“Grave of the Fireflies” plays at Sundance this Thursday. Miraculously, tickets are still available.
The final three days of the Festival begin today — and yes, I do enjoy arbitrary timelines. Last year, Sunday would have been the final night of the festival. So there’s already thanks to give this next Turkey Day.
Last week, we highlighted five films with tickets still available. This week, we’ll showcase a few more, but this is only a taste. The Wisconsin Film Fest’s Twitter account has been doing a saintly job of, among other things, providing updates on available rush tickets. Despite selling out, last weekend’s screening of Leviathan had over 75 seats available. That’s nuts, and it’s the kind of opportunity you can shamelessly take advantage of by following them. As usual, Rob Thomas of the Capital Times, Dane101, and the Isthmus are kicking some serious butt on this stuff.
WUD Film Presents: Girl Rising (Tuesday)
Richard Robbins’ story of nine separate girls and their nine experiences with arranged marriages is a collaboration among nine separate writers who wrote nine separate stories from their nine separate countries. Co-presented by the UW Dean of Students Office, Girl Rising screens at the Union South Marquee tonight at… 7:00. So close.
Arts Extract: Wisconsin Film Fest Edition (Tuesday)
This live recording of Madison’s Arts Extract podcast features a veritable Who’s Who of people much better at writing and talking about film than me. In general, it’s a trusty podcast worth checking out, and their live podcast at the University Bookstore in Hilldale Mall seems to be no exception. Featuring a critics panel, local comedy, music and plenty of insight, it also promises to feature plenty of Mark Riechers sweat. Why must everything start at 7:00 pm?
Banff Mountain Film Festival (Tuesday & Wednesday)
Yes, we were disappointed at first that this wasn’t the “BAMF Mountain” Film Festival, but Canada’s Bannf Centre is showing a number of mountaineering-themed films at the Barrymore Theater tonight and tomorrow at 7:00 pm. Tickets are $12 in advance, $14 at the door, and free if you reach the top of Madison’s highest peak, Mt. Capitol Building.
Wisconsin Film Festival: Les Dame en vacences & Everybody in Our Family (Wednesday)
The fun continues with two more festival shows that still have tickets available. The Romanian drama Everybody in Our Family plays at Sundance at 2:00 pm, was critically acclaimed by Film Comment magazine and received an A+ from IndieWire.
There’s also a pair of New Wave-inspired featurettes in Les Dames en vacences, which may or may not be French for “Romantic short films that play at Sundance at 4:30 pm.”
WUD Film Presents: A Cat in Paris (Wednesday)
At last you have the chance to actually watch an Academy Award-nominated animated feature that isn’t by Pixar! Honestly, take advantage and catch A Cat in Paris at 7:00 pm at the Union South Marquee. Because the only thing more annoying than tracking down these rarer Oscar nominees is listening to Billy Crystal’s jokes about how rough it is to live in a world with all this Tweetering nonsense. *shudders*
UW Cinematheque, Hollywood Badgers and WUD Film Present: A Talk with Kent Jones (Thursday)
At 4:00 pm in Vilas Hall, critic, NY film Festival programmer, and filmmaker Kent Jones will deliver a talk about authorship in cinema. Jones’ many accomplishments include partnering with Martin Scorsese on several film history documentaries, and the event is free to the public. So no need to try and blend in with UW students with your fake hipster mustache.
Wisconsin Film Festival: Grave of the Fireflies (Thursday)
Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing sold out like some form of extremely warm cake, but Grave of the Fireflies still has tickets available. A fellow animator of the prolific Hayao Miyazaki, director Isao Takahata tells the story of a boy and his sister as they struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.
Sundance: Upstream Color (Friday)
Shane Carruth’s latest, greatest, and (probably) intellectually impenetrable film Upstream Color has something to do with discovering a new organism and pigs. Sounds like a great, probably confusing way to kick off Sundance’s latest Screening Room Calendar.
Cinematheque: The Rules of the Game (Friday)
No joke, I watched Criterion’s excellent transfer of this twice last week. That said, Renoir’s masterful critique of the French bourgeoise is so freakishly dense one might feel obligated to go to 4070 Vilas Hall at 7:00 pm anyway. No idea of what terrible things Jim Healy had to do to secure this on 35mm.
Opening Wide: Oblivion
If you’ve set foot near a theater in the past three months and feign ignorance on this latest film from Tron Legacy director Joseph Kosinski, you, sir or madam, are a poor liar. Rest assured that Tom Cruise will fully commit to convincing you of just how damn hard he’s working when he acts. Maybe that’s an incentive?
WUD Film and the UW Cinematheque present: Your entire weekend
Zero Dark Thirty (Friday, Saturday, Sunday), A Fistful of Dollars & Honor Flight (Saturday), Flash Gordon (Friday at Midnight), Stripes (Saturday at Midnight), Princess Mononoke (Sunday)
After Seth MacFarlane and Ted brought hundreds of adolescent boys into the cult of Flash Gordon, you too can bask in the bronzed, blonde glory of Sam Jones at Union South at midnight.
Here’s an assignment: Attend one of Union South’s four Zero Dark Thirty screenings and explain to us how Kathryn Bigelow got snubbed for a Best Director nomination. It’s April and quite frankly, I’m still frazzled about it.
PICK OF THE WEEK:
Once again, it’s the Wisconsin Film Festival. Only three days left, but there’s a ton to take in.
So pick a day, any day. M’kay?