![]() ![]() With sublime performances from Michael Fassbender, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Domhnail Gleeson, this is the entry you’ll want to see if you missed it the first time it played in theaters.Ĭameron Crowe’s Seattle grunge scene fable Singles will screen on May 30, which features Matt Dillon, Bridget Fonda, Campbell Scott, Kyra Sedgwick, and various other beautiful white people dressed in slouchy clothes. Once also inspired the name of the small but popular music club in Somerville.īut before that, the May 16 th double feature offers my two favorite films of the series: High Fidelity, starring John Cusack as an obsessed vinyl buff, and Frank, an indescribably strange little indie film about a strange little indie band and their charismatic but shy lead singer who insists on wearing a giant papier-mache head at all times. A bit of trivia: one of the band members (Glen Hansard) continued playing music in real life and later starred as a character based on himself in the experimental indie hit Once, which became a successful Broadway play (and was just revived at SpeakEasy Stage Company). The second film that night is Alan Parker’s The Commitments, a well-loved classic of a working class 1980s Irish band that decides to play American R & B classics and builds a huge Dublin following before it all crashes and burns. The team behind that film come together again for a second parody, A Mighty Wind, about a 1960s era American folk duo and their career tribulations, showing as part of May 23 rd’s double feature. The deftly created hilarity is an indictment of the music industry as well as a lampoon of that horrible genre of music. Three phenomenally good actors (Harry Shearer, Christopher Guest, and Michael McKean) play a mediocre heavy metal band from the 1970s. You probably know a few people who used to quote from it endlessly in bad working class English accents. The legendary mockumentary This is Spinal Tap, the quintessential fake band movie, shows May 9. The cast could not be better: Billy Crudup, Kate Hudson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Fairuza Balk, Jason Lee, and even a cameo from legendary guitarist Peter Frampton.Ī scene from “Ladies and Gentlemen, The Fabulous Stains.” It’s hard to find fault with much of anything in this movie, apart from the plausibly obnoxious behavior of some of its narcissistic characters. May 2 nd brings Cameron Crowe’s coming-of-age biopic about his days writing for Rolling Stone as an underage aspiring rock critic. ![]() This film also features an impressive original soundtrack, penned by members of the groups Radiohead, Suede, and Roxy Music. The cast here (which also includes Ewan MacGregor, Toni Collette and Christian Bale) is extra fine. Like all of Haynes’ work, the visuals are a sumptuous, subtly symbolic pictorial feast. On April 18 th is Velvet Goldmine, Todd Haynes’ darkly-glittering biopic of a musician in the glamrock days of the 1970s who looks an awful lot like David Bowie (played by Jonathan Rhys Myers). If you look close, you may recognize a young Charlize Theron. The series opens April 11 th with the lighthearted That Thing You Do, a sort of modern fairy tale about a band with a story not unlike the Beatles, directed by Tom Hanks. The series is very eclectic and features a rollicking mix of genres, from mockumentary to period drama to romantic comedy. There’s a meta-cinematic layering that goes on in these films that can make them extra delicious to watch. Actors playing musicians is not an enormous stretch: archetypal ego-driven personalities drawn to work in an exploitative industry - not unlike Hollywood movies. They’re probably not writing the songs, but most pop stars don’t either. The members are expected to sing and strut around on stage, maybe even play instruments. Here’s the thing about fake bands: they’re still playing music. Most of the films selected will be shown in 35mm, making the visual experience as invigorating to watch as the music will be to listen to. This time it’s Reel Films/Fake Bands, as in, bands created specifically for movies. The Somerville Theatre continues its penchant for crowd-pleasing film programs that gather up cult faves under intriguing themes.
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