. It’s really not a big deal.
     For most people, and especially those who are vaccinated and boosted, getting infected does not seem to lead to great risk of hospitalization or death. This is especially true given the availability of treatment options like Paxlovid. But the new variant is highly contagious, and there are still people who are getting ill and dying from this virus.
     Leaving aside the question of government intrusion on issues of personal health and safety (which necessitates opening up a huge can of worms these days), can’t we all just see that it would benefit the common good to help slow the spread of this disease?
     It’s right there in the Preamble. “…promote the general Welfare…” Yes, that’s a power that we entrust to the government that we are (deliberate use of present tense) establishing. But it’s also one of the prime reasons why we are agreeing to this communal endeavor that is the United States. Because we care about each other, and we can accomplish more and greater things as a country if we show that care and compassion.
     So mandated, not mandated, vaccinated, not vaccinated, whatever. If you’re in a theatre, and there are others close by, please mask up. Every little bit helps.

More on movie reviews: Ira Deutchman on “Seven Ways The New York Times Could Help Save Theatrical Moviegoing and Its Own Bottom Line.”

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     Last month we pleaded with the L.A. Times to restore its film section to greatness by again reviewing all theatrical releases instead of just the latest Hollywood blockbuster and occasionally one foreign, indie or documentary feature. The Times is, after all, our city’s paper of record. To earn and hold that title means thorough coverage of arts and culture, and the Times cannot claim to be a serious major daily if it gives short shrift to Los Angeles’ main artistic and cultural export.
     Since we spoke out, the Times has published some reviews of under-the-radar titles (like She Will and Murana) but ignored others that were just as worthy of serious critical attention (Olga and A Man of Integrity, for example). Film reviews are an essential aspect of film marketing to bring attention to movies released by distributors that don’t have the money to compete with major studio releases for people’s attention. The end result will be indie movie theaters like Laemmle going the way of small record shops and bookstores, diminishing cities’ cultural vibrancy. The Times has a major role to play here.
     Unfortunately, it looks like the problem is spreading to an even higher profile outlet, the New York Times. Ira Deutchman just posted a piece on his blog that’s worth a read. It’s headlined Seven Ways The New York Times Could Help Save Theatrical Moviegoing and Its Own Bottom Line. Ira is a long-time indie film executive who is also a filmmaker (Searching for Mr. Rugoff) and an associate professor of film at Columbia University so he has a unique and authoritative perspective on this topic and goes into much more detail with ideas beyond just maintaining the role of film criticism. We hope you’ll read Ira’s piece and share it with the L.A Times editors. It’s good food for thought and perhaps will instill in them a sense of civic responsibility.

Eat, Bray, Love? Best Actress Award-winning French romantic comedy MY DONKEY, MY LOVER, & I opens July 22.

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Perfect light fare for the season, the French romantic comedy My Donkey, My Lover, & I follows delightfully zany schoolteacher Antoinette (Laure Calamy of Call My Agent, who won the Best Actress César Award for this charming, funny performance). Antoinette’s vacation plans with her married lover, Vladimir (Benjamin Lavernhe), are ruined when his wife (Olivia Côte) books a surprise hiking trip. On an impulse, Antonette heads to the same mountainous region of the Cévennes National Park where Vladimir and his family are headed, with a hiking itinerary inspired by Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic 1878 memoir Travels with a Donkey in the Cévennes. Completely unversed in the ways of the wilderness, Antoinette forges quick bonds with her rental donkey, Patrick, and several offbeat fellow travelers, as she poignantly and uproariously stumbles towards self-revelation and independence. Take a vicarious summer vacation to the south of French at the Royal and Town Center starting July 22 and the Claremont and Newhall starting July 29.

“In a Paris primary school, a class of eight-year-olds sit behind their desks, eyes squeezed shut, counting to 20. At the back of the room their teacher, Antoinette (Laure Calamy), is getting undressed, slipping into silk frock for the school concert. “It’s not too much?” she asks the pupils. She’s having an affair with one of the dads – he’s married. Thus, with unparalleled Frenchness, begins this easygoing, warm comedy following Antoinette as she accidentally-on-purpose goes on the same donkey-trekking holiday as her lover’s family. As Antoinette bonds with her donkey, the movie evolves from gentle farce to journey of emotional growth. You might call it Eat Bray, Love – except it’s European, so there’s less pseudo-spiritual self-discovery and more drunken snogging…Calamy really grounds the movie with her funny, generous performance.” ~ Leslie Felperin, Guardian

“Calamy’s performance has rightly been awarded for its superb shading, but let’s not forget the donkey, brilliant as her straight man. Who says nobody likes a smart ass?” ~ Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PJppz7vDAs