Welcome back to another fantastic edition of our weekly cliff-hanger drama known as Reel Psyched. Check out the films we’re super pumped to waste a couple of hours ogling this week. We’ve got a noirish screwball comedy made in Brooklyn, which is always fun to watch because you can be like– oh! I live there! or oh! I peed there! or oh! that used to be a cool neighborhood before it was occupied by tippling finance bros and their tarts! We’ve also got cops on the brains, always (and a film for that, too), a soft spot for ADD storytelling, a hankering for some Italian B films, and a forever and ever obsession with the nations of the Warsaw Pact.
Wild Canaries
This Brooklyn-based comic murder-mystery is getting a lot of attention because it’s just so wacky. Not like Wes Anderson wacky, but like Woody Allen wacky. It’s actually pretty cute looking, and yes we might be embarrassed to admit that. But remember that film Brick? I do. Unfortunately I made the mistake of, like, talking that film up to someone I didn’t know too well a couple of years back (of course, without having re-watched the film since my cerebral cortex finished developing). Big mistake. I think that ruined any potential relationship we could have had because that film did not age well, wow. But Wild Canaries seems to have all the charms of Brick (or at least all the charms I thought Brick had) without the heavy-handed dialogue. It’s a little bit noir, a little bit screwball, and appropriately whimsical and weird per its North Brooklyn vibes. Thursday, March 5 through Thursday, March 12 at IFC Center, various showtimes: $14
I Love A Man In Uniform
An actor who lands a roll playing a cop on TV crime drama begins to take his character studies a little too seriously when he immerses himself in cop life by posing as a cop. Looks to be a great exploration of authority-induced neuroses as well as a personal account of slipping into madness. Pay attention and you’ll see the filmmaker hints I Love A Man was inspired by Taxi Driver. Friday, March 6, Tuesday March, 17, and Thursday, March 26 at Spectacle Theater, various showtimes: $5 at the door
Wild Tales
Nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards, this collection of several separate stories profiles modern Argentinian life with a dark comic twist. There’s plenty of sex, violence, car crashes, and speaking with passionate hand gestures throughout each of the six short films within a film. Oh yeah, and it takes place in Argentina which means everyone in the film has gorgeous locks that are often utilized for stunning hair flips. Friday, March 6 through Thursday, March 12 at Nitehawk Cinema: $11
Strange Bedfellows: Alberto Cavallone Series
Trailer is most likely NSFW if you’re a suit or deal in childrens
Italian B movies are where it’s at and who other than the people at Spectacle would bring it to you on the big screen for cheap? This weekend catch the three-part series dedicated to the work of director Alberto Cavallone whose cinematic output is surreal, erotic, and straight up super freaky. These three films: Man, Woman, & Beast; Blue Movie; and Blow Job were filmed sequentially from 1977 to 1980 and are Cavallone’s best films before he spiraled downward into making mostly just porn (or as Wikipedia puts it, “porn with plots.”) So grab a date, some snacksies, and head to the cinema for some arty cuts of pouty babes and grabby guys. Friday, March 6 through Tuesday March 31, various screenings at Spectacle Theater: $5 at the door
(Still from Marc’s 1981 film, Ne pozabi na kri)
Avant-Garde Cinema From Ex-Yugoslavia
A movement that until now has been largely ignored by the independent film establishment in the U.S., avant-garde cinema from the former Yugoslavia is getting a showcase of its own at Anthology Film Archives (the film geeks’ way of saying, “we’re sorry we wronged you.”) It’s kind of a wonder actually, given the relatively loose art and cultural censorship practices in Socialist Yugoslavia compared to the USSR and other Eastern Bloc countries. Work from the 1950s until the 1980s is drawn from three of the former republics of Yugoslavia are represented at separate events at this showcase including Slovenia, Croatia, and Serbia. Check out 8mm experiments by Karpo Godina and Davorin Marc (two Slovenian filmmakers from very different eras) for a glimpse into Yugoslavian countercultural sensibilities (Godina was something of a hippie and Marc was into punk). Friday, March 6 through Sunday March, 8 at Anthology Film Archives: $10
