You only begin to understand why a name like Julia Roberts agrees to star in a crapfest like Mother’s Day, and other crapfests by Gary Marshall, when you consider that, once upon a time, the director also helmed Pretty Woman, the film that catapulted Roberts to global recognition. Ironically, the more she continues to honour the man, the more faustian the arrangement appears – viewed chronologically, it is a meta-sequel tale of an ageing high-class hooker working off an insurmountable debt to her pimp.
Otherwise, this is a rare week in which there’s no new superhero film – not even one. There is, however, a horror film about a doll that comes to life because it’s possessed by a … (excuse me while I slip into a coma). Unsurprisingly, The Boy is reportedly another crapfest, leaving just one promising new release.
Eye in the Sky is a British thriller from director Gavin Hood. Boasting Helen Mirren and the final on-screen performance from Alan Rickman, the film details the protracted procedure for a drone strike while addressing difficult questions concerning the future of modern warfare. See this week’s review.
The celebrations of Lars von Trier’s 60th birthday continue at Cinemateket with Dogville on Saturday at 18:00 and its sequel Manderlay later at 21:30. They represent the first two parts in Trier’s as yet unfinished ‘America’ trilogy.
Meanwhile the Billy Wilder season enters its final stretch with the classic Hollywood dream-turned-nightmare Sunset Boulevard. Highly recommended on the big screen, it’s on Wednesday at 21:45.
On Sunday at 14:15, Cinemateket’s Danish on a Sunday series (always with English subs) is showing Bridgend (2015), Jeppe Rønde’s impressionistic chronicle of a suicide epidemic among the eponymous Welsh county’s youth (check out our two-star review at cphpost.dk). Tickets are 45-70 kroner and an extra 40 kroner will get you coffee and a pastry. For Cinemateket’s program, see dfi.dk/Filmhuset.
If all the above sounds a little dry, spice up your weekend with Huset’s Lust-O-Rama evening (huset-kbh.dk). Lust in the Dust stars notorious drag queen Divine (aka The Filthiest Person Alive) and starts Saturday at 20:00. Tickets are 80kr at the door.
