What I’m Seeing This Week: I finally caught up with Shiva Baby, the harrowing first full-length collaboration between director Emma Seligman and star Rachel Sennott, on Max and am now excited to see their follow-up effort Bottoms at Cinemapolis!
Also in Theaters: I saw Blue Jean, which plays Cornell Cinema tonight and Monday, at the Gene Siskel Film Center this summer when I was in Chicago for a conference and recommend it for Rosey McEwan’s terrific performance in the lead role and as a generally impressive debut feature by director Georgia Oakley. There’s a John Carpenter film at the Regal Ithaca Mall for the second week in a row, which is awesome! This time they’re honoring the 40th anniversary of Christine with screenings on Wednesday and Friday. That’s also the only place in town where you can see the new Shah Rukh Khan vehicle Jawan. Finally, Oldboy, which is even more epically demented than I remembered, remains at Cinemapolis until at least Thursday.
Home Video: Last week I recommended two films directed by Shōhei Imamura, but was remiss in not mentioning a third: with Oppenheimer still in theaters, now is a perfect time to watch Black Rain, which Jonathan Rosenbaum called “one of the few movies that’s addressed Hiroshima without blinking.” It is now available on Mubi with a subscription as part of a double feature with The Ballad of Narayama. With director Yorgos Lanthimos’s Poor Things earning an eight-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival, I also recommended checking out 2017 Oscar nominee (for Best Original Screenplay) The Lobster on Max with a subscription.
Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 