Earlier this year, Alex and I traded our season passes at the Alamo Drafthouse for an annual membership at the Roxie, the historic neighborhood theater down the street. Going to the movies has definitely been our main post-pandemic activity: a few-hour escape that we happily embark on with a dark room full of strangers, laughing and quietly crying together over buttery popcorn and hard seltzer. So, it's a real treat for us that San Francisco has top notch indie theaters that consistently show the coolest, most interesting, and weirdest filmsâthe Roxie being at the top of that list.
So, as a humble plug for our dear Roxie, here are some notable selections we've seen so far this year:
If you were wondering what movie is exactly my kind of movie, might I point you in the direction of Wim Wenders' PARIS, TEXAS. It's an atmospheric slow-burn, starring long drives through the American southwest, LA in the 1980s, diners and bars, and Ry Cooder's exquisitely moody slide guitar. And of course, Harry Dean Stanton, who I could easily watch wander the desert for hours on end. Sprinkled among the scenery there are some really tender moments between charactersâlittle things like looking through photo albums and enjoying a walk home from school, which I love. Ever since watching Paris, Texas I've been on the lookout for the soundtrack on vinyl, so if you have any leads, help a girl out!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gdx44jdkRw
Speaking of HDS and long drives, we also recently watched WILD AT HEARTâAlex for the third time in the theater, me for the first time. We've slowly been making our way through the David Lynch canon....s l o w l y, because each film takes a while to recover from. Wild at Heart's ending was surprisingly optimistic (I don't think I've seen any on-screen romance more pure than Sailor and Lula's), but I still left the theater with an overall sense of griminess and despair. Just your average Lynch experience, I suppose. (PS - it's a very fun watch if you're a Twin Peaks fan, because at least half the cast is borrowed from the show.)
This scene though.....god, what a movie:
https://youtu.be/TZ8ar_wuHfI
Wild at Heart was part of a summer Lynch series centered around a new documentary called LYNCH/OZ, which explores the influence of The Wizard of Oz on David Lynch's work. It has the vibe of a multi-part YouTube series, with various filmmakers narrating their own takes on how Oz has influenced cinema (some of it questionable at times), filled with lots of movie clips that made our list of Movies to Watch even longer. An interesting watch.
One of my favorite Roxie cinema experiences was seeing Dashan Kong's JOURNEY TO THE WEST in a packed theater. It's an extraterrestrial romp that is equal parts absurd, earnest, and hilariousâone of those movies that's more fun when you can gasp aloud with everyone in the theater when things get weird. I'd love to watch it again but it seems hard to find (especially because it shares its name with one of the most popular Chinese novels of all time, as well as a different Journey to the West film). So, enjoy the only clip I could find with English subtitles:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-OAWAnEpYk
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Ok, and now that we're talking about extraterrestrials, a quick side note that of course we saw Asteroid City on opening weekend and of course we loved it. It technically doesn't really belong in this post because we saw it at the Alamo and not the Roxie, but I just wanted to tip my hat to Wes for ***SPOILER ALERT*** creating the most quirky, adorable UFO and alien to ever grace the screen. And to Alexandre Desplat for a perfect score within a perfect country western-flavored soundtrack.
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I had a lot of feelings about SUZUME, Makoto Shinkai's newest film. First of all, two of its main characters are an adorable cat and a living chair, which was the bait. And the whole door motif is very Cadets '05, which is so niche of an overlap that I'm sad the memes will never get made. The animation was gorgeous and the Japanese folklore weaved into the story was really cool, but unfortunately towards the end, the main character Suzume makes some decisions that kinda ruined the movie for me. âšď¸ Ah well, the first 2/3 of the film was a wonderful ride. I will not lie, some scenes involving the aforementioned cat and chair had me bawling in the theater. It's a real problem sometimes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UuwS0mTBNM
Like San Franciscans, the characters in MILLENNIUM ACTRESS talk about history in terms of earthquakes (earthquakes also played a big role in Suzume). I loved the way this movie approaches its main character's personal history and the way the story moves through time. If you put aside the slightly unrealistic premise (who spends their whole life chasing someone they met for like 5 minutes when they were a kid?), it's a beautifully told story. But really, the highlight for me was the banging score by Susumu Hirasawa!!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHzlOrEYDHY
A couple other notables: the quiet film SHOWING UP, a fictional week(ish) in the life of two Portland artists dealing with show deadlines, apartment problems, and an injured pigeon. Also in the category of Creative People Problems, my favorite part of YOU HURT MY FEELINGS was Julia Louis-Dreyfus unwrapping a giant cookie in a fancy showroom and drowning her misery in sugar while getting crumbs on a very expensive settee.
Upcoming at the Roxie: Ziggy Stardust & the Spiders from Mars (the full 1973 concert!), Harold and Maude, Midnight Cowboy, and CatVideoFest 2023. See you there?!