Movie Blog: This Week's Best Bets
The Twin Cities has no shortage of movie options this week. Seriously, dozens and dozens of films are screening at the international film festival in Minneapolis, and even if you're not in the mood for foreign fare, there's some really wonderful movies playing in local theaters. And since spring is still MIA, it's the perfect time to spend an evening -- or a festival day -- basking in cinema.
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Now Playing: To The Wonder (Uptown Theatre)
I quite liked this movie. While some don't think it's as impressive or meaningful as Tree of Life, Terrence Malick's last film, I found the director's latest to be heartbreakingly gorgeous and emotionally supercharged.
If you've never seen a Malick film, this may not be the place to start. But if you like love stories, Ben Affleck and wrestling with existential questions about how to live and love, To the Wonder is the best thing you can see this week.
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Wednesday, April 17: United in Anger: A History of ACT UP (Walker Art Center)
ACT UP (or the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power) was started in 1987 by a group of activists who passionately fought to bring media attention to what AIDS really was. At the time, it was thought to be a gay-only issue, which led to homophobia and the government turning a blind eye.
But through media savvy, ballsy exploits -- like taking over the FDA or staging a "die-in" at New York's St. Patrick's Cathedral -- ACT UP forced the nation to look at AIDS in a different, more human, way.
United in Anger, which features footage from both exploits mentioned above, tells the history of the ACT UP movement and also highlights the roles women and minorities played in it.
The doc's director, Jim Hubbard -- who is also a former Twin Cities resident -- will be at the Walker for a post-screening discussion. Good stuff.
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Friday, April 19, through Sunday, April 21: Amarcord (The Trylon Microcinema)
Amarcord is Italian movie titan Federico Fellini's bizarre, beautiful and hilarious reflection on childhood in Fascist Italy. It pits the desires of boyhood against the regulations of the church and Mussolini's state. The result is a personal and charming comedy that's got a bunch of wonderfully outrageous -- and weirdly memorable -- teenage sexual fantasies.
If La Dolce Vita didn't do much for you, put this in your pipe.
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Saturday, April 20: Caesar Must Die (St. Anthony Main)
Speaking of pipes...
Caesar Must Die, which is playing as part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, is probably not the first movie which comes to mind when you think 4/20.
It does, however, blur the line between reality and fiction, as it stars convicted criminals as they rehearse Shakespeare's Julius Caesar. (If that doesn't sound awesome, I don't know what does.)
I haven't seen it yet, but I'll post a review Saturday morning. If you are at all interested in seeing it this week, be sure to get tickets soon as Caesar Must Die has already been praised by critics the world over, and it's being marketed as a festival highlight. You can get tickets here.
