Category: Ithaca Film Journal

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.

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.