Big Al: a Week in the Life of the Reverend Al Sharpton
Wednesday February 17, 7 pm at the Wythe Hotel: $11.50
Hey, it’s Black History Month which means we should be celebrating all kinds of incredible achievements from major badasses throughout American history. And, hey nothing against penis peanuts, but why don’t we give someone other than George Washington Carver a go for once? I’ll never, ever forget the look on my middle school teacher’s face when I told her, after reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X, I was considering converting to Islam– but what about some black icons who are part of our living history?
The No Filter Screening Series presents what they’re calling a “rare” gem, Big Al: a Week in the Life of the Reverend Al Sharpton, a documentary on the inimitable Baptist minister from Brownsville. The doc goes way back. Long before Sharpton was the Hollywood-skinny MSNBC anchor welcomed into every living room across America, he was a legit fire-tongued hell-raising (sent from heaven, of course) civil rights activist. As much as the doc celebrates Sharpton’s incredible achievements, it goes deep, raising some serious questions about the role that ego played in his activism.
Reverend Al Sharpton himself will be on hand for a post-screening conversation with Alan Feuer from the New York Times– yep, the same reporter who (hilariously) punned a Post writer into submission on Twitter when she accused him of using a “wanky” word. (Seriously, she was just begging for a peanuts penis joke.)
Les Saignantes (The Blood-lettes)
Saturday February 13 (10 pm), Monday February 22 and Sunday February 28, 7:30 pm at Spectacle: $5 always
Wow, Spectacle. You would have had us at “Cameroonian vampire flick,” but you went all the way with “African sci-fi vampire political satire with homoerotic overtones.” Do we even have to tell you that Les Saignantes is part of the Best of Best of Spectacle series? Didn’t think so.
A pair of BFFs, carrying out a sex-magic-charged threesome, accidentally kill a seriously powerful dude. Woopsies. Turns out the guy’s a politician, which in an endemically corrupt country, spells trouble. Thankfully, these BFFs are no ordinary extremely attractive young women, they’re vampires with special powers, which they utilize to their advantage in attempting to cover up the murder.
As you might have guessed from the description thus far, this is no ordinary movie, either. The cinematography proves to be equally as bizarre as the plot, after-midnight hues and shapeshifting Buffy the Vampire-esque vibes permeate this film.
Possession
February 12 through 14 at Anthology Film Archives: $10
Just in time for Valentine’s Day, it’s Possession– because, really, can you think of a greater romance than the one between Lucifer and his beautiful, idol rag dolls? The latter is played by French actress Isabelle Adjani in this 1981 psychothriller turned twisted paranormal nightmare. Adjani is Anna, the wife of a world traveling spy/ abusive jerk who wants out of their marriage. From the moment she declares her desire for a divorce, super strange and awful things begin to happen and it seems like Anna is losing not only her grip on marriage, but on reality too. She starts doing batshit stuff like trying to slit her own throat with an electric knife, and then begins to turn on her poor, awful husband.
Anthology calls Possession “a film of rampant and astonishingly sustained hysteria, its craziness equaled only by its fecund imagination and deep conviction.” Bring that loathsome Tinder boyfriend you’ve been wanting to get rid of, and in scenes where Anna lets out a heinous cackle, look him deeply in the eyes and do the same. He’ll be gone before the credits roll.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Friday February 12 and Saturday February 13 at Syndicated: $3
If for some reason you do want to cling to your significant other for dear life (Tinder’s full of creeps, yo), at least do it on the cheap. Um, don’t go see Once, playing on actual Valentine’s Day at Syndicated, because you’ll be immediately left for dead. But do go see the most romantic movie of all time screening the night before Valentine’s Day (dragging someone out to do something date-y on actual V-Day is just cruel and most awkward). Yes, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, starring Jim Carrey of The Mask and that actress from Titanic.
Spend the $3 and see how it goes, if you two still have nothing to talk about, stay for the double feature (it’s only $2 more), and see Forgetting Sarah Marshall, or some rom-com with that dude who (inexplicably) plays DF Dubbs in an entirely different movie. If neither of you have an opinion about that casting choice, then sorry, I can’t help you.