CineFile is our weekly digest of the best in Dallas’ under-the-radar cinematic fare—from indie movies, to documentaries, to foreign films, to re-screenings of the (cult) classics. Here’s what you could be watching:
God Grew Tired of Us (2006)
Documentary
Dir.: Christopher Dillon Quinn
Runtime: 89 min.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Friday, December 7, at 4 pm
This Sundance Film Festival jury- and audience-award-winner tracks three of the 20,000 Lost Boys of Sudan—3- to 13-year-olds, who were orphaned by a civil war and subsequently trekked barefoot across sub-Saharan Africa to a UN refugee camp in Kenya. The protagonists, though, continue their journey, as they are selected to resettle in the United States, where they encounter electricity, running water, and supermarkets for the first time. (And—not that this should make a difference, but you know how it is—the documentary is narrated by Nicole Kidman.)
The screening commemorates Human Rights Day (which, says Debbie Downer, is actually on December 10).
Capital (2012)
Drama
Dir.: Costa-Gavras
Runtime: 114 min.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
Friday, December 6, at 6 and 8 pm
Sunday, December 8, at 12, 2, and 4 pm
Greek-French filmmaker Costa-Gavras (Z, Missing) has toyed with politically touchy subject matter for five decades. His most recent, Capital, is a stab at the esoteric world of global finance, which he treats with drama, tension, and characteristic bite. Here’s our review.
Bring your reading glasses: French, with English subtitles.
R… Rajkumar (2013)
Action, Comedy, Romance
Dir.: Prabhu Deva
Runtime: 146 min.
FunAsia Richardson – Showtimes
Hollywood Theaters – Showtimes
This Bollywood masala movie (meaning, a smattering of every genre) was titled “Rambo Rajkumar” before Hollywood served a buzz-killing cease-and-desist letter. Now, it is called “R… Rajkumar,” and the movie is said to cheekily reference the legal mishap throughout. It’s the kind of self-consciousness you expect from commercial Hindi cinema, in which stars play themselves and spectacle trumps story. Come for a minimal plot (boy meets girl + hero versus villain) and maximal bombast (hyperbolic action, campy humor, and outrageous dance numbers).
More reading: Hindi, with English subtitles.
East Nashville Tonight (2013)
Documentary
Dirs.: the Barnes Brothers
Runtime: 85 min.
The Texas Theatre
Saturday, December 7, at 7 p.m.
Brooklyn-based Barnes Brothers’ “hypothetical documentary” is “hypothetical” because its intimate account of the struggle of East Nashville, TN, alt-country songwriters didn’t really pan out. Instead, we get a glorified home video of the songwriters’ boozy, drug-fueled, profanity-laced, musically punctuated escapades. (Which is probably a fair trade-off.)
If you happen to fall in love with incorrigible stars Todd Snider and Elizabeth Cook, you’re in luck: They’re in the house for a Q&A after the screening.
Live at the Foxes Den (2013)
Drama
Dir.: Michael Kristoff
Runtime: 103 min.
The Texas Theatre
Monday, December 9, at 7 p.m.
A Los Angeles corporate attorney (played by Jackson Rathbone, aka The Twilight Saga’s perpetual deer in the headlights, Jasper Hale) leaves the law to become a crooner at an old-school piano lounge called the Foxes Den. Remind yourself why Elliot Gould (as a gregarious, gay Foxes Den regular) is a gangster, and (you better believe this allusion is coming) find out what the fox says.
Boogie Nights (1997)
Drama
Dir.: Paul Thomas Anderson
Runtime: 155 min.
The Magnolia
Tuesday, December 10, at 7:30 p.m.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakout film was this exuberant and ambitious take on the 1970s Golden Age of Porn. It centers on Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg), a John Holmes–inspired outsider who accidentally takes the industry by storm. He’s joined by an army of colorful porn personalities (rendered by a formidable ensemble cast—Burt Reynolds, Julianne Moore, Don Cheadle, and many more). It’s sometimes funny, always dark, and it’s the first major example of the auteur Anderson’s sensibility and thematic preoccupations. And Heather Graham on roller skates.
