The Lobster tops a light week for movies in Madison
All freakin’ weekend
The Lobster (Sundance)
If you’ve seen Dogtooth, you’re already familiar with Yorgos Lanthimos and his blend of muted performances and repressed environments. His first English language feature imagines an Orwellian version of Match.com, forcing the recently dumped Colin Farrell’s David to find another suitable romantic partner or risk becoming whatever animal he first suggested to The Hotel’s pushy staff members at check-in. Eventually fleeing his “accommodations,” David quickly learns that those resisting the City’s coupling philosophy can be just as cruel, and peace might only rest in Rachel Weisz’s fellow escapee. Blunt characterization, polarizing bursts of violence, and a lachrymose orchestral soundtrack make The Lobster a darkly comedic experience; take our own “Missed Madison” review for it earlier this year. As this is likely to be Madison’s only theatrical presentation before it hits home video, why not take advantage of those $6 admission days at Hilldale?
Friday
Purgatorio: A Journey Into the Heart of the Border (7:00p — Hawthorne Library)
Part mosaic, part allegory, Rodrigo Reyes and David Fitch’s documentary surveys human stories of life on the U.S.-Mexico border via the sum of its parts. While Purgatorio depicts individual accounts — including haggard Mexican migrants in the Chihuahua and Sonora deserts, and a coroner responsible for the staggering body count — its separate stories tie into a broader allegory, with poetic narration drawing a tragic connection between The Divine Comedy and this very real limbo (FREE admission).
Sunday
The Deer Hunter (2:00p — Signe Skott Cooper Auditorium)
Beginning in a Pennsylvania steel town and ending somewhere inside the bowels of hell, Michael Cimino’s 180-min war drama doesn’t take a stance on the U.S. campaign in Vietnam so much as pick away at its trio of friends-turned-soldiers. Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken and John Cazale are irrevocably changed upon their return home. One only needs to brave the ironic Criterion inclusion Heaven’s Gate to see Cimino become a parody of his overindulgent self, but The Deer Hunter shows him at the top of his game. Likewise for Cazale, who would die from lung cancer shortly after principal photography finished. Admission is FREE for the “PTSD and Beyond” awareness series, with support from the UW–Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, the School of Nursing, UW Health and Unity Health Insurance.
Monday
Singin’ in the Rain (9:00p — Memorial Union Terrace)
WUD Film began announcing the schedule for the FREE “Lakside Cinema” summer series earlier today, and the inaugural Memorial Day screening features the irresistible classic on the Hollywood “talkie” boom.