Hudson Valley Crucial Viewing: June 7-June 20

Hey film fans! Shoutout to everyone who came to Tubby’s last Sunday for our Les Blank double feature. You packed the house and we had a great time! Here’s hoping we make our way back to Tubby’s soon. In the meantime, we’ve got two screenings in this edition, including our first drive-in screening, at the marvelous Hi-Way Drive-In in Coxsackie. Bel’s got the details below. Let’s get into…

Celine Sciamma's TOMBOY
Headstone Gallery, Kingston – Saturday, June 8, 7:30pm

I never quite know how to explain Celine Sciamma’s films to people when her name comes up in conversation. She’s probably most well-known for her 2019 film, Portrait of a Lady on Fire (which I saw twice in Rhinebeck when it made its way upstate). It feels almost reductive to say that Sciamma makes movies about women for women, but it does get to the heart of a lot of her filmography. Tomboy, though, is a bit of an outlier. An incredibly empathetic, prescient film for the current socio-political moment, it follows the life of a young french child who, after moving to a new neighborhood, is afforded the anonymity to explore their gender and identity. Tomboy is an exceptional example of a bildungsroman that manages to synthesize a uniquely transgender experience alongside the confusion and growing pains of femininity. Laure/Mickaël, the main character, represents experiences shared by children of any identity, focalized through a specific lens. That’s not to say that you can’t think of it as a transgender film, or a lesbian film, but to me more than anything (and why this film always manages to make my heart hurt) is that it perfectly captures youthful alienation, and the cruelty children are capable of when they are trying to find their place in the world. It also features some frankly incredible performances from its main cast of children. (2011, 84min)

Wim Wenders' ALICE IN THE CITIES
Orpheum, Saugerties – Sunday, June 9, 5:30pm

What do you think about when you think about Wim Wenders? For most people it’s probably the lushly colored and heartbreaking Paris, Texas. Or maybe, lately, it's Perfect Days, the only movie about public toilets that’s ever made you cry (don’t lie to me, I know it did). For me it’s always been Wings of Desire and its fantastical, haunting images, rendered beautifully by Henri Alekan. I don’t think Alice in the City, or either of its counterparts in Wenders’ “Road Movie” trilogy, tend to come to mind. Released from 1974 to 1976, all three films feel like precursors to what has shaped Wenders’ reputation as one of the best filmmakers of our time. Alice is almost a precursor to Paris, Texas, following a journalist who, after being tasked with caring for the young Alice by her mother, embarks on a journey to bring the girl home. The film itself feels at times like an aimless wander. We watch Philip, the journalist, struggle to complete his task and deliver Alice home, while reckoning with his own feelings of career failure. It’s that aimlessness, and the quietude of a long journey that seems to have no destination, that makes it feel so remarkable. You have to have patience, and be willing to sit with the silence, but if you do, you are presented with a beautiful meditation on connection, failure, and the lifelong struggle of knowing (or not knowing) where your journey is taking you. This screening also features a conversation with the incredible folk musician Sibylle Baier, who’s briefly featured in the film. This is going to be a particularly special one. I’ll see you all there. (1974, 110min)

Paul Verhoeven's ROBOCOP
Hi-Way Drive-In, Coxsackie – Monday, June 10, 8:30pm

I don’t know if you know this (I bet you do) but Paul Verhoeven is crazy. His films are consistently my favorites to show to people who do not spend most of their time watching movies made by maniacs. You never forget your first time seeing Showgirls, yanno?  Robocop is such a different film, both in tone and content, than the rest of the movies on this list, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t just as rife with meaning. Verhoeven is probably one of best (and probably my favorite) satirists of the last 50 years. It’s so easy to get caught up in the  blatant excess of his films that you can easily forget how much he has to say. Despite pretending at being a copaganda action flick, Robocop is a movie deeply critical of the fascist bent of police states. It wants you to leave thinking about the nature of humanity, of autonomy, of the ethics of cyborgs and technology, and the devastation of corporate greed. It also has incredible practical effects and some infamously over-the-top violence and gore. It’s a perfect 80s flick, I don’t know what else you want me to say. Bring a friend, eat some popcorn, read some Philip K. Dick before the screening. Watch Blade Runner afterward. Remember to tell everyone that the amazon robots are evil. You’re gonna have a great time. (1987, 103min)

Shaunak Sen's ALL THAT BREATHES
Vivekananda Retreat Ridgely, Stone Ridge – Thursday, June 15, 7:00pm

Brian here, hopping back in for this one. Gerry Harrington is a Hudson Valley programmer doing great work with his screening series Movies With Spirit. All the films in this series are shown at houses of worship, of different faiths/denominations, and some really interesting fare focused on the human spirit and its ability to endure. This month’s selection, All That Breathes, is a documentary about Muslim brothers Nadeem Shehzad and Mohammad Saud, who set up a makeshift bird hospital in their tiny New Delhi basement to care for injured black kite birds, many harmed by humans and climate change. As environmental toxicity and civil unrest escalate, the relationship between these brothers and the neglected kites forms a poetic chronicle of the city’s collapsing ecology and rising social tensions. The 2022 independent film earned 24 critic and festival awards, including the Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema–Documentary honor and the Cannes Film Festival’s Golden Eye top-documentary prize. Don’t miss it! (2022, 91min)

Barry Jenkins' MOONLIGHT
Bardavon 1869 Opera House, Poughkeepsie – Thursday, June 20, 7:30pm

Have the Oscars ever been as fun to watch as they were the year Moonlight won best picture? I might be exposing myself as a La La Land hater, but the image of Damien Chazelle being asked to hand over his statuette after the correct envelope was read out is seared in my brain. One of my favorite pop culture moments of the 2010s. In all seriousness though, I think we all should remember that we are lucky Moonlight was ever made. A bold, honest, and individualistic meditation on blackness, masculinity, queerness, and youth, Jenkins’ quiet, beautiful attention to detail and character still feels anomalous nearly a decade later. We always want to classify things into genre, to neatly box them into something readable, and it’s easy to call Moonlight a queer romance or a coming-of-age story. I think more than anything, it is an exceptionally well-rendered character study, and one that trusts its audience  enough to present its story through snapshots. Every moment in Chiron’s life is rendered so carefully, each section of the film so rich with detail, story, and context. I keep trying to conjure up which scene from this movie has stuck the most with me through the years, but it feels almost impossible to pick. It’s a movie you just let wash over you. (2016, 111min)