Notes from Underground
The alternative screens are up and running again after a holiday lull, with programming that ranges from cult films and classics to camp and politics. Let's face it: Movies don't get much more classic or classier than when they feature Katharine Hepburn. The Seattle Art Museum is running a four-film retrospective that will take place on consecutive Thursdays starting January 8. The movies will be Alice Adams (1935), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Stage Door (1937), and the perennial favorite Bringing Up Baby (1938).
Speaking of classics, the Rendezvous is going to play host to a screening of John Huston's 1953 black comedy Beat the Devil on Wednesday, January 14. After watching Humphrey Bogart and Gina Lollobrigida fall in with scheming explorers as they all search for uranium-rich land in Africa, you'll need a drink. Luckily, the Rendezvous has a full bar. Not only that, but you can bring your shot of whiskey (or whatever you're having) in with you. Following that is something called Film Ridiculoso, which claims to feature Mystery Science Theater 3000.
The Rendezvous is actually packed with oddball screenings this week. On Monday, January 12, they're trying something they're calling Cineoke. For this cross between a piano bar and karaoke, they're inviting people to come up on stage and sing along with their favorite movie musicals. Who knows? This may be a big enough musical-theater town for that to actually work. Another experiment they'll be trying, this one on Thursday, January 15, will be a screening of three experimental films with live musical accompaniment. I haven't seen the movies, nor have I heard the music, so this one is a bit of a crapshoot.
Capitol Hill's CoCA is the home of a new monthly series called Prizefighter that includes experimental film and video. The next one takes place on Sunday, January 11, and will feature the winner of the 2002 Videoex festival in Zurich, a 40-minute film called Du Moteur à Explosion (Full Throttle Engine Component). I remember seeing this title after it won, and I look forward to seeing the film. Completed in 2000, it apparently features hijacks, burning planes, and the paranoid psyches of international travelers.
Speaking of politically sensitive issues, 911 Media Arts Center is showing Uncovered: The Whole Truth About the Iraq War on Friday, January 9. This is a movie that's had an unconventional distribution pattern. Though it's been playing in places like 911 Media Arts, the producers have been successful at encouraging "house parties," where somebody will donate $30, get a copy of the movie on DVD, and invite friends to see it. You can get more info on that from www.moveon.org, but if you don't want to go through the trouble, just go to this screening.
