What I’m Seeing This Week: I’m going to opt for the restored and remastered 4k version of Oldboy at Cinemapolis. I think I must have caught this at either the Manor or Squirrel Hill Theatre in Pittsburgh during its original theatrical run in 2005, but haven’t revisited it since. My backup plan if I find myself running behind schedule is the teen comedy Bottoms, which is garnering positive reviews and screening at the same location 45 minutes later in the evening on Saturday, Monday, and Wednesday.
Also in Theaters: It’s a great week for repertory fare in Ithaca! In addition to Oldboy being at Cinemapolis, Cornell Cinema is screening Beau Travail on Friday and Sunday as part of their “The Greatest Films of All Time?” series, which highlights top finishers in last year’s Sight & Sound Critics’ Poll. They will also show the Cuban film Death of a Bureaucrat on Thursday. Meanwhile, the Regal Ithaca Mall is featuring a trio of anniversary re-releases, including the wildly entertaining John Carpenter movie They Live (35 years old) and classic anime film Perfect Blue (25 years old) on Sunday and Wednesday and Jurassic Park (30 years old), one of the only movies my parents ever took me to see in theaters when I was a kid, all week. Looking just at 2023 films, my favorites are Oppenheimer, which is at both Cinemapolis and the Regal; Elemental, which is at the Regal; Passages, which is at Cinemapolis; and Asteroid City, which is at Cornell Cinema on Saturday and Thursday.
Home Video: I have been binging on films directed by Shōhei Imamura lately in preparation for a review. Eijanaika, which is available on the Criterion Channel with a subscription, rates as a Must See in my book. If you like that one, 1983 Palme d’Or winner The Ballad of Narayama is definitely worth the price of a $1.99 rental on Prime Video as well.
Additional “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 