Madison movie options narrow for everyone not interested in whaleship melodramas
Thursday
Cléo From 5 to 7 (7:00p — Union South Marquee)
When an oncologist and a fortune teller are saying you might have a cancer, it’s probably a good sign to start sorting threough your life’s affairs. That’s what happens to (Cléo) Corinne_Marchand in Agnès Varda’s 1962 existentialist tract. Featuring cameos from the likes of Anna Karina and Jean-Luc Godard, Cléo From 5 to 7 makes good on its title’s promise, playing out in sobering real-time as its titular popsinger awaits her fate, disjunctively during a time of day in French culture when lovers typically meet. (FREE.)
Elf Brew ‘n View (8:00p — Majestic Theatre)
In 2003, Will Ferrell dressed up like a little kid, pretended and everything was normal and a cult hit was born. Alongside Bad Santa Jon Favreau sweet-to-afault holiday comedy is perhaps the newest Christmas classic. And for good reason. Stcik Ferrell, as Buddy the Elf, in a sea of cynical fathers (James Caan) and Artie Lange Santas, and he turns into a wonderful, syrup-guzzling ball of excitement. ($6 admission. $8 day of)
Friday
Stations of the Cross (7:00p — Alicia Ashman Branch Library)
As its title belies, Director Dietrich Brüggemann is committed to recreating the journey of Christ’s crucifixion via fourteen individual long takes. From our original Wisconsin Film Festival review (FREE):
Although the European female character studies of Ida (Poland in 1962) and Stations (Germany in 2014) each establish pious parallels, the latter emerges as a more pervasive and scathing indictment of fundamentalism and in living by an immovable doctrine, which is handled with a blunt satirical edge. A sense of resignation or martyrdom marks the divisive film’s premeditation that infatuates as often as it intimidates.
Saturday
The Forbidden Room (7:30p — 4070 Vilas Hall)
Staying true to his penchant for blending the real and fictitious, My Winnipeg‘s Guy Maddin has conjured up his strangest curio yet, an assemblage of faux silent films that more or less bleed into one another in a dreamy, cascading fashion. The Forbidden Room culls from vivid Technicolor-esque imagery, giallo and even music video tropes for what sounds like a profoundly unique filmmaking experience. Cinematheque’s fall showcase brings. Madison audiences what is likely to be their only chance to see one of the best-reviewed films of 2015. (FREE.)
Tuesday
RiffTrax Live: Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny (7:30p — Point)
What’s worse than holiday travel? Holiday travel in Florida. After getting his winter sleigh mired in the sandy beaches of “America’s nut sack,” Santa Claus entertains the children trying to help him get back to the North Pole with a bullshit story-within-a-story that involves Thumbelina and Jack and the Beanstalk, both of which are films directed by Barry Mahon, who basically used this as a way to get his two children’s films into theaters. MST3K comedians Michael J. Nelson, Kevin Murphy and Bill Corbett recorded a second live commentary track for this one.