September is always an exciting time for filmgoing in the city, as I’m reminded by the release of the schedule for the annual Boston Film Festival. My experience in past years is that while crowds might flock to the big name films and the premiere nights, the rest get ignored. Which is a shame, because some of the better work really lies in the world-cinema offerings that often don’t make it to Boston. And the Loews Boston Common really gives the screenings the proper respect they deserve. Of course, figuring out which ones to attend requires some guesswork and extrapolation from the summaries in the Globe or the Phoenix (not up yet, but check back Thursday); who knows, the BFF may finally put a film list up themselves. So far I’m leaning toward Hungary’s Kontroll and the American indie release Unknown Soldier. Let’s hope the Festival can publicize itself better than in years past: it’s really an asset.
Meanwhile, I’ve wondered before if anyone would take advantage of the recent documentary boom to re-release Emile de Antonio’s work. Well, the powers that be at Harvard Film Archive have answered my plea with a de Antonio series, starting this weekend. So far the only film of his that I’ve seen is Point of Order, which is a brilliant piece of documentary minimalism, a retelling of the McCarthy-Army hearings that structures its argument with out a single shred of voiceover narration. It’s particularly worth seeing on the big screen, not simply because of limited video availability, but also because the projection of kinescope takes on a quality of its own. I’m eager to see In the Year of the Pig, often cited as his best work, as well as some of his looser, less compilation-driven work.
Finally, I should note that the Brattle is showing a brand new print of Jacque Tati’s Playtime. I’ve never seen it, but already I can tell I’m going to love the sets.
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