Hudson Valley Crucial Viewing: September 27- October 10

Hello fellow movie heads, and welcome to the newest installation of Hudson Valley Crucial Viewing. As autumn (and the leaf-peepers) descend on our area, so too do some excellent repertory viewing options. That also goes for us over here at KFF, as we mount our first ever outdoor screening in Kingston! Come out and see Moonstruck for free at Midtown Linear Park on October 6. Bel will elaborate on why you should, in this week’s edition of…

Thomas von Steinaecker’s WERNER HERZOG: RADICAL DREAMER
TSL, Hudson – Saturday, September 28, 2:00pm

If you’ve always been puzzled by the ubiquity of Werner Herzog in popular culture, all I can say is this 2022 documentary is a really good place to start to understand him. These days I worry Herzog’s name is more associated with insane word of mouth anecdotes and memeable, existentialist quotes than his actual oeuvre as a filmmaker, but if those memes make at least one person who sees them watch a film of his, I’m happy. Radical Dreamer catalogs much of Herzog’s early career, cutting together onset footage from his early films alongside talking head interviews with familiar Hollywood faces. The best parts, for me, are the interviews with Herzog himself, his lilting accent and dry observations charming, hilarious, and thought-provoking. I think Herzog can be misidentified as depressing or nihilistic. I often see quotes from him employed in the same way quotes from Hayao Miyazaki are – so brutal and frank that they become darkly funny. But Herzog’s filmmaking has always represented the boundless potential of movies. He is deeply invested in the natural world and the nature of power. His films often push humanity to its extremes, documenting our desire for control, even if it results in ruin. This film is certainly an uncritical love letter to him and his filmmaking, and one that is as interested in reifying his personal mythology as he is. Well worth the watch, whether you love him already or want to start. (2022, 90min)

Paul Cronin's A TIME TO STIR
w/ dir. Paul Cronin and protest leaders Carolyn “Rusti” Eisenberg and William Sales Jr. Starr, Rhinebeck – Sunday, September 29, 11:00am

I always love when there’s a bit of a thematic thruline between the weeks of this newsletter. If you saw The Conversation or Medium Cool (and wouldn’t that be a fun double feature if you missed them) A Time to Stir shouldn’t be missed. Paul Cronin’s documentary is a feat of archival research, editing, and historicizing. Posthumously documenting the 1968 occupation of Columbia University, the version showing at Starr is carefully cut down to 90 minutes. At its most complete, the film is 15 hours long. If you can sit through a Ken Burns series you can certainly spend an hour and a half with this. Cronin is known, among other credits, for his documentary on the making of Medium Cool, and his attention to detail and coherency in breaking down the week long protest create a fascinating, detailed account. A Time to Stir is half ethnography half doc, placing participants and their recounting at the forefront, subsidizing it with incredible archival footage to shed light on a confusing, often mischaracterized event that’s pivotal to the American history of dissent. Cronin will be at the screening along with two of the protest leaders, “Rusti” Eisenberg and William Sales Jr. It’s worth the price of entry for the conversation alone, but it’s also an extremely prescient film given the rise of campus protests this year. Critical viewing, without a doubt. (2018, 90min)

David Lynch's ERASERHEAD
Rosendale Theatre, Rosendale – Wednesday, October 2, 7:00pm

We get a strong start to the Halloween second-run season with Eraserhead. It’s always unbelievable to me that this is Lynch’s debut feature. It was first introduced to me as a horror film, but I don’t really think that’s an appropriate genre placement. Most of Lynch’s films fail to adhere to any one genre, pastiching their way into a surreal place all their own (hence “Lynchian”), but Eraserhead still feels like it belongs elsewhere. Part family drama, part body horror nightmare, part meditative character study. Behind all of its disturbed images and strangeness, it has an immense amount of humanity. The anxiety of dreams, the fears we all have about expectations for ourselves, no matter what our expectations are, are perfectly encapsulated here. Visually too, it’s still the most striking of all of Lynch’s films for me. I’ll never forget seeing the promotional images for the first time. Jack Nance’s head lit from below, his Bride of Frankenstein-esque hair frizzing out into the smoky background. I want another Lynch film in black & white (I know we got What Did Jack Do? but I’d love a feature…) I could go on about this movie for so much longer but I’ve got to try and keep it concise. I’ll leave you with two things: first, this fantastic interview with Lynch from Chris Rodley’s book Lynch/Lynch; second, this clip of Lynch with the five Woodie the Woodpecker dolls he had in his trailer during the filming of Eraserhead. That’s all, thanks. (1977, 117min)

John Carpenter’s THE THING
Story Screen, Hudson – Saturday, October 5, 7:00pm

In the back of my head I keep thinking that I’ve gotten the opportunity to write about John Carpenter already for this newsletter, but every time I dig through my poorly managed computer files I realize I’m imagining things. Maybe it’s because I just think about him, like, a lot. Carpenter and Cronenberg were probably the two directors that really helped me bite the horror bullet. I was a scaredy cat as a kid. My best friend’s mother was a literature professor whose focus was horror, and I remember a hundred terrified trips to the bathroom during sleepovers, trying to cover my eyes when I passed the living room, where she could always be found watching everything from Rosemary’s Baby to Chucky. It wasn’t until I was a teenager, determined to grow up a little bit, that I started to dip my toes in. Carpenter’s grasp on pacing, sound design, and composition helped ease me into the genre. The Thing will last forever as one of the greatest horror movies of all time. While we slog through an era of “elevated” horror, the simplicity of the plot, the disgusting, practical effects that bring the titular creature to life, and its confined setting remind me of why I wish we could maybe just chill out a little bit. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good highbrow horror, but I think we could lean back on the genre roots a little more (without just falling into the bad remake hole.) And this film has been referenced to hell and back. One of the best X-files episodes of all time is a knockoff of The Thing. If you’ve been wanting to get scared, to feel uneasy, and to be left wondering if the ending is actually good or bad in a satisfying way, why not treat yourself to watching this on the big screen again. (1982, 109min)

Norman Jewison's MOONSTRUCK
Midtown Linear Park, Kingston – Sunday, October 6, 7:00pm

When Brian told me that I was going to get to write about Moonstruck this week I kind of freaked out. This is a perfect movie. I’m not even going to caveat it by saying “I think” it is. I don’t think it is, I know it is. I was almost going to say screw the word count and just turn over a long-read piece to Brian for you all to suffer through, but I’ve gotten myself under control. There’s a million ways to start when it comes to this movie and why it’s so great, but I’m going to try and keep it short and sweet. I’m gonna make you a list of why this movie rocks and why you absolutely have to go see it.

1. One of the greatest movie houses of all time. I know I’ve written about great movie houses before (see: my write-up on Practical Magic back in July) and this is no exception. It was shot in a real, single-family brownstone in New York. It went on the market during Covid lockdown and you know I took a digital tour (more than once, if I’m being honest.) It’s my dream house. I bet if you really looked inside of yourself, it’s probably your dream house, too. The kitchen! The breakfast nook! The views! Ugh.

2. Infinitely quotable. “I lost my hand! I lost my bride!” I think about lines from this movie, like, probably once a day. It manages to strike the perfect balance of having extremely real-feeling characters saying the most insane, poetic, ridiculous things imaginable and you, having decided to allow yourself into their world, fall into it without any need to suspend your disbelief. In the world of Moonstruck you can fall in love in a day, the moon makes you crazy, and Cher is only beautiful when she gets her greys dyed. I love the fantasy, I love the romance, I love to be swept off my feet. 

3. Nic Cage is 23! He was 23 in this movie! And he’s fantastic. That’s it.

4. You’ve gotta love a movie about a place and this is, I gotta say, probably in the top 5 movies about New York. The city holds the characters so snugly inside of it, it really couldn’t be set anywhere else. It captures the dynamics of a multigenerational Italian family with as much love and care as Scorsese does, and respects the city like Cassavetes or (loathe though I am to say it) Woody Allen. It belongs with the greats.

5. Even Channing Tatum loves this movie. 

I have to cut myself off there otherwise this newsletter will never end. Like I said, there’s a thousand more things to say about it, and all of what I’ve already noted, but I can’t go on forever (unless you want me to, let me know. I’ve been itching to launch a substack like every other freelance writer on the planet.) Just go watch it, okay? (1987, 102min)