No Film Week: Jan. 27-Feb. 2

The Big Game is next Sunday and I think we’re all pretty pumped for sports! From forward passes to drop kicks, football has seen it all. And maybe if we’re lucky, we might get a few of those classic football follies that are the real reason we all tune in. From butt follies to lateral follies, football players, and specifically the Jets, are goofing all over the gridiron- and that’s exactly how I like it. Hopefully the two big teams in this year’s Big Game can capture some of that Gang Green magic and split their pants open or step on a series of rakes. Also there are movies this week, I guess:

Series:

• Film Forum’s Black Women: Trailblazing African American Actresses & Images 1920-2001

• Film Forum’s Homage to Anna Karina

• Lincoln Center’s New York Jewish Film Festival

• MoMA’s American Indies: 1980-1989

• MoMA’s “Now We Think as We Fuck”: Queer Liberation to Activism

Monday, Jan. 27:

• Ella Sings the Gershwin Songbook- 6:40pm- A compilation of concert footage of Ella Fitzgerald presented by jazz author, Will Friedwald. Film Forum

• Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping Sing-Along- 9:30pm- “I instantly connected with that, because I’m probably the most humble person that I know” - Mariah Carey. Alamo Drafthouse

• Branded to Kill- 10:30pm- Gonzo 60s yakuza movie where the main character shoots someone up through their sink drain pipe and gets horny from the smell of boiling rice. It’s amazing. Metrograph

Tuesday, Jan. 28:

• Smithereens in 35mm- 6:30pm- Indie punk classic where Richard Hell, yet again, swoops in and steals the main character away from her boyfriend. And frankly, I’m sick and tired of this shit, Richard. MoMA

• La Grande Bouffe- 7:30pm- 70s broromance classic about four older men who decide to eat themselves to death in a crazy food/wine/prostitute-fueled weekend. FIAF

• Band of Outsiders- 9:20pm- Anna Karina and friends kill some time in Paris by seeing the sights. Film Forum

Wednesday, Jan. 29:

• Oscar Nominated Shorts 2020: Animation- 6:05pm- If you’re going to see any animated shorts this year, why not make them Oscar nominated? IFC Center

• For Sama- 7:30pm- Documentary about a woman’s experience in Aleppo, Syria during the civil war, as she has a child and tries to survive, all captured by her home footage. Nitehawk Prospect Park

• Killer Nun- 9:30pm- Alamo promises that this is “one of the most notorious nunsploitation films of all time”, so, you know, ticket please. Alamo Drafthouse

Thursday, Jan. 30:

• The Sex Garage & L.A. Plays Itself + Discussion with Halsted Biographer and his Niece- 6pm- Two films by gay erotic director Fred Halsted, which includes the first time a person had ever been fisted on screen. So, you know, ticket please. MoMA

• Gone in 60 Seconds in 35mm- 7pm- God, I wish that this movie also had 8 blockbuster sequels like The Fast and the Furious. Roxy Cinema

• Mondo Manhattan- 7:30pm- “You ever hear about a band called Chain Gang? They made a movie, it’s called Mondo Manhattan.” Spectacle

Friday, Jan. 31:

• Parasite (in Black and White)- 6:30pm- Bong Joon-ho is in his heat check moment, releasing Parasite in black and white. I can’t wait for the rotoscoped version. Lincoln Center

• Jojo Rabbit + Q&A with Director- 7pm- Taika Waititi demands you prove your loyalty by watching Jojo Rabbit before he will do a Q&A with you. City Cinemas

• Häxan in 35mm + Actual Satanic Ritual- 8pm- Swedish satanic classic from the 20s, followed by- wait, what the fuck- an actual black mass ritual and lecture by Satanic Temple co-founder Lucien Greaves (can’t be his real name). Ticket please. Anthology Film Archives

Saturday, Feb. 1:

• Henry Fool + Q&A with Director- 4pm- Hal Hartley is in person with his movie about a genius garbage man who publishes an epic poem. How you like those apples, Will Hunting, you math janitor hack. Metrograph

• Chan is Missing in 35mm- 4:30pm- Asian-American film classic about two San Francisans trying to find Chan, who is missing. With their money. MoMA

• Incitement + Q&A with Director and Yitzhak Rabin’s Daughter- 8pm- Israeli film about the pressures that pushed Yigal Amir to assassinate Yitzhak Rabin in 1995. Which you can watch with the director and...Rabin’s daughter? Which sounds awkward but should be a hell of a Q&A. Angelika

Sunday, Feb. 2:

• The Big Game 2020 at Williamsburg and Prospect Park- 6:30pm- Go follies! And $30 food and beverage vouchers! Nitehawk Williamsburg/Prospect Park

• The Big Game- 6:30pm- Follies! Follies! Follies! Syndicated

• Ikarie XB-1- 7pm- MoMI decided to go with some Big Game-counterprogramming: a classic socialist Czech sci-fi movie. But on the plus side: it has tons of space follies. Or maybe I’m thinking of Airplane 2. No, I’m pretty sure it was Ikarie XB-1. Museum of Moving Image

What Else is Playing:

• Beanpole

• Citizen K

• Color Out of Space

• Invisible Life

• Marriage Story

• Mephisto

• Parasit

• Uncut Gems

• Zombi Child

What to Plan on:

The Film Forum’s Black Women film retrospective is going on now and ends Feb. 13, just in time to hand the baton to the MoMA, which starts its film series It’s All in Me: Black Heroines on Feb. 20. There is some overlap (Strange Days and Jackie Brown) but for the most part, it’s a different selection of films spanning from 1907 to 2018. And that 1907 movie looks really weird- a 9 min short called Laughing Gas about a servant who can’t stop laughing at the dentist’s office. Which I can only assume is terrifying for a number of reasons.