Sunday, May 1, 2016

Castro Theater's May 2016 Calendar

I haven't been writing much.  I'm still dealing with my father's estate and I was in a minor car accident in March which has taken up an outsized portion of my time & attention.  I've also been seeing quite a few movies and seeing a film always takes precedence over writing about a film.

The Castro Theater's May 2016 calendar is underwhelming for me.

I'd like to catch the double feature of Mommie Dearest and Gypsy on May 4 but that is the penultimate night of the 2016 San Francisco International Film Festival and I have purchased tickets to 2 films that evening.

Similarly, I have never seen Valley of the Dolls which screens May 10 with The Miracle Worker as part of a Patty Duke tribute.  Unfortunately, I have other plans that evening.

Dario Argento's The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (May 14) caught my attention.  From May 13 to 16, the Roxie in conjunction with Midcentury Eclectic! (Elliot Lavine, Don Malcolm, et al.) is screening 12 films under the series title Archaeology of Arthouse.  I've bought a pass and plan to see several films in the series.  I'm not sure if I'll be able to get away to the Castro to see Argento's film.

I have yet to visit the new PFA.  There are three film series beginning in May which will likely lure me to Berkeley:  Mexican Film Noir (May 7 to June 11), The Films of Seijun Suzuki (May 7 to June 30) and the UCLA Festival of Preservation (May 15 to June 26).

Not shown on the Castro's May calendar is the 2016 San Francisco Silent Film Festival which runs from June 2 to 5 at the Castro.

Many years ago (the early 1990s), one of my first visits to the Roxie was to see a Pedro Almodovar film.  I think I caught a double bill or a couple films over a few night.  I recall one film distinctly as Tie Me Up!  Tie Me Down!  The other film was Pepi, Luci, Bom and Other Girls like Mom which I thought was unbelievably outré at the time.  I subsequently seen films which renders Pepi, Luci, Bom...as passé.  Almodovar has a special place in my cinematic pantheon as I relate those films with my early days in SF.  I mention this because the Roxie is screening six of his early films as part of a retrospective from May 20 to 26.

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Castro Theater Calendar - May 2016

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