We got a glimpse of WUD Film’s upcoming programming earlier this month when the Cinematheque released their fall calendar two weeks ago. The student-run Wisconsin Union Directorate’s Film Committee will continue to partner with the Cinematheque in bringing films to the Union South Marquee one Monday in September, October, and November — and this year’s features are of a considerably pulpy ilk.
In addition to Marquee Mondays this fall, WUD Film’s schedule offers visitors to Union South a chance at catching some of the year’s best art house fare. Amma Asante’s period drama Belle (Sept. 12 – 14) has enjoyed critical success this year in its telling of an illegitimate mixed-race daughter’s (Gugu Mbatha-Raw) proximity to abolitionist Britain. The schedule’s crown jewel, Jonathan Glazer’s icy, hypnotic sexual experiment Under the Skin (Sept. 5 – 6) subverts the male gaze while quietly offering the best coming-of-age story in years. Jodorowsky’s Dune (Sept. 26 – 27) and Wes Anderson’s wonderfully introspective The Grand Budapest Hotel (Sept. 18 – 21) also make for Sundance selections audiences might have missed over the summer.
This summer never offered spectacular wide releases to distract from the smaller stuff, save for a few bright spots. Godzilla (Sept. 25- 27) marked an early (if misleading) highlight in May and Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Sept. 11 – 13) is a tolerable if not spectacular addition to the Marvel onslaught. June’s adaptation of John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars plays Sept. 25 – 28 and the year’s second highest-grossing movie, The LEGO Movie (Sept. 5 – 7), is a guaranteed crowd pleaser after a Sett brew or four.
WUD’s schedule also features more peculiar selections in Brad Neely’s comedic Harry Potter send-up Wizard People, Dear Reader (Sept. 19) and the David Bowie/Jennifer Connelly/Jim Henson weirdness that is Labyrinth (Sept. 20). Michel Gondry’s Be Kind Rewind, which sets Mos Def video store clerks Yaslin Bey and Jack Black to recreating the VHS tapes they accidentally erase, and Wisconsin Film Festival alum Obvious Child (Sept. 18 – 20) features Gillian Robespierre directing Jenny Slate beyond a typical “abortion comedy” — Is there such a thing?
Of course, things wouldn’t be the same without the regular inclusion of Tommy Wiseau’s ironic midnight movie staple The Room (Sept. 5 – 6).
WUD Film’s fall screenings kick off on Friday, September 5. You can find a complete schedule at wudfilm.com