A scene from “Refect Days,” screening this weekend at PMA Films. Photo courtesy of NEON
In any average Maine moviegoing week, there’s a wealth of choices for the discriminating film fan. Screenings, festivals, the occasional hard-to-define movie-related event – the choices are endless, and we work overtime to keep your options flowing. So here are our picks for this week, including a couple of major Oscar players (the Academy Awards ceremony is on Sunday), a typically fascinating art documentary playing at Space and a pair of destination movie events well worth a trip.
‘PERFECT DAYS’
Where to see it: Friday through Sunday, PMA Films, 7 Congress Square, Portland; $10/$7 for PMA members and students; $6 matinees for all attendees; see portlandmuseum.org/films for showtimes
What it is: Director Wim Wenders was one of the most influential filmmakers of the so-called New German Cinema, the influential independent film movement that drew on the fraught history of a country still reeling from its past, and uncertain about its future. Wenders’ 1970s-80s output was groundbreaking and breathtaking, with his films’ ennui-driven protagonists drifting through a seemingly haunted world looking for … something. His 1987 arthouse smash “Wings of Desire,” about a lonely angel (the great, late Bruno Ganz) relinquishing immortality for romantic and messy humanity remains a masterpiece, and if Wenders’ reputation faded, his singular sensibility remained trained on frequencies of co-mingled ugliness and beauty like no other. In this, his most acclaimed film in decades, Winders heads to Japan, following a solitary toilet cleaner (the amazing Kōji Hashimoto, in perhaps his finest role) encountering eclectic everyday characters as he wanders busy, noisy Tokyo with an eye toward the unexpected, his classic rock cassettes providing the soundtrack. Ruminative, exquisite, unexpectedly funny, and rewardingly meditative, it’s Wenders’ return to form.
Who it’s for: Fans of Wenders, Lou Reed (check the title) and cinematic comeback stories. Patient movie lovers who know that the best things are worth waiting for. People heading to Maine Film Center’s Oscar Soirée (see sidebar) who want to see this Oscar-nominated film ahead of time.
‘THE ZONE OF INTEREST’
Where to see it: Friday through Sunday, Eveningstar Cinema, 149 Maine St., Brunswick; $10 for each day’s 1:30 p.m. and 4:15 p.m. showings, $12 for adults for the 7 p.m. shows ($10 for seniors, students and kids); eveningstarcinema.com
What it is: Writer-director Jonathan Glazer has made a career out of turning genres inside out. “Sexy Beast” deconstructed crime movies, “Birth” upended the supernatural, and “Under the Skin” took the alien invasion flick to perhaps its darkest and most disquieting place. So when Glazer decided to tackle the Holocaust film in this drama based on the novel by Martin Amis (himself no slouch in reinventing fiction), all bets were on this tale of real-life concentration camp commandant Rudolph Höss, and all expectations were for something as revelatory as it was horrifying. From the critical response, that’s just what viewers are in for in this tale of a loving family man who builds an idyllic home for his wife and children in the literal smoke and shadow of a Nazi death camp. Steven Spielberg has called it the best Holocaust film since “Schindler’s List,” which might be a little braggy, but he’s earned the right.
Who it’s for: Brave moviegoers willing to stare unflinchingly into a master filmmaker’s depiction of the banality of pure, unblinking evil, Glazer’s film is a timely eye-opener. It’s also up for multiple Oscars, including Best Picture, so with the Academy Awards happening on Sunday, add that to your must-see checklist.
‘APOLONIA, APOLONIA’
Where to see it: 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 13, Space, 538 Congress St., Portland; $10/$7 for Space members
What it is: Apolonia Sokol is one of the most celebrated and debated figurative painters in the world, a young French artist who’s risen to the top of the art world on the backs of her stylized, intimate, autobiographically striking portraits of friends, lovers and herself. In Danish filmmaker Lea Glob’s 2023 documentary, the filmmaker follows the outspoken Sokol over 13 formative years as the painter navigates everything from conservative art tradition, body acceptance, feminism, sexuality and creative challenges. As with her paintings, Apolonia Sokol is a fascinatingly confrontational figure unwilling to compromise in a world seemingly built on compromise.
Who it’s for: All manner of art lovers, for certain, especially women artists (attention Maine College of Art and Design students) who can relate all too well to Sokol’s professional, artistic and personal struggles in a capitalist, patriarchal society.
Dennis Perkins is a freelance writer who lives in Auburn with his wife and cat.
OTHER FILM EVENTS THIS WEEK
Women in the Wild Film Night
As February ended with its usual false sense of promise, rest assured that warmer weather is indeed coming. No better time to trek out to see this two-hour festival of women-led short films all about the great outdoors. Sponsored by the Maine Outdoor Film Festival and featuring seven outdoorsy shorts from all over the world, plus seltzer, beer and wine (with ID), this promises to be the perfect way to celebrate International Women’s Day.
7 p.m. Friday, Toad & Co.. 31 Diamond St., Portland, $15 in advance, $18 at the door. maineoutdoorfilmfestival.com
2024 Academy Awards Soirée
The Oscars are the biggest event in show business that frequently courts irrelevance by getting everything wrong and presenting a bloated, three-hour self-congratulatory industry back-pat. Honestly, watching the ceremony in a group is the only way to make this night tolerable, so come on out to this gala gathering of film fans at the outstanding Maine Film Center. There’s a red carpet, high fashion is fun and optional, catered refreshments make you feel like one of the glitterati, and there’s even a contest to pick the winners, with the best guesser receiving a free pass to this year’s Maine International Film Festival. That’s better than a shiny little statue any day of the week.
7 p.m. Sunday, Maine Film Center, 93 Main St., Waterville, $15. watervillecreates.org
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