What I’m Seeing This Week: I pivoted to The Iron Claw last week for scheduling reasons, so Ferrari remains next up on my list. It is now playing at the Regal Ithaca Mall.
Also in Theaters: The Boy and the Heron, a dazzling inventive grown-up fairy tale which rates among director Hayao Miyazaki’s finest work, is back at Cinemapolis in both dubbed and subtitled versions and remains at the Regal with subtitles only. Poor Things, which continues its run at Cinemapolis, is a raunchy, steampunk-inflected ode to “practical love” which includes some of the years best images, sounds, and performances. The Iron Claw is a first-rate sports movie which will be at Cinemapolis for at least one more week. You can’t go wrong with any of them, so pick whichever one sounds the most like your jam! Among movies I haven’t yet seen, the one with the best buzz in the circles I run in after Ferrari is probably Godzilla Minus One, which is at the Regal.
Home Video: There are still two months to go before I write about my favorite films of the year on Oscar night since so many significant releases haven’t yet reached Ithaca, but the list is already starting to take shape. One title that will definitely appear on it is A Thousand and One, which is now streaming on Prime Video with a subscription and available for purchase on Blu-ray and DVD. “Well-executed period piece with a terrific female lead” describes a gratifyingly large number of recent films, but director A.V. Rockwell’s debut feature can stand toe to toe with any of them. Teyana Taylor is a force of nature and Spotify informs me that the opening theme by Gary Gunn was one of my most-listened-to songs of 2023, but maybe the most impressive thing about it is the way an empty apartment first gradually turns into a home, then suddenly becomes a haunted ruin.
Previous “Ithaca Film Journal” posts can be found here.
The Prodigal Cinephile 